Wells Fargo ATMs no longer have an option to display balances. Why is that?
The ATMs used to have this option. It seemed to disappear fairly recently. Is it going to come back?
Printing an account statement is still an option, but that's often overkill.
Update (2/8/07): The display balances option is back.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Gates (foundation) in a rush? Oh no!
The Gates' foundation is rushing to spend the money that Warren Buffett is giving it. This is a scary prospect.
Bill Gates has been pretty mediocre about predicting the future. In fact, his most well-known prediction is the hugely wrong '640K of memory should be enough for anybody.' [1]
He failed to signal the importance of the Internet in his book The Road Ahead despite it coming out a little bit before the popularization of the Internet.
Microsoft's success is due more to relentless tactical warfare, but the downside of that is the company's shady monopolistic behavior and technically unsound decisions. For example, Microsoft pushed ActiveX controls in order to maintain the supremacy of the Windows desktop even for Internet applications. However, it did not do a thorough job of implementing ActiveX in a secure manner. That's why we still see bugs for Internet Explorer due to ActiveX.
The world does not need to see Bill Gates in a rush to vanquish enemies again. Even if the enemies are malaria and AIDS instead of Sun and Netscape, Gates should move deliberately and carefully. There have been mistakes by philanthropists in the past, and we do not want to look back in 20 years and rue the decisions made by the Gates foundation.
[1] A Wired News article indicates that he didn't make this statement, but it does agree that he's not much of a visionary.
Bill Gates has been pretty mediocre about predicting the future. In fact, his most well-known prediction is the hugely wrong '640K of memory should be enough for anybody.' [1]
He failed to signal the importance of the Internet in his book The Road Ahead despite it coming out a little bit before the popularization of the Internet.
Microsoft's success is due more to relentless tactical warfare, but the downside of that is the company's shady monopolistic behavior and technically unsound decisions. For example, Microsoft pushed ActiveX controls in order to maintain the supremacy of the Windows desktop even for Internet applications. However, it did not do a thorough job of implementing ActiveX in a secure manner. That's why we still see bugs for Internet Explorer due to ActiveX.
The world does not need to see Bill Gates in a rush to vanquish enemies again. Even if the enemies are malaria and AIDS instead of Sun and Netscape, Gates should move deliberately and carefully. There have been mistakes by philanthropists in the past, and we do not want to look back in 20 years and rue the decisions made by the Gates foundation.
[1] A Wired News article indicates that he didn't make this statement, but it does agree that he's not much of a visionary.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
The DP DP
Motley Fool published an article called "Openwave: A Closed Book" expressing disappointment in the behavior of Openwave's management.
This should not have been a surprise. Dave P. has historically had really good luck with his options. That's why he could make gobs of money from Inktomi despite giving away the search market to Google and falling for the hype in the network infrastructure market.
There are other troubling issues to deal with. During the quarter, CEO David Peterschmidt exercised a significant chunk of his options in company stock, then immediately sold the shares. It happened to take place on the same day that Openwave was accused of options backdating, halfway into the quarter. Again, this makes me wonder whether Peterschmidt knew something the rest of us didn't.
This should not have been a surprise. Dave P. has historically had really good luck with his options. That's why he could make gobs of money from Inktomi despite giving away the search market to Google and falling for the hype in the network infrastructure market.
Monday, May 01, 2006
The unbearable crumminess of NBA refs
Why isn't there (more) controversy over the Lakers-Suns game on Sunday?
I guess people are so excited by Kobe's game winning drive that they will overlook the sketchy circumstances that led to it.
Why didn't the refs give the Suns a timeout when the Suns' players were calling for one?
Why didn't the refs call a foul on the Lakers' defenders who seemed to be fouling Steve Nash while trying to trap him?
I saw the replay several times, and it very strongly looked like that Nash was fouled and that his team called for a timeout. Somehow, in the feeble world of NBA officiating, that led to a jump ball pitting Nash against a taller player.
Kobe's basket was a dazzling display of skill, but that doesn't excuse the fact that Nash should've been shooting free throws instead of losing a jump ball.
As to the "refs shouldn't call fouls late in the game because the players should decide the game" argument. That's a weak argument at best, but somehow the refs were willing to call fouls on Shawn Marion until he fouled out. His fouls didn't look worse than the uncalled fouls against Nash.
Until then, the Lakers-Suns game was fun to watch, and I was excited for the next game in the series (as well as the rest of the playoffs). Now if I don't watch another NBA game, I won't feel bad.
I guess people are so excited by Kobe's game winning drive that they will overlook the sketchy circumstances that led to it.
Why didn't the refs give the Suns a timeout when the Suns' players were calling for one?
Why didn't the refs call a foul on the Lakers' defenders who seemed to be fouling Steve Nash while trying to trap him?
I saw the replay several times, and it very strongly looked like that Nash was fouled and that his team called for a timeout. Somehow, in the feeble world of NBA officiating, that led to a jump ball pitting Nash against a taller player.
Kobe's basket was a dazzling display of skill, but that doesn't excuse the fact that Nash should've been shooting free throws instead of losing a jump ball.
As to the "refs shouldn't call fouls late in the game because the players should decide the game" argument. That's a weak argument at best, but somehow the refs were willing to call fouls on Shawn Marion until he fouled out. His fouls didn't look worse than the uncalled fouls against Nash.
Until then, the Lakers-Suns game was fun to watch, and I was excited for the next game in the series (as well as the rest of the playoffs). Now if I don't watch another NBA game, I won't feel bad.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Thanks Flaming Lips for the great music and film you gave us
If Wayne Coyne started a cult, I'd consider joining. Based on Fearless Freaks and the Q&A after the Noise Pop screening of Fearless Freaks, he's charming, articulate, clever, and inspiring. Listening to some of his answers, I thought he was a motivational speaker. "Everyone can be creative ... do what you love ... work hard ... I live in a van down by the river".
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