Finance Matters

Archive for April, 2010

One of Google’s biggest Android problems is that its platform — as young as it is — is already super fragmented.

There’s already a handful of Android phones on the market, which is good for Google.

But they all run slightly differently, whether a different screen size, keyboard configuration, or flavor of the Android operating system. This is bad for Google.

Here’s one practical example of why that’s such a bad thing: Twitter’s new official Android app, announced today, only works on Android phones running 2.1 or newer versions of the Android operating system.

That includes the Nexus One and the new HTC Droid Incredible, but doesn’t include a bunch of other Android phones, including some new ones on the market. (And users generally don’t have any control over this — it’s up to handset makers and operators.)

Good luck to Twitter’s support folks who will have to explain to a bunch of confused Android users about why their phone can’t use the new Twitter app. (Though this leaves a door open for other developers who make Twitter apps for older versions of Android. And, of course, Twitter will still work for those users on the mobile web and via SMS.)

Mostly, it’s indicative of how much of a nuisance and competitive disadvantage the fragmented Android market could become if this problem continues.

Fragmentation isn’t as much of a problem for Apple’s iPhone, but it could become more of one as Apple continues to update its operating system with new features that don’t work on its older phones. But today, Apple remains far less fragmented than Android.

Related: The Very Best Android Phones For Each Carrier

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See Also:

• Hey, Google, Apple Just Got Into The Search Business!
• There’s A Lot Of Google Android Phones Out There
• Google’s Big Move To Disrupt Mobile Carriers Hits A Big Snag

Iris Mack, a former quant trader and one of the “Ladies of the Financial Crisis,” published a first-person account on HuffPo (via Gawker) that appears designed to destroy both her reputation and former Treasury Secretary Bob Rubin’s.

It reads so absurdly that it really seems like a joke.  Except that both parties are quite real.

Here’s a taste:

I also remember teasingly inquiring as to whether he’d flown in on a Citigroup jet again. (He’d called me from one in December.) “It’s one of the perks,” he replied a bit sheepishly.

Things were much more relaxed by the time I walked him back to the Ritz – which was along the way to my South Beach condo. When we passed a homeless man along the way he made a bit of a show of opening up his fat leather billfold and producing a dollar — “There but for the grace of God…” he remarked melodramatically — and I gave him a lot of heat for that, because who exactly did he think he was kidding? I said give the man a job. Heck, you’re the head of a bank! But when we reached the hotel entrance, the tension returned. He got this funny look on his face, and asked:

“Do you want to go upstairs and…cuddle?”

So that’s what this is about. For a moment I was totally speechless and had to dig into my Harvard trained PhD brain to figure out what the hell he meant by “cuddling”! What can I say; once a teetotaling math geek, always a bit slow to pick up on signals from the menfolk. So the former Treasury Secretary had a “crush” on me! And not long afterward the former Treasury Secretary had his tongue down my throat and hands everywhere sort of like an octopus. But as soon as the thought entered my mind — the former Treasury Secretary has his tongue down my throat?! — I came to my senses a bit and awkwardly went back home before we both got too carried away. This is to say, I said to myself that there would be no other former Treasury Secretary appendages entering any other of my orifices.

Based on the rest of the account, Bob Rubin will be able to follow the example of his friend Bill Clinton and say “I did not have sex with that woman.”  But if any of this is remotely true, life probably won’t be happy in the Rubin household for a while.

(Headline by Felix Salmon)

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Some sad news for us (and excellent news for her new colleagues):

Media editor Gillian Reagan is leaving to join former New York Observer editors Tom McGeveran and Josh Benson as a founding editor of a new site called “Capital.”

Gillian’s hush-hush about the details, but “Capital” will launch soon and focus on New York City. 

(Basically, it sounds like the Observer reincarnated for the digital age.  Peter Kafka describes it thusly:  “soft launch soon, w/”culture” vertical. then media + politics. Think NY observer w/out real estate coverage or print ed.”).

We’ll miss Gillian, and we wish her and her new colleagues all the best!

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Yesterday the Wall Street Journal reported that some 60 privileged mommies were protesting John Paulson’s presence on the board of Spence, the private New York City all-girls school.

The news is highly speculative, but according to reporter Teri Buhl, there really is talk of kicking him off the board.

We find it strange that Spence wouldn’t want a hugely popular and profitable hedge fund manager like John Paulson on their board for two reasons.

Spence is upper-east side and probably one of the schools Gossip Girl is based off of. Enrolled in the school are probably a bunch of Wall Street kids, including children of Goldman Sachs employees who would probably be a little peeved that the school is distancing themselves from a colleague.

Also, Paulson emerged from the SEC charges against Goldman Sachs with his image pretty much intact. In fact, he connected the SEC with Paolo Pelligrini and aided them in their ABACUS investigation.

But apparently the school doesn’t like their board being so closely associated with anyone garnering negative attention in the media.

See what really happened during the ABACUS deal –>

Read more about it on NYMag.

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See Also:

• The Complete Story Of What Really Happened Between Goldman, Paulson, ACA, IKB, And ABN

Second update: A spokesperson from the Coast Guard explained that a barge overturned while transporting a defunct rig to a scrap heap.

The only oil at risk is the fuel contained in the barge — less than 200 gallons.

In other words, this headline from HuffPo is a bit much:

Here’s what you need to know about the real disaster >

Update: Here’s the Coast Guard’s announcement:

MORGAN CITY, La. — The Coast Guard is responding Friday to an overturned mobile inland drilling unit (MIDU) in the Charenton navigational canal south of Highway 90.

The MIDU has a 20,000-gallon diesel fuel capacity, and while there is no current estimate on how much fuel was on board at the time of the incident, on-scene Coast Guard pollution investigators have determined that the rig is not leaking fuel at this time.  As a precaution, 500 feet of containment boom has been deployed around the rig, with an additional 500 feet arriving to provide a secondary string within the canal.

The Coast Guard has established a safety zone 1,000 yards on either side of the incident, prohibiting vessel traffic from entering the area without permission from the Captain of the Port.  A salvage plan is currently being developed for Coast Guard approval. 

There are no reported injuries and the Coast Guard is investigating the cause of the incident. 

Original post: Hopefully this turns out to be a big nothing… But Reuters is reporting that the Coast Guard says it’s responding to a second Louisiana overturned rig in the Charenton Navigational Channel.

Will update as warranted/learn more.

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