There have been mixed feelings about home prices in USA in the past few years. A few years back I was part of a team trying to design a model for a mortgage bank to increase the percentage of acceptance of a HELOC as soon as a customer is qualified for a mortgage loan. However the VP of the company was expecting a burst and was worried about a scenario where the bank would be saddled by a set of high risk HELOC portfolio.

Here’s a quote which emphasizes the importance of being in the NOW “We start from what is, not from what should be; we encompass contradictions, painful feelings, fears and imaginings, and - with out fleeing, blaming, or attempting correction - we learn to soar like the far-seeking hawk, over the landscape.” - “The Art of Possibility”

Cisco starts its acquisition game , now in social networking space. Its recent acquisition is Five Across  About the firm Five Across is a leading provider of social networking and community building technology that helps organizations ranging from small businesses to large enterprises connect to their community constituents and customer base. Connect, the company’s flagship product, is a rapid-deploy web platform enabling organizations to strengthen and grow user communities with dynamic multimedia experiences.

A CNN money article mentions that India is being hyped as a super power and there are problems far too many that it should solve in a systematic manner for it to become a super power. One of the remarks by Prime minister sums up the problem - “Our biggest single problem is the lack of jobs for ordinary people.” Link : India won’t be a superpower until it alleviates poverty

Are we going to see the one to one marketing nirvana soon ? Via NYT: “If there’s a man and a woman watching television in two different houses and you are Procter & Gamble, it would be more efficient to show one of them an ad for a Gillette’s men’s razor and the other a woman’s ad,” said Mark Read, director of strategy at the WPP Group, an advertising holding company that has invested in Visible World and Spot Runner.