March 14, 2008
Told you so
Posted by Kakyou at 08:09 AM | Comments (0)
May 11, 2006
Citibank. Why they just suck.
I've had a grudge against Citibank Japan for quite a while now.
Mostly because... well... They just really suck. ok?
Anyway, Things have been going downhill for them for a while now. over the last couple of years however the downhill slope is starting to resemble Niagra Falls though.
First they lose thier licence in Japan for thier private banking group. You know, the one where really rich people give them money and they get to charge them super high fees to manage it. Pshaw. who needed that anyway.
Then last month the regulators ding them again for basically lying and cheating and stuff.
Now because of a computer "glitch", they pooch a quarter of a million transactions over a weeklong period.
yeah, Whoops!
Mainichi Online: Computer glitch at Citibank Japan misplaces 275,000 transactions
Posted by Kakyou at 10:49 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 21, 2006
Google Finance
Pretty neat!
Google ponies up again to Yahoo and MSN bringing the usual attention to interface. Still a bit shy on non-US equities (Data, links, but no chart historical data), but I would expect that to be addressed soon.
Will be watching this very closely.
Posted by Kakyou at 05:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 10, 2006
Congrats to Vonage!
Vonage has finally gone IPO making it the first VOIP provider on the market (as opposed to another type of company who also provides VOIP service). The initial $250 million offering is one of the most anticipated IPO's of the season, but it does have its share of pundits and challenges.
In spite of that, I continue to be a big fan of company and their product. Great job on the IPO and good luck on moving into the mainstream Vonage!
I4U News: Vonage Goes IPO as First VOIP Company
Posted by Kakyou at 11:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 23, 2006
Breaking News: Horie Arrested?
Wow. This is wierd. Japanese prosecutors, a group that usually take months to determine the cause of a bowel movement have apperently just arrested Livedoor president Horie.
I still think the timing and subsequent events of this scandal point to a political attack gone very wrong, and this may be an effort to limit the fallout, but I can't see this having any positive effect on the Japanese market at large.
Livedoor may in fact have been guilty of the charges, but I would assume that most Japanese mid size companies are in the same boat. Either way, Livedoor is totally borked now, investers are fleeing the market screaming and the M/A business in Japan is heading for a nasty nasty fall.
I wonder if the group of power brokers who decided to teach Horie "a little lesson in humilty" are please with taking the entire country for the ride?
Posted by Kakyou at 09:08 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 20, 2006
We're tired of taking your crap
Wow. I've been waiting for this one for a while now.
Research in motion has finally come out and said what everyone has been thinking. Sure the NTP laswuit and such has been dragging on for years. There have been doomsday articles written about court orders, and injunctions. Compeditors have been salivating at the sidelines waiting to pounce. But name one thing that all high power senators and fortune 500 CEO's have in common (besides the plush Mercedes with leather seats, the blond in a condo in Florida, and a briefcase of money in a locker at Grand Central Station) and it would be thier little crackberry.
As things reach a climax in the RIM/NTP lawsuit, RIM has chosen now to remind everyone that shutting down RIM means turning off thier "little best friends".
The Register: RIM: US economy up spout if Blackberry shut out
Reminds me of one of the greatest fake ads of all time.
"You may think phone service stinks since deregulation, but don't mess with us, because we're all you've got. In fact, if we fold, you'll have no damn phones. AT&T - we're tired of taking your crap!"
Posted by Kakyou at 01:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 28, 2005
Womenomics, Japan's Hope For An Economic Revival?
Thought provocing article I picked up via Blookmberg.
Bloomberg: Womenomics' Is Good for Japan
In spite of the clear logic in this argument, I still have a hard time believing that Japanese politicians and business leaders will ever provide the buy-in and support for the fundamental changes that are required. Hollywood movies have done more to further the Womens Movement in Japan that any other factor by a huge margin. In a country where the business philosophy is "Image first, Profits if we can, Shareholders Who?", the simple fact that motivating a huge, underutilized segment of the population will most likely just evoke the "If it IS broke, don't fix it" police.
Posted by Kakyou at 11:26 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 24, 2005
Email turns 34
Looks like October 1971 was the date that the first electronic message was sent over a network in the form that is commonly referred to as Email. Oh, what a long and bumpy road it has been. Also reminds me that even thugh I have a shoebox of old computer punchcards in storage somewhere and a couple of cassette tapes with lots of beeps copied over a radio rip of Michael Jackson's "Thriller", I have not in fact been using a computer longer than God as some tactful Apple store employee once observed when I showed him a G3 laptop.
Paul Buchheit writes on the Google Blog about the anniversary and some thought about email in general. Interestingly enough they mirror my own thoughts about email a year ago.
I rely on email, a lot, but it just wasn't working for me. My email was a mess. Important messages were hopelessly buried, and conversations were a jumble; sometimes four different people would all reply to the same message with the same answer because they didn't notice the earlier replies. I couldn't always get to my email because it was stuck on one computer, and web interfaces were unbearably clunky. And I had spam. A lot of it.
Say what you want about Google. Whether you think they take privacy seriously enough, or care about Mac users, or are they truly Evil, but one thing I really appreciate about them is that they are serious innovators. See a problem, apply imagination, skill and hard work and see what happens.
I have to say I really like Gmail. Sure its not perfect. I havn't completely switched over to it. Maybe I never will. But I am constantly amazed with how Google continues to innovate new tools. I look forward to updates, and above all, Email doesn't completely piss me off anymore.
Thanks guys, and Happy Birthday!
Google Blog: Guess what just turned 34?
Posted by Kakyou at 12:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 13, 2005
Apple vs. Sony, You decide
So Apple comes out with the Nano and sony comes out with... whatever those things are called.
How the mighty have fallen. And if history has taught us one thing, it's that when the mighty fall, all there one-time supporters will gather together and kick the corpse and rifle through thier pockets. So as a long long long long time Sony fanboy, let me chime in with my own personal "you guys suck! I always hated you. I just pretended to like you when you gave me cool toys!"
To complete the ritual, here's my take on Sony's attempt to recapture the digital portable media market.
(Click to enlarge)
This is the stock performance of Sony vs. Apple over the last year. interestingly enough, plot a chart over the last week since each company announced thier new product line and the cart looks pretty much the same.
I'd say that investers know who's paying for the Christmas party this year. Pretty sure most consumers do too.
Now if I had just bought Apple back when it was $10 a share..
Posted by Kakyou at 04:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack