Wall Street's math wizards--NYT

I'm calling your attention to a piece published yesterday in The New York Times entitled "Wall Street's Math Wizards Forgot a Few Variables". The journalist Steve Lohr sketches out the new frontier in modeling--trying to extrapolate the methods used to explore online behavior to financial markets. By the way, two authors whose books I've reviewed on this blog are quoted--Andrew Lo and Emanuel Derman. The article is serious and deals mainly with risk management, but I couldn't help imagining brokers becoming little Amazons: "You've bought AAPL in the past, may I suggest RIMM?"