Banking and IT

From The Economist on Banking and IT – worth the read – accurate and interesting.

http://tinyurl.com/2d9bcr8

Big banks need IT reform almost as badly as regulatory change

WHEN Metro Bank, which claims to be Britain’s first new high-street bank for more than 150 years, opens its first branch on July 29th in inner London, customers will notice the lollipop jars and water bowls for dogs. But what really sets Metro Bank apart is its state-of-the-art IT system. New customers will be able to get their account, chequebook, debit and credit cards within 15 minutes, and all the data for each customer will be kept in one place.

That puts Metro Bank in an enviable position. IT at many other Western banks is often a hotch-potch of homemade systems. Banks were the first to use mainframes in the 1960s; many are still using the original applications because it is risky to swap them out. Over the years more and more systems have been slapped on. Banks were often profitable enough to afford big IT teams, writing programs themselves rather than buying off the shelf.

As a result banks tend to operate lots of different databases producing conflicting….

New Dashboard Capabilities

Check out Netvibes — it gives you the ability to make your own dashboards, collect your own news, etc.

http://www.netvibes.com/en

All in one place and always up-to-date, Netvibes is the faster and easier way to enjoy the entire real-time Web. Instantly create as many different dashboards as you’d like to track all of your latest interests, live.

The Economist Articles on Social Networking

Interesting articles. Some good info, but no real original insights.

A world of connections

Online social networks are changing the way people communicate, work and play, and mostly for the better, says Martin Giles

http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15351002

THE annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, currently in progress, is famous for making connections among the global great and good. But when the delegates go home again, getting even a few of them together in a room becomes difficult. To allow the leaders to keep talking, the forum’s organisers last year launched a pilot version of a secure online service where members can post mini-biographies and other information, and create links with other users to form collaborative working groups. Dubbed the World Electronic Community, or WELCOM, the forum’s exclusive online network has only about 5,000 members.

18 Awesome Tech Things We Didn’t Have 10 Years Ago

18 Awesome Tech Things We Didn’t Have 10 Years Ago

Gregory Galant | Dec. 31, 2009

• Wikipedia
• Gmail
• Facebook
• YouTube
• Twitter
• AdWords
• Amazon AWS
• RSS (started in ‘99 but didn’t catch on till the ’00s)
• Meetup
• iPod
• Google Maps
• Podcasts
• Mint
• Skype/VOIP
• iPhone
• Google Docs
• Creative CommonsFlickr

http://www.businessinsider.com/18-awesome-things-we-didnt-have-10-years-ago-2009-12

Improbable Plots

Once Upon a Honeymoon

Starring Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers (1942)

A radio correspondent tries to rescue a burlesque queen from her marriage to a Nazi official.

Back From Eternity

Starring Robert Ryan and Anita Ekberg (1957)

A pilot, a hooker, a killer and eight others crash among headhunters, but only five can leave.