Palpable Positions

Today I am writing about a pen I am completely blown away by. I have seen a couple of my teachers using it and I have had the opportunity to try it out. Now this isn’t any ordinary pen, it is capable of recording sound as you write (synced to each actual word – I’ll explain later) and capturing all pen strokes in a digital jpeg format which can be easily loaded to your personal computer, page by page as in the notebook. I have included a link to this pen, called Livescribe Pulse, which can be found at any Target.

http://www.target.com/Livescribe-Pulse-1GB-Smartpen/dp/B001AAOZHI/sr=1-12/qid=1243529343/ref=sr_1_12/188-5113196-9535242?ie=UTF8&frombrowse=0&index=target&field-browse=1038598&rh=k%3Apen&page=1

The functionality and ease of use of this piece of technology is what shocked me the most. One simply writes down whatever they want and all sounds are recorded. The amazing part is, to replay the sounds you just touch the pen on any word and the sounds from that point in time are played. The supplied “dot” paper – paper with unique patterns of finely meshed (very unnoticeable) dots – serve as the digital timestamp for the pen to recognize when in play-back mode. This “dot” paper can be purchased in pad format for not much more than ordinary paper or printed out for free!

My immediate reaction to seeing this technology was regret; regret I did not possess something like this while in college! For a student taking notes for six years of college, it is very tough to organize all of your work for later reference amongst yearly moves and constant life changes. However, with this pen, a student can just dock it their computer after class and load all their notes in jpeg format onto their computer. Don’t forget that they can hear exactly what the teacher was saying when each word was written as well. Dismissing all catastrophic computer crashes, I can’t think of an easier way to archive all the expensive knowledge transmitted during class hours. I believe this the next best gift to a digital camera, if not better, for any new college student.

I am speaking from an engineering perspective where notes often include drawings and are not structured like other disciplines where typing notes is much simpler. However, disregarding the obvious health benefits to hand writing (http://drbenkim.com/nervous-system-healthy.html), I think there is a clear advantage to handwritten notes for the purpose of knowledge retention; which makes this pen a necessity for everyone. So regardless of who you are, check this amazing invention out. The applications for the Livescribe Pulse pen go far beyond college students (therapists also immediately come to mind).

It’s a shame the marketing efforts for this product have been non-existent. In an age when colleges are giving all incoming students iPhones to integrate with classes (http://www.acu.edu/news/2008/080225_iphone.html) the enormous academic market only serves as a small example for the immense potential of this invention.

I intend to blog on many different subjects but for my first post, I want to touch on an area I have found fascinating from its inception – the financial crisis. Although my interests may have faded, at the peak of the financial meltdown hype I couldn’t get enough, reading every article I came across and absorbing everything I heard from professors (I was in my second year of my MBA at the time). One series I found particularly interesting was “The Reckoning” from the NYTimes which chronicled many of the potential causes for the financial mess the world was in. I definitely recommend reading a few, if not all, of the articles in this series as they are very well written and provide many different views of how the US economy and global economy came to be in its current state.

From what I have read and learned, the reckless loans during the housing boom and subsequent collapse of the housing market were not the cause for the current economic state. Rather, the poor regulation of derivatives and push for an increasingly more free market for the 10-15 years preceding the housing bubble was the cause.  Multiple times throughout the 90’s calls for regulation were discouraged by influential people in Washington, among them Alan Greenspan. A couple examples:

1. 1994 report identifying derivative market as having “significant gaps and weaknesses” also forecasting the exact doom that has occurred

• In his testimony at the time, Mr. Greenspan was reassuring. “Risks in financial markets, including derivatives markets, are being regulated by private parties,” he said. “There is nothing involved in federal regulation per se which makes it superior to market regulation.”
• Bill created later that year to provide more regulation to derivative market never passed

2. 1997, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission investigated derivates and called for disclosures of trades and reserves

• Greenspan fiercely opposed and told regulators head Brooksley E. Born didn’t know what she was doing and could incite a financial crisis
• Quarreling went on and in November 1999, senior regulators — including Mr. Greenspan— recommended that Congress permanently strip the C.F.T.C. of regulatory authority over derivatives.

There is no doubt in my mind that Greenspan’s well respected opinions had a huge effect on regulator’s decisions. The outcome of this pure capitalism belief was a derivatives market that blossomed from $106 trillion in 02’ to $531 trillion in 08’ (or 07’). Further, the decreased regulation in the 00’s allowed for CDO’s and CDS’s to be the fuel for the systemic risk fire that put the world in a recession.

I want to make it clear that I am not an advocate for heavy regulation but I do believe a completely free capitalist market is a utopian idea that is not realistic. Human nature is to be greedy and the events of the past two years are perfect evidence that the presence of oversight is a necessity. Specifically in markets that can link so many industries and economies together (the definition of systemic risk), like the derivatives market.

I truly believe the housing market bubble would have been an isolated incident, respective to that industry, and would have had a much less dramatic effect on the overall economy if the proper regulation had been in place. Nevertheless, this regulation will be sure to come out of the current mess but I’m not so confident the underlying lesson will be learned. These situations need to be prevented rather than fixed. Assuming this recession ends and economic growth resumes, time will heal all wounds and the severity of what happened in the past two years will be dulled in memories. I fear the feeling of need and desire for oversight now will fade resulting in future financial creations, currently nonexistent, exposing all to the poor decisions and risks of a respective few again.

Realistically, the current financial crisis is a product of many, many things. However, my opinion is that outcomes of a belief in pure capitalism were the driving force to what has resulted today.

I was once told by a professor that blogging is one of the most important things you can do and if you aren’t, then start.

It’s only appropriate to begin with my background so that some frame of reference can be provided for my opinions. My education consists of a BSME and MBA and I have been working for about 2 years in the design of power generation equipment. My interests are in living healthy, outdoor activities, finance, and anything tech related – to start. I have had a unique post high school life, living in Philadelphia (twice), Gainesville, and Orlando – all while in undergrad. After that, I briefly lived in Charlotte and I currently live back in Orlando. I obviously enjoy change and I am grateful to have had the option available to me to be so fluid in my education and limited working experiences. That’s enough for now…