I really liked Pinkberry ever since my first had back in the spring of 2007. As much as I really wanted to hate this stuff when I first heard about it, it’s really good, and you can’t knock the hustle when something tastes good. Everytime I go to a Pinkberry I keep thinking to myself how badly I really want to invest in this company as the next local to regional to national food play – the easy retail / food stock run up that always works as long as you get out before it gets to the national level. Anyways, I’m reading some VC news today and look what pops into my browser…this article. And read this one too from the NY Times. I really need to get in on the series B. It’s easy money, and as every article on the company likes to point out, the celebrities love it too. Now this place is going to blow up even more. It would be so nice to ride this money wave. Maybe I should go get a job in the finance department there for a few years just for the options. They have plenty of cash to burn and people to hire with the $27.5M they just raised. This one will be really fun to watch over the next 2 to 5 years.
The Lizard Gets My Money
After moving to LA from NYC, I needed a car and of course, car insurance. I shopped around with esurance, Progressive, Farmers, Wawanesa, and even a personal contact that quoted me a discounted rate on car insurance. The commercials are right…Geico has the best rates out there and offerred me a rate that’s more than $200 per year less than the competition. I look at car insurance as a commodity and I really don’t understand how the other hacks can get away with offering so much more for the exact same goods as I get from Geico. Geico even offers some perks when you sign up with them, including $50 deductibles on windsheild repairs (front, rear, and all side glass included) if you have a new car. What’s going on in the world? Why would anyone ever pay more for car insurance? I can understand health insurance where the plans and doctors and networks can very significantly as well as the prices, but not car insurance where the limits and plans can be easily compared across the board. Go Lizard!
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Apple’s Wireless Router Versus Cisco’s Linksys
Why is it that Apple’s wireless AirPort Express and the new AirPort Extreme Base Station work with my PC running XP SP2 far better than Linksys routers, made be Cisco? As an avid PC fan over Mac, I am confused to have to admit that Apple makes wireless routers and other periferals that actually work and are easy to set up (no need for a CD install or even a CD drive the way all hardware and software set up should be) while the PC periferal makers seem to be in the paperweight manufacturing business. A bit scary…my loyalties may be shifting.
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Korean Car Makers are Making Moves!
Thinking of making a car purchase in the near future, I can’t help but notice how the Korean car makers offer the best deals, the best warranties, and a high quality product. This idea, of course, is not news to anyone with eyeballs but I can’t help but openly admit that my previous obsession with Japanese automobiles seems to be shifting towards the more affordable, equally quality, Korean machines, particularly Hyundai.
My New Smartphone…
I just got a new TREO 700wx on Verizon after 1.5 years with the first Windows based TREO, the 700w. I know a lot of people out there dislike Palm but I’m giving it a shot. I was an early adopter of the TREO 700w and I must admit that the device originally did have freezing issues and until I performed the OS update for the Windows mobile platform that the device came packaged with, the memory (RAM) and particularly the memory management system, which would cause the device to freeze, was insufficient. After performing the upgrade, the device was the bomb.
I used that TREO until I dropped it on the pavement and the microphone no longer worked. Even though my device was well out of warranty and devoid of insurance, Verizon sent me a brand new TREO 700wx for 50 bucks, which I am writing this post with as I sit in the LGA airport. This new device rocks. It has a much larger memory chip with 60MB of program devoted memory and it does not freeze at all. This new device also came with a built in .pdf viewer and you can also use the device as a wireless modem/PC card using the built in, out of the box software. Other than the little chunky external antennae, the TREO 700wx is the perfect smartphone for me. I loaded my 2GB SD card up with .mp3’s and they play flawlessly with the Windows Media Player. The calls are perfectly clear. Call quality, regardless of device, is a problem for all AT&T, Sprint, and T-mobile users because of their ghetto networks.
Enough about my new TREO, let’s move on and talk about why the Blackberry is just not all that. I’ll use bullet points…
* no touch screen. this would drive me crazy. You have no idea how slowly you will navigate the machine and surf the web without a touch screen
* the stupid wheel or nub or whatever you wanna call the joystick. the pain in you fingers will never go away after the first time you do any serious work with the device
* The crummy operating system
* the garbage calendar
ok…my flight is boarding…I will finish the post later…in the words of fake Steve Jobs, “peace out”
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