Berkshire Class B Covered Call Trade

Sold BRK/B April 7 2016 puts at $1 then bought them back at 0.20 from 3/27 to 4/04. 80% return in a few days.

Berkshire is a conglomerate of multiple companies that has outperformed the Standard and Poor's 500 over the past 40 years. It's driven mostly by it's insurance companies.

Warren Buffet's annual letter to Berskshire Hathaway stock owners is a good read this year and every year.

The other option is to trade SPY options.

US Budget and Debt

NASA receives $18 billion per year.
The Defense Department receives $540 billion.
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/52450

Federal debt held by the public is at 77% of GDP, the highest since after World War II.
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/52480

The US federal deficit for 2016 was $587 billion.
https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/114th-congress-2015-2016/reports/52142-breakout-chapter1.pdf

Make your own personal computer for $50

Raspberry Pi has made it relatively simple to make a computer for $50. Here is a step by step guide to making this computer. After you make it, attach an HDTV, keyboard, and mouse.

Buy your items: Raspberry Pi 3 Model B with wifi and bluetooth, a case, micro-USB power charger, HDMI cable, keyboard, mouse.
Several items may not need to be purchased such as the micro-USB power charger which comes with most Android phones.



Insert the Raspberry Pi 3 motherboard into the case. The case has a top and bottom which come apart. Make sure to slide the Pi board underneath a small ridge inside the case.

Download the Raspberry Pi OS which is based on Linux here. https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/

Unzip the image file. Then write the image file to the microSD card using a program like Win32 Disk Imager https://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/

Push in the microSD card into the Raspberry Pi, plug in the HDMI cable to a HDTV, plug in the keyboard and mouse by USB, and attach the micro USB power cord. The OS should load up and start installation.

Or you could buy one for $60 with a 16 gb card by clicking here.

Snapchat IPO

Snapchat became public but it disclosed it doesn't make money. There's a significant amount of money it pays for its servers to outside organizations.

It may turn around and make money or it could become like many other high profile money losers with high valuations.

The bubbles in these stocks are interesting and provides an interesting market theory. Most investors don't touch these stocks but they are traded among the investors who do to a high market capitalization. Eventually, when it reaches a certain market capitalization, it has to be added to indexes like the Standard and Poors 500. At that time, the valuation goes higher and the risk averse investors inadvertently pays for a stock they would never buy. Eventually, the company proves that it can't make money and stock plummets while it's still in the index. The original speculative investors may have gotten out by that time and the passive investors are left with the losses.

Las Vegas Sands Covered Call Trade

Sold a LVS 2/10/17 put at $0.40 on 1/31/17 and then bought on 2/8/17 for $0.10. 75% return in 8 days.

Google January 27 2017 Covered Put Trade

Sold Google (GOOGL) put expiring January 27, 2017 on December 30, 2016 for $9.60. Bought put to close position on 1/23/17 for $1. 80% return in about 24 days.

Snapchat IPO

Download the app to figure out why this is a highly anticipated IPO. Frequent ad placements between a few seconds of time and snaps. More posts due to their limited time span.

LVS Covered Put, GOOGL Covered Put

Sold a Las Vegas Sands covered put at 53.50 at 0.75 and sold out at 0.25 in the next week for a 66% return. Sold a Google Put for January 27 at 757.50 for $9.70. Stock went down up to 10 points the next day to $792, the price of the put has gone up to $12.33. Should lose value as it gets closer to expiration.

Ncv high yield bond fund

http://us.allianzgi.com/Products/pages/12.aspx Assets for NCV, a convertible bond fund yielding over  10%.

GOOGL January 27 2016 puts

Google puts at 767.50 are selling at $10 per share currently and the stock is trading at $809.93. Fourth quarter earnings will be announced on 1/26/17.

Las Vegas Sands Covered Put

Las Vegas Sands (LVS) dropped precipitously last week on news the Chinese government would limit cash withdrawals from ATMs in Macau to around $600. The stock dropped about eight points last week. Sold puts at $54. The stock has rebounded in a few days and was able to but to close the put positions. Returned around 80% in a few days.

Las Vegas Tour Guide

Here's a page with places to see in Las Vegas. Also highlights some of the food and entertainment available. It's formatted for mobile phones and has Google map links for each destination. To get to a destination, click the link and the Google maps application and navigation can be started on an Android phone. 

