Ponzi scheme

HYIP operators generally set up a website offering an "investment program" with returns as high as 45% per month or 6% a day that discloses little or no detail about the underlying management, location, or other aspects of how money is to be invested because no money is invested. They often use vague explanations, asserting little more than that they do different types of trading on various stock markets or exchanges to generate the returns they purport. The SEC has said the following on the matter: "These fraudulent schemes involve the purported issuance, trading, or use of so-called 'prime' bank, 'prime' European bank or 'prime' world bank financial instruments, or other 'high yield investment programs.' ('HYIP's) The fraud artists... seek to mislead investors by suggesting that well regarded and financially sound institutions participate in these bogus programs."

HYIPs collect large sums of money for the operators by using the classic Ponzi scheme method of using second- and third-tier investments to pay principal and interest back to the first-tier investors. This is continued for the first several tiers, generating positive word-of-mouth advertising for the scheme using a variety of dedicated forums. HYIPs may also mirror pyramid schemes by offering current investors incentive commissions, for example 9% of current investment, to recruit new investors. Some HYIP promoters, aware of the negative connotations of the term, have begun to use other terms such as "HYIP game" or "HYROL" (High Yield Return On Loan) as well.

The introduction of e-currencies in the late 1990s made it easier for HYIPs to operate on the Internet and across international boundaries, and to accept large numbers of small payments. HYIPs usually accept payments only by digital currency.

High Yield Investment Programs (HYIP)

In a hurry for info? Summary of details below:-

• Invest $1 to $20 minimum by e-money.
• After a set period of some days, you earn high interest - 10% to 100% or more.
• I have been paid, many times, but it is prudent to check the program's 'health' stats first !
• It would be wise to spread your investment over several programs.
• Only spend what you can afford to loose.

• HYIP Programs

No programs to recommend at present.

• Autosurf Programs are slightly different in that you earn a % on your investment each
day by viewing 10-50 websites which load automatically. Payout is daily or per cycle.
These programs run months longer than regular HYIP's but need your attention daily.
No programs to recommend at present.

• Medium Term Programs:-

No Medium Term Programs to recommend at present

• Long Term Programs:-

No Medium Term Programs to recommend at present

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High Yield Investment Programs ( HYIP ) are also high risk if you don't get in early and don't pay attention to their progress.

Pay in what you are prepared to loose (ie. the risk) and get a return on investment ( ROI ) of 120% to 200% in 1 to 100 days.

If you make 20% every four days then that works out at 1825% a year. A UK bank pays 6% a year.

I favor not to 'put all my eggs in one basket' and spread my investment over several payments over several days - a rolling buy. That way, if the program stops, I will have already covered my outlay with a profit at the end of the day. The longer the program runs the more profit you make but do not expect the program to run for ever .

The Rolling Buy

Assume a total of a $40 investment in a 4 day for 140% plan:- so $10 matures at $14

Day1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

10in

14,10in

14,10in

14,10in

14in

etc.

10in

14,10in

14,10in

14,10in

etc.

10in

14,10in

14,10in

14in

etc.

10in

14,10in

14,10in

14in

etc.

4 out

4 out

4 out

4 out

4 out

4 out

4 out

4 out

4 out

4 out

From Day5, when the first plan matures, to Day14 - $4 may be withdrawn to extract the principal. After that, the $14 could be reinvested each day and compounded after 4, 8, 12 days to $19.60, $27.44, $38.42, ... and so on each day with your $40 outlay already back in your bank or you could compound earlier and withdraw your principal later.

This requires the choice of a high yield program with a very healthy growth of new members, a site that is well promoted and with a good admin.
This is where site statistics are useful in making the choice.

Banks pay about 5% to 8% per annum at best which means they get about 10%+ pa at the moment for investing your money. Ok, high risk returns will be a lot more but not 1800% pa on average. A fair amount of HYIP money will be invested in other HYIP programs to cover their backs.

The truth is that the later investors in HYIP programs may be paying out most of the interest for the earlier investors. Eventually, if new money dries up, the income from the later investors will not cover the interest and the bubble will burst - the site will close.

However, while it lasts, the profits for you are huge. Just keep a close eye on how many new members are joining, how much is being invested and paid out. Make sure you remember to go back to the site to withdraw your earnings - it is not automatic! Put it in your diary!!

Be prepared to move onto the next HYIP program pdq. This is where the choice of program in which to invest is critical.

The program you choose must give good 'real time' statistics. 'Real time' means the statistics are updated every time you refresh the page - not a day or more in arrears as in some stats. This way you can see what is happening to the site before you invest again.

