Cute little button economics

Missmarketcrash is hopelessly addicted to the new iPhone. I know, I know - I am late to all of this and it is not anything new. You are correct, but, I still cannot help thinking about it even if this is old-hat. It is new to me.

This morning we plugged the little iPhone into a big amp and speakers and spent breakfast-time listening to digital radio stations from all over the world, courtesy of WunderRadio. We went from the lower east side of New York to Hungary, a stop by London, and then, over to Japan whilst eating our toast. Japan was the big winner, providing us with the category of "anime" music that was simultaneously simple and complex and suited the spirit of the little iPhone.

I've yet to find the best sowpods dictionary application or something to make my son practice his violin but I am confident these things will be found with a bit more time. Time is the thing here. The iPhone seems to be my little crystal ball that revealed how the internet of the future will continue to be shaped. It is what they have hoped for, and, it seems to be coming true. I actually paid £3.00 for the little WunderRadio. I have never paid for content on the internet. So, here goes the future. You might read I am both disappointed and slightly pleased.

The Financial Times has a free mobile iPhone application downloadable from Apple. It is a bit of a lure that might result in a paid-for subscription. If I am feeling old-fashioned and do not wish to download the little app, I can just bookmark FT through Safari and up it will pop rather than downloading a cute little button. But the button is easier.

Application downloading does seem like something one is less inclined to shrug away from paying for. It is relatively new and we are being trained that it might cost money. It provides a simple just-press-the-button-and-enter-your-password-and-we-will-charge-you interface that simply and cheerfully shifts consumers into more paid-for internet content. Newspapers must be crossing their fingers. I quite like newspapers so this is the kind of thing I'd like to see rescue them.

On the other side of things, I am grateful that there will always be something for free. Like this.

Oh the power...

Gosh. I almost feel like I have to write about CIT again. Or Goldman. My new shiny white iphone arrived yesterday and, well, I've been a bit busy organizing it, and, myself. With all the third-party applications available, one would think a financial institution application for the iphone is in order for the truly obsessive. It ought to be a little game. Imagine being able to move thin markets, profit handsomely from loss, the possibilities are endless. I think perhaps it ought to be modeled along the lines of "Rolando", a nifty little games program I downloaded last evening that operates by tilting the phone this way and that way. One can save the little Rolando's with a light tap or tip...or leave them stranded...

Oh the power!

Rubik's Cube Accounting

Vivid dreams about Rubik's cubes and accounting woke me with a start last night.  In my dream, someone had just invented a 3-D accounting tool based on the Rubik's Cube.  I was sitting at a formica table under a fluorescent light across from a man in a brown suit watching a demonstration.  It was amazing and a neat way of fitting several "realities" together so they matched on all sides.  As well,  they could be linked to other cubes though sometimes that caused unforseen shifts...

Since when has Missmc ever concerned herself with accounting?  The only logical source for this dream might be either this or this.  The first This concerns itself with accounting changes that are available to Apple that might just make it look much more rosy for them.  The second This is not accountancy per se but is in effect, a way of looking at how things are going.  And they appear to be going nowhere in this article about idle cargo-less ships parked off the coast of Malaysia.  

The dream progressed to that part where the Rubik's cube accounting man was proposing that Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4 be customized and given names rather than Q's.  He proposed that  companies ought to give evocative titles to each quarter before they happened and then try to fit the reporting in to match.  That would replace the numbers with a "story" and make for much better annual report reading.  Imagine...

Q1 - "Making Worlds" (ht Daniel Birnbaum)

Q2 - "The Texture of Time" (ht Nabokov) 

Q3 - "Perception and Paradise"

Q4 - "Expanding Horizons"

Well.  The mind runs with possibilities and shaping references abound.  There is sound evidence from all this that I would make a most unsuitable accountant!  But creativity is helpful in the most unlikely places...

Catch of the Day...

Missmc is leaving on holiday tomorrow.  A search of wifi hotspots in the idyllic Rhode Island fishing village I am headed towards comes up completely empty.  There is a library, but it is miles miles miles and miles away.  I could go fishing off the docks and make friends with a high-tech fisherman.  I can picture reeling in a big tuna whilst typing away to you...

I did try to get a 3G iphone yesterday with the added fantasy of tossing the wretched  netbook into the sea.  I froze with indecision and left the shop.  A two-year contract at 44pounds a month is too much of a commitment for me when rumours of the iphone being released from O2 captivity abound.  And so, I wait.

I think I will miss you.  When, and, if I can, I shall post.  I do think it is going to be rather quiet from here until September.  In the meantime, visit knowingandmaking.com.  Leigh seems to be on a bit of a roll with his daily posts and will surely have something on offer to amuse you.

Do check in from time to time for The Catch of the Day...aka...Fishing with Missmarketcrash.  Surely I will manage to post somehow...