Dear Twitter, dear Skype, dear Facebook:
Why can't I move your sh*tty "apps" from the internal storage of this phone to the SD card? The phone only has ~140mb of internal storage, and your bloated junky replacements for webpages (excluding Skype) take up too much space.
Install to the SD card. Imbeciles.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Thursday, January 24, 2013
The perfect laptop...
Here is what the perfect laptop would have:
1. Instead of a battery pack, a battery bay where the complicated bits of a battery (the power management unit) is built in, but the rechargeable cells are easily replaceable. Laptop batterys consist of a number of Lithium Ion cells (usually 3, 4 or 6, but can be 9) - and guess what? They are AA battery profile. There is no reason laptop manufacturers should be able to charge $100 for a new battery when you only need to replace the *cells*, and the cells are not that expensive.
2. A not-too-widescreen. The way we're going, it'll be 1600 * 50px before long! For reading, a greater depth is better; 1366 * 768 is a step backwards (from, say, 1280 * 800).
3. A slight hump/lump/bump on the bottom to raise the laptop up, to allow airflow into the CPU.
4. Replaceable CPU.
5. BIOS that allows you to charge your battery to 80% instead of 100%; this will dramatically increase the lifespan of the battery (charging to 100% and draining to 0% kills a battery very quickly!)
6. Power connector at the back; USB on each side towards the back and 1 or 2 on the back; network cable on the back; HDMI at the back of one side or on the back; nothing on the front of the sides, within 3-4 inches of the front
7. Two speakers that aren't completely tinny (tinny is ok, but really tinny is bad!)
8. Power button on the side - so you can power the laptop up in "clamshell" mode (ie with the lid closed).
9. Two mini-PCIE slots - one for the usual WIFI/bluetooth, one for 3g or whatever else, and with the ability for it to be a graphics card (!).
10. And to round it off - not too heavy. Preferably 13.3 or 14.1 inch.
Obviously a non-crap keyboard, trackpad and so on would also be nice!
1. Instead of a battery pack, a battery bay where the complicated bits of a battery (the power management unit) is built in, but the rechargeable cells are easily replaceable. Laptop batterys consist of a number of Lithium Ion cells (usually 3, 4 or 6, but can be 9) - and guess what? They are AA battery profile. There is no reason laptop manufacturers should be able to charge $100 for a new battery when you only need to replace the *cells*, and the cells are not that expensive.
2. A not-too-widescreen. The way we're going, it'll be 1600 * 50px before long! For reading, a greater depth is better; 1366 * 768 is a step backwards (from, say, 1280 * 800).
3. A slight hump/lump/bump on the bottom to raise the laptop up, to allow airflow into the CPU.
4. Replaceable CPU.
5. BIOS that allows you to charge your battery to 80% instead of 100%; this will dramatically increase the lifespan of the battery (charging to 100% and draining to 0% kills a battery very quickly!)
6. Power connector at the back; USB on each side towards the back and 1 or 2 on the back; network cable on the back; HDMI at the back of one side or on the back; nothing on the front of the sides, within 3-4 inches of the front
7. Two speakers that aren't completely tinny (tinny is ok, but really tinny is bad!)
8. Power button on the side - so you can power the laptop up in "clamshell" mode (ie with the lid closed).
9. Two mini-PCIE slots - one for the usual WIFI/bluetooth, one for 3g or whatever else, and with the ability for it to be a graphics card (!).
10. And to round it off - not too heavy. Preferably 13.3 or 14.1 inch.
Obviously a non-crap keyboard, trackpad and so on would also be nice!
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
How to buy a Corvette C7 for $10,000!
Strange blog post for a guy who is supposedly into minimalism, you might think. I'd agree. Call this a piece of whimsy.
First, you need $10k. Earn this.
Go to the USA and buy, in the state of your choice, a house for $40,000 that will rent for $700-800 per month. Use the 2% and 50% rules - in order to cashflow $100 per "door", a property should rent for roughly 2% of its purchase price a month; and you can assume 50% will be eaten up by (non-financing) costs - property tax, management fees, repairs, vacancies, and the like. The 2% is probably high, as it is designed for multi-unit properties, and mortgage rates are low, historically speaking.