The Short Term program you choose must pay back the the interest and the principal amount you paid in. So when a site says 150% profit it includes the principal of 100% and returns you 50% on your investment. Most Long Term HYIP programs only pay out the interest, never the principal, so you have to stay investing for a month or so to get back the money you paid, before you start to make a profit. They do, however, usually allow automatic compounding which is good for the investor. Longer term programs are better for punters who don't have the time to check the programs daily!

Choose a program with a forum where you will soon get a whiff of problems. Ok, the forum may delete posts that are bad for business but you will get an idea. Search Google for the site and see what other forums have to say. But read with common sense - some negative posts may be from people chucked out because they cheated or from rival sites.

Bookmark this page and check back in the future before reinvesting to see if the situation has changed

BlackBerry Curve

A sleek smart phone for much more than e-mail, the Curve sports a sharp 2-MP camera and some serious multimedia muscle.

When it comes to BlackBerrys, you have the really tiny one, the one with GPS, and now you can add to that list the one that just rocks. And we're not just talking about the Curve's music player or fully integrated stereo Bluetooth. RIM's latest fun-loving smart phone (available for AT&T later this spring) boasts a sharp two-megapixel camera and a much-improved multimedia software package for taking your favorite songs, pictures, and videos to go--all without sacrificing the long battery life that's made BlackBerry the device of choice for e-mail addicts.

Just Right Design

It sports the kind of sleek design that will make BlackBerry Pearl owners say "D'oh!" The Curve is just as slim as the Pearl (0.6 inches), and at 3.9 ounces it's only 0.7 ounces heavier. It slips easily into a pocket, no geeky hip holster required. Granted, at first glance this device doesn't seem as deserving of an iconic name as the Pearl, but the Curve's liquid-silver finish with chrome accents and rounded edges make it an attractive alternative to the Samsung BlackJack.

More important, RIM managed to squeeze in a full-sized backlit keyboard, one that makes the Curve noticeably wider than but also much more reliable than the Pearl, whose not-so-SureType keyboard doesn't always accurately guess the word you're trying to peck. In just a few minutes we were typing e-mails and entering Web addresses at a brisk pace, thanks to the Curve's well-spaced layout. Just like the Pearl and the 8800, the Curve has a trackball for simple (if sometimes erratic) menu navigation.

The 2.5-inch, 320 x 240-pixel display did a superb job rendering everything from Web pages and maps to photos and videos. The rest of the design is pretty straightforward. A standard 3.5mm stereo jack, a USB port, and a push-to-talk key line the left side of the Curve, and the volume buttons and camera-launch key are on the right side. The top of the device houses the Mute button. We wish the microSD Card slot weren't located beneath the battery, but chances are you won't be removing your card very often; the Curve's mass-storage mode enables easy drag-and-drop file transfers.

Sharp Camera, Smarter Media Software

What separates this BlackBerry from the Pearl and the 8800 is its robust multimedia capabilities. The Curve's 2-MP camera takes pictures good enough for 4 x 6-inch prints. Everything from a photo of a fountain in Bryant Park to a portrait of two children was highly detailed and richly saturated. We like the fast shutter speed, and a built-in flash allowed the Curve to take decent close-ups in dimly lit rooms. The Curve's inability to record video is a bummer, however.

The robust Desktop Media Manager software is powered by Roxio's Easy Media Creator. A split-screen interface makes dragging and dropping files to the Curve (and from the Curve to your desktop) a cinch. If you want to take some videos to go, the program will attempt to convert all sorts of files to MPEG-4, including AVI, DivX, WMV, and Xvid, so long as your PC has the right codecs loaded. Media Manager can also be used to automatically monitor certain folders for new media files, create music playlists, and edit photos.

Desktop Media Manager did a good job transferring MPEG-4 footage captured with our Sanyo HD1 camcorder and a 68MB WMV clip downloaded from Microsoft's site. But the software had a little trouble with a five-minute MPEG-4 clip ripped from a DVD, as the audio wasn't in sync with the video when we played it back on the Curve. Then we tried a large AVI file of a "Heroes" TV episode; the Curve was able to play the audio but not the video. (Roxio claims that a successful conversion depends greatly on how a file is encoded, so be sure that a video file can play within Desktop Media Manager before you bother transferring it.) Music files transferred without a hitch, but you have to add album art manually by editing the audio tags.

Media playback on the Curve was generally smooth, and the device supports a wide range of audio (AAC, MP3, WMA) and video (MPEG-4, H.263, WMV) files natively. The device's speaker puts out a decent amount of volume, but we highly recommend pairing this smart phone with a Bluetooth stereo headset. We enjoyed superb audio quality via the Curve's Bluetooth 2.0 connection when we used the Motorola HT820. Another benefit of stereo Bluetooth is that you can remotely skip tracks with a simple press of the Fast-Forward button on a headset, as opposed to the two-step process of hitting the Menu key and then selecting Next Track on the Curve. The device also supports AT&T Music services, such as streaming XM radio ($9.99 per month). We had no problem downloading the app and liked the wide selection of stations in seven genres (including Pop, Rock, Decades, Country, and Hip Hop & Urban). We didn’t mind the tinny sound quality that much over the Curve’s EDGE connection, but we experienced so many momentary drop-outs that it ruined our enjoyment of the service. We say stick to your own tunes.