Vegas Map Based Tour Guide

To share places quickly without logging in or signing up for a service, try  the Places web app. No installation needed. 

GPS Location with Map

GPS Location and Map

Uses the phone's GPS or wireless network location services to find your coordinates. Also creates a quick map of your area. Use it to load a map of the surrounding area without launching using the Maps application. Preserves phone battery by using GPS for a short time and also by not loading the Maps application.

GPS HTML 5 Web App

GPS Web App

Keep notes on locations based on GPS coordinates from a smart phone or laptop. Also creates links to google maps.

Zero Coupon Bond Calculator

Zero Coupon Bond Calculator

Zero coupon bonds offer an opportunity to invest a small amount of money initially then get a large payment in a few years. Enter the final payout amount, the interest rate, and this calculator will determe the principal amount needed at the beginning.

Bond Income Calculator

Bond Income Calculator


Bonds offer a safer form of income than stocks. It is a debt obligation given by companies and governments available to investors. Bond prices are usually in denominations of one thousand dollars. The yield to maturity is the current yield of the stock based on its price. The initial rate is the coupon rate and that yield is available to initial investors. Subsequent investors receive the yield to maturity which is based on the coupon rate divided by the current market price of the bond. This calculator determines the yearly yield on a bond based on the price and it also determines the total income derived from owning the bond for several years.

RIMM Covered Call Trading Experience

Bought shares of RIMM after the Goldman Sachs upgrade at 19.50. Sold covered call at 20 for 1.78. Stock trickled down to 16 or so, bought back the call at 0.52. Sold the 15 call for 2. Stock went up to mid 17 then came down to 16. Bought back the 15 call for 1, then sold the 16 call with less than a week remaining for 0.56. Then the stock plummeted after disappointing earnings prior to options expiration on 12/16. Bought back the 16 call to close out everything for 0.01. Sold out of RIMM at 13.48. Overall, bought at 19.5 sold at 13.48. Lost 6 on the stock, then made 2.5 trading options.

Motorola Triumph Smart Phone Review

The Motorola Triumph is a great Android smart phone with a large 4 inch screen. Also the Virgin Mobile smart phone plans are the best deals available in the country, much better than any contract service.

Motorola Triumph Review

Nokia Covered Call Experience

Bought shares of nokia for 5.79, sold October covered call at 6 in September for 60 cents each. Watched stock go to low 5 area, and the coverd call drop to nearly 17 cents. Could have bought back the covered calls and locked in that profit. Instead Nokia reports better than expected results and the stock goes up to 6.6 the day before the options expire. Instead of nearly doubling profits, I have the flat even result of buying shares at 5.79, selling the shares at 6, and the total profit from selling the covered calls at 60 cents each. Basically, buying at 5.79 and selling for 6.6 in 2 months. But if the covered calls were bought back at a lower price, that would have been 45 cents per share extra profit.

iPhone 4S Airplay Video Game

With Apple TV, Airplay and an Iphone, video games can be played on large tv screens in the same manner as console games. As the controls for the games get better on the iPhone and iPod touch, this could be some serious competition for Sony and Nintendo. The motion sensors on the iPhone and iPod touch are excellent for game play. The only remaining factor is developing software that will provide accuracy similar to gamepad buttons. With the Airplay monitoring technology, the device can possibly display the video on the television while displaying the controls on the device screen. This would require the device to somehow support dual displays. This might be possible since the latest device does have a dual core A5 processor, and the controller display should not be taxing on the device.

Apple October 2011 Event

http://www.apple.com/apple-events/october-2011/

Watching the Apple October 2011 Event. Looks like Apple is doing the same thing Microsoft did with Windows. Integrating independent application developments into their iOS 5. iCloud has taken a lot of features from popular services like Dropbox. That seems to be the most obvious one so far. The location services are similar to Loopt.  I'm just waiting for Apple to integrate search into their iOS. As I finished watching the talk, I realized Siri is Apple's entry into search. Stock quotes, directions, restaurant reviews, weather are all available. Soon, Apple just needs to start running related advertisements next to Siri results, and they will be the same as Google.

The iPhone 4S is still very good compared to other Android devices, but the gap is closing. The Galaxy S2 is a good example, but Android devices still are not as fast or smooth as iOS devices.

