Category: Technology

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UpDown.com Virtual Investing

Recently I stumbled upon a virtual investing site called UpDown.com which provides you with a fictional $1 million to start investing. You can compete it real contests which can earn you real money depending on which place you finish – some even provide prizes for the top 50 investors. Also, every month you are eligible to earn some cash if your portfolio for the entire month out performs S&P 500.

I take a little pride in investing (virtually) and ever since winning $800 prize way back in high school I have joined contests to see how well I can do. I think it’s fair to say I end up in the positive more than I end up in the red so that’s a good sign. Think you are good? Why not give this a shot just to see. You can always just buy a couple of stocks and let it sit long term or do daily trading… whatever suits you.

Here is a brief summary of my portfolio so far:


I’ll give a little detailed description of my portfolio right now where in about less than a week I am up 2%. I have a couple of big technology stocks in Apple and Google which do bad when the market goes out but definitely out perform the market on the good days. I shorted on a couple (which are currently paying off but I would never short in real life). Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and BlackRock are the ones I shorted on and all three have declined this week. It’s a careful balance on when to cover those shortrs and not get too greedy. Also, I am hoping for Sirius Radio to shoot through the roof soon as it is awaiting a merger in the upcoming weeks or months so I will be holding on to that.

The one stock that has just exploded these past few days is little known Pyramid Oil Company (PDO) which I had bought at a measly $12 per share and it has jumped $2 already. I had thought about Exxon Mobil (XOM) but the price on that is a little steeper than I want to invest in an oil stock. I stuck to the smaller alternative and so far so good.

I’ll keep updating every now and then to see how my portfolio is doing against the S&P and I already know that people like Mike, Justin and my sister have joined in on this. I have a mini group just to compare how everyone does against each other so if you decide to join, let me know. It’s a fun little thing that you can check in on every now and then or heavily follow if that’s the type of investor you are.

Once again, the site is called UpDown.com and it’s free to join. What can beat that?

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Amazon Marketplace: Customer Experience

My experience with Amazon Marketplace over the two years that I have been buying and selling things has been fantastic (outside of one jerk – who didn’t turn out to be such a jerk after all). I have sold things from books to XBox 360 games to, uhh, mostly books. Most of the times people will keep the order as they ordered but every now and then, and I have done this too, when you buy something and it just happened to be the wrong item that you ordered or it wasn’t what you expected it to be.

Yes, Amazon has a policy to return the items within 30 days of purchase but some people can be jerks about it and not give you an address or not give you a full refund back because the item is no longer in the exact condition and packaging as shipped.

However every now and then, you just get a customer who is nice during email conversations of the order, very pleasant when requesting information on the refund policy and very prompt on returning the item so it is feasible for me to re-sell it.

This post is to a Hannah L. from Duluth, Minnesota. The note was attached to the book that was returned around 06/07/08 and I only read it today because the book was sold.

By the way, the book was America’s Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975. Should you get a chance to read it, it’s a really interesting book.

Related Link: ABG Amazon Store, America’s Longest War

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iWaiting for iPhone

So it has been 8 days since I placed a Direct Fulfillment Order for my iPhone 3G since it was sold out in all the local stores (Apple and AT&T). Originally I was told it would only take 5-7 days and I assumed it would since Apple was releasing their phones worldwide and I thought Apple would be ready for a release on such a massive scale. Turns out I was a little wrong in my judgment.Why So Serious?

As of day 8, I am currently #15 #12 (3:17 PM) in the waiting list at my local AT&T store which is approximately getting about 5 shipments of iPhones a day (you do the math – at least 3 more days of waiting at best). The 5-7 has turned into 7-10 day wait for most people if not 2-3 weeks already. If you want to place a DF order now, you better be ready to wait nearly a month to get it. My suggestion would probably be to keep an eye out at a local Apple Store since they seem to be getting more frequent shipments and hope be lucky at get your hands on one through a walk-in.

There have been a couple of sites such as Where Is My Damn iPhone and ATT Direct Fulfillment Watchdog that have been providing some comfort (not a lot) by listing all the AT&T orders (whether they were iPhone related or not to show you your place in the queue). Also on the AT&T Wireless Forums there was a thread created on 7/13 called Has Anyone Receive Their iPhone 3G Through Direct Fulfillment and in merely 9 days it was already generated 5,140 comments from disgruntled customers (myself included). Although the anger has somewhat subsided and patience starts to kick in for most of the people, the iWait continues and hopefully will be concluded soon enough.

I will definitely review the product once I do get it and for anyone reading this who already got their hands on one, let me know what you think. Was it what you expected? Pros? Cons?

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Google Health: A Data Collecting Tool?

Google, which offers services for everything from email to blogging, from maps to finance, recently released a service called Google Health. At first I thought this was yet another remarkable and innovative tool offered by Google to organize one’s life and consolidate everything into one place. I was ready to jump all over it and quickly hand them over all my personal health data and see what it offered. Then my brother stepped in and said one statement on it that has made me reluctant to touch this for the past two months.

“So Google will have every little detail about your life on you now”

I try not to be skeptic about things before trying them out but in today’s age when courts are forcing companies to hand over user data and anything else they may have logged about their activity, who is to say that some day in the not too distant future Google is made to hand over medicial data as well?

Fortunately, I have been quite healthy recently and have not require much medical assistance than some others I know but I am still not certain this is something I would recommend to them. Leaving aside the privacy issues, this could falsely power the patients into making decisions that they are not properly educated about or might make a decision based on misunderstanding some facts.

Look at some of the features that Google Health offers. With it, you can do the following:

image Build online health profiles
You can enter your health conditions, medications, allergies, and lab results into your Google Health profile and you can name the profile anything you want. You can even create multiple profiles for family members or others you care for.
Import medical records from hospitals and pharmacies
Choose from a list of Google Health partners to see if your hospital or pharmacy can send copies of your medical records or prescriptions to your Google Health profile. This way, you can save an accurate history of your medical conditions, medications, and test results all in one place.
image Learn about health issues and find helpful resources
Review trusted information on diseases and conditions and learn about possible medication interactions and other topics to talk your doctors about.
image Search for doctors and hospitals
You can search for a doctor’s name or location, find a doctor’s website, get directions to a doctor’s office, and save a doctor’s information to your medical contacts list.
image Connect to online health services
Browse the online health services directory to find services that are integrated with Google Health that can help you better manage your health needs.

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