So when someone came along who actually managed to compete with and even frighten Google — namely, Facebook — how is Google competing? By going open. There’s a lesson in that for the rest of us. I keep saying that media companies should ask WWGD – what would Google do — in formulating their digital [...]

And everyone thought that Microsoft had punked Google by investing $240 million in Facebook for 1.6 of the social-networking site, when all the while Google had a plan for Orkut, that being OpenSocial -- a set of common APIs for...

Just as Google is preparing to take Facebook head-on with its own social-networking platform, it appears that Facebook is preparing to take on Google with its own social ad network. The announcement of what people are already calling SocialAds is expected next week on November 6 at New York’s ad:tech conference (a day after [...]

I am no investing genius, let's all understand that now. Sure, I have a few mutual funds, a 401k, and the other common items but I am in no position to state whether or not I did it correctly. Further, I am not the guy to tell you how to do it and what to watch for.

But, I have someone that may be. I don't know Alan Haft and (no offense to him) I don't care to in the professional sense. However, I do enjoy reading his articles. He speaks about pure investing and how to manage your money. What makes this blog different is that topics are really explained in a way that anyone can understand.

Anyway, after that long intro, I wanted to share a helpful article he wrote that can really help anyone. It's named The 10 Commandments of Investing and as implied, these are the basic rules one should follow when beginning to invest for the long term.

Here is one of the ten points. I agree with them all so consider this a sample:

6. Don’t rush in
You’ve likely heard the saying “only fools rush in.” On every level, rushing into things can cause great harm. Whether it’s rushing in to get high returns, rushing out as a result of emotion, or rushing into a decision as to where to invest, before diving in pause, take a deep breath, sleep on it