Reader Option in iOS5

The Reader option in iOS5 allows mobile browsers to strip away extraneous content and only show text for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. I'm a bit disappointed with this development. About 10% of the visitors to my website are iOs device visitors. It's actually the second most popular operating system after Windows. Now with this development,  people can strip away the advertising revenue by getting rid of advertisements and only leaving text.

Optionistics

http://www.optionistics.com/f/option_prices

Has a lot of options tools including option price charts.

Stock Profit Calculator

Stock Profit Calculator

Enter the number of shares, the price bought, and the price sold. The calculator will determine the profit and percent return based on investment.

The chevrolet volt is a key to americas energy independence and strategic defense

Drove a chevy volt in the last few days. Its amazing quick for an electric car. Also its nearly as quiet with the electric generator on as it is using only the battery. If this car became available to the masses, then most americans will barely ever go the gas station again. Each charge gets 40 miles. If you roll down hill after the charge, even that could get you an extra mile or two. Considering most people drive less than 40 miles per day, a driver technically doesn't have to go to a gas station unless they make several long trips. The gas generator and battery combination will always be necessary. A battery only option takes too long to recharge if stranded. Once the Volt's electric range gets to 120 miles, then gas stations will barely be needed. Also charging will be necessary only as often as people go to gas stations with their regular cars.

iphone app development

http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/iphone-app-development-marketing-tips/

 

Elance.com - find an iPhone app developer. Escrow program, feedback, project communication. Application completed in 4 months. Get someone who knows how to make "ad hoc" versions for testing.

 

Found out iPhone development was $6000 on another page, and that the annual gross was only $9000.

 

 

Options Break Even

Options Break Even

Calculates the price gain needed for an option to break even and also figures the percent gain needed for a call option to be profitable. Good to objectively look at the likelihood of a call option expiring in the money.

eoption broker

Has very low fees. $3 per option trade along with $0.10 per contract. Also has $3 stock trades. Many brokers may have low fees but charge a recurring monthly fee.

Overall Cash Flow Calculator

Overall Cash Flow Ratio = Cash Flow from Operations/(Financing Cash Outflows + Investing Cash Outflows).

The overall cash flow ratio shows how well a company generates cash. A ratio greater than one indicates the company can generate more cash than used for financing and investing. A ratio less than one indicates the company uses more money than it generates.

Globe on sketchpad

11,114

March 2011 - first month with over 10,000 visitors

Aberdeen asia-pacific income fund

Fax yields 6.2 percent, monthly dividend, and has a drip plan.

Aberdeeb global income fund

Fco yields 6.6 percent, has a monthly dividend and a drip plan.

Blackrock muni

Bsd yields 7.5 percent, monthly dividend, and has a drip plan

NYTimes: The Reinvention of Silk

From The New York Times:

The Reinvention of Silk
By HENRY FOUNTAIN

It's a material with many potential applications, but there's been one problem: spiders aren't spinning enough of it. ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/science/08silk.html

Get The New York Times on your BlackBerry free by visiting
http://nytimes.com/bbapp

what is the point of the honda insight?

Rented one last week. It's got a cheaper interior than the civic hybrid. All the panels are manual, while everything on the civic is digital. The center radio and AC controls are too futuristic and difficult to operate. The power is a little less than the civic. It's almost the same price but has slightly worse mileage and is smaller. The only advantage I see is that someone would look at the car and see a cheaper version of the prius. 

NYTimes: Libya’s Hidden Wealth May Be Next Battle

From The New York Times:

Libya's Hidden Wealth May Be Next Battle
By LANDON THOMAS Jr.

The country's sovereign wealth fund has $70 billion in assets but much of it is invested in Libya or the Middle East, out of the reach of sanctions. ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/business/global/04sovereign.html

Get The New York Times on your BlackBerry free by visiting
http://nytimes.com/bbapp

NYTimes: Bangladesh Forces Microcredit Pioneer Out of Bank

From The New York Times:

Bangladesh Forces Microcredit Pioneer Out of Bank
By LYDIA POLGREEN and VIKAS BAJAJ

Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who pioneered microcredit, has been forced out of the bank he founded by the Bangladeshi government. ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/03/world/asia/03yunus.html

Get The New York Times on your BlackBerry free by visiting
http://nytimes.com/bbapp

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NYTimes: Long Arms Reach for the Rim

From The New York Times:

