Google and the Future of Technology

Even though Google's stock has not been preforming as well as can be expected, the company is still heading strong into the future. There have been several thing in the recent past that Google has done which will significantly impact the technological world. First off, I would like to talk about Google Adsense. Adsence gives the regular Joe Schmo the ability to serve ads on his website, with relative ease, howeverm, Joe would have to have some web experience.This is a great new tool. Now anyone can make money from serving ads, although you need one ingredient, page views!This is where Google Analytics comes in to mind. All you ned is Google Analytics to help your site become popular by increasin your SEO or Search Engine Optimization. Speaking of SEO, this is a huge business in te web world because everyone wants to increase thier web page rank on Google. Just a few small things that Google has recently done to improve web developer's and website designer's lives. Speaking of web design, have you checked out Google's new browser, Chrome? This is a very cool and technologically saavy tool that Google has built to help you surf the web better. You can easily get to all of your other cool web tool very easily like BlogSpot, GMail, Adsense, Google Calendar, Google Instant Messenger, the list goes on. This is just the icing on the cake since Google has stated that they will eventually deprecate the hard drive and offer storage needs online. From what a fellow deveoloper said to me recently, everything will be stored on high density flash drives. You know the little gadgets that hold up to 32ish+ gigabytes now...I have one that is a year old and holds 2 gigs, the state of the art at the time. Soon enough these will be able to hold up to 500 gigs of memory or more. With that said Google is spending a lot of it's capitol by doing things like creating large data centers, hyrdo-electric plants, and mapping the earth. If they do not burn all of thier money, they will be one of the largest companies in the world in a hosrt period of time. In my opinion, invest now while the stock market is down. Just wait to see what happens in the future. It is kind of scary ehh?

Smart Utilitiy Stocks

I will say that if you are looking for a smart buy yet want to keep it conservative, now is the time to buy a utility. I will recommend Progress Energy (PGN) to start. This stock is close to being at an all time low over 5 years, however it is on the rise again, up from 32.60 low. Last year around this time, PGN was up around 49 a share. Recently Progress Energy has been seeking approval for a 20 year licence renewal for it's Crystal River plant. This would be a great win for the company, being able to provide more green energy for over 35 million customers in Florida.

Another good bet to look at is Excel Energy(XEL) in Minnesota. Yes, I may be a little biased being here in the North Star State, however may I ask you to check this out. There is potential for this stock to keep your investments safe while returning a decent yield. The share price is on the rise again and may hopefully be up more in the near future. Excel Energy has invested in a decent amount of wind energy in the western parts of Minnesota. Wind energy is becoming very popular in the Midwest. Many farmers are leasing their land to wind turbine investors and the return has been great because there is hardly a day without wind in the Midwest.

The Big 3 - What Now

Well, this past week, we have seen the Big 3 take a big hit from congress. Will the new Pres give them a bankruptcy policy, or will they get that 25 billion that they are asking for? I am not sure, however since I work for a company that sells autos online, we are all a little concerned about what might happen. Anyways, here are a couple of articles that I have found interesting from different view points.

Will Obama Bail them out?

Mitt Romney's Thoughts

IMGG

Okay, I said I wasn’t going to buy any stock for awhile, but what the heck.

This stock is only $0.125 per share and if they get FDA approval of their invention, the stock price will shoot up like a rocket. If not, then I lost $125 + $8 trade commission.

Ticker: IMGG.OB

ETFs Rock

Recommendation from DCTAX

Fund: iShares Commodity-Indexed (GSG)

iShares S&P GSCI Commodity-Indexed Trust debuted at number two on the ETF Momentum Tracker sector ranking last week. GSG was flanked on the table by funds investing in gold and silver and trailed closely by funds investing in the oil industry. Gold, silver and oil are among the 24 commodities in which GSG invests, and each-along with soybeans, wheat and lead-played a role in GSG’s dramatic surge late in 2007. All told, the fund gained an impressive 38.29% for the year ending January 25. GSG slipped back slightly during the first few weeks of the new year, but commodities’ continuing appeal during the recent shake-up in global financial markets allowed the fund to handily outperform broad market indices.

Uncle Cal recommends an ETF called "SPDR"..

Rather than owning Vanguard S&P500 index fund or Fidelity Index 500, you can buy the ETF "SPDR" which is the S&P500 but is traded like a stock..

Blu-ray and the format wars

It appears with Toshiba quitting the HDTV business, as well as the support of several studios, that Blu-ray has become the clear winner in the formatting wars. Wanted to know your thoughts? Is the average consumer ready to spend $400 a pop on a Blu-ray player now that this will be the standard for the next few years, or does this format continue to be meant for the technophile.

Choose To Save

This is a great web site for anyone who is not currently saving at least 10% of their income for RETIREMENT, regardless of how much (or how little) money they think they are making:

http://www.choosetosave.org

It's one thing to save money. It's another thing to save money for retirement (and not for a new couch, flat screen TV, or new car). I used to be one of those people who would save money, only to later spend it on some doodad. I have been healed. I am now a "born again saver".

Choose To Save will help those not saving 10% see the light. Maybe you know a friend or family member who would like of copy of their DVD "Mission Retirement".