With a 30 year mortgage at 4%, the monthly payment will be about $150, so at a rent of $700 you will get $200 cash a month! Remember that this is income and must be reported, and tax paid on it. Tax must also be paid on the "repayment to capital" part of the mortgage payment. If you are lucky, you will laugh at the 50% rule and find a sensible, solid tenant who will stay in your property for 5 years while fixing the small problems themselves.
Anyway, let's assume after taxes you are taking $150 a month.
So how do you convert $1800 a year into a shiny new Corvette? The C7 has only just been unveiled (and it is a beautiful car). It'd barely be enough to cover loan payments for 3 months!
Firstly, don't buy it here in Canada. The base model is $60k here, but only $50k in the States. Crazy, considering the US and CAD$ are at par.
Secondly, well, you're saving up, right? You have your $1800 a year. Invest it in two low cost ETFs - 70% VTI (if you are American), XIC.TO (Canadian), or VUKE.L (British); and 30% XBB.TO (Canada), VGOV.L (British), or BND (US). Put the bond money into some kind of tax shelter; the stocks not being sheltered is less of an issue, as home-domiciled companies tend to have tax breaks associated with them.
This is a really basic "couch potato" investing strategy.
I know, I know, you want your Corvette. Well... stick the kettle on, make a nice cuppa.
Every few months, take your rent and use it to rebalance back to the same percentage split - 70/30 - of stocks vs bonds. So, if bonds are doing well, you buy more stocks; and vice versa. It forces you to buy low, which increases returns over time.
Wait.
Normally the Couch Potato strategy is used for retirement purposes, or early retirement if you're smart. But as I said - this is whimsy!
Ok, after about 4 years, you should have:
1. A nice house, worth maybe 10 or 20% more than you paid for it.
2. A nice increase on the money you've put in to the stock and bond markets.
3. A much lower mortgage than when you started.
Even better, the $50,000 Corvette has depreciated nicely, to about $25,000!
So, sell the house for $50k, less the remaining mortgage of $27,000 = $23,000; plus $8500 from your savings. Total: $31,500.
If you wait just one more year, you'd have enough for the Corvette and still have enough over to do it all again.
So, ladies and gentlemen, that is how you buy a Corvette for $10,000. Personally, I'd just let the money grow, and retire early by repeating many times.
First, you need $10k. Earn this.
Go to the USA and buy, in the state of your choice, a house for $40,000 that will rent for $700-800 per month. Use the 2% and 50% rules - in order to cashflow $100 per "door", a property should rent for roughly 2% of its purchase price a month; and you can assume 50% will be eaten up by (non-financing) costs - property tax, management fees, repairs, vacancies, and the like. The 2% is probably high, as it is designed for multi-unit properties, and mortgage rates are low, historically speaking.
With a 30 year mortgage at 4%, the monthly payment will be about $150, so at a rent of $700 you will get $200 cash a month! Remember that this is income and must be reported, and tax paid on it. Tax must also be paid on the "repayment to capital" part of the mortgage payment. If you are lucky, you will laugh at the 50% rule and find a sensible, solid tenant who will stay in your property for 5 years while fixing the small problems themselves.
Anyway, let's assume after taxes you are taking $150 a month.
So how do you convert $1800 a year into a shiny new Corvette? The C7 has only just been unveiled (and it is a beautiful car). It'd barely be enough to cover loan payments for 3 months!
Firstly, don't buy it here in Canada. The base model is $60k here, but only $50k in the States. Crazy, considering the US and CAD$ are at par.
Secondly, well, you're saving up, right? You have your $1800 a year. Invest it in two low cost ETFs - 70% VTI (if you are American), XIC.TO (Canadian), or VUKE.L (British); and 30% XBB.TO (Canada), VGOV.L (British), or BND (US). Put the bond money into some kind of tax shelter; the stocks not being sheltered is less of an issue, as home-domiciled companies tend to have tax breaks associated with them.
This is a really basic "couch potato" investing strategy.
I know, I know, you want your Corvette. Well... stick the kettle on, make a nice cuppa.
Every few months, take your rent and use it to rebalance back to the same percentage split - 70/30 - of stocks vs bonds. So, if bonds are doing well, you buy more stocks; and vice versa. It forces you to buy low, which increases returns over time.
