Dr. Jeremy Siegel, a professor of finance at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and author of Stocks for the Long Run, has done a thorough historical study of the returns of different types of assets over the past couple hundred years.

What he discovered is dramatic:

• $1 invested in gold in 1802 would have been worth $32.84 at the end of 2006.

• The same dollar invested in T-Bills, with interest reinvested, would have grown to $5,061.

• $1 invested in bonds would be worth $18,235.

• And $1 invested in common stocks with dividends reinvested - drum roll, please - is now worth more than $12.7 million.

Read more here

As our market is going through uncertainties both in politic and economic itself, people are flocking to investments that are able to hedge such uncertainties. Many opt for bonds that offer security but less-than-inflation rate of growth. However, there is one vehicle of investments that strive in the time of political and economic struggle. It’s gold.

Before you jump straight into this golden arena, there are few things that you have to know. This guide will ensures that you will be better prepared in Q&A session with your investment advisor.

Question. What kind of gold should I buy?

Answer. Gold comes in many forms. So you have to know which suits you best. First we have bullions or gold coins. In Malaysia, the only bullion coins is Kijang Emas. It’s available through local banks. You can get more info from Maybank page.

If you are not keen to keep the coins by yourself, you can save the hassle by opening gold investment account, like the one offered by Public Bank. This gives peace of mind and reduces unnecessary risk of keeping the real gold in your house.

Who says a city can’t have a waterfall? Today is the official launch day for NYC’s waterfall located just under the Brooklyn Bridge. For those city dwellers who had never saw a live waterfall, here is your chance.

Here’s the video but it’s not featuring its full glory, which happens at night.

[gizmodo]

My goals have to be specified. First, I’m going to make at least 1 posts in every 2 days or worst case, 3 posts per week. If not, all of you have the right to scold, nag, anything, you even can ask me to go out for a movie(if you are a girl :p), it’s on me.

Second, I have a great list of suggestion from my previous post. Some suggest me to write about fuel and minimum wages. I’ll try to tackle those issues in next posts.

Third, I need a new theme! I hate this theme. Do suggest me a new theme please.

Fourth, where are my adsense? I’ve been losing out months of adsense revenue because google stop displaying my ads. I contacted them just now and I am waiting for a good news.

That’s all for the time being. Thanks for reading this

-irwan

So I hope someone out there could suggest a topic that might spark some interest in me to write about it.

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However, as we already know, Malaysia is full of dedicated Iphone bringers. I myself will try my best to fulfill Malaysian’s hunger of these ’Twice as fast. Half the price’ Iphone. I’ll update with the link to my bulk later.

Update: Many news confirm that activation for the Iphone will be on the spot. Meaning they won’t let you leave the store if you don’t activate your phone. At the moment, there is possible way for me to conduct my bulk yet.

Let’s cut the chase. What’s new on Iphone 3G.

1. 3G speed.

It’s 2.8x faster than slowball EDGE and you can browse while you are on a call.

3.8x faster in downloading attachment.

2. Enterprise features.

More features for enterprise users such as activesync support, push email, calendar and contacts.

3. GPS!

It’s not assisted GPS anymore. It’s the real GPS like garmin and tomtom. Now you can use your iphone to navigate in a car. update: there is no turn-by-turn feature. You will just be aware of where you are.

Now you will have a pulsing blue dote that follow you every step you take.

4. More Juice

It’s rated at 300 hours standby, 10 hours 2G talk, 5 hours 3G talk and 24 hours of audio!

5. App Store

App Store is not just an icon anymore. Expect full arrays of games, social apps, location-aware apps, news and match updates, ebay bidding, and so on.

6. Slightly different charger

7. White version FTW

I will update with more in-depth features. In the meanwhile, enjoy these misc photos.

Super Monkey Ball. The graphic is comparable to DS.

Bidding on Ebay anyone?

The promising location-aware apps. This apps shows where you friends are. Much like twitter with location. And it’s FREE!

Native apps for matches updates. Neats!

Nice addition to those with girlfriend who’s taking Med. This will totally blow her.

God of War-like game

Character recognition that includes many languages.

Source:

Engadget

Gizmodo

http://live.gizmodo.com/

or

http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/09/steve-jobs-keynote-live-from-wwdc-2008/

If you are not interested at all, you can wear this t-shirt tomorrow :p

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Everybody seems to be talking about recent fuel price hike. This incident has been much taken as political issue rather than a problem that must be dealt with. We must face the fact that the world price for oil is soaring up to $135 USD per barrel. We are no longer enjoying $65 USD price point like it was when the oil price in Malaysia was RM1.92 per litre.

While the annual rebate is far from enough, it’s much better than blindly subsidizing the oil price. Here’s why:

1. It encourages petrol usage reduction.

Before this, there is no ’penalty’ of using a lot of fuel. If one use tons of fuel for business, he/she is consuming a lot of government subsidy which is meant for those who can’t afford the fuel. Now, if you use around RM140 fuel per month, the cost of the recent price hike will be covered by the RM650 rebate. If you use more than that, you will pay the full price (RM2.78) for the additional fuel.

2. Those in lower income bracket benefit the most from the rebate.

Majority of low income people is using less than 2000cc car and travel less than higher income people. By limiting the rebate to these lower income community, government is focusing its spending and could save a lot from that.

3. No more ’seludup minyak’ problem. Our neighbors also feel discouraged to fill their tank in our shore.

4. Less pollution by (#1) reason.

5. More money for government to spend. Hope their spending benefits us the most.

That’s all that I could think in this short while. If you have any comment or suggestion, let me know through the comment section.

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If you are going to buy Iphone anytime soon, do note that it is not available online, nor offline. Is it a move from Apple to protect its customers in the dawn of the next gen Iphone? We’ll wait for a good news.

[Via gizmodo]