Business

April 19, 2005

HOW DOES PURCHASING A HOME COMPARE WITH RENTING?

The two don't really compare at all. The one advantage of renting is being generally free of most maintenance responsibilities. But by renting, you lose the chance to build equity, take advantage of tax benefits, and protect yourself against rent increases. Also, you may not be free to decorate without permission and may be at the mercy of the landlord for housing. Owning a home has many benefits. When you make a mortgage payment, you are building equity. And that's an investment. Owning a home also qualifies you for tax breaks that assist you in dealing with your new financial responsibilities- like insurance, real estate taxes, and upkeep- which can be substantial. But given the freedom, stability, and security of owning your own home, they are worth it.

March 29, 2005

Boston Globe Registration

The Boston Globe will soon be requiring registration on their website. This is a major disappointment since I use the online version of the globe to check the latest newswires.

We’re now asking the readers of Boston.com to register for two reasons. We’d like to:

1. Understand more about you, so we can offer more content and features tailored to your interests. We want to improve your experience on the site.
2. Target the advertising messages you receive to make them more relevant, and deliver a better value for our advertisers.

I would suspect that the second reason is the primary reason.

September 14, 2004

iPod Docking Station

Today I purchased an iPod docking station so that it would be easier to connect my iPod to my computer.

However, the docking station does not come with an iPod cable! So, you still need to purchase an extra iPod cable if you use your iPod between different computers! At $40 for the docking station, this seems to be an excessive price since it doesn't include a cable.

May 11, 2004

Phone Book

I moved to a new place in Boston about ten days ago. Yesterday I got my first local phone book, and was surprised to find that it was the Latino edition!

The Latino edition contains all the important phone numbers for Latinos. Which isn't that much considering its about 1/4th the size of major metropolitan yellow pages.

I lived in San Jose, California for 6 years, and I never received a Latino phone book.

April 22, 2004

Gmail Controversy

Google has taken a lot of slack about their new email service called Gmail. Privacy activist have been issuing press releases over the past few weeks about Google posting ads in the email based on the content of the email.

The thing is, Google's new email service is free! Do you really expect privacy from something that you don't pay for? Do people expect Government level email security at no cost? If you do require some form of privacy in your email communications, then pay for an email account.

At some point Google will probably come out with a low cost email service that will be ad free. Until then, privacy groups will continue to hound Google on reading personal emails, that people didn't pay for...