Wireless Internet Solution
As I chronicled already, I have added an iPAQ Pocket PC to my collection of gadgets. Besides adding one more tool for controlling all of my other gadgets it gives me one more portal into the internet and this blog. Now I can start a post while out on lunch and finish it later. This is at least what I am telling myself, but since I really haven't taken a lunch break in the last two weeks it a little hard to tell if this was a good plan.
Since there is no real reason to have a wireless device without a wireless connection point, I went out recently and purchased a wireless router (funny how one gadget begets the purchase of another). As I started making the rounds of various retail establishments, I quickly found that everyone carries the Belkin Wireless G Router. After visiting several, like CompUSA and Circuit City, I also found that none of these establishments are very innovative in their pricing. They have all decided that the going price for one of these gizmos is $69.95. So I decided a trip across the street to visit the Evil Empire (Walmart). Would be worth my time. Sure enough, there was the same product for $39.95. The best part of the deal (after saving over 40% on the price) was the check out experience. No arguing with the sales clerk over purchasing an extended warranty for thirty bucks.
Now I can multi-task in the evening watching one of my many old World War II movies on DVD while I scribble ideas for a post in Word. As for the router, installation was extremely easy. I did have to do a hard reboot of the device after install to get it to connect, but it has worked well since. I am occasionally getting a no connection message on my desktop computer after a prolonged period of inactivity, but a quick click of the retry button always corrects that problem.
The Carnival of the Capitalists
This week's Carnival of the Capitalists can be found at Slacker Manager.
Carnival of the Capitalists
The Carnival of the Capitalists is up and running at http://www.ideologicllc.com/wp/2005/05/22/carnival-of-the-capitalists.
CEO-CFO Ethics
This set of survey results arrives from Business Finance Magazine and leaves you wondering what is really being accomplished by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. While the Act is meant to alleviate the problems experienced prior to the act, we are left with more than half of CFO's reporting that they feel at least as much or more pressure to do acts that they feel are unethical. Only 12% report that they feel that they have not ever been asked to do something unethical. Thankfully, I count myself in that 12%.
The rest of this little blurb goes as follows:
In early 2004, Business Finance polled subscribers about the impacts of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on the finance function and the CFO-CEO relationship. A couple of the results were shocking: Asked whether finance executives faced more or less pressure (from the CEO and the board) to commit unethical actions since the new law's passage, only 30 percent of respondents answered "less." Fifty-seven percent of respondents said they faced the same -- or more! -- pressure to commit unethical actions in the post-Sarbanes era; a mere 12 percent indicated that they did not, and never had, experience such pressure. That uncomfortable environment makes Rushworth Kidder's new book, "Moral Courage: Taking Action When Your Values Are Put to the Test" (Morrow, 2005), required reading. Kidder is interviewed in this Across ">http://nls.bfmag.com/t?ctl=AAC9:10B033>; the Board article. "You can negotiate your way to the top by doing whatever you feel you ought to do, but the question is: Will you be able to live with yourself knowing you compromised your principles?" he notes. "I'd say yes, many executives could -- and likely do -- live with themselves knowing that. Don't they need a stronger argument?" If you do, read this Q&A...
IPAQ Post
I have added a new IPAQ HP Pocket PC to the collection, and this is my first post. Reading the product reviews I was both excited and nervous. Some of the reviewers were ecstatic about the device, but some complained that the device simply quit after three days. Others complained that they could not manage the open programs, but that does not seem to be a problem.
The trick now will be to make the wireless feature work. If I can get that to work I will be able to communicate with the office on my Cozumel trip. That might sound stupid, but trust me its better than them trying to call me every day. Maybe I will even have a chance to blog.
Synchronizing to the computer at work is proving to be a chore, which means that I will need to figure out the correct addressing to the exchange server. I did get the internet connection to work, but not the email account. All I can say is that the MSN homepage looks mighty busy on a small screen. Overall the IPAQ has been rather simple to master. I have even programmed it so it controls the television and stereo. What a lucky man I am.
Carnival of the Capitalists
Latest Carnival of the Capitalists can be found at Any Letter.
NASDAQ Coverup
Fri May 13,11:32 AM ET
Associated Press
Computer Problem Causes False Stock Quotes
NEW YORK - A computer problem at an unidentified stock trader caused erroneous, exaggerated prices to be posted to the Nasdaq Stock Market Friday morning, a spokeswoman for the Nasdaq said.
Only a handful of thinly traded stocks were affected, and the problem has been corrected, Nasdaq spokeswoman Bethany Sherman said. If any transactions were completed at those higher prices, those transactions will be broken and the sellers will get their stock back.
The problem arose when a broker linked to the all-electronic Nasdaq system inadvertently put out bids for stocks that were substantially higher than the prices in which those stocks normally trade. Shares of J.W. Mays Inc., which normally trades between $15 and $16 per share, was quoted as high as $136 on Friday.
The story above is from the Associated Press, but it seems they are simply taking the spoon fed version from the NASD. This little problem has been affecting the stock of the company that I work for, plus several others that I own or follow so, I have been getting some feedback from the brokerage community.
First, the trader involved is a very large New York brokerage with a name we would all recoginize. Secondly, these were real trades which the NASD is now breaking as if they really didn't happen. In the case of our company, I can tell you that there are some disappointed sellers out there that are having money taken out of their accounts for trades they made in good faith.
The other part of the story which isn't covered in this AP story yet is that there appears to be a fair amount of trading that was based on the original trades. Based on the stocks that I follow, there were also a number of companies whose price was impacted negatively.
I can also report that as of 4:00 PM EDT we have not had any communication from NASDAQ on this matter.
A New Carnival Of The Capitalists
This weeks roundup of business related writing can be found at A Penny For...
Carnival of the Capitalists
This week's Carnival of the Capitalists is up for your surfing pleasure at INCITE!
Happy Employees are Productive Employees
Browsing through my business related links this morning I ran onto this story at Business Pundit. The story references back to an interview with David Sirota, co-author of The Enthusiastic Employee: How Companies Profit by Giving Workers What They Want (Wharton School Publishing).
Mr. Sirota shares some of his insights into what is motivating people in the workforce today, and the benefits to productivity that may be achieved. I found the comments on job security, economic security and retraining very interesting. In my own experiences we practice many of these particular principles. We try to retrain rather than layoff, and often try to balance the positive contributions of employees when they present a difficult situation. We are often told by our employees that we give people too many chances. Maybe this is true, but sometimes we succeed with these people.
You can't please all of the people all of the time, but if you are looking for some insight into how your management style may be perceived by those you manage, these stories are worth a read.
