Mediaboss Marketing

NEW YORK (MainStreet) -- The digital barbarians are rattling the gate. With Goldman Sachs GC , JPMorgan Chase JPM and Morgan Stanley MS charging probably $150 million in fees to lower the IPO drawbridge for a young, cash-starved CEO named Mark Zuckerberg, it almost feels like the invulnerable Wall Street fortress of yesteryear, doesn't it? But be honest, it's just all like the guards at Buckingham Palace -- a nice little show for the tourists. The fact is, the digital age has little room for Wall Street. BlackRock BLK , probably the world's largest money manager, summarily dumped the supposed invulnerable trading czar, Goldman Sachs, to begin dealing on its own. And never mind New York Stock Exchange digital alternatives such as The BATS Exchange or Direct Edge. So-called dark pools -- which are nothing more than a geek who matches buyers and sellers with a PC under his desk -- are where the real growth in finance is. Volume for these trading riffs on Napster hit an all-time high this year, according to Rosenblatt Securities, which tracks the dark trend of dark pools. Facebook's Pop and How To Play It >> We all know what's happening. The same commoditizing forces of information overload that pulverized the publishing, product retail and porn industries are bringing the same razor-thin margins and indefensible markets to financial services. Even as Wall Street marches its last line dance of greed over Facebook, the hungry hordes taking financial service apart will not be denied. Here are my picks of three digital barbarians with the sharpest teeth: BankersLab turns anybody into Ben Bernanke.

Listen up, all you chartered financial analysts and Harvard Business School grads. Wilmington, Del.-based BankersLab is building a heck of a business out of the truth with managing money. Simply memorizing a bunch of stuff from a book doesn't help you with real-world financial problems. Practice does. And BankersLab is cribbing the same kind of approach used in video games to bring real-world trial and error to fiscal managers. Read it and weep, CFAs and MBAs: BankersLab offers simulation training for pricing a risk, managing exposure or even valuing a deal that any bright person can master. "We've seen advances in the analytics and technology available to retail bankers," says BankersLab CEO Michelle Katics on the company site. "However, ability to strategically act with some anticipation of the future can be improved." Which means, my fellow Ivy league Grads and CFA trainees, we probably did just spend years of our lives learning something we never needed to bother with. Doesn't that suck? BancBox turns the tiniest business into a bank.

Once upon a time, say you wanted to move money or manage accounts or handle client finances -- you called up a bank. No more. San Mateo, Calif.-based BancBox brought the bank to every business. It has taken all the software that banks use to manage money and created an online list of application programming interfaces for most of those functions. These little APIs let me, you or anybody connect directly to the banks' fiscal software. "We've integrated with banks so companies don't have to," CEO Sanj Goyle writes on the company website. BancBox technology merely extends a bank's reach, Goyle says. That's certainly true -- to a point. But once a user gets hold of the programming tools that connect directly to one bank's software, its easy to connect to any bank's software. And playing one against the other becomes child's play. Personal Capital grinds investment management fees into a fine white powder.

Investment advisers make a nice living telling us all what do with our money. But not for much longer. Redwood City, Calif.-based Personal Capital is bringing the same race-to-the-bottom economics of Amazon AMZN to investment management. Personal Capital offers most of its customized investment advice for free, and charges -- get ready for this -- less than 1% in management fees to cover costs. 10 Stocks to 'Like' When Facebook Goes Public >> There is real money and brains behind Personal Capital, including $25 million from Institutional Venture Partners. And Bill Harris, the ex-CEO of Intuit INTU . And If you don't think a low-cost financial services firm can't blow up by-hand financial planning, just take a look at its machine-controlled trading, risk analysis and language tools. Picking a personalized diversified portfolio really is something a computer can do. The bottom line of the digital age is this: Financial information is just that, information. Information that becomes more common -- and more worthless -- every day.

Read more:
The Digital Skeptic's Guide to 3 Wall Street Slayers

Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, who has that rare ability to capture the essence of childhood with effervescent sensitivity, has done it again with "I Wish," the story of a family separated by divorce and the two brothers who scheme to bring everyone back together.

Tapping into that universal hope of so many kids of broken homes, Kore-eda has conjured up a Tom Sawyer-esque adventure for 12-year-old Koichi, who lives with his mother and grandparents in Kagoshima, in the southern Kyushu region, and his younger brother Ryunosuke, Ryu for short, who chose to stay with his father in Hakata, in the north. The boys, wonderfully played by real brothers Koki and Ohshiro Maeda, stay in touch by cellphone, but Koichi in particular longs for an intact family, and that longing shapes the rest of the film.

The great elegance in Kore-eda's work is that the writer-director allows the story to emerge from everyday moments, one event triggering the next such as Koichi's school assignment to write about his father's profession, which leaves the youngster feeling his dad's (Joe Odagiri) absence sharply and triggering his push to reunite the family.

When Koichi overhears one of his classmates say that the new bullet train which will connect the brothers' cities has some wish-granting powers, a plan in born. Each boy enlists his friends to raise enough money to buy tickets to the town that is exactly halfway between them, since in theory if you make a wish just as the northbound train passes the southbound for the very first time, it will come true.

With seven kids, two cities and tight train schedules involved, the stage is set for a lot of things to go right and wrong.

In the brothers, Kore-eda is essentially examining two sides of the same coin. Koichi, the serious one, is careful with his studies, caring with his friends and family, always contemplating the reasons why especially why anyone would choose to live in the shadow of an active volcano, which he now does. It makes for a nice metaphor that his life is literally covered in the ash that drifts down every day.

