Toyoto needs change

Having been a Toyoto cars/van and Windows PC customer for my life, I was ok with interface in Toyota's vehicle. Having used an Iphone and Ipad, toyota user interface feels like a big compromise.

My latest vehicle is Prius which has volume control on the steering. When I have to change volume, I am looking at the steering, then to make sure finger hasn't moved by looking at sensor signal on the console and then look at the volume increasing on the stereo. What the heck is wrong with this company, can't they build better user interface.

Volume level indicator should be in the console next to the sensor. Why do i have to look at multiple locations to change the volume?

When are these folks going to learn from iphone that is few years old.

Who is to be blamed for American automobile industry mess?

American auto manufactures are criticized for building gas guzzlers. They built the vehicles with the assumption that the gas prices will hover around $.2.50. Which is the price now and the right price.

But the hedge fund managers fudged the market and raised the prices to unbearable levels, artificially pushing the American manufactures to brink of collapse. Which is followed by the worst economy in decades.

Who's to blame for the Automobile industries mess?

A) Hedge fund managers
B) Economy
C) Themselves

I think the answer is 'A' and 'C' (Americal auto industry is not nimble).

Supposedly home owners

First of all I don't own the home anymore, wait...

For legal purposes, yes I own the home. From equity perspective, house prices have gone down significantly wiping out my down payment. So practically I am not even the part owner and the bank owns it from a common sense perspective.

Sometimes it makes me wonder that the rent is too high for my house :-) and I should find a better place for the rent (I mean mortgage) I pay.

I am at overall loss. Bank makes profit on me and govt pays them to do their job. Sounds weird.

Huge surplus money

There is huge surplus money in this world that’s driving the market, wish I could trace it to make money.

This money was invested in Tech stocks during 2000, then real estate the following years, then gold and finally Oil. Beauty of this is: the money leaves in droves just before the bubble is going to bust. These guys back off right around that time the markets peak leaving individual investors in the valley. There will be folks who will be burnt investing in oil and we will figure out soon.

I always wish that my money follows the cycle, so trying to see where the money is going next and invest early on…

If I follow CNN or CNBC, I’ll be in catch up mode, so need to be smarter than them.

Oil and Food – is the world headed for chaos?

Here is the reason:

Oil producing countries are keeping the prices high. Some of these countries don’t have much of cultivation land, so they are depended on other countries for food.

Food producing countries are producing more corn that can be converted to oil and leaving less for exports. If these countries produce less food, oil producing nations will have difficulties in importing food. Also, some of these food producers have put food export ban. This is pretty soon going to cause a deadlock.

As the price of food goes up, oil producing countries have to lot more of import (assuming there are no export bans), eating into their short lived joy and long term pain.

This is a vicious cycle and should be quenched at source by producing more oil. There is going to be chaos if its not fixed immediately. Oil is not going to be there for ever, so in the long term world should consume less oil.

I think we are headed in the wrong direction and should fix it now before it’s too late.

Dividend paying companies

I assume that Wall Street rates the company equal whether or not they pay dividend. But I think dividend paying companies need to be rated differently as the cash doesn’t come back to the companies coffers unlike the companies that don’t. However, the companies that pay the dividends need to be rated better because they have to work hard to fund the R&D and dividends.

Does anyone of you know how the companies are rated based on the dividend payout or not? Leave me note.

Do successful Companies innovate?

Yes. Successful companies constantly pursue innovation. But nothing ground breaking, or disruptive -- because they just can’t get out of their success of the core products.



Microsoft is finding it hard to get into Search, but is milking the core OS/Office products

Google is finding it hard to get beyond the search. Look at Facebook, which is attracting talent from Google. If Google could invent, those folks would have been in Google and not moved to Facebook

I could go on with list of companies in all segments.

Is there a key to unlock their potential? I don’t think there is easy and clean way. Have you seen clauses from company that says "anything you innovate belongs to the company "? Which is fact of life, I agree. But, why doesn't it have any clause for rewards. This is definitely killing innovation from inside the companies.

May the companies have to reward the innovative employs one way or the other?

I’ll leave it to you to ponder further.