Business as usual on Wall-E Street

Okay before you start reading, let me say this article is nothing about the silly new Disney movie called Wall-E. I just couldn't think of a creative title for this post. Okay so lets move on.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist like Hillary to tell us that the US economy is in dire straits. Your average Joe can no longer afford his groceries. Grandmothers can't afford their denture adhesives. Little kids can no longer get their Happy Meals. And, the Big Banks of Wall Street can no longer afford paying million dollar bonusues. Times are changing, and they are changing fast.

What's going on in the world? India, China, and all of those emerging market countries that were considered unstoppable are all out of gas (no pun intended). In fact, the Indian stock market has taken a 40% drop from it's 2007 highs. The US S&P 500 Index just entered a bear market today, for the first time since 2002.

The Great Bush Era is finally coming to an end and Change is about to enter Washington. Why don't we realize that the economies of the world are all cyclical. Doom is not ahead for The US. The economic cycle goes up and down for a reason and every now and then, countries go into recessions. Now is just our turn.

Lets get real. We don't need to play the blame game on who caused what panic and what bailout. Lets take things as they come for the next six months or so. After that, Barack O-drama will take care of the rest.

This blog is back in action. I know I just made your day with that announcement. So keep coming back to this blog and check out the amazing ads on the page if you know what I mean.

The World's Cheapest Nano (It's a car, not an iPod)

This car is really, really cheap. Probably cheaper than the prospects of Hillary Clinton's pointless campaign. Okay sorry, that didn't make too much sense, but you get the idea.

Last month, TATA Motors of India announced the arrival of the world's cheapest car appropriately named the Nano: The People's Car. How much? $2,500USD. It's a pretty cool-looking car too. Kind of like a squashed-up Toyota Prius. Anyway, the chief focus of the TATA Motors' CEO Ratan Tata, is to provide efficient and sustainable transportation to the common man. In India, lower-class families are frequently stuck without any reliable mode of transportation and as a result are forced to go through time-consuming and oftentimes, embarrassing circumstances to travel. It is a common sight in India to see about 7-8 people riding an average-sized motorcycle at the SAME time. Typically, these motorcycles are priced at $1500USD. For just another $1000 bucks these families can now afford a car! The arrival of the Nano is probably a godsend to such families (and believe me, there are a LOT of them in India.)

Some specs about the car:

• 4 Doors
• 10 feet long / 5 feet wide
• 623cc Two cylinder engine
• About 35 Horsepower and capable of going 65MPH
• There is also a trunk that can fit about 2 small backpacks
• Offers 54 Miles per gallon

Over time, the introduction of this car is going to negatively affect the US Auto market. (I'm sure the Nano, in the long run, will be launching in overseas markets) Unless a Ford or GM can counter TATA's innovative new product before that time, their income statements are taking a hit. (Especially in today's economy, when the consumer purchasing power and spending is super low)

Of course, in India, the sales for this car are probably going to be really high. That means, there will be more pollution, more congestion and perhaps, a lot more confusion. At the same time, I think that one thing is for sure, this car will definitely help to boost India's growing economy. Think about it. A whole cycle can kick off as this car starts to sell like hotcakes. New jobs in car manufacturing, more profitable car dealerships, higher number of car lenders, more car workshop, new road and bridge construction, addition to jobs and new workers, and so on.

I hate to say this but I have a feeling that the rest of the world is moving beyond the United States in so many areas and industries. You know, I'm getting a little off-topic now but whatever. They used to say, "when the US sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold". Well, that's not the case anymore, is it?

Today, when the US sneezes, does anyone even care? Pssh, yeah right.

Go India.

Who will clean after Bush?

Barak Obama vs. Bill Clinton
(sorry I meant Hillary)

First off, I’m an Obama guy. I don’t have anything against Bill, the guy is good with ladies, he reported a surplus of $559 billion at the end of his presidency, and left office with a 65% approval rating. I keep going back to Bill for some reason, but will she too?

Anyways, just Yesterday (Wednesday the 20th), Obama continued on with his winning streak since SuperTuesday two weeks ago to win Wisconsin and Hawaii with a 58% and 76% respectively, if you haven’t been keeping count, this is his 9th and 10th in a row baby. The guy is on fire. He is taking states with groups that should be going to Clinton like the Whites, the lower class, and the less educated. So what is left for Clinton? I only hope something is. Clinton appears to have disregarded smaller states like Ohio to focus her appetite on the more candidate-rich states like upcoming Pennsylvania and Texas.

This is only a good strategy if you are guaranteed the big states. But is she? I would’ve asked her campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, but the smart lady resigned. If you are dead hungry and the nearest burger joint is 100 miles away, would you stop at the 25 mile mark to get some fries? I would, cause they do add up and if at 100 miles you find the joint closed, Hillary, now you are stuck without a burger(Texas) nor the fries(Hawaii).

