Idea factory: And now I cannot stop it! An iphone game idea

It's now started raining ideas, to add to the flood :)

My idea is of a multiplayer app and to explain it in short, it's a contest of tetris + bricks with one person playing tetris and the other playing bricks! Hope you have a picture now of the basic gameplan but just to elaborate a little more, one person is playing tetris and building the wall while the other person is seeing the same wall from below and trying to eliminate it! Any iphone SDK programmers in the house?

Idea factory: It's officially a flood! Skype on your cell

Oh boy. I can't sleep until I write this down! 

Now that we have blazing fast Wi-fi (read my previous post), how about some video telephony? Say you're in a coversation with someone (maybe that someone special :) and decide you want to see the other person's face (or maybe more importantly you're out of your daytime minutes). Both of you determine that you have access to free reasonably good quality wifi (either at home or even at work). So you initiate a conversation over wifi, a video conversation like skype in fact using that same userid. Remember, you still haven't dropped off the cellphone call. One you determine that both of you are sufficiently happy with the wifi call, you simply switch over seamlessly and terminate the cellphone call. Voila!! Free unlimited talking. So who's going to sell this cellphone now?

Idea factory: What I'd want from a new phone

I was thinking what I'd want in a new phone. Not that I need one, but I do need a camera. And hence what if I could get a phone with a decent camera, say 3 megapixels, with 3x zoom. Throw in a 1GB memory stick. But that's not the design win I foresee. How about adding blazing fast Wi-fi (remember, this is not 3G but plain vanilla wifi). Say the Android OS. So now you can use Picasa to sync photos you got on your cellphone with your comp over the Wi-fi. And if possible, throw in music player functionality too!

What price point would such a phone retail? Now sell this phone direct to consumer without the networks to intermediate. You just get the SIM card from them and pay per month. No need of data plan. This would work with the GSM guys only (Cingular, T-mobile).

So maybe the price point turns out to be a little too high for stupid Americans who think it's fine to pay 200 bucks upfront and get suckered into a 2 year contract with a $30 data plan. Instead, maybe Google can subsidize the cost of such a phone and force you to watch some ads while browsing? With the new "open" wireoless spectrum that was freed up with the digitization of TV signals, we could have over the air Wi-Fi? Now wouldn't that be a compelling alternative and a breath of fresh air compares to the old school telcos. Hmm..not if only I could get someone to buy into this idea :) Oh wait..Nokia already designed this into the N95 and it retails at buy.com for 350 bucks. Google..want to drop that price to 150?

Watch this space

for a review of the latest treasury lending program

It's not the news...

but the reaction to the news that matters. Did the announcement of Tim Geithner as the incoming treasury secretary trigger a rally on Friday? Or was it the market move on Friday that made this news THE news of the day? Consider that The market was very oversold, an extremely high VIX reading, heavy short interest, it was options expiration Friday and some kind of Citigroup news was imminent over the weekend. Taking into account the fact that Geithner, as head of the NY Fed has taken active part in every part of the recent bank bailouts, it makes me wonder what news stuff he brings to the table.

So yeah. The media thinks the Geithner caused the rally. I think the rally made the Geithner news known to everyone.

Helping people understand their finances while helping out with social causes

Hi everyone...it's been a while since I posted. I'm glad atleast a couple of you missed my posts :)

So I had this idea just now. This stems from my desire to do my bit towards social causes while at the same time helping people traverse this minefield of financial investment. I was thinking of starting a service where I would give out solicited advice on all issues financial and charge for it, with the money going to the person's favorite charity. That way, I act just like an intermediary to keep you disciplined and make sure that the money is sent to the non-profit of your choice. From your perspective, you can think of it as donating to a cause while getting financial advice for free. Or you can look at it as paying for getting financial advice and I can have the joy of giving to your favorite cause for free.

Please post back in comments with thoughts, suggestions and potential fees I could/should charge.

From Bush the Abomination to OBAMANATION

The big news incoming..

Dole loses, democrats pick up 3 in senate

Pennsylvania stays Democrat

Ohio is Obama country (6:30pm PT)

The US is Obama country (8pm PT)

And I'm crying in joy...

Please watch this

I don't intend this to be a political blog and voice my opinion on political matters. Nor do I intend to tell people how to vote, although if you know me well enough, you will know who I support. 

However, there are some things that make me cringe. Keep in mind..i'm not a guy who gets easily freaked out. However, watching this PBS documentary (instead of studying, but that's another story) did make me want to puke! So I urge you to watch it. It's titled "Torturing democracy" and is available online.

I really hope that with the changing of the administration, Guantanamo is closed and if at all possible, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney are tried in a war crimes court! What they have allowed and abetted is reprehensible and below any human dignity. Bush should retire from public life since there is no way in hell he's going to be able to save his legacy as being the worst president ever and THE person to blame for America's decline. 

Not bigger but definitely badder

Above is a graph comparing the present market downturn compared to those in prior bear markets. What I make of this is that in % terms, we are comparable to prior crashes, but this time the descent has been really really fast! That's what happens when the crisis is first seen in asset prices rather than in the real economy. Bubbles that are intentionally blown bigger burst much faster.