Wait.
Normally the Couch Potato strategy is used for retirement purposes, or early retirement if you're smart. But as I said - this is whimsy!
Ok, after about 4 years, you should have:
1. A nice house, worth maybe 10 or 20% more than you paid for it.
2. A nice increase on the money you've put in to the stock and bond markets.
3. A much lower mortgage than when you started.
Even better, the $50,000 Corvette has depreciated nicely, to about $25,000!
So, sell the house for $50k, less the remaining mortgage of $27,000 = $23,000; plus $8500 from your savings. Total: $31,500.
If you wait just one more year, you'd have enough for the Corvette and still have enough over to do it all again.
So, ladies and gentlemen, that is how you buy a Corvette for $10,000. Personally, I'd just let the money grow, and retire early by repeating many times.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Reduce! Reduce Accumulate! Er what?
Assets, that is. Cash producing assets.
It has struck me that I'm going to be bored come March. Bored and, truthfully, not quite wealthy enough to have passive incomes > expenditures.
I could get another job in addition to the gardening/farming I'm going to be doing. I'm planning on buying a couple or three apple trees. And I really need to do something about those trees along the edge of our property that are taller than the phone cables.
I may/might/probably will get another job. I have too much time on my hands as it is (someone who reads this would disagree, but that's another story!). I quite fancy... bookkeeping. Don't laugh. It's a needed skill - small businesses rely on their friendly neighbourhood bookkeeper. I like numbers and spreadsheets.
But all that aside. It's snowy out. I'm looking... south, for inspiration.
Yes, far south, where it's almost.. desert like. A huge country, currently suffering a real estate crunch, where decent family homes can be picked up for a third of the price of one here, a fifth the price of one "back home".
Not luxury, not a mansion, but a small, decent house.
I March I believe I will be taking the Crown Vic on the road to sunnier climes, looking for The One.
Actually it'll be the One number Three. The question is: Can I find a nice, solid, easily rentable "unit" that is at once both much nicer than the places I already own, and considerably cheaper?!
It'll give a purpose to my trip, anyway. There are lots of considerations (tax, management, currency issues), but probably nothing more significant than moving continent, which I have already done.
I will be able to apply for Canadian citizenship in just over a year, I think (crikey). And Canadians can visit the US for anything up to half the year.
It's only snowy here for (December, January, February, a bit of March, plus the occasional snowstorm in April) four months. That gives me a whole two months of leeway!
And if it goes well, I might buy more than one.
Next year's goal might be: Buy one property on every permanently inhabited continent!
It has struck me that I'm going to be bored come March. Bored and, truthfully, not quite wealthy enough to have passive incomes > expenditures.
I could get another job in addition to the gardening/farming I'm going to be doing. I'm planning on buying a couple or three apple trees. And I really need to do something about those trees along the edge of our property that are taller than the phone cables.
I may/might/probably will get another job. I have too much time on my hands as it is (someone who reads this would disagree, but that's another story!). I quite fancy... bookkeeping. Don't laugh. It's a needed skill - small businesses rely on their friendly neighbourhood bookkeeper. I like numbers and spreadsheets.
But all that aside. It's snowy out. I'm looking... south, for inspiration.
Yes, far south, where it's almost.. desert like. A huge country, currently suffering a real estate crunch, where decent family homes can be picked up for a third of the price of one here, a fifth the price of one "back home".
Not luxury, not a mansion, but a small, decent house.
I March I believe I will be taking the Crown Vic on the road to sunnier climes, looking for The One.
Actually it'll be the One number Three. The question is: Can I find a nice, solid, easily rentable "unit" that is at once both much nicer than the places I already own, and considerably cheaper?!
It'll give a purpose to my trip, anyway. There are lots of considerations (tax, management, currency issues), but probably nothing more significant than moving continent, which I have already done.
I will be able to apply for Canadian citizenship in just over a year, I think (crikey). And Canadians can visit the US for anything up to half the year.
It's only snowy here for (December, January, February, a bit of March, plus the occasional snowstorm in April) four months. That gives me a whole two months of leeway!
And if it goes well, I might buy more than one.
Next year's goal might be: Buy one property on every permanently inhabited continent!
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