Just a quick yet exciting announcement… I have finally taken the initiative to start a technology website, something I’ve wanted to do for years. Anyway, I am working with five great guys including Tray Harrison and Eric Boyd on bringing the best of the tech world to the interwebs. Check it out, we just started Monday but are on a roll!

www.digitalmeld.com

So… 2008 comes to a close in a little over twelve hours now (CST) and while most people will be thrilled to put the bitch that is 2008 to rest I’d be lying if I didn’t say I wouldn’t miss it a little. 2008 was the year where the notion of global warming took a few on a chin, Democrats took over our government and O.J. was finally convicted. The Giants won the Super Bowl, the Phillies the World Series and the price of gas fluctuated more than Star Jones’ weight.

This year has had plenty of bad news including over 220,000 disaster related deaths world-wide and 151 US service men and women lost their lives in Afghanistan while 309 perished in Iraq. Economies around the world are in crisis thanks to economic lows not seen since the great depression while the cornerstones of the American economy, Ford, GM and Chrysler are fighting tooth and nail just to survive.

Still, with all of the horrible things that happened in the year 2008 she was also a great year to be had. 45 years after Martin Luther King Jr.’s "I Have a Dream" my fellow Americans and I elected our first African American President in Barrack Obama. We found water on Enceladus, sent the Phoenix Lander to northern Mars and the Mars Rovers have been trucking on Mars for nearly 5 years.

I could go on and on about the good and bad that 2008 brought us all but at the end of the day (and year) we’re still standing… maybe not with as much money in our retirement accounts as before but we’re still here fighting, striving and moving forward. The end of another year is always bitter-sweet to me, and 2008 is no different… okay, it may be just a tad more bitter this year seeing as I just turned 30…

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I know that trading stocks isn’t for the faint of heart but I figure I throw plenty of my money away on new gadgets and nights out on the town so I might as well start doing something constructive with my spare cash. SogoTrade seems to be the perfect online broker for an amateur trying to make their way into the Wall Street game as they offer the cheapest trades on the Internet. When you sign-up they give you 100 free trades (as most online brokers do) but the trick is, their standard trades are just $3.00 each… that means as a day trader your total swing on a trade is just $6.00 in total commissions, which makes a huge difference when dealing in small trades. Better yet, if you become a premium member for just $10.00 a month your trades are just $1.50 each!

Now, I don’t encourage anyone out there to just jump into day trading head first, I hope they all take time to think about it, research it and then make a decision. I’ve read a lot of great information regarding day trading and plan on reading even more. I’m about 100 pages into The Complete Guide to Day Trading and still have the following books waiting for a read: A Beginner’s Guide to Day Trading Online, The Complete Guide to Investing in Short Term Trading: How to Earn High Rates of Returns Safely, The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets: How to Keep Your Portfolio Up When the Market is Down and The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing. Bottom line: read, read and read some more. Day trading is not a get-rich-quick scheme.

Excitingly enough, I made my first trade yesterday afternoon, buying 100 shares of the CIT Group (CIT) at $4.43 a share… and just about 30 minutes later I unloaded the stocks for $4.83 a share, scoring $40.00 in profit. I had done it, I purchased 100 shares of an American company and turned a profit! Sure transactions like my first one won’t make me rich overnight but it isn’t a bad start either, especially considering the past 48 hours the Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost over 800 points. I am going to continue to make "safe trades" like CIT over the next several weeks until I can refine my plan for trading. The goal I am making for myself during these first weeks is trying to prove to myself that even during the current turmoil on Wall Street that there is money being made.

My current plan is simple, I plan to buy and sell shares of low dollar stocks ($1-10 per share) multiple times a day to hopefully pull in $50-300 of profit a day… during these first weeks I am going to limit myself to a maximum of 100 shares per purchase. This is where SogoTrade’s low dollar trades come in so handy for beginners. For example: let’s say I buy 100 shares of GM (GM) at $4.50 a share, then an hour later I resell those 100 shares at $4.80 for a profit of $30, with SogoTrade’s premium account buying and selling those shares cost me a total of $3.00 leaving me with a profit of $27. Taking those same numbers and using Scottrade ($7 per trade) my profit would only be $16 while TD AmeriTrade ($9.99 per trade) would only be $10.02… you see where I am going with this?

In the end I’m hoping to continue to improve upon my plan while making damn sure that I stick with that plan. All information regarding day trading mentions making a plan, refining that plan and sticking to that plan… "your plan is your life-line" as they say. My current plan is watching 61 low dollar stocks from the S&P 500, purchasing a maximum of 100 shares at a time and selling all shares by the end of the trading day (3:00PM CST). Over the coming months I hope to leverage the profits I make in my trades as more buying power to diversify my daily portfolio allowing me to buy more and more stocks at 100 shares each, so I can turn those $40 profits per trading day into hundreds of dollars a day.

