On July 31st, 2012 the Java debacle struck me, so this is old news to some. The Java Runtime environment was assembled to run similarly to visual basic only in its portable simplicity; write once and package the appropriate runtime engine for the associated operating system. -> Pretty simple and effective method to gain programmer momentum. The programmer is still bound to an English written/language and as such, is difficult to master more than one. Once seasoned, a single-threaded programmer could write complex code that just worked and cleaned up after itself. After several revisions of Java, they have apparently the “worst” or #1 infection vector on PC’s and Macs. So the situation deteriorates with “Sandbox breaches” where Java jumps into the operating system of the hosting virtual machine and contaminates all of the other critical sessions on the host hardware. This situation is very bad. As a purveyor of virtual machines very early on in my career, I continue to encounter more uses for virtual machines (which were the first real implementation of “Cloud” computing). Multiple hosted locations are now standard features of hosted business websites, mirror/load balance/virtualization all providing a seamless, consistent user experience across the globe. If your website isn’t ready for multiple locations, that may be good if you are a hosted user as the providers are beefing up their offering for a competitive shopping market.
Archive for the ‘Wealth Management’ Category
The Microsoft era begins
Tuesday, July 31st, 2012Trustworthiness
Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012
The way you look means a lot—especially if you’re in the financial industry—and the more trustworthy you look to potential clients, the more you’ll attract higher investments.
Despite appearances and first impressions, a recently published study in the PLoS One journal reports that even if people hear negative information about you, they’ll still be more inclined to invest their money with the person whose face is perceived to be more trustworthy.
“Trustworthiness is one of the most important traits for social and economic interactions and our study examines whether people take potentially costly actions in line with their face-based trustworthiness judgments,” Chris Olivola, one of the study’s authors, said in the University of Warwick’s press release. “It seems we are still willing to go with our own instincts about whether we think someone looks like we can trust them.”
Researchers from Warwick Business School, the University College London and Dartmouth College gave participants real money and asked them to choose who they’d invest with out of the face images provided. The volunteers were then given bad and good information about each of the faces, and asked again who they’d invest their money with.
Despite knowing the different reputations, the outcome didn’t change: participants were still more likely to invest their money with those who had more trustworthy-looking appearances
The team used a software created by Alex Todorov from Princeton University to produce 40 faces—20 pairs of faces at opposing ends of the trustworthiness scale—and altered features to “correspond to the way natural faces are perceived in reality.”
The study says that the difference in a trustworthy face and one that isn’t as much results from features that look “slightly angry or slightly happy, even when these faces are ‘at rest.’ ”
Basically, the bottom line is saying when it comes to investing, the way you look and the way people perceive you is a lot more important than your reputation.
Steps to successful SBIR bidding
Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012To get started, please see the steps we’ve laid out below.
Step #1 - Review topics at www.sbtdc.org/technology/newsletter/12-05/dod-solicitation-topics-042812.pdf. This will give you a good idea of what DoD’s current interests are.
Step #2 – Refine your search at www.dodsbir.net/Topics/CusTopicsSearch.asp. Be sure to conduct a search on EACH of the key words separately, or use the search tips at www.dodsbir.net/Topics/TopicsSearchScoop.htm if inputting multiple words.
Step #3 – Communication: Once a solicitation is identified, you are strongly encouraged to call and discuss your proposed project with the Topic Author. You have until May 23rd to communicate directly with him/her. After May 23rd, for reasons of competitive fairness, direct communication between proposers and topic authors is not allowed when DoD begins accepting proposals for each solicitation.
However, proposers may still submit written questions about solicitation topics through the SBIR/STTR Interactive Topic Information System (SITIS), in which the questioner and respondent remain anonymous and all questions and answers are posted electronically for general viewing until the solicitation closes. All proposers are advised to monitor SITIS during the solicitation period for questions and answers, and other significant information, relevant to the SBIR/STTR topic under which they are proposing.
Step #4 – Presentation: Review the presentation at www.sbtdc.org/technology/newsletter/12-05/dod-overview.ppt presented by Nicole Fox of the Army Research Office. It provides a clear overview of the DoD SBIR program.
