Apple has been riding a wave of success like nothing they have seen before, ever since they brought iPods to consumers. The computer company had reportedly made more than $3.1 billion over the last four years and stocks have been incredibly high because of it.

Now in what could be the next Enron, Apple has admitted that their is evidence to prove that their stocks were grossly mishandled and that’s it financial accuracy dating back to 2002 might well be false.

Apple shares fell $3.26, or 4.7 percent, to $66.33 and might continue to fall as Apple looks into their own finances to get a hold of things.

Biodiesel: The Fuel for today

With the high cost of gasoline around the country, and the fact it is constantly climbing with no view of stabilizing, the world needs to start looking at alternative fuels. During this phase of the economy its a good investment. One of the alternative fuels that has started to become popular is called “Biodiesel”. A fuel that is run on vegetable oils. Biodiesel engines can be created or converted from petroleum diesel engines easily and cost-effectively. Biodiesel comes from renewable plant resources such as the oils from vegetables, soy, beans, canola, rape seeds, hemp seeds, and various grains. Through the process of transesterification, a chemical modifical of ordinary vegetable oil, creates a fuel that meets the high industry standards for usage in diesel engines that prevents it from solidifying at colder temperatures. You can get various biodiesels already at the pumps that might be labelled “biodiesel” but in reality are mixed with petroleum and its biodiesel content could be as low as only 5%. These are labelled B5, B20, B50, and B100 to show the mix composition. SVO - Straight vegetable oil is that which has not yet been optimized through transesterification for use in diesel engines - but suffers from freezing and solidifying easier in colder temperatures - needing some source to preheat it before starting the engine. You can use cooking oil straight from the bottle (expensive) or use WVO - Waste vegetable oil, usually for free, from fast food restaurants that usually dump it. However, WVO has to be filtered, and that is a messy and timely event. Vegetable oil conversion kits for diesel engines usually include a heating system and a second gas tank to circumvent the solidification issues. SVO produces very low emissions and is one of the better alternatives for the environment. Biodisel is the only alternative fuel that has completed the health effects testing requirements of the Clean Air Act, creating a substantial reduction in hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and other noxious fumes caused by most fuels. SVO is better for diesel engines as the inventor of the Diesel engine (Rudolph Diesel) originally intended the diesel engine for peanut oil. Biodiesel saves money on fuel costs, reduces emissions, recycles waste oils from restaurants, is a fuel made from renewable crops which in effect keeps farmers employed, and is good for the environment. The cons to using biodiesel can void your current warranties if you install a conversion kit and use biodiesel; collecting and converting WVO is a messy job and also very time consuming; there is mixed data on how SVO affects engine life span. Conversion kits can be obtained from various merchants for as low as $500 from greasecar.com. More information can be found online at www.biodiesel.org, goodgrease.com, localb100.com, journeytoforever.org, biodieselblog.com, wvofuels.com, calcars.org, oil_press.com, or a typical google search.

Biodiesel, a wave of recycling for the future, a new fuel that’s starting to get popular, that is based on recycling or using vegetable or food oil for fuel. Many at-home-labs and conversion projects will go and pick up used vegetable oil from fast food places like Mc Donalds for free, take it home, filter it, and process it for their biodiesel engines. The result? a consumable cost of 25-50 cents/gallon, and an engine that can get upwards plus of 75 miles to the gallon. Sound fabulous? it is conceptually, but its alot of work to clean the oil at home. Biodiesel pumps however are being installed in many states and available at the pump. A bit cheaper than petrol, you still get the maximizing effect of miles to the gallon. How to convert your engine over to biodiesel? There are kits as cheap as $200. However, you have to already have a diesel engine to start the conversion. An amazing new investment strategy? Invest in biodiesel companies to maximize your profit … there’s growth there too, more miles for your dollars, in many more ways than one. Just google “biodiesel” and you’ll be amazed by this new technology. If I already had diesel engines in my car and RV, you can bet I’d already be converted. Just wish there was a way to convert my regular engine over. :: sigh :: someday.

According to Yahoo News, “Nordic telecommunication giants Nokia and Ericsson will need to grow by acquisition to counter the long-term impact of a planned merger of Alcatel and Lucent on their business.”

French company Alcatel and US company Lucent are merging to become a giant company worth about $25 billion, which will make them the 2nd biggest telecom in the world (behind US-based Cisco).

Some analysts are suggesting that Nokia should now think about merging with German company Siemens. Similarly, Ericsson should consider increasing its fixed-line business so that it can stay competitive.

For now, according to Optically Networked, Alcatel and Lucent are focusing on “the massive job of synchronizing operations on both sides of the Atlantic” and deciding which side will “bear the brunt of the layoffs, which are expected to be about 10 percent of the combined workforce of about 88,000.”

Denver Airport
Denver Colorado
http://www.flydenver.com/
Out on the east side of Denver, in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by Toll roads with the exception of I-70, this airport is easy to access with very little congestion. They have alternative parking spots with shuttle for $5/night. Easy drop off, Easy check in to the airport, and a massive foodcourt. Unfortunately the wireless internet is not free - you have to be a cingular wireless subscriber, though T-mobile roam service is available for $5/24 hours. Shuttle trains to the concourse and a bit of artsy decoration and building structures. 4 1/2 stars out of 5.

