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What's up with Gold?
Gold is riding high at $1200/oz on the back of high profile purchases by the central banks in India and Russia. The gold reserves as proportion of total forex reserves is less than 5% for both countries – so no big deal. But there is a theory making rounds that this may be the beginning…
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UBS wants to grow, but its supervisors want it to shrink
It is perhaps a bit concerning that UBS wants to trade more and grow faster to get out of the slump. These are they very instincts that their Swiss regulator wants to clamp down upon. But UBS has to act in the interest of its shareholders who want to see UBS employ a gambling-for-redemption strategy.…
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Barclays sold BGI to BlackRock – What does it mean?
Barclays decided to sell its Investment Management group, Barclays Global Investors (BGI) to BlackRock. As part of the deal BlackRock is also getting iShares, the ETF arm of BGI. After the consolidation BlackRock will boast an asset base of $2.7 trillion, the largest with any single firm. Yet the combined BlackRock will only have 5%…
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Power of Twitter in Social Networking (and the limits there of)
Twitter was formally thrust upon as the most powerful medium to communicate in recent global events, be it the Iranian revolution, Georgia or Mumabi 11/26 attacks. Twitter is probably not there yet. Twitter’s role in the Iranian revolution is interesting to read. Analysis proves that old fashioned SMS, local websites and word of mouth played…
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Google logos on its homepage
Today’s Google logo is the most eye catching one I have seen so far. By this time most of us know about the creative logos that Google puts up on its homepage to celebrate some events and people. What is interesting to me is about how powerful a mass communication medium this could be. A…
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Yes, Looks Do Matter
Our tendency to form instant perceptions can get us wrong sometimes. Susan Boyle will become a great case study about how we form perceptions in a flash and then try to disregard any exceptions to the mental image until they are overwhelming. In case of Susan Boyle it was her voice on “Britan’s Got Talent”…
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Indira: The life of Indira Nehru Gandhi (by Katherine Frank)
This book is an interesting read about the personal life of Indira Gandhi. It is difficult for most of us Indians to talk impassively about the life of Indira Gandhi as a person and not as the prime minister of India. During her tenure and even till today she is said to be most hated…
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How Microsoft Is Fighting Back (Finally)
Microsoft will be offering the basic version of Windows 7.0 at $15 a piece. It is less than one third of what each Windows license usually costs. Windows 7.0 does not fit in the traditional fat-profit business model of Microsoft. After all last year the Windows division made $13bn profit on $16.9 bn of revenues!…