Other thing that would be cool is combining mobile payments with TTC. RBC is currently testing that technology. Pretty common in Japan. Pay for your coffee by waving your cellphone.

One would ask why was Spadina chosen for this pilot project. My guess is due to density of the vehicles on the route. Does it mean TTC fares might go up again? Who knows. Only time will tell.

Yes, I get the whole idea of “hey, I am running late..be there in x minutes”. Now come on! we all know that we do get some spotty service on our TTC rides. Do we really “need” this? Anyways, as per TTC spokeperson is not the idea of “if” its the idea of “when” this service shall be implemented.

After getting a new MAC, in addition to 3 PCs I already own. I had to make sure that all my necessary files are somehow transferred (and yes, in least painful way possible). I have been a Windows User all my life (ok lies, 13 years of my life). So, as much as I would want to shun windows completely from my life - it won’t be possible (considering my work, like most people, uses Windows). So, I thought that wouldn’t be cool to have a software that has some sort of functionality where I can keep all files synced. After a short search, I finally bumped to Dropbox.

Dropbox is a cool service that combines online storage and syncing at the same time. The idea is that you download a mini application on your computer, drop all the files you’d like to sync. The software, once downloaded, is simple to install (it works on both Windows and Mac) and integrates with the file browser. It runs quietly in the background. You create folders inside the DropBox folder and then just drag and drop them. And the files are constantly synced with your online storage locker — any time a file is changed, the changes are sent to the online folders, which can be accessed via a web browser even if your home machine is shut off.

Try it for yourself. You can get 2 GB for free.

http://www.getdropbox.com/tour#1

A comment, lending out tax payer’s money to these financial institutions doesn’t mean all of a sudden these banks would start lending?

Few things that can be changed, should be changed - for example the fair value accounting. In a nutshell, due to the fair value accounting system a lot of these big investment banks have gone bankrupt, or have been taken over! According to fair value accounting system, banks are suppose to mark troubled assets on their balance sheets to fair market value.. well that’s an excellent idea - however only in theory, and times like these it has caused major banks to sink. There has been no such data since last year causing these securities to be illiquid. So pretty much banks are mapping this to an index which, at the moment, does not translate to the intrinsic economic value.

Another thought you could be what was suggested last week where the US government acts as a new market, pretty much creates a dummy market to create liquidity where they shall buy these securities on low auctioned prices…

Again this is not a slam dunk!!! We’ll see what happens over the weekend!

EY has been ranked #1 by Business Week to launch your career, well ahead of other Big 3, if you will. I don’t know the culture at other firms, so would be a little unfair to comment on that. But for EY, I am not really suprised that they got an award like that. After 1.5 years of working there, I think it’s an awesome place to launch your career (I came right out of Queen’s)

But here’s the scoop. While I did attend couple of recruiting sessions back in the day, I skipped all of em. It is kind of ironic that I’m actually showing as a rep for EY.

Just to clear the air, a lot of students have asked about: “What do you guys look at? Is marks imp, if yes, how much? I only have 75%” I wanna give an advise that is pretty general, and not because I don’t want to give you the recipe to do well at an EY interview, but guys there’s no such thing as an EY interview.

Resume Tips: Right performance/achievement based resume

Interview Tips: Be yourself (newbie alert. Be your BEST self)

I want to wish everyone good luck whose taking part in this recruiting season.

What about sea? Major mode of transportation for world trade. Thought about that? The cost of shipping finished products from China have sky rockted in past few years, thanks to surging fuel costs. Chinese exporters are already feeling the heat, who work on narrow profit margins. Exporters usually pass down the costs to us, the consumers! So, does outsourcing your factories to China or India - give you a financial advantage anymore? I don’t know.  Would setting up factories in North America and Europe would make sense - well shipping costs would definitely fall, but labour costs would rise and there would be fewer economies of scale

China is probably effected by it as well, the whole south-east asian export model where what you buy is manufactured/assembled in China with parts coming from Taiwan, Korea etc. Clearly, transportation cost is a big issue. Either way, considering the economic health of many companies this issue will not be looked at with a blind eye - especially when no one knows if the oil would peak $200 or fall back to $100.

With emerging markets offering higher alphas or higher returns, global investors who have appetite for risk have been shifting their assets to these fast growing emerging markets. Speaking for India specifically, I believe the economy has already showing signs of overheating. India are reeling under high inflation and price rise which is seriously affecting the poor and low income groups since the impact is severe on food and related commodities. Though the inflation rate is stated to be around 12% this is based on Wholesale Price Index. Retail/Consumer price index would be far higher and if we add housing, education and health care costs it is unbearable. Not to mention last year’s stock market for both India and China, have fallen sharply.

A lot of things happening here: a money in flow from foreign investors, oil prices going up, food prices going up. Foreign capital inflows will only fuel inflation. The more foreign capital that flows in, more the CB would need to buy in dollars to hold down rupee, which means printing money (no, only they can do it!!! haha) or by raising reserve requirements for financial institutions. When it comes to India, many think is it too hot or is it too cold? Is it politics or is it economics.

 Be here are few things that do work for me when I do get a chance to sleep.

1) Get yourself in a routine: Most of you know that I did miss my 8:30 classes in University (haha, good times). And now I get up bright and early at 5 am for my workout. So, if I can do it, you all can. The basic idea is to get yourself into a routine. Try going to bed early one night - maybe you will toss and turn for the most night and have the worst morning after. However, the following day you’ll be so tired from bad sleep the night before you’ll sleep like a baby. Boom! you did it.

2) Limit food intake before you goto bed: When you lie down to sleep, the stomach acids level out, making heartburn and indigestion more likely to occur. If you are like me, and absolutely need something to eat - have a small portion of cereal, or protein shake. Keep fats low to min at night!

3) Herbal stuff: Some herbal teas can help you relax and make you fall asleep. Chamoline is a herb that basically slows down your nervous system and gives your body/brain time to relax.

4) Power naps - This was great in university. However, don’t nap more than 20 mins - anything longer than that would cuz more damage than help!. By damage I mean you’ll feel more tired..

So, yeah here’s my first post to how to sleep like a baby.

I haven’t had the chance to read in depth about it, however from what I have read it seems like the “right” thing to do. For my finance buddies, who are thinking about “Default” risk - well, yes there is since most borrowers are in 3rd world countries who trying to develop a new idea for their business, or trying to supplies etc. However, you can lend as low as $25 - I am sure we can afford that much risk.

 The website is designed for a good cause. Although the business model is designed around repayment of your loan, but I would think about it in more with my “donation/helping hat”.

Check it out at www.kiva.org

 If you are not an expense person, you can still use Xpenser.com to track “unusual things” as they may call it. Following are some ideas from their official blog.

- Tracking diet and calories. Create a report called “diet” and record what you eat. Eg. “burger 325 island’s”, where 325 is the number of calories.

- Tracking time. Eg. “contract review 0.75 client X”.

 To get more information, head out to www.Xpenser.com and here’s the link to their guided tour http://xpenser.com/docs/tour/

 Here’s what I am thinking though? Whats in for them? Although based on their privacy policy it seems that they are in for “protecting” our privacy (now, whatever that means). However, I think reports from a website like this can produce some neat stats: how much does an average individual living in Toronto, Canada spend on average on dining out?