Why low dollar stocks? Well, there are a few reasons. First, the risk is much lower on low-dollar stocks… 100 shares of a $4.00 stock is a lot easier to swallow than 100 shares of a $20.00 stock. Secondly, low-dollar stocks generally have a lot of trading volume when compared to other high-dollar stocks. Sure there are exceptions to this rule but the vast majority of the stocks I’m watching have at least two million shares bought and sold in an average trading day with some going as high as one hundred million shares. That kind of volume pretty much guarantees that these stocks will fluctuated a minimum of 10-20% in a trading day, which is the kind of movement I look for in making those $40-$50 sales.

I know I have an uphill battle on my hands and I know I will have my good days and most importantly my bad ones, but the key is that I learn from those bad days so I make them few and far between. Today I’m going to keep my eyes on Ford (F) and GM as they both release their earnings reports this morning which should be dismal considering their asking for a 25 million dollar government bailout. I’ll also be keeping my eye on the National City Corporation (NCC) and Wachovia Corporation (WB) as both of them may see another 100 million volume trading day today. National City just happens to be my mortgage lender… funny how that works, as I’m sure they’ve seen better days; they’re down over $15.00 a share for the year, OUCH!

Over the coming days, weeks and months I hope to post frequent updates and reviews about my trading experiences… including reviews on all the books mentioned above. So stay tuned and wish me luck!

Yesterday my fellow Americans and I elected Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America. Since the results came in I’ve been reading my fair share of reactions from both sides of the isle and am appalled at reactions from conservatives and liberals alike. This time should be the most amazing time to be an American yet even when we should be at our best we can’t muster a single, solitary moment of national pride. Think about it. We haven’t been able to witness a night like last night since 1992 when Bill Clinton was the last clear winner of a new Presidency.

Electing a new President is the epitome of what our great democracy stands for and should be cherished by all who live here. I’ll try to sum it up like John McCain did so eloquently last night in his concession speech; Regardless of what party you are affiliated with or who you voted for we are all first and foremost, Americans. People need to realize that regardless of who has been elected to office, it is the duty of all Americans to help move this great nation forward, otherwise we will just continue to decline further into a pit of self loathing.

I didn’t vote for President-Elect Barack Obama, but I am an American who is proud of his country and even more proud of the fact that 114 million of my fellow Americans exercised their right to vote yesterday… a right that has been earned with the blood of brave men and women for over 232 years, including approximately 1,314,225 war-time related deaths by US military men and women in defense of this democracy. For that very reason I openly respect the opinions and views of the 63 million of my fellow Americans who did vote for Barack Obama and I’ll put my full support behind him as our next Commander and Chief.

If all Americans and their politicians would stop blaming everyone but themselves for the problems that face our country we’d get a lot further. Obama can promise all of the "change" in the world but until the American people as a whole take a proactive approach to fixing this nation nothing will be done, nothing will change. Some may think the President has total control of America but even the "chosen one" can’t change things on his own.

The only way for this country to change is for Democrats to stop being Democrats and Republicans to stop be Republicans and for Americans to start being Americans. Our finest hours were during and shortly after World War II and that was because all Americans took proactive steps to make a difference; we won’t get any better now unless we follow that generation’s lead. It is our job to guide America, not the government’s. The people running this country are there to put your wishes into motion, not to make your decisions for you.

So I ask my fellow Americans to support Obama (unlike they have Bush) because the bottom line is he’s our President (elect) and you respect the office and the burden and power it entails. If Obama isn’t all he’s cracked up to be don’t bash him the same way you bashed Bush, stand up for what you believe and and make a difference the next election cycle. Email your congressmen and hold them accountable for once, stop saying what the problems are and offer solutions. You have a voice so stop bickering like you are oppressed and use it in a proactive way for once.

Remember that this great democracy of ours is a government of the people, by the people, for the people… if you take anything from this, remember that.

Have a blog that you wish you would update more often? I know I do… well Microsoft recently released a free tool dubbed Windows Live Writer that may help speed up the process a bit. In late May I made a quick post about using Adobe Contribute CS3 for the first time and when I made that post I thought I would actually use the software to update my blog… but that never happened. I didn’t like the look or feel of the software and I found it was faster to simply log into my WordPress blog and post it all the old-fashion way.

Well, here I am back touting another blog publishing product but this time it is free and from Microsoft, and being a professed Microsoft fanboy I’ll actually probably use this one more often. The software works with most major blogging platforms including Windows Live Spaces, SharePoint, WordPress and Blogger. Basically you use the software like you would Microsoft Word and when you’re ready to publish to your blog you just hit the publish button… and *tada* like magic your blog is updated.

I’m going to give this a shot for a few blog posts and see how it goes… if nothing else comes out of it at least it will get me off my lazy ass long enough to make a few posts. If I like the software I’ll take the time out to post a quick "HOW TO" article on it in the next several days… stay tuned.

There are few things in this world that I love more than music… and that’s why I truly enjoy the site Pandora. Pandora is a musical and scientific marvel; it is an extremely intuitive and free automated music recommendation and Internet radio service created by the Music Genome Project. If you’re tired of the same ol’ stale FM radio dial then Pandora is the place for you. This amazing service will introduce you to hundreds of musical acts you’ll love even though you have no clue who they are.

