MoneyMoose

Ever lost your wife and developed a drinking problem because you went bankrupt?

No?

Er…

Anyway, the reason you might have lost that money is because of the new-fangled tricks companies are using to sell their products. For example,

“Companies have developed a range of strategies, from quickly rotating merchandise to infusing stores with certain scents and sounds, to get customers to spend more… Fueled in part by a growing mound of research that suggests consumers are responsive to such tactics, more and more retailers are turning to them.”

Because you’re more likely to buy stuff that smells good. It’s a fact.

“At Zara, the turquoise and beige tunic on sale one day will be replaced by a yellow ruffled sundress the next. If you want the tunic, you have to buy it now… stores’ entire contents are turned over every three to four weeks, and new clothes arrive twice a week.

“They’re training their customers to buy an item if they see something they like, because next week it might not be there,” says Robert Swinney… Swinney’s research, based on mathematical modeling, suggests that profits can be boosted by an average of 67 percent with such a strategy.”

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TokBox, a video chat program that “wants to do for live video chatting what YouTube did for video watching,” seems to be quite an interesting idea.

“The company, TokBox, allows people with Webcams and broadband Internet connections to conduct face-to-face chats inside a Web browser…On TokBox, if one party is not present, users can send a video mail message of up to five minutes in length that the other party can later retrieve at the site…”

Perfect. I’ll never have to leave my house again. I’ll communicate in five minute messages to everyone I know. Eventually, I’m sure, people will never have to move. They’ll just sit in tiny boxes talking to >500 people at once. TokBox is the just first revolutionary step to this reality. And, it’s got some of the names behind YouTube behind it. Nothing can go wrong. Seriously, what could possibl-

“…if it becomes widely used, TokBox will face more formidable technical challenges than YouTube… it [has] to keep up with the bulging cost of storing and playing all those videos. …and will also have to ensure that live video chats flow seamlessly…In tests, TokBox chats looked a little grainier, and its audio sounded a little noisier, than video chats under similar conditions on Skype…

Then it will be up to the company to figure out a way to make money. The founders say they are looking at advertising — a common refrain among Silicon Valley start-ups — and selling advanced versions of the service to companies that can use it to communicate with their customers online.”

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Money Magazine’s “The Mole” has posted a guide that shows how people that have already saved up can keep on growing their wealth. It basically comes down to this:

“1. Spend less than you make

2. Don’t worry about short-term investment risks

3. Don’t go for sexy investments” (i.e. trying to strike it rich with “the next Google.”)

Although these finance tips might work for some, here’s monetary advice that will make you happy for the rest of your life.

1. Spend more than you make.

No matter how counterintuitive it sounds, just remember - the best things in life don’t make sense. Like rainbows. If you spend more money than you make, you can buy whatever you want. Buying whatever you want sounds good, right? Spending more money than you can afford is also a way to make more money. Taking a loan from the Mafia and then day-trading it can be very profitable, which leads me to the next financial tip…
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The Daily Show is getting a new home on the internet. After much legal battle with YouTube, Google Video, and other similar sites, Viacom has finally decided to let episode-crazed fanatics of the show watch it online.

“Viacom is set to unveil a Web site that will include about 13,000 video clips of its popular “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” representing every minute of the show since its 1999 inception, according to a published report. “

Excellent. Every single second of The Daily Show is now available, because everyone loves Jon Stewart. There should obviously be a mandate that every American citizen must watch the show. There is absolutely nothing that will deter anyone from viewing the awesome, amazing glory that is The Dai-

“To prepare for the launching of the site, 16 Comedy Central writers and video encoders have worked two shifts a day on the project since June, according to the report. Erik Flannigan, executive vice president for digital media at MTV Networks, the Viacom unit that includes Comedy Central, said one particular challenge for the site was designing ads that would satisfy advertisers without turning off viewers.

“Nobody wins when you have a 30-second ad in front of a 45-second piece of video,” he told the paper.”

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Fox has recently debuted its new money show, the Fox Business Network (FBN). As with all things Fox, it is perky, upbeat, and wrong.

” The mood on Rupert Murdoch’s latest television venture was so giggly and upbeat that it belied its own crawl, showing sinking stock prices.”

Happy? Giggly? This should not be the mood when dealing with financial matters! Business is, well, serious business.

“For the inaugural show… [they] interview an entrepreneur of the day, the Naked Cowboy, a guitar-strumming singer who says he earns $250,000 a year serenading tourists in a cowboy hat and underpants, and much more in merchandising and record contracts.”

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