Wednesday 10:56 pm, July 23rd, 2008
The piece of Mac malware identified in June, named “OSX/Hovdy-A Trojan”, is the nastier of the two. It is capable of infiltrating a Mac, stealing passwords and opening the user’s firewall to enable future exploits. If the modus operandi sounds familiar, that ’s because a lot of the same virus gangs who perfected their exploits on Windows machines are now tweaking them for Macs, Mr Cluley adds.
Scarier still, the same tech-novice PC owners who failed to fortify their computers properly, allowing them to become spam relays and zombie DDOS attackers, are now making the switch to Macs. “I think the Mac user base will end up becoming polluted by some of the same people who have been infected time and time again in the Windows environment,” Mr Cluley says. “It’s mainly the same people who buy a computer primarily to download porn and visit file-sharing sites.”
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Tuesday 9:49 am, July 22nd, 2008
“The internet really does make it easy to show what idiots these people are.”
Link
Monday 5:07 pm, July 14th, 2008
Ok, this is the most enjoyable news I’ve read since I picked up my 360. A total overhaul of the interface (the old one was experiencing some pretty major growing pains) and 10,000 new movies and shows via NetFlix. Awesome. The kicker - “The content Marketplace will be overhauled and revamped to ensure it’s easier to navigate and much more scalable for the huge amount of content it’s got.” That was really needed. Browsing films has lacked a few key features, better previews, search, and a nicer cover art interface. Hopefully they’ve addressed all of this. About th only downer at this point is NetFlix is currently SD only, but that apparently will be changing over time.
Link
How much you wanna bet MS buys NetFlix at some point?
Update - They also added Sci-Fi and NBC Universal’s content line up starting now. Sweet.
Overall, I have to say, I am so incredibly happy with the 360 as an all-in-one living room media hub and game console. It has to be the best hardware product Microsoft has ever released.
Update Again - OMG it gets better -
Play from hard drive. Copy your games from the game disc and play directly from the hard drive. Not only will the drive not spin, but load times are quicker, as well. Of course, you will still need the disc in the tray to prove you own the game.
Access Xbox LIVE Marketplace on the Web. Browse and purchase Marketplace content whenever you want from Xbox.com and it downloads automatically to your console. Purchase that new map, television episode, the latest Xbox LIVE Arcade game or set up a movie to watch when you get home from work.
New display support. Because you asked for it, we are adding 16X10 over VGA or HDMI, and support for 1440×900 or 1680×1050.
The web ordering is just fantastic. I’ve been whining on the xbox 360 boards for a while now that they need to add a web interface for browsing and ordering content that will auto download regardless of where you are. Tivo had this through Amazon, it kicked ass and I’ve missed it since I got rid of my Tivo and went Hi Def. I guess MS has been listening.
There are even more announcements coming down the road.
Link
Friday 6:04 pm, July 11th, 2008
Mortgage lender IndyMac Bancorp Inc (IMB.N) was taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp on Friday, the second largest financial institution to close in U.S. history.
The FDIC said the estimated cost of the California-based bank’s failure to its insurance fund is between $4 billion and $8 billion. The regulator said it will operate IndyMac to maximize the value of the firm for future sale.
Damn! This however is a “drop in the bucket” compared to freddie and fannie, which are next on the list.
Friday 2:13 pm, July 11th, 2008
I’ve been living in a gated community now for almost 7 years. I’ve enjoyed it but there are disadvantages - close in living, homeowners associations, traffic and tourists, and a lack of space / seclusion. One of the options I’m considering for a real estate investment is to rent out my current house and buy another place I’ll enjoy more. My current place fits perfect as a long term rental property based on the research I’ve done so far, and a new house will give me the opportunity to do some things I can’t do in a covenant based community.
One of the things I’d really like to do is go solar for electric power. In the community I current live, I can’t install panels on the roof as it’s a violation of rules and regulations, and I don’t have a large enough back yard to install the more advanced stand-alone photovoltaic tracking systems. A new house on a plot of land would allow me to do so. I also think it would make for a really cool technology experiment in green living.
So I’m looking at good property I can build on and existing homes on nice chunks of acreage (1-10 acres would be nice). As far as solar goes, it’s actually pretty easy to do, there are various different types of residential system to choose from, each providing different levels of energy output. The more energy out, the higher the cost and space requirements. Initial investments range from 10K to 50K, with a return that should pay for the investment over a period of 10-15 years. After that you’re making money off it. Plus, heck, going green feels good, and hopefully drops your carbon footprint into negative digits.
If you’re curious here are some links to companies and sites that provide information on the technology and systems. It’s a basic list at this point, but I’ll be updating it with more information as I continue the research.
