Archive for March, 2008
World Financial Markets- Worst Case Scenarios.
Posted by Paul 24 March 2008The problems in the US and world financial markets have had me thinking about the financial system and its stability given the amazing array of financial instruments that are now available and the speed and volume of transactions around the world.
I have been saying for a while now that a confidence/credit crunch could badly affect [...]
Wind power urged for computers
Posted by Paul 24 March 2008In an article in the Guardian (Wind power urged for computers ) Professor Andy Hopper of Cambridge University has urged that computer server farms should be moved to areas where wind power is abundant. While this may seem initially silly on the surface it raises the important issue of power transmission losses. Increasingly computer services [...]
Consumer innovation is about giving people what they want
Posted by Paul 24 March 2008This article in the NY Times David Pogue is about the fact that a small camcorder snuck up on him as one ht of the major hits of 2007 and 2008 and as the technology writer for the paper he is embarrassed about the fact that he missed that fact. However if you read [...]
Eco-terrorism Suspected in House Fires – Tip of the Iceberg?
Posted by Paul 5 March 2008http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/us/04homes.html?th&emc=th
Eco-terrorism is suspected in house fires in Seattle with a message on the site signed with the letters ELF – short for the Earth Liberation Front which is an organisation that uses arson and other destructive means where it believes that the natural environment is in danger
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Liberation_Front
There are some fears that eco-terrorist organisations and other [...]
Supermarket price comparisons
Posted by Paul 5 March 2008mysupermarket is an internet company which allows you to compare prices on line of the supermarkets that are registered on the site. The site allows you to compare costs between supermarkets but also suggests cheaper or healthier alternatives to some of the products that you have chosen. The combination of this sort of service plus [...]
Loggin Off – A new Trend
Posted by Paul 5 March 2008This article in the New York Times : http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/fashion/02sabbath.html?th&emc=th
describes some of the ways in which people are logging off from being in a connected world, at least for some short periods.
I must confess to feeling somewhat uncomfortable when I do not have some web access for even a short period of time and I recognise [...]
Blog on Barack Obama
Posted by Paul 5 March 2008Marc Andreessen’s blog has a post on meeting Barack Obama before the Presidential campaign got under way – It is a personal and interesting insight into the man who may become the most powerful person in the world.
An hour and a half with Barack Obama
1 in 100 adults in the US in Jail
Posted by Paul 5 March 2008An article in the New York Times
Number of Adults in US Jails
states that more than 1 in 100 adults in the US is actually behind bars at any one time.
How can we live in a world where that is true in a modern developed country.
There are many things to admire about the US but when [...]
Petrodollars fund investment strategies that might change the face of the future
Posted by Paul 5 March 2008Investment funds formed from high oil prices such as those described in the New York Times story
Petrodollar funds
could completely change the strategic international balance purchasing stakes in large ailing multinational companies as we have seen in the wake of the so called sub-prime crisis in recent months. I am not saying that this is right [...]