Vermont, Texas, Ohio, and Rhode Island are up in 13 days. So let’s wait and see, but as Bill Clinton puts it: Texas loss may mean the end.
I know what you are thinking: What about the old guy? Never mind him, we’ll talk about McCain later. And Huckabee, well he’s too cute to sit in the oval office.

GO OBAMA, "Yes We Can."

FACEBOOK 3D??? Brilliant add on- Highly Recommended !!

Okay, so enough with the Facebook stuff, right? Wrong. Its all I see on everyone’s screen when I go to class or get my coffee from Starbucks in the morning. Okay I lied about the coffee thing but the application is getting more attention than a woman running for US president. So for the very very few of you that have facebook and the even fewer that click on the Photos tab the first thing in the morning, here is an add-on that you can thank me about later. Its called Piclens and it makes stalking your friends and family on FB, or searching for images on Google and Flickr, a lil bit more "3Dish its 2008" style.

After all, we only have 100,000+ images served per second on Facebook during peak traffic and 2.2 billion friends tagged in user photos. I’m not making this up, its straight from my man Mark Zuckerberg.

It’s a Firefox add-on so you have to have Firefox to use it. You know Firefox right? (Internet Explorer’s enemy).

And for those of you who cleverly betrayed Bill Gates, PicLens is available in a MAC download too.

You don’t have to thank me for this, I changed my mind, just enjoy. I know I’m hot. Watchathink?

Click Here to Download

Fly your Way Through Airport Security (Wait....what?!)

Are you tired of removing your clothing and shoes at airports to the awkward pleasure of Homeland Security officers? (I think so!) For those of you who get extremely frustrated with the endless layers of airport security, FlyClear is your solution. For only about $100 a year (plus a one-off TSA vetting fee of $28), the Clear card can be yours! It is a card with an innovative biometric chip that can easily allow you to breeze right past airport security. So how does it work?

All card holders are pre-screened and subsequently granted access to a specific number of airport "fast pass" lanes around the United States.

As of now, FlyClear works at the following airports/terminals: Albany, Denver, Indianapolis, JFK Terminals 1, 4, 7, Newark Terminal B, Orlando, San Francisco and San Jose.

The pre-screening is a painless yet thorough process: There's a kiosk at which this has to be done. The technology is quite frankly, pretty damn good. Here's a brief synopsis of what has to be done:

1. Scan your passport and drivers license
2. Very detailed fingerprint scans
3. Two retinal scans for (one for each eye)

The word about FlyClear is spreading fast so get your card before the price is hiked. Based on what I've heard about it, most banks on Wall Street are starting to issue FlyClear cards to employees to boost efficiency and timeliness. It is definitely something that is worth checking out!

Why don't you BUY ONE NOW? If you're one of those skeptical types, click HERE to research some more and find a FlyClear store near you.

8aweek: Save yourself from the Internet!

This brand-new Firefox add-on is the perfect cure for our addiction to pointless websites on the Internet. Studies from 8aweek.com have proven that the average employee wastes about 8 hours a week on irrelevant websites. Can you imagine how much it would be for the average college student?! A LOT more...and that's probably a huge understatement!

8aweek is seed funded by Y Combinator, a VC firm that supports promising startup-companies. This unique software tracks (no adware or spyware by the way) your individual browsing patterns and logs the amount of time you spend on specific websites. If you want, you can add those websites that you spend too much time on, to a restricted time setting. In other words, if you are spending WAY too much time on YouTube everyday, 8aweek will allow you to set a 30 min or 45 min timer for YouTube so you can measure your time much more efficiently. It's definitely something worth checking out if you're in dire need of proper time management! Download it here

Indelible Footprints on Facebook

Have you ever wondered that it is virtually impossible to delete all traces of yourself on the popular social networking site Facebook? The only option available to the 62 million active users of the site, is to deactivate their accounts. Facebook has been permanently storing all of the users' information and pictures all along since it started up in February of 2004 without directly saying so.

There is a great deal of concern among users about potential privacy risks as a result of having their personal information saved on the Facebook database. Even if you manually were to erase all of your tracks, messages, photos, on your profile, the majority of that content has been stored up already by Facebook. Food for thought.

There are about 15 million pictures uploaded on Facebook every single day! Also, many of you with Facebook accounts may have noticed a rising number of ads on your profiles about your friends activities and applications. You are not even asked for your consent before this information is publicized. We may not realize it, but if we a long, hard look at it, there is definitely a risk of privacy abuse involved here. Just because someone is not your friend on Facebook, doesn't mean they don't have access to your information. Scary.