Whatever...

A place to share stuff that isn't at all fintec related but is amusing, absurd or scary.

Retired Member 

Microfinance Debt and Credit Card Debt - Similar?

Does this have any relevance to western 'micro-credit' or consumer credit cards? I notice the default rate heading over 10% for credit cards. This is a quote from a World Bank site discussing microfinance. "Let’s start with the concept of a loan loss rate–the percent of my loan assets that I lose in bad loans each year. As it happens, the maxi...

17 October 2009 /regulation

Matt White North America editor at Finextra

Stressed traders get a helping hand

To be a successful online trader you need to keep calm and rational but it can be a stressful business and sometimes emotions get the better of people. So Philips Electronics and ABN Amro have come up with an "emotion mirroring system" that warns the owner when they're getting a bit het up about a stock and should probably take a step ba...

14 October 2009

Retired Member 

Uk Govt Get Data On Right Track?

The word is out that those guys in the Google group UK Government Data Developers have got it right with their clouding up the government data. Thats not cloudy as in murky, but the Amazon and other clouds. I, of course have no idea about government data but this guy can tell you officially as he's been given a peek. Whilst a little curbing of the ...

13 October 2009

Retired Member 

Microsoft Sidekicks Customer Data Into Evaporator

Announcement - looks like some a$$ kicking to follow.. Sidekick customers, during this service disruption, please DO NOT remove your battery, reset your Sidekick, or allow it to lose power. Updated: 10/10/2009 12:35 PM PDT T-MOBILE AND MICROSOFT/DANGER STATUS UPDATE ON SIDEKICK DATA DISRUPTION Dear valued T-Mobile Sidekick customers: T-Mobile a...

11 October 2009

Retired Member 

Government ID-iot Card DNA Database Back By Stealth

The lurking danger of the DNA database and Government ID card systems. Governments are courting disaster. At a time when we're all even more concerned about governments wasting money they are trying to sneak in the ill-conceived National ID card schemes. Democracy is being undermined as governments try to play the terrorist fear card in an attempt...

09 October 2009

Retired Member 

Google Provides 'Opt Out' of Googles Data Spy System

There is a new way to opt out of Googles coverage. If the video doesn't suit you we have a suggestion from a reader. Osama Bin Laden has personally recommended a nice cotton burqa and a plastic umbrella and you're safe from google street-view, google-earth satellite view and even the CIA. You don't have to move somewhere remote - though best not...

09 October 2009

Retired Member 

Ubank Do Some Real World Promotion

Ubank is celebrating it's first birthday by having a giant Pass-the-Parcel competition in Sydney next to the MCA this week. They're attempting to break the Guiness Book of Records and they're tempting you to be there at 7.00am Friday if you'd like to be caught holding the $10,000 parcel when I presume the music stops. Nice little real world get to...

07 October 2009 /retail

Retired Member 

Deals Have Been Good For The Big Banks

Back a while now I made a few predictions and offered a few suggestions in my finextra blog. They were to do with what was about to happen. It appears that I had a pretty good handle on the future. One of the key points was to be on the ball when it came to deals in the wake of what I predicted would be somewhere between a recession and a depressi...

06 October 2009

Elizabeth Lumley Global FinTech Commentator at Girl, Disrupted

Banks should wary of the 10 pound word

I got an email from someone today asking: 'when I wrote RIA, did I mean Rich Internet Applications or Registered Investment Advisors?' Of course, it is the sloppy journalist who relies on jargon (or acronyms!) in their writing. The easiest way to make sure your readers understand what you are saying, is to say it in plain, simple and straightforwar...

06 October 2009 /retail

Retired Member 

Gordon Brown Will Win The UK Election

If I were Rupert Murdoch...I'd be in trouble. Some of our Greek readers will no doubt be considering my response many months ago when I was approached to participate in some Greek projects. I answered that I said that there was going to be a large political upheaval in Greece and the stakeholders would not be there. I would reconsider after the el...

05 October 2009