Apple iPhone - 8GB (AT&T)

Product summary

The good: The Apple iPhone has a stunning display, a sleek design, and an innovative multitouch user interface. Its Safari browser makes for a superb Web surfing experience, and it offers easy-to-use apps. As an iPod, it shines.

The bad: The Apple iPhone has variable call quality and lacks some basic features found in many cell phones, including stereo Bluetooth support and 3G compatibility. Integrated memory is stingy for an iPod, and you have to sync the iPhone to manage music content.

The bottom line: Despite some important missing features, a slow data network, and call quality that doesn't always deliver, the Apple iPhone sets a new benchmark for an integrated cell phone and MP3 player.

Specifications: OS provided: Apple MacOS X; Band / mode: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (Quadband); Wireless connectivity: IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, Bluetooth 2.0 EDR;

Palm Opens Virtual Developer Lab

In cooperation with Device Anywhere, Palm has opened up a virtual developer lab. Via the deal, developers will have no problem to test their latest apps and mobile games on any of Palm's newest devices.

The first devices that are accessible are the Palm Treo and the Palm Centro which run Windows Mobile and Palm OS. Developers will have to lay down $ 100,- per month to access the service and another $ 13,- to $ 16,- per hour for actual access.

Greystripe October 2008 Consumer Insights Report

Greystripe has sent out a report on the ad-funded mobile gaming market. In this latest report, the company also shares results from their iPhone adwrapper.

With the addition of the iPhone to the market, the user demographic for mobile games is changing and the advertising industry therefore needs to keep up with an ever-growing user base of savvy mobile game players. According to Greystripe’s results, iPhone game players prove to be part of a coveted demographic in the advertising world. Greystripe’s iPhone games are the most popular among the sought-after 18 to 34-year old age group, with 48% of users falling into that category. Additionally, this coveted demographic is well-educated and affluent, with 80% having attended college and 46% making more than $78K a year. Most importantly, these users are accessing the mobile Web and playing games significantly more frequently than has previously been seen. Seventy-five percent of iPhone game players access the mobile Web at least once a day, while 66% use it more than once a day.

Greystripe’s data discloses even more in-depth, valuable information about its game players. For instance, 87% of game players on both feature phones and iPhones are involved in the purchasing decisions in their families, with 73% of these respondents using the mobile Web at least once per day. With over 100 million games downloaded and a worldwide 9.1 percent click-through rate, Greystripe’s game players prove markedly engaged.

"Data such as Greystripe's quarterly Consumer Insights Reports provides a much-needed look into the advertising opportunity within the mobile games and application vertical," said David Chamberlain, Principal Analyst at In-Stat. "Metrics are the key to success in advertising and mobile is an area needing this sort of in-depth measurement."

Figures detailing the user behavior trends and demographics within mobile games advertising are the key to the success of the mobile advertising industry. Any insight into the habits of mobile game-playing consumers provides information necessary for more effective advertising and to improve the user experience.

”Our Consumer Insights Reports are an important tool for the industry as we work towards providing the most engaging brand advertising experience,” said Michael Chang, CEO of Greystripe. “And by expanding our research to cover the iPhone, we’re able to produce great results for our advertisers and users across multiple platforms.”

Since the company launched their ad-supported mobile games catalog in 2006, over 100 million games have been downloaded. As the leader in this distribution model, Greystripe is able to provide useful data to the mobile industry and advertisers about the free mobile game player.

Fishlabs Releases Snowboard Hero

Fishlabs is knows for it’s 3D fighting and racing games. This time, the company finally took a step into the world of mobile sports games as they released Snowboard Hero.

From simple timed runs to demanding time, point, and goal combinations, this new FISHLABS mobile game is designed to challenge both casual and hardcore gamers. With its innovative all-in-one gameplay, its intuitive controls, and the huge variety of available challenges, Snowboard Hero™ offers an exceptional gaming experience for mobile phones in the extreme sports department.

“The most important thing for us was to create a fast-paced, action-filled mixture of reckless jumps and awesome tricks in a breathtaking winter mountain landscape, and then put it all on a mobile phone,” says Michael Schade, CEO of FISHLABS Entertainment GmbH. “The game's combination of racing, jumps, grinding, and unique high-detail courses makes Snowboard Hero™ a serious hit game contender."