Funds of Funds
Funds of Funds May Actually Increase Risk, Study Finds – NYTimes.com – this feels counter-intuitive at first, until you realise that funds of funds are a synthetic financial instrument from the prospective of the end investor. Synthetic financial instruments led to problems like the 2008 financial crisis and the Savings and Loans crisis of the 1990s. The reason for the problem of funds of funds for the end investor is that there lots of known unknowns under the hood. It is conceivable that several funds make a similar wrong headed bet and get stung by it. Without directing the funds, how do you maintain continued diversity of investment and strategies to ensure the bet hedging. Lastly funds are less liquid assets in the grand scheme of things with limitations on when and how much you can withdraw. I wonder if a similar study has been done around thematic ETFs as well?
Beauty
At Makeup Alley, Advice From Online Peers – NYTimes.com – how user reviews are demolishing beauty treatment company claims and promoting other products that previously didn’t claim benefits
Economics
Wealthy Investors Grow Pessimistic About Economy – WSJ – US economy, due to government debt and economic growth
Japan records surprise trade surplus – FT.com – rescheduling manufacturing work around power fluctuations
Ethics
danah boyd | apophenia » “Real Names” Policies Are an Abuse of Power
A Billion Dollars Isn’t Cool. You Know What’s Cool? Basic Human Decency | TechCrunch – social norming around the social web
Ideas
Could Quantum Computing Kill Copyright? | TorrentFreak
Korea
Five Lessons From Samsung’s Second Quarter Results – WSJ – interesting that Samsung is husbanding its cash by reducing shareholder returns
Luxury
Second-Tier Spotlight: “Rich Second Generation” Fueling Ningbo Luxury Market « Jing Daily : The Business of Luxury and Culture in China – interesting divergence in consumer preferences
Media
To Spread Your Brand On Facebook, Don’t Target Your Fans–Target Their Friends | Fast Company – propagation planning
More British papers dragged into hacking row ‹ Japan Today – not surprising, the practice may have started at the News of The World but could have been taken around the papers as journalists and editors move on to new roles
Murdoch Selects Advisers Carefully – WSJ.com – it makes sense he needs a ‘clean’ team that can stay together through this
Online
danah boyd | apophenia » Designing for Social Norms (or How Not to Create Angry Mobs)
With the Bing Search Engine, Microsoft Plays the Underdog – NYTimes.com – I am not seeing a cohesive vision to change search from Microsoft; this looks like the ‘we are innovative’ foot-stamping PR wrapped in a storytelling methodology that comes out of Microsoft corporate PR. I think that the social search stuff at Google and Facebook is of more interest. Bing needs to come out of the box with something 10 times better to get people to move in significant numbers. Qi Lu didn’t manage it at Yahoo!, what makes them think he can manage it at Microsoft?
A Bomb in Oslo? What Google Lost by Ending Real-Time Search – The Atlantic – Google News just wasn’t as fast, it needs Realtime
Official Google Blog: More wood behind fewer arrows – interesting change, more focus on fully formed products?
Security
Majority of South Koreans’ data exposed | FT.com – the interesting bit is the data wipe of PCs used in the attack to hide fingerprints
Technology
Data Centers Using Less Power Than Forecast, Report Says – NYTimes.com – green technology and virtualisation kicks in
The Key Subtle Notes From Apple’s Earnings Call | TechCrunch – exclusives are doled out on the conference call without hype
Wireless
Apple Passes Nokia and Holds Off Samsung to Become World’s Top Smartphone Vendor [Updated] – Mac Rumors – Android is Toyota and Apple is Mercedes & Porsche