General Information -
Florida Solar Energy Center
Provider Directories -
Florida Solar Energy Industry Association
National Solar Provider Directory
Example Systems and Cost -
Home Solar Solutions
Silicon Solar
Full Circle Solar
Government Programs -
State of Florida $20K installation rebate - This program has been so popular the initial budget was met, there’s now a waiting list to receive it.
Federal Solar Tax Credit - Enacted by Bush 2005, and extended recently through 2008, a 30% tax credit on the purchase of solar voltaic systems.
Friday 11:38 am, July 11th, 2008
Over the last 5 months or so I’ve been looking at vacation rentals as a form of investment. In general, I’ve come to the conclusion these properties are not good investments to make up here in north west Florida. (They may be good investments in other regions, just not here.) My main conclusions –
1) The season is too short, yielding low average occupancy rates thanks to a lengthy off season (nearly five months of the year)
2) Capitalization costs are too high for the properties people are interested in renting (450K to 700K)
3) Carry cost are too high (insurance, property taxes, utilities, and fees on management services)
4) Risk is too high – good rental properties must be near the beach, and a majority of land in this area is within a storm surge or flood zone
While in good years it’s possible to turn a very nice profit, over lengthy ownership periods the average profit is much lower. For a property within walking or “golf carting” distance to the beach, best case average annual return is around 7%. You can do better in other markets.
As an alternative, I’ve been looking at long term rental property (leased) that meets the following conditions –
1) Low capitalization costs – smaller 2 bedroom, 2 bath homes for less than 250K at current prices
2) Optimal location - Safe, single family homes in communities that appeal to middle income families
3) Off but near the beach – purchasing property that is not in a flood or surge zone yields lower carrying costs (insurance costs, property taxes)
4) Gated communities – most sought after for various reasons (security, social standing, sense of community)
There are numerous communities down here that meet these requirements. The return on investment also appears to be much higher than vacation rentals - upwards of 15% annualized return. So I‘ll be shifting my research around more toward this type of investment. I’ll post what I find down the road.
Friday 11:09 am, July 11th, 2008
Paulson’s statement “Institutions Must Be Allowed To Fail” is in reality an implicit admission the Fed is powerless to stop a credit implosion whether the Fed wants to do something about it or not. We have finally reached the point at which the mess is too big to bail. All that remains at this point is the final numbers on how much taxpayers have to cough up when Congress foolishly tries to make water run uphill.
Link
Friday 10:39 am, July 11th, 2008
Under a conservatorship, the shares of Fannie and Freddie would be worth little or nothing, and any losses on mortgages they own or guarantee — which could be staggering — would be paid by taxpayers.
The government officials said that the administration had also considered calling for legislation that would offer an explicit government guarantee on the $5 trillion of debt owned or guaranteed by the companies. But that is a far less attractive option, they said, because it would effectively double the size of the public debt.
We’re all investulators now!
Fannie Mae issued a statement saying that it remained financially strong.
“Our company has raised more than $14 billion in capital since November 2007, including $7.4 billion most recently in May,” the company said. “As our regulator has stated, and has reiterated in public statements this week, we are adequately capitalized.”
Sharon McHale, vice president for public relations at Freddie Mac, said: “Our regulator has emphasized that we have continued to maintain the highest capital rating, and we are in the market every day. We’ll continue to do so.”
Shares of Freddie Mac plunged more than 30 percent and Fannie Mae’s more than 20 percent in the first hour of trading on Thursday. By the close of trading, Fannie shares had fallen nearly 14 percent, and Freddie shares had dropped 22 percent. It was the second straight day of declines for the companies.
While their stocks trade on the New York Stock Exchange, Congress created the two companies to promote housing, and the marketplace has long come to believe that they would be bailed out should they become insolvent. They hold a far lower level of capital than banks do. In recent years, they have both suffered from accounting scandals and management shake-ups.
Now where have I heard that before? Oh yeah, from Bear Stearns and IndyMac.
Link
Thursday 7:00 pm, July 10th, 2008
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are government-sponsored enterprises that help the mortgage market function by purchasing pools of loans and packaging them into securities. If one or both couldn’t function, the result would be chaos.
At the end of last year, Fannie alone had packaged and guaranteed about $2.8 trillion worth of mortgages, approximately 23% of all outstanding U.S. mortgage debt. And these securities are highly rated and sold to investors all over the world.
“If Fannie or Freddie failed, it would be far worse than the fall of [investment bank] Bear Stearns,” says Sean Egan, head of credit ratings firm Egan Jones. “It could throw the economy into depression or something close to it.”
Link
The securities of FRE and FNM are highly rated because of quasi government backing that has never been qualified by the U.S. Government. The problem has been exacerbated by loosening of regulations that surround these two GSEs. If a complete severing of these two companies from the government years ago had taken place, they would not be in such a mess, and they wouldn’t control a majority interest in the mortgage market.
Thursday 4:35 pm, July 10th, 2008
The mother load -
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