Long Arms Reach for the Rim
By JOSH KRON

Ever since Manute Bol became an N.B.A. star, southern Sudan has produced a number of players who had solid college careers in the United States. ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/sports/basketball/20sudan.html

NBA talent coming out of the new South Sudan. 15 years old and 7'1".
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NYTimes: Asking for a Lot, Perhaps Too Much, from St. Louis

From The New York Times:

Asking for a Lot, Perhaps Too Much, from St. Louis
By DAN ROSENHECK

The evidence suggests that in the next few years, Albert Pujols will remain the best first baseman in the game, but his reported contract demands may be too great for the Cardinals. ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/sports/baseball/20score.html

Asking for 300 million over 10 years. 150 over five should be considered.
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NYTimes: Decentralizing the Internet So Big Brother Can’t Find You

From The New York Times:

Decentralizing the Internet So Big Brother Can't Find You
By JIM DWYER

Eben Moglen, a Columbia law professor, is championing the Freedom Box, a home server that could protect dissidents from police-state snoopers. ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/nyregion/16about.html

Get The New York Times on your BlackBerry free by visiting
http://nytimes.com/bbapp

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NYTimes: Jilted in the U.S., a Site Finds Love in India

From The New York Times:

Jilted in the U.S., a Site Finds Love in India
By HANNAH SELIGSON

Ignighter.com, a site for organizing group dates, wasn't bringing in much traffic in the U.S. But the founders noticed that it was adding thousands of users a day in India. ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/business/20ignite.html

Get The New York Times on your BlackBerry free by visiting
http://nytimes.com/bbapp

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

NYTimes: Battle Lines Harden Across the Mideast as Rulers Dig In

From The New York Times:

Battle Lines Harden Across the Mideast as Rulers Dig In
By J. DAVID GOODMAN and JACK HEALY

The battle lines between protesters and governments hardened on Friday, as unrest continued in Libya, Yemen and Bahrain, and Algerians and Iranians planned rallies. ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/19/world/middleeast/19protests.html

Get The New York Times on your BlackBerry free by visiting
http://nytimes.com/bbapp

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

NYTimes: Facebook Officials Keep Quiet on Its Role in Revolts

From The New York Times:

Facebook Officials Keep Quiet on Its Role in Revolts
By JENNIFER PRESTON

While Facebook has become a tool for organizing protests, it does not want to be seen as picking sides. ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/business/media/15facebook.html

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NYTimes: A Chicken War in New York, Where Afghans Rule the Roost

From The New York Times:

A Chicken War in New York, Where Afghans Rule the Roost
By DAN BILEFSKY

Abdul Haye, armed with an unwritten secret recipe and the trademark for the Kennedy Fried Chicken brand, has declared a fried chicken war. ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/nyregion/14chicken.html

Get The New York Times on your BlackBerry free by visiting
http://nytimes.com/bbapp

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

NYTimes: Testing the Entrepreneurial Life

From The New York Times:

Testing the Entrepreneurial Life
By ADRIANA GARDELLA

The author of "Escape From Cubicle Nation" talks about making the transition from employee to entrepreneur. ...

http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/09/testing-the-entrepreneurial-life/

Get The New York Times on your BlackBerry free by visiting
http://nytimes.com/bbapp

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Steve Jobs Bloomberg Gamechangers

Great 47 minute summary of Steve Job's career. 

Bloomberg Gamechangers Steve Jobs

Debt Calculator

Debt Calculator

A simple debt calculator will show how your debt will grow over time based on contributions against the debt. This can be used to calculate paying off your mortgage early.

Investment vs Debt Repayment Calculator

Debt vs Investment Calculator
If cash is available, should it be used to pay off debt or placed into investment? Enter the yearly amount contributed, number of years, the initial debt, the debt's interest rate and the investment rate of return. The calculator will determine how much money could be saved by investing, how much debt could be payed off, and it also calculates how much the debt would accumulate if no payments were made.

Jeep grand cherokee

Rented a jeep grand cherokee. Its a smooth ride and a quiet car, but it has the same problems as other large jeep/chrysler suvs. It drives like a boat, less so than a chrysler pacifica. Then, acceleration from 0 to 30 is poor. Accelerating onto the highway is not a problem and then the car runs really well in eco mode. The mpg is definitely well over 20 which is great for a car this size. Not all jeeps have this acceleration problem. The smaller jeep liberty with 240 horsepower accelerates excellently.
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Mobile Compound Interest Calculator

Mobile Compound Interest Calculator

Calculates the total earned based on compound interest rate, initial cash, and years. Also displays yearly growth and stores prior calculations. Compare savings options with this calculator. Mobile website works well on an iPhone, Android, or Blackberry. 

