The nation’s five largest banks have provided nearly $10.6 billion in mortgage relief to homeowners under a settlement deal that was struck with the attorneys general of 49 states and the District of Columbia earlier this year, according to a preliminary progress report.
From Discover Magazine: The trash index | Gene Expression
I heard about the chart above on Marketplace. Track enough variables, and you’ll find some which correlate well with GDP…until they don’t. So this is a neat story, but is it true? Well, I do accept the underlying logic here. So I’m hoping this is a statistical artifact of some sort….
from Discover Magazine
From Engadget: NVIDIA Q2 earnings bounce back through Tegra: $119 million profit on $1.04 billion in revenue
NVIDIA’s fiscal performance in its second quarter shows the rewards of patience in the mobile sphere. It just saw its profit double versus a glum first quarter to $119 million, even though the company only slightly edged ahead in revenue to $1.04 billion. In explaining the success, the company is quick to point to a confluence of events that all worked in favor of its bank account: a slew of Tegra 3 phones and tablets like the Transformer Pad TF300 made NVIDIA’s quarter the brightest, but it could also point to a much-expanded GeForce 600 line on the PC side and the shipments of the first phones with NVIDIA-badged Icera chips. The graphics guru expects its revenue to climb more sharply in the heat of the third quarter as well — between the cult hit Nexus 7 tablet and a role as a major partner for Windows RT, NVIDIA has at least a temporary license to print money.
from Engadget
From Ars Technica: Company’s software trading glitch cost it $10 million per minute
Remember Knight Capital Group’s algorithm-driven stock trading glitch from yesterday?
Turned out that 45 minute mistake, the company said in a statement, “has resulted in a realized pre-tax loss of approximately $440 million.”
In other words, about $10 million per minute, which makes it a ridiculously expensive mistake.
from Ars Technica
From Ars Technica: Bad financial algorithm leads to severe stock market disarray
A stock-trading algorithm gone awry appears to have thrown American stock markets into chaos on Wednesday, following a surge of volatile trading after the opening bell. Many of the country’s biggest companies were affected, including Bank of America, Alcoa, General Electric, Berkshire Hathaway, Citigroup, and American Airlines.
Financial news sites have pinpointed the problem to Knight Capital Group. The brokerage firm’s algorithm appears to have triggered purchases and sales of millions of shares for 30 minutes.
Algorithmic trading, where stock transactions are mediated by high-speed data connections and software rather than humans, is something that’s been rapidly overtaking the industry in recent years. The infamous “flash crash†of 2010 led to a loss of 573 points on the Dow Jones Industrial Average in five minutes.
from Ars Technica
From Geeks are Sexy Technology News: The Cost Of Being Batman
I’m not sure where the people who made this took their numbers, but some of the costs associated with Batman’s gear seem, in some cases, a little over the top. Check it out:
[Via Buzzfeed]
From Autoblog: Report: 10 cities where homes cost less than a car
Things are not getting better everywhere. That’s one of the themes in the 247WS.com story that points to 10 American cities where homes are cheaper than many new cars.
The list spans across the nation from Florida, to New Jersey to Ohio. But Michigan catches the brunt of the poorly priced real estate market, with Detroit taking the best of the worst honor by having the median listing price is $21,000 for a house, according to Trulia.com. That kind of change might get you a Chevy Cruze or Hyundai Elantra.
A new midsize sedan in the driveway should not cost more than the house it’s parked next to.
In reverse order, here’s the list and the city’s median price for a home. Sadly, it’s easy to pick a vehicle that costs more than any of these prices.
10. Port Richey, Florida: $59,900
9. Holiday, Florida: $59,900
8. Youngstown, Ohio: $57,550
7. Dearborn Heights, Michigan: $55,000
6. Whiting, New Jersey: $52,450
5. Warren, Michigan: $49,900
4. Redford, Michigan: $40,000
3. Gary, Indiana: $39,900
2. Flint, Michigan: $31,950
1. Detroit, Michigan: $21,000
from Autoblog