How to curb spending
Wednesday, April 18th, 2012…stop subscribing to deal sites and guys stay away from slickdeals.net and newegg
A new study by ExactTarget found more than two-thirds of Americans shopping online are baited with email first – nearly twice the rate brought in from Facebook and text messages.
It makes sense why we’re partial to the email route. It’s easy enough to mark messages as spam and ignore ones we don’t feel like reading straightaway.
But for a shopaholic, email is basically the gateway drug to overspending.
When the time comes that I actually need to shop, I’ll prowl CouponSherpa.com or Retailmenot.com for discount codes first and check to see if Ebates has a cashback offer available. I rarely turn up empty-handed.
The USA sanctions hacking!!! – Naval Supply Systems Command SBIR
Thursday, April 12th, 2012The Department of Homeland Security has enlisted a San Francisco company to help crack open the encrypted data in consoles, which it claims may hold key evidence in cases ranging from the exploitation of children to terrorism. Link
According to forensic experts, pedophiles are increasingly using gaming systems to exploit children, while terrorists are using it for communication. With this evidence, a contract was awarded on April 5 by the Naval Supply Systems Command to Obscure Technologies for the research and development of “hardware and software tools that can be used for extracting data from video game systems.”
Obscure Technologies, a small San Francisco-based company that performs computer forensics and which has just been awarded a $177,237 sole-source research contract to develop “hardware and software tools that can be used for extracting data from video game systems,” and “a collection of data (disk images; flash memory dumps; configuration settings) extracted from new video game systems and used game systems purchased on the secondary market,” according to the contract award from the U.S. Navy.
:
N0024412R0024
https://www.neco.navy.mil/synopsis_file/N0024412R002…
Description: N0024412R0024_JA_Obscure-Game.docx
:
N00244 NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center San Diego Seal Beach Office 800 Seal Beach Blvd. Bldg 239 Seal Beach, CA
What is the (JOBS) act? The crowdfunding bill passed today
Friday, March 23rd, 2012The JOBS (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) Act that passed in the House today contains some big changes for crowdfunding startups. It now moves on to the Senate.
Right now, it’s illegal for a startup to solicit investors on platforms like Twitter or Kickstarter. But the JOBS Act would change that. For startups raising $1 million or less, anyone can now buy up to $10,000 or 10 percent of the annual income (whichever is less) in equity
IPO filings of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 which said that any company with more than 500 shareholders has to open its financials to the SEC like a public company. But under the JOBS Act, anyone who gives $10,000 or less will not count toward this limit. The act also raises the shareholder limit from 500 to 1,000.
Startups can opt to raise as much as $2 million in this manner; but if they go the crowdfunding route, they will have to provide audited financial statements to their investors. There are some drawbacks for startups. Here are some highlights:
- First, startups must understand that minority stockholders have certain significant rights under state law, including voting rights, the right to inspect the company’s books and records, the right to bring a derivative claim on behalf of the company, and certain protections against oppression by the controlling stockholders. Indeed, the more stockholders a startup has, the greater the likelihood that a disgruntled stockholder will cause problems, including filing lawsuits.
- Second, having hundreds of stockholders is an administrative nightmare and will be time consuming and costly. Presumably, each stockholder will be required to execute a subscription agreement and/or stockholders’ agreement to address key issues such as transfer restrictions, rights of first refusal, and drag-along rights. There will also be administrative issues relating to voting and stock transfer issues.
- Third, startups will likely have difficulty raising funds from VCs and other sophisticated investors if they have hundreds of unsophisticated stockholders. Needless to say, few sophisticated investors will want to sit on the board of directors of such a company due to the risks of lawsuits relating to director liability, and I would assume D&O liability insurance rates will skyrocket for these companies.
The JOBS Act also makes it easier for small companies to go public by increasing the offering threshold for companies exemepted from SEC regulation from $5 to $50 million on companies. Additional regulations will be phased in over a five-year period for companies that stay under $1 billion in revenue.
SBIR/STTR how to webinar notes
Tuesday, March 13th, 2012New Funding:
Contact Names and Numbers:
Presentation – Attached for your review is the DoD presentation that was delivered by Nicole Fox
High-IQ investors are more likely to…
Tuesday, February 28th, 2012create an interesting chart based on Finnish male IQ tests. Interesting source
Source->Abstract