Facebook: the best personal website

Facebook has become the best personal website. Initially, during the web, a few people would build personal websites. They would usually be simple with a few bits of personal information and some photos. They wouldn't be updated often since it was cumbersome to make webpages and upload photos. Even easy free sites like geocities were difficult to update. Beyond this problem, privacy was an issue also. The only available option was to place photos and details on a public website available to everyone. Most photo sites required specific email addresses for every person for every folder shared. The concept of having a frequent list of friends to share items had not been thought about in the design. So now Facebook has created the best personal website, and it has become the most visited site on the web. The basic idea behind its success is that its an easy website to update details, thoughts, and share photos. Their large advantage was the automatic privacy to include only friends. Not many recent advancements in web technology have made Facebook possible, only the design concept of an easily updated profile wall and privacy among contacts.
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Sold MGM on a call

Sold MGM on a covered call. Sold the December 13 call for $1, then had to sell the shares at $13 when the stock went up to $14.34 on Friday. Now its up even further, don't know if I will be able to buy back in.

Jolicloud

Jolicloud is a linux variant which is very easy to install. It installs directly from Windows. After about an hour to download on a broadband connection, the installation creates a disk partition and a boot manager. The boot manager asks what operating system to start, either Jolicloud or Windows. This is a good way to keep Windows and try out Linux. Jolicloud has run well on this old Dell desktop and it looks great on a flat screen tv in the living room. Remember the user name and password that was set up in Windows. Also, remember the seperate Jolicloud online account details. After signing in completely, the home desktop has Chromium, a Chrome browser variant. Additionally, the screen contains to popular websites such as Facebook and Gmail. From an easy app directory, additional programs can be installed. However, most apps are only links for websites. Open Office is available to replace Microsoft Office. The first problem I had was the audio was muted. This was difficult to figure out but after changing the audio setting to Pulse Audio and also clicking on the audio button on the bottom. This is a design flaw, the darkened button does not look like the system is on mute. The second persistent problem I have not been able to fix is the nvidia graphics driver is not detected. This might be fixed with the new Jolicloud 1.1 update. Hulu Desktop is a good full program I hope works well after the graphics driver is supported. Overall, this is a good OS with great potential. It is very basic at this point, but gets most basic internet functions done well.

MGM covered put

MGM covered 12.50 puts are selling $30 for December, and $13 January puts are $68. These are good yields for a stock currently trading at 13.29.

error 552 on the blackberry

Blackberry 8520 curve broke after uninstalling skyscape. Skyscape doesn't work for the blackberry anyway from app world, seems to be working from skyscape.com/reader. Spent an hour trying to fix this. The blackberry website is out of date. It states to connect the BB to the desktop manager and update without the battery in place. The key is to place the battery inside when the no battery sign starts, otherwise it'll repeatedly say the device is not connected after downloading and trying to load the latest software. This device is horrendous by the way. The Android OS is superior in ability, and the iPhone OS is better than both with speed. Haven't tried bb os 6 but I'm sure it's nothing great. The new tablet software might make some improvement.

Apple sliding

Apple will be a good buy at 180 down from its high of 208.

Stocks 101

Stocks represent ownership of companies. Companies from small start ups to established multinational conglomerates can have stock available to the public. Stocks can also be called shares. To define the total value of a company, multiply the number of shares times the price of each share. For example, if a company has 1 billion shares available and each trades for $25, then the total value of the company is $25 billion dollars. Valuation of a company is based on multiple factors. The price of shares is based on the perceived value amongst many buyers and sellers. Each individual allocates cash towards a stock investment and enters orders through their brokers to buy shares in a company. Two basic ways to create an investment return is to sell shares at a higher price or earn dividends. Dividends are usually excess profits dispensed to shareholders. Significant economic trends, company events, earnings, dividends, psychology, and many other factors come together to move the price. One objective factor to value a company is its earnings. A company's total earnings divided by number of shares is the earnings per share. A price to earnings ratio is the price divided by earnings per share. A lower price to earnings ratio is preferred by value investors. Growth investors will be willing to overlook a high price to earnings ratio if the company is showing substantial earnings increases. Dividends can be considered a more objective measure than earnings since earnings can be manipulated by accounting but cash distributions to shareholders can not be manipulated. A company's yield is it's dividend per share divided by price.

