Entries from March 2008 ↓

We were persuaded to tarry our launch by a few days by a good friend, who mentioned en passant that the interface I had toiled over, did not quite measure up to people’s expectations.

We believe in people’s expectations.

So it took another 10 days to rewrite the front-end. I decided to start from scratch and throw out the old gnarly UI that I had been patching up the past few months.

Yes, Tonto. The new UI’s up and running. Nay, it’s nearly galloped off into the sunset.

The time has come, therefore, to launch a private alpha. Do message me if you want an account. Or comment on this post. Either way, I’ll get back to you.

Meanwhile, here’s a brief usage guide:

• You create new models to track stocks. Each model tracks one stock. Multiple models can track the same stock.
• You train your model by providing text via the age-old method of copy-paste.
• You sit back and gasp in amazement as your models start predicting market movements based upon the training that they have received.
• All your base are belong to us. Cookie?

Before you place your bets though, I must spell out things.

To wit, Ivontu is at an alpha stage. At any point in time, or while you are using the service, any/all of the following might happen to you:

• Your models will disappear. (They’ll probably not reappear.)
• Your account will disappear. (It might reappear.)
• Ivontu will disappear. (It ought to reappear, unless I’ve been shot.)

So, without further delay, gentlemen (and the one lady who’s reading this), I present Ivontu!

Oh yes, I nearly forgot. Ivontu tracks US stocks. Only. You’ll have to pick stuff from the S&P 500. Try it out.

It took a while. 3 months and 25 days to be precise. Let’s be charitable and call that an even 4 months.

4 months of being a hermit, 2 months of Mumbai, 1 month of rewriting code, again and again and again. Reaching out towards that ever-dwindling light at the end of the tunnel.

And finally: it’s done.

Well, nearly.

Umm. Just about, actually.

In fact, Dorothy, we’re not quite there yet.

Perhaps the biggest lesson I’ve learnt through this period of difficult mid-wifery and birthing is that after all the armour and shoulder-pads are worn, in the end one simply has to go out into the cold and face the hungry wolves.

To cut a long story short - Ivontu is nearly here. For those of you who don’t know about it yet, here’s what it is: Automated financial news analysis for the masses.

Let’s rephrase that in a simple way: It reads news, and tells you how stocks will react to the news.

Simple?

I’ll leave the final words to Sam Morse. What hath God wrought?