Many people purchase shares through a broker or an online service, or more likely through an investment plan as part of yoru employment package. In most of these cases you purchase the stock with the intent of buying and holding it for a long time.

If you are that kind of investor, you should definitely look into DRiPs - Dividend Re-Investment Plans. Many of these are handled directly through the company. You deposit money with the company and they sell you shares at market value. All dividends are then re-invested into the plan, buying you new shares. You can regularly have money placed in these accounts through a monthly draw on your bank account as well. Think of them as high-powered savings accounts, allowing you to save this money while it earns the interest. All purchases are made at the market value of the stock at the time of purchase, as are the divided re-investments.

Othe ron-line brokers offer this as well, even for companies that don’t have their own DRiP program. You can ask Sharebuilder to automatically re-invest the dividends into the fractional shares, and Sharebuilder as well as the other brokers are happy to perform this service - they don’t charge fees on the partial shares via dividend purchase, but they will charge the usual broker fees for the ‘normal’ stock purchases you make for your investment.

Not all companies offer DRiPs, but those that do will not usually charge a fee - or at least nor a sizeable one - but going through an onlin ebroker will let you turn any stock investment into a DRiP.

The hot rumor today is that NBC Universal, owned by GE, is looking to buyout Dreamworks. This could be worth as much as $1 billion dollars. Dreamworks is not offering a comment, as often happens, and also issued a statement sayign the buyout is “not authorised.”

If it’s not authorised, there’s implications that the talks have been going on in spurts behind the scenes. There could be partial sales.

Or possibly Dreamworks is looking for a sweetheart deal like Disney got with Pixar? In the fight between Dreamworks and Pixar to create animated movies, they have always used two very divergent models. Pixar made fewer, more tightly animated movies, while Dreamworks went for quanitity.

If NBC Universal does buyout Dreamworks, this could also mean more TV programming moves.

Skype recently announced it was launching two new premium services: SkypeIn and Skype Voicemail.

Forbes has the scoop:

Software maker Skype said Friday that it was launching two more premium services as the number of downloads of its popular program neared 100 million.

The company also said it was launching SkypeIn and Skype Voicemail, two premium services available in the latest download versions of Skype software for Linux, MAC OS X, Pocket PC and Windows platforms.

Skype’s signature program lets computer users call each other online for free anywhere in the world.

The new SkypeIn offers users personal numbers and lets them receive inbound calls from the Skype program from land lines or mobile phones without having to pay roaming charges.

Skype Voicemail lets users manage incoming messages.

“Skype is setting new standards for modern communications by expanding premium services that extend Skype portability, mobility and ubiquity across a variety of platforms, including the traditional phone network,” said Niklas Zennstreom, the company’s chief executive and co-founder.

And The Internet Stock Blog’s take:

Voice over IP company Skype announced that its free software had been downloaded 100 million times, and that it was launching two new premium (ie. paid) products: SkypeIn, which offers users personal numbers and lets them receive inbound calls from the Skype program from land lines or mobile phones without having to pay roaming charges, and Skype Voicemail. SkypeIn will cost $13 for three months or $39 for 12-months, and Skype Voicemail $7 for 3 months or $19 for 12 months. Comment: Skype matters to Internet investors for three reasons: (1) VoIP is a killer Internet application; (2) Skype effectively competes with the leading providers of instant messaging software - AOL (owned by Time Warner, ticker: TWX), Yahoo and Microsoft; (3) As communication and personal publishing become tied together, for example with Yahoo 360, instant messaging, video conferencing and VoIP will be an intregral part of the bundle. The upshot? Skype will eventually be acquired by a leading Internet company.

Read more here and here.

That’s what The Internet Stock Blog is wondering:

Yahoo (ticker: YHOO) is aggressively implementing Really Simple Syndication (RSS) across its network, with the recent upgrade to Yahoo News and the introduction of RSS feeds for Yahoo Shopping. Geeks are beginning to argue that Google (ticker: GOOG) is becoming a technology laggard, behind Yahoo and (gasp!) Microsoft (ticker: MSFT).

Another great piece from Capital Spectator:

The U.S. balance of trade slipped to another all-time deficit in February–$61 billion vs. $59 billion in January, reports the U.S. Census Bureau. If you thought the news would take a hefty bite out of the dollar, you were mistaken. By the close of Wall Street trading today, the dollar gained ground against the euro and yen.

If that counters forex logic, think again, say the buck’s bulls. The catalyst for that corner of optimism stems from trade between U.S. and China, goes one school of thought. Although America’s trade deficit with China remains firmly negative, February’s level of red ink with the Middle Kingdom actually slipped in February from January, reports CBC.

In another instance of China’s sway over the markets, the International Energy Agency advised that demand growth for oil recently took a breather in the world’s most-populous nation. “Chinese demand growth slowed to 5.4% in the first two months of 2005, well below the 20.8% growth seen a year ago,” IEA reports. The news helped slash the price of a barrel of crude in New York today by almost $2.

Read more here