Logical Eccentricity

The European Capanina research consortium has created a new method of delivering high speed internet access. Using a helium filled balloon, floating at an altitude of 24,000 meters, the consortium achieved an amazing downlink speed of 1.25Gbps. While the idea is novel, the Wi-Fi technology used in the balloon is one of the older standards, 802.11b, not the newer 802.11g, or the soon be released WiMAX standard.

Despite the older standard employed, the scientist were able to extend the usual range of 100 meters to over 60 kilometers. This allowed them to create the “first known optical 1.25 Gbit/s downlink from the stratosphere to an optical receiver on the ground over a link distance of up to 64 km.”

The applications of this technology are potentially limitless. It could be used as a cheap way to provide high-speed internet to disaster areas, such as New Orleans. However, there are some factors to take into consideration, such as possible interference with nearby aircrafts. Finally, at the moment, the system only provides for a downlink, and no uplink, an new version is being created that will allow two way traffic.

Barclays Capital and Signet Capital Management, two large hedge funds have launched a new bond. The payout structure of the bond is linked to a basket of hedge funds. This provides another method of investing in non-traditional investments.

Unlike a regular hedge fund, where your money is at direct risk, and it is locked in for a certain amount of time. This bond will pay regular income, and up to 90 percent of the principal will be protected. Also, Barclays will provide daily liquidity, so you do not need to wait to pull your money out. Traditionally, when you invest in a hedge fund, your money is locked in for several years. With the bond, half of the gains from the funds will be paid out, as the coupon payments.

Performance is linked to 30 hedge funds managed by Signet, an investment adviser and fund of funds manager. Through leverage from Barclays, the bond could see gains or losses as much as twice the size of those in the underlying Signet fund.

Source: http://news.ft.com/cms/s/d738521a-3c0c-11da-94fb-00000e2511c8.html

The Video iPod will come in two sizes, 30GB and 60GB, they can store up to 150 hours of video, that you can watch on a 2.5 inch color display. These iPods have a 20 hour battery life, and come in both the standard white that we have seen for a long time, and now like the U2 version, in black as well. The 30GB iPod is less than half an inch thick, and the 60GB is smaller than it was before.

Along with these new iPods, we also have a new iTunes Store. The Store now has 2,000 music videos and ABC/Disney programming. Including hit programs such as “Lost, “Desperate Housewives,” Night Stalker” and “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.” The best thing, the price, $1.99. Using the iTunes Store, you can download the episodes, 1 day after it airs on TV. This is what a lot of people were doing with Bit Torrent for free. However, it is very possible that people will switch over this method because it guarantees the quality, and that it will be online a day after it airs. With most Bit Torrent distributors, you don’t know about the quality until you start watching it, and you have no idea when the show will be released. The Video iPod has the possibility to bring downloading legally TV shows into the mainstream.

Finally, the quality of the downloaded video will be high quality; they will be encoded in the H.264 QuickTime format. With regards to Digital Rights Management, you will be able to watch videos on up to five computers.

As of now, download speed are unknown, they will be tested sometime in the near future

Today, Apple announced the video iPod. The new video iPod has a 2 1/2-inch color display and is an update of the classic white iPod, Jobs said, in the event the company had dubbed “One more thing” on its invitations. This is the second time in a few months that Apple has added to its line of iPods, first with the iPod Nano, and with this. At the event, Apple said that it couldn’t make enough Nano to meet demand.

Apple has sold 28.2 million players since their launch. The iPod is the best-selling music player in the U.S., accounting for 72 percent of all devices sold according to the NPD Group. Apple’s nearest rival, SanDisk Corp., captured a 5 percent share.

The company gets about a third of its sales from the iPod and sales of music through its iTunes online store. Apple said yesterday that iPod shipments reached a record 6.45 million units, short of the 6.7 million to 8.5 million analysts anticipated and prompting a drop in the shares today.

The newest iPod fleshes out a full line of the players, which now includes the iPod nano, the iPod shuffle, the iPod Photo, the U2-branded iPod, and now one capable of playing U2 music videos as well.

This year at NYU Stern, there is a brand new club, Arbitrage Analysis. Arbitrage Analysis (”Arbo”) is dedicated to educating members and applying the concepts of arbitrage through senior member presentations and guest speakers. Some topics include portfolio management as well as derivatives trading and exotic trading strategies. Arbo will also focus on educating members about career opportunities in investment managements.

So far, Arbitrage Analysis has had two meetings. For the first meeting, President and Co-Founder McCoy Jen introduced the Board, and basic concepts of the club. The guest speaker for the first meeting was Professor Brown, the faculty advisor, spoke about the history and basics of hedge funds.

For the second meeting, Arbitrage Analysis was able to secure Professor Marty Siegel. Professor Siegel was a trader at Long Term Capital Management (LTCM). LTCM was a spectacular hedge fund that collapsed. Without a bailout from various investment banks on Wall Street, the collapse of LTCM could have wreaked havoc on the financial markets, and all of the major investment banks. Professor Siegel spoke about his life, his various jobs, and some basics of what he did at Long Term.

The next meeting of Arbitrage Analysis will feature Robert White from Investor Select, on October 17th. He will talk about Funds of Funds, and this meeting will be a recruiting event as well.