Ryu is the jokester, a roll-with-the-punches kind of kid who is weathering the separation much more easily than his older brother. He's got a group of fast friends and a quick giggle that Ohshiro makes scene stealing every time. But in the way of latchkey kids who take on grown-up tasks, Ryu also looks out for his struggling rocker of a dad, their house more a crash pad for the band than a home.

The power released by the passing trains is a whimsical myth, one the filmmaker uses to keep the tone much lighter than his acclaimed 2004 film, "Nobody Knows," with its moving story of four siblings abandoned by their single mom. In "I Wish" there is much more mischief afoot. As the kids scramble to set up plans to skip school and fool their parents, hopes and dreams are explored, and not just of the brothers.

The grown-ups have wishes of their own. Koichi's grandfather (Isao Hashizume) and his cronies concoct a secret plan to sell traditional treats to the tourists the bullet train promises to bring, one that is almost as elaborate as the kids' scheme. Koichi's mom (Nene Ohtsuka) wants to find love again, which only adds to Koichi's anxiety, while his dad is counting on new music and new bandmates to finally make it.

There is a lot of hope in the air in "I Wish," but the film never feels sappy. The very appealing score by the Japanese indie-rock group Quruli brings a kind of upbeat energy that matches the clean, open style of director of photography Yutaka Yamazaki, a frequent Kore-eda collaborator.

Excerpt from:
Review: Hope springs eternal in 'I Wish'

Rare coin seller Regency Coins has been wound up following a High Court judgment.

The demise of the Essex-based coin company, which sold rare coins to investors, followed an investigation by The Insolvency Service.

Regency began selling coins as an investment from January 2008. Many of the victims were elderly and lost their savings. It ceased trading in 2010 after police searched its premises and seized the coins.

The Insolvency Service found that the company sold low-quality coins at inflated prices so that the investor was unlikely to make any profit. Regency also sold the same coin to more than one person as well as selling coins that it didnt own.

Regency is insolvent, and without any assets to compensate victims.

David Hill, case supervisor for The Insolvency Service, comments: Regency portrayed itself as a safe investment choice for people who had saved a bit of money and wanted to invest some of it for theirs, and their familys future.

He adds: These scams are particularly shocking because they target the most vulnerable members of society. The worst thing is, after the money has been taken, most elderly investors will never be able to make good their loss again.

Go here to read the rest:
Rare coin seller wound up

by Chris Boyde

Rally Isle of Man are delighted to announce a significantly reduced entry and travel fee package to make this Septembers event as affordable as possible for competitors, officials and other visitors.

The entire cost base of the three-day event has been reviewed by the organising team, and with assistance from the main travel operator, the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, they are hopeful theyve struck a price that will appeal to all potential visitors and local participants alike.

The package price of 699 includes return ferry travel for two people, van & trailer and the entry fee for either the Historic event, which is the final round of the Water End Properties Asphalt Historic Cup, or the Duke Stages Rally, a round of the Eurocars Motorsport Manx Rally Championship.*

Right from January when the new Committee was formed, weve obviously been very aware that the cost of getting to the event needed particular attention, says Board member David Thompson.

Just about the first people we therefore spoke to were the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, who we must thank for their honesty and willingness to work with us to get the event back up and running. The price weve been able to announce today is only possible because of the move out of the summer season.

The operator has been, and still is trying to help us make arrangements for visitors coming from Ireland, and we hope to make a further announcement in due course.

To further help take the stress out of booking arrangements, the rally has teamed up with specialist trip planners Isle of Man Events Limited (iomevents.com). Theyll be only too happy to look after the planning for your entire trip, covering travel and accommodation, with great prices.

In particular they already have Rally Isle of Man Special Spectator Packages available for just 195 per person, staying at the 4 Star Best Western Palace Hotel and Casino, and including three nights accommodation and return sea travel with a car.

We have worked very hard to get the costs to an absolute minimum for all those wholl be coming to the event, admits Thompson. We think that the price bears favourable comparison with almost all other major British isles rallies, and are especially pleased that given that we are going to be offering 180 stage miles, the cost per stage mile for competitors is probably the very best there is out there!

Original post:
Rally Isle of Man 2012 priced to be a winner!

by Richard Parslow

Sixty Tynwald rose bushes will be delivered to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth this week in celebration of her Diamond Jubilee.

They have been sent with a letter of congratulations from the Chief Minister on behalf of the Government and people of the Isle of Man to mark the 60th Anniversary of Her Majestys Accession.

It is expected that the rose bushes selected, grown and supplied by Watsons of Greeba will be planted in the gardens of the Royal residence of Frogmore House, adjacent to Windsor Castle.

The hybrid tea roses have large, fragrant, cream-coloured flowers and were originally bred to commemorate the Tynwald Millennium in 1979.

The gift forms part of the Isle of Mans contribution to celebrations taking place across the Commonwealth to honour The Queen, who is the Manx Head of State and Lord of Mann.

Other local activities include a National Service of Thanksgiving at St Germans Cathedral in Peel on Sunday, May 20, and the inclusion of a replica Manx Viking longship in the Royal Flotilla on the River Thames on Sunday, June 3.

An Isle of Man Government beacon will be lit at the Green at St Johns on the evening of Monday, June 4, as part of a network of more than 4,000 beacons throughout the United Kingdom, Crown Dependencies and UK Overseas Territories.

A number of community groups and organisations are planning to join in the celebrations that night by lighting their own jubilee beacons at various venues across the Island.

Originally posted here:
Isle of Man sends 60 Tynwald rose bushes to mark Queen’s Diamond Jubilee