Palm Pre Available on Amazon

The Palm Pre is available on Amazon for $199 and free 2 day shipping. The iPhone is still not available on Amazon. However, the Pre is only #493 in cell phones on Amazon, although the top ten in their lists are the free phones. It's #11 in the smart phones division, although everything above it sells for $50 or for free.

Google search results for Zune

As a follow up to the prior post about Google search results for the ipod touch, there are no advertisements for Bing on Google about the Microsoft's own Zune mp3 player.

Google search results for ipod touch

Searching for "ipod touch" on Google (GOOG) showed some recent changes in advertising strategy. Amazon is no longer allowing associates to directly link from Google to an affiliate landing page. Instead, affiliates have to place a Google advertisement for their own web page with an Amazon link. After this change, the first spot on the advertising panel on the right belongs to Amazon and links directly to their page. Another interesting point is that Microsoft's (MSFT) Bing is advertising it's cash back program for the "ipod touch" on Bing. Recently, there has been a spike in the bid price for these advertisments, and this may have been due to Microsoft and Amazon entering the bidding war for placement. I am not sure how many product advertisments Microsoft is placing on Google, but they're sending cash to their competitor with every click.

Apple viewport meta tag to set iphone content

Viewport is a meta tag designed to display web content on the iPhone safari browser properly.

This is Apple's developer website instructions: http://developer.apple.com/safari/library/documentation/AppleApplications/Reference/SafariWebContent/UsingtheViewport/chapter_4_section_5.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40006509-SW26.

Chris Pirillo Website Malware

After visiting this link: "How to Make an iPhone website and icon" on Chris Pirillo's website, my Google Chrome browser notified me that this site is linked to a website known to host malware. The IP address may have had 68.102. After unsuccessfully trying to navigate away from the warning page, Mcafee anti-virus brought up several alerts about a trojan horse named Vundu. Then, internet explorer started to have several pop ups. The system became very unstable. Mcafee reported it needed to be re-installed and it's services cut off frequently. New icons started showing up in the desktop and start menu. Mcafee is not able to solve the problem itself. Atribune's fixvundo was not effective. The only effective measure seemed to be downloading and re-installing Mcafee. Installing Internet explorer 8 still had pop-ups for bogus anti-spyware websites. The vundu virus apparently uses a flaw in the Java run time environment, so all Java was uninstalled. I'm sure the Chris Pirillo website is unaware of it's malware problem.

Student Loans the next financial crisis

Low interest rates have allowed institutions to increase their tuition and allowed students to consequently borrow more for their higher education. Now many with over a $100,000 in loans have to find jobs which will justify their loans. Many with large loans currently have the inability to consolidate their loans at low interest rates. Their rates are usually adjustable yearly. Luckily most loans were backed by the federal government. However, many did take out private loans from banks.

Naked Put Calculator

Naked Put Calculator

It's a risky bet. Sell a put option, then agree to buy the stock if the price drops below the strike price of the option. If the strike price is 9 and the stock drops to zero, you still pay 9 dollars. If the stock stays above the strike price of 9, you keep the price of the option as pure profit.

Virgin Starts Offering Charter Service in America

Virgin Charter

Appears to be based on a bidding system for specific flights. Submit your flight route and date; then, several charter companies will offer bids on the flight.

Who to blame for the Credit Crisis

A house was bought for $750,000 in 2006. It's now worth $400,000. The seller took advantage of a good market. The buyer did not pay a good price for their new property. The buyer had the responsibility to agree to a fair price. They could have gotten erroneous information from an appraisal. The banker probably should not have given a zero percent loan for an overvalued asset. The investment bankers and other financial wizards were taking advantage of a favorable market to create advanced securities from mortgages. The US government cannot be held to blame for creating a low inflation environment; this probably had other economic benefits including job growth.

Other Point of Views:
Steve Forbes

Invest in international microloans

Invest wisely. End poverty. | microfinance at MicroPlace

Investments can be as small as one hundred dollars. Interest rates can be up to 3% which is much better than most standard US banks.

