That's a disconcerting parallel to make.

The Dow fell more than 130 points, or nearly 1%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also declined about 1%. This is the first time markets started the year on a down note since 2008.

 

From CNNMoney

Isn't this like changing IBM's name to HAL? Oh, that's just a dumb movie idea. Couldn't really happen.

Nope. It really happened. A123 Systems, the bankrupt battery maker bought by a Chinese firm, changed their name to B456 Systems.

Diablo 3 Director was oblivious to market forces and human nature.

Lesson learned. Diablo 3 Director Jay Wilson: Auction Houses 'really hurt' game

Wilson said that before Blizzard launched the game, the company had a few assumptions about how the Auction Houses would work: He thought they would help reduce fraud, that they'd provide a wanted service to players, that only a small percentage of players would use it and that the price of items would limit how many were listed and sold.

But he said that once the game went live, Blizzard realized it was completely wrong about those last two points.

As someone who is still a very regular player of this game, I can attest to having to be as good at the actual game as I am at the "other game" known as Auction House. You have to be aware of market trends, player habits, and timing item sales before new patches go live. Sounds like options trading, doesn't it?

This is why I was very happy about the latest patch which introduced new crafting recipes and materials that allow for uber gear, but not being allowed to sell those items in the Auction House. Literally within hours of the new patch's release, several items' prices crashed, others skyrocketed, and the commodities market (crafting materials and gems for socketing) was reset into a whole new environment. I loved it: watching futures, options, and commodities trading affect prices in real time.

I'm not surprised that this idea of limiting exceptional crafted items to personal use occurred after Jay Wilson stepped down. Also, there are now wholly new markets in lower player level gear in the Auction House for veteran players trying out new classes. This is closer to what Wilson was hoping for, instead of what he got in the first few months of Diablo 3's release.

Oh, and yes, I am still an uber, uber video game playing geek, if you needed to be reminded.

These Germans seem to think that people actually don't own the money they put in banks.

Saving money in a bank is now just another revenue stream for central banks: German opposition wants big savers hit harder in Cyprus deal

The Greens and Social Democrats are only arguing about how much money they should be taking, not whether should be taking the money at all.

Cyprus just took 6.7% of everyone's cash in Cypriot banks.

European banks have begun to melt down: A stupid idea whose time had come

And if you have over 100K euros deposited in a Cypriot bank, they took 9.9%. And to make sure nobody had time to take their money out before the levy happened, they did it over a bank holiday. But at least you get shares in the bank that robbed you. Good luck trying to sell those shares for a profit anytime soon, though.

Don't like what Google did to Reader? You'll have another reason to ditch a Google product.

The Chrome browser that is - Google yanks ad-blocking apps from Play Store, points to developer agreement

Well, those ad blockers were poorman versions of the real ones for Firefox anyway. Lest you forget that Google is an advertising company, not a search company, this should remind you.

Translation: No buyers. - Anschutz says sports company no longer for sale

This also means there probably won't be a new NFL stadium in downtown L.A. for many years.

Last week, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said in a television interview that Anschutz had to find a buyer for AEG first before moving forward with what he termed as "uphill climb" involving the stadium effort.

Good job Bernanke. You blew up another stock bubble.

Blue-chip Dow edges toward all-time high on.mktw.net/Vesaaf twitter.com/MarketWatch/st…
— MarketWatch (@MarketWatch) February 28, 2013