Why we think it's OK to cheat and steal

Behavioral economist Dan Ariely studies the bugs in our moral code: the hidden reasons we think it's OK to cheat or steal (sometimes). Clever studies help make his point that we're predictably irrational -- and can be influenced in ways we can't grasp.

Innovate

Recently came across 'Innocentive' covered in NYTimes.

InnoCentive is an online open innovation marketplace - a "problem solving" web site - that rewards smart people for good ideas. Companies and organizations (seekers) post problems (challenges) that they are unable to solve within their organization to people all over the world (solvers) who win cash prizes for resolving them. It is free to join and if your solution is chosen - you win. Awards range from $5,000 to $1,000,000.

You can use your knowledge and expertise to make a real difference and get paid for solving these problems too. Considering the vast pool of brilliant and creative people with varied expertise available to passionately solve real life problems in the world the success rate is bound to be good. I heard in the Business Week podcast that 40% of the problems are solved which is an exceptional number for the cost and resources.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Republican nominee for president, has proposed that the government offer $300 million to whoever invents a battery compact enough, powerful enough and cheap enough to replace fossil fuels. (something similar to Innocentive)

To see the details of available Challenges and register with InnoCentive click here:
Join Innocentive

If you have the world's brightest minds solving your problem what more do you want?
Concepts like these will definitely help the world become a better place for all of us to live.

Is Alibaba Worth More Than Google?

Alibaba.com, China’s largest e-commerce company, on Monday launched what is set to be one of the world’s most expensive initial public offerings, seeking to raise up to 11.6 billion Hong Kong dollars ($1.49 billion) through a share sale priced at a much higher valuation than investors paid for Google when it came public.

Click here to read the entire Forbes story.

Indian drug market to reach $20B

The Indian drug market is expected to triple in size by 2015, to $20 billion in annual sales, according to a report released Wednesday by international consulting firm McKinsey & Co.

The report said India will undergo a "significant transformation" to become one of the top 10 pharmaceutical markets in the next decade.

The country's fast-growing economy, with an enviable GDP growth of 8 percent, is expected to be a key factor in driving the pharma market. The report said that 40 percent of the projected growth can be attributed to the doubling of disposable incomes and the expansion of the Indian middle class.

In addition, improvements in medical infrastructure - like rural hospitals and clinics - would contribute to 20 percent of the projected growth, while the strengthening of health insurance within the country would contribute to 15 percent of the growth, the report said.

India is already home to of the world's most prominent makers of generic drugs - Dr. Reddy's Laboratories and Ranbaxy Laboratories which compete with U.S. based makers of name-brand drugs like Merck & Co., Inc. and Pfizer Inc.

But to fuel more growth in the Indian pharma market, the national government should lend a helping hand.

BPO, KPO & PPO

You have heard about BPO (business process outsourcing) & KPO (knowledge process outsourcing), but it's time now to add a new word to your vocabulary: PPO.

Coined by Alok Aggarwal, chairman of Evalueserve Inc, PPO means person-to-person outsourcing. The US-based Aggarwal, who is the co-founder of the global research and analytics services firm, says offshoring is now beginning to go mainstream and is touching the upper class and working class alike.

If you thought the PPO market is too small and hence insignificant, Aggarwal has an answer. Individual contracts are often of low value - between $100 and $5,000 - but since the number of end consumers and small businesses is enormous, the total addressable market in the US alone easily exceeds $20 billion.

Evalueserve's research and analysis shows that between April 2006 and March 2007, the revenue from this sector was more than $250 million and it is likely to grow to over $2 billion by 2015 - a cumulative annual growth rate of around 26 per cent. The growth rate, Aggarwal says, is likely to be much more in the future as many of these PPO offshoring trends are at the beginning of their lifecycles.

According to Evalueserve, PPO services follow two business models: the direct interaction model where the individual client signs a contract directly with a vendor in a low-wage country, whose employees (tutors, admin etc) work on a full-time or a part-time basis, or as sub-contractors.

The second is the online marketplace model where the vendors providing PPO services enrol in an online marketplace by paying a monthly subscription fee plus a fixed percentage of the revenue if they win the project through this marketplace. So, when an individual client posts requirements for a new project to be conducted on the online marketplace, the marketplace communicates these opportunities to the selected vendors and freelancers and requests proposals to be delivered to the client.

The client then awards the work to the appropriate vendor depending on price (which may be on a per hour or a fixed cost basis), delivery time and a quality score provided by other clients who have been served by this vendor.

Evalueserve's research estimates that there are currently more than 90 online marketplaces on the World Wide Web and projects that they have involve over 500,000 vendors and freelance professionals who are providing these services from low-wage countries.

Click here to read the entire story

Evaluate & re-evaluate

If you have a BofA account you can use their porfolio to track credit cards, bonuses, checking, savings, mutual funds, stocks etc.
I like Google Finance for its simplicity.

There are a couple of other websites which I have heard of you might want to try.
MorningStar, Yodlee, etc.

I personally use Google and BofA in conjunction.

Bottom line, you should always keep a track of your assets relative to the amount you actually put in out of your pocket.

Electric Orange

I am personally a loyal customer and a strong advocate of ING Direct and hence when I came across this today and thought of posting it here as well. The account seems to be a mix between the ING savings account and the regular checking account. Sounds good to me ! Click here to go to ING Direct.

Here is the low down on the same:

America's first all–electronic, paperless checking account is going to change the way you do your banking. Earn a great rate and get great features like online Free Bill Pay, easy access to cash, an Electric Orange MasterCard® debit card and more – Electric Orange provides the access and convenience of checking with the earning power of savings.

Make money while managing your money.
With Electric Orange, you'll earn high interest on all balances.

Electric Orange Balance	Interest Rate	APY	Effective Date
$0-$49,999.99	2.96%	3.00%	11/29/2006
$50,000.00-$99,999.99	4.94%	5.05%	11/29/2006
$100,000.00 or more	5.18%	5.30%	11/29/2006

For example, if your balance is $55,000, you earn a great 5.05% APY on the entire balance.

MasterCard® Debit Card convenience.
With your Electric Orange MasterCard® Debit Card you can make secure purchases anywhere MasterCard® is accepted – sign the receipt or enter your Card PIN and go.

Free ATM access at more than 32,000 ATMs nationwide.
Make free cash withdrawals at ATM locations in all 50 states through the Allpoint™ Network – America's largest Surcharge–Free ATM Network.

Send money securely for free with Electric Checks.
With Electric Orange, you can send money to an individual's bank account with Electric Checks for free. Simply enter the person's information, the details of the payment, and an email will be sent to the recipient. The person can click on the link within the email to go to a secure page to enter their account information and the money is transferred!

Automatic protection with your Overdraft Line of Credit.
Say goodbye to excessive NSF fees charged by other banks. When you open your Electric Orange, you'll automatically get an Overdraft Line of Credit that's connected right to your Electric Orange and is accessed anytime your balance goes below $0.00. There's no fee to use the line of credit – you'll just pay a competitive interest rate on the money you need to borrow.

Safe, Secure and Smart.
You can rest easy knowing the money in your Electric Orange is FDIC-insured . It's also protected by our unique and innovative PIN Guard PIN entry process. Plus, you can set up secure Email Notifications to tell you if a card transaction is over a certain amount, or if your balance drops below a certain level.