Sarah Palin SNL Open

Mostly Tina Fey, guest appearances by Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg.

Early Absentee Voting in St. Louis

I was about to send in an absentee ballot in St. Louis City, but apparently you need the mail in ballot to be notarized. This pretty much makes it as difficult as showing up to a voting booth on election day since one would have to take time off work to go to a notary republic. Instead I voted at the Board of Elections office in St. Louis. It's located at 300 N. TUCKER, ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI 63101 - Hours: Monday - Friday 8AM – 5PM. Electronic and paper voting is available. Electronic voting took a few minutes. Apparently, even early voting can lead to long lines at the Board of Elections the week before the actual election day, so earlier voting will be easier. You have to be registered to vote in the city of St. Louis. Early voting should be available across the state. Bring your driver's license for identification.
St. Louis Board of Elections

Google Insiders Unload 7.6 Billion Dollars in 3 months

According to Yahoo Finance, Google (GOOG) insiders have sold 18,178,500 shares from the last quarter to this quarter. Based on an average price of $420, the shares have given the insiders $7,634,970,000. This is a company with no public record of an insider buying shares since it went public.

Givenchy Women's Knee High Boot

Free Overnight shipping, free returns, price guarantee. New -$1464.95.

Bruno Magli Ashton Slip On

Bruno Magli Ashton Slip-On New $224.90

DRIP Calculator

Finance : DRIP Calculator

Dividend reinvestment plans (DRIPs) allow an individual shareholder to reinvest dividends in company shares. For example, if a company stock trades for $20 and has a dividend of $1, the yearly one dollar can be used to buy 0.05 shares. The next year, the shareholder will have 1.05 shares and receive $1.05 in dividends and that many shares will be bought. DRIPs usually allow fractional share ownership and purchases. The DRIP calculator will use the initial share price, shares owned, yearly dividend, and years owned to calculate the yearly income and total shares purchased.

Fear Machine in Full Force

I received a flyer in the mail from the John McCain campaign. On the front is a picture of the President of Iran, Hugo Chavez, Osama, and the President of North Korea. A tank is in the background and the caption around the picture is "Dangerous Times Demand Experience". Inside is an absentee ballot form in case you're too afraid to leave your house.

Spread Put Calculator

Finance : Spread Put Calculator

Spread Put Calculator
Enter the price of the higher put and the price of the lower put. Sell the higher put and buy the lower put. This calculator will provide the profit and yield. Enter the higher put price strike for price paid. Enter the current price.

FAQs

How does selling a covered put work?

Talk to your brokerage. Usually, if you sell a covered put, you agree
to buy the stock at the price of the put. You get to keep the money from
selling the options after the transaction is completed. If the price of
the stock on the day of expiration is below the put price, you will buy
those shares at the agreed price. If the stock price on expiration day
is above the put price, then you do not have to buy those shares at the
put price. You keep the money from selling the options as pure profit.
Obviously, the stock can decline beyond the price of the put and you could
lose more money because you agreed to buy at a higher price.

What is a spread put?

Since you can lose money if the stock keeps on dropping below your covered
put price, it would be wise to have some insurance. If you buy the put
at the next lowest price, this put will increase in value as the share
price declines. The covered put is similar to selling stocks short. As
the price declines, the negative value of the covered put declines.

Technology Blog Ring Directory

Publisher : Blog Ring Directory
Submit your site to the technology blog ring, and then copy and paste the code to display the links. As new sites are added, the code will display the new links on your page.
Technology Blogs
Engadget
Gizmodo
Slashdot
Lifehacker
BoingBoing

Spread Put Option Calculator

Enter the higher strike put option and the lower strike price put option. The higher price put option will be sold, and the lower price put option will be bought. Since the higher price put option was sold, if the stock goes below that price, 100 shares of that stock will be bought at the higher price put option. If the stock goes above the higher strike price of the put option, the spread between the high price put and the low price put would be the profit. The high price put would expire worthless after selling it at a high price. The low price put would expire worthless after buying it a low price.

put_high
put_low
Press Here:
Output

Random Links Generator with Javascript

Random Links Generator using Javascript

Create a list of links using Javascript. Enter your own links in the code below and paste into your webpage. The more links you have, the less likely your links will repeat.