The Music Genome Project uses 400 distinct attributes and 2,000 focus traits to scientifically and mathematically break songs down… so it recommends similar sounds and tempos to you on the next play. You simply enter a song or artist into the Pandora player and it creates a channel for that artist or song. From there it automatically starts playing a song which you can give thumbs up or thumbs down… and it works its magic from there.

Pandora recently released along with the launch of the new iPhone 3G a mobile application that allows you to stream music directly to your phone. This service is also free and is currently compatible with the Sprint and AT&T mobile networks… although you can use it with just about any cell phone with a data plan if you know where to look. I haven’t had a chance to try it out on my phone as of yet but from what I’ve read the Pandora iPhone application is great.

Nothing in life is free, so what’s the catch? Thankfully there really isn’t a catch. The service is free but does have ads that rotate every time you vote for a song. The player also links directly to Amazon and iTunes profiles where you can purchase the track being played, but other than that it is free. You don’t even have to create a profile, but if you do you can share your stations with your friends and vice versa.

Pandora has made my daily music listening habits extremely easy. I no longer have to carry around a ton of songs on my iPhone, or a thumb or portable drive full of tunes. I can simply log onto Pandora, hit play and have fresh music the entire work day… you can’t beat that. I’ve tried similar services like Last.fm in the past but they don’t hold a stick with the excellent recommendation services that Pandora offers.

The title of this blog post pretty much says it all. The movie is everything I dreamt it would be and more… I watched it in the wee hours this morning on IMAX, and it was simply amazing. Christian Bale who is my current favorite actor (Deniro and Pacino have fallen greatly over the past decade) plays yet another perfect role… but this movie belongs to the late Heath Ledger and his Joker.

Ledger was always my favorite "young actor" (my age/my generation) and this role just makes me miss the thought of having him around for years to come even more. I was truly saddened when he died in January, and now the thought of not seeing him come back as the anarchist Joker just pours salt in the wounds… but there is a light at the end of the tunnel, he went out in a masterpiece.

I could ramble on for hours about how amazing this film is, and it is truly amazing but  I’ll simply steal the words of Kevin Smith from one of his recent blog posts:

“Without giving anything away, this is an epic film (and trust me: based on the sheer size and scope of the visuals and storytelling, that’s not an overstatement). It’s the “Godfather II” of comic book films and three times more earnest than “Batman Begins” (and fuck, was that an earnest film). Easily the most adult comic book film ever made. Heath Ledger didn’t so much give a performance as he disappeared completely into the role; I know I’m not the first to suggest this, but he’ll likely get at least an Oscar nod (if not the win) for Best Supporting Actor. Fucking flick’s nearly three hours long and only leaves you wanting more (in a great way). I can’t imagine anyone being disappointed by it. Nolan and crew have created something close to a masterpiece.”

I couldn’t say it any better. I will be heading back to the theater at least a few more times before this film has run it’s course at the box office. With that said, make sure you catch a glimpse of the new Watchmen trailer that debuts before Dark Knight… it looks like a hell of a ride as well. Zack Snider the amazing director of 300 and Dawn of the Dead brings his visionary look and feel to this sci-fi comic book juggernaut.

This position has been very exciting from the start but I’ve had to soak up as much information as a can as fast as I can… the transition period for the Team Lead I’ve replaced has been very short lived and I’m now flying solo. So far Avanade and my direct client have been fantastic companies to work for and it is off to a great start. I’ve already taken some technical training that Avanade thankfully footed the bill for and I’ll continue to do so over the next couple of months…

Anyway, I’ll post a little later just had to get the ball rolling again and force myself to make a blog post… once I get started I can’s stop myself.

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails just can’t be stopped. When you think he’s done everything an artist can do promote digital distribution and give a giant middle finger to the record labels he blows your mind again. Nine Inch Nails Lights in the Sky Tour Sampler was released yesterday via digital download from www.nin.com. It has been a busy time for Nine Inch Nails, in the past three months Trent and company have accomplished the following:

• Released a 4 disk 36 track instrumental album. 9 tracks were released completely free via BitTorrent. He also offered a digital download of the entire set for only $5.00. A download and physical CD for $10.00, a special edition including a picture book for $75.00 and a signed limited edition for $300.
• Released the single Discipline to radio stations just hours after it was mastered.
• Released the single Discipline along with Echoplex directly to fans for a free download.
• Released a new 10 track album "The Slip" for absolutely free in MP3 and high quality formats. This one was "on him."
• Purchased a large amount of tickets from each of his tour stops to release a pre-sale to keep the best tickets out of the hands of scalpers and in the hands of true fans.
• Releases a free 5 track sampler album of all acts opening for Nine Inch Nails on tour this summer… dubbed "Lights in the Sky." Trent also released a download of more HD 1080p Wallpapers with the release, see below for a preview.

It’s a great time to be a fan of Nine Inch Nails… for nearly a decade Trent would come out with new material every 4-5 years and now without being under the lock and key of a record label it looks like we may have new material 4-5 times a year. Below is a preview of the wallpapers that you can download here.