FanBase

FanBase

Create a list of people and their contact information or websites. This Javascript program will display a selected number of people out of the list. People can submit their e-mail address or links to their web pages: MySpace, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

Google Earth API Introduced

This is an example of the Google (GOOG) Earth API. Try typing in Philadelphia. If the city has been rendered in 3D, then you can drive a vehicle through it. City Hall is done very well. The Google Earth API allows websites to show Google earth applications after installing a plug in.

Monster Milktruck!

Steve Jobs announces iPhone 2 video

iPhone 2.0 Key Note

Rent or Buy Calculator

An interactive chart and calculator from the New York Times compares renting versus owning. If you pay less than $700 for rent, renting is usually the better option unless you find a house for less than $100,000.

Is It Better to Buy or Rent? - NYTimes.com

Lenders Decrease home Prices to attract buyers

3 bedroom house in Sacramento bid was $195,000.

Lenders slash prices on foreclosed houses as numbers surge: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

Alternative to PayPal

The site is ambiguous about fees, but this might be a cheaper version of PayPal for merchants to accept payments online.

Moneta : A better way to pay.

Build your own PC

How to Build a $150 Linux-based PC Through Online Deals and Coupons | Gadget Lab from Wired.com

Evaluate sale price based on previous sale price and federal data

Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight

Vertical Line Fade House Price Calculator

Calculate the current estimated dollar value of your home using OFHEO's House Price calculator

Microsoft adopts cost per action model for search advertisements

Despite the rebate, I think the bigger issue is Microsoft(MSFT) adopting a cost per action business model. Advertisers would be willing to pay more for advertisements if they knew their advertisements can be linked to getting sales. As a Google AdWords user, although I pay a small amount per click, I do not like paying for many visitors who leave the page immediately, and I would prefer if I had to pay only when someone bought a product.

Microsoft Offers Rebates to Shoppers Using Its Search - New York Times

Oil should be at $60 per barrel

In Saudi Arabia, the cost of a gallon of gas is $0.45.

A Peek Behind the Price at the Pump - New York Times

Based on more traditional fundamentals like the cost of finding, producing and shipping crude, oil should be in the mid-$60s, says William H. Brown III, an independent energy consultant in Chappaqua, N.Y., who monitors investment flows in the energy sector.

Free Text Advertisements

Submit site, description, and url. Can also submit banner advertisements. Can be used to promote your blog by using it as a blog ring for Blogger.


Free Text Advertisements and Banner Exchange

Source Code | Random Link Display | Banner Exchange | Buy Unlimited Text Advertisements | FAQs

Small OS

Linux OS around 70 MB.

Puppy news

Small Mini PC Motherboard

Ships from the UK, about $106. It uses the Intel Atom chip.

Tranquil PC Limited Motherboards

How many clicks would it take to save Yahoo?

180 billion clicks at around 25 cents each would equal $45 billion, the price offered by Microsoft (MSFT). Over 90 days, that would be 2 billion clicks a day. With 100 million Yahoo users, they would have to click on 20 links every day. 

Petrobras part of BIK

WikiInvest Article on Petrobras - user created article

Brazilian Petroleum Corporation (PBR)

Carl Icahn selling Yahoo puts

Deal Journal - WSJ.com : How Icahn Influences Yahoo Without Buying the Stock

Sold European-style put options on Yahoo (YHOO) at 19.50 expiring on Nov 5, 2010 for 49 million shares.

Covered Call Covered Put Calculator

Amazon's Latest Promotion Widget for MP3s

Amazon Associates released this widget that can play selected MP3s or automatically display the top selling MP3s. This can be placed on a website or a blog. Amazon provides DRM free MP3s which means you can copy them to any device as many times as you want. See the Amazon website for more details.

ETF for Middle East and Africa

GAF: 71.41 +1.44 (+2.06%) : ST SPDR SP EM ME AF - Yahoo! Finance

Cuban Article from 2002

Cuban stating what could have happened with Broadcast.com. Also, people were expecting online advertising to decline in 2002.

Mark Cuban: Yahoo dropped the ball - MarketWatch

if online advertising continues to decline as many still expect.

Free Courses

Learn Programming Online, For Free: 75+ Open Courseware Collections from the Ivy League and Beyond | WHDb

Free Text Advertisements

Submit site, description, and url. Can also submit banner advertisements.


Free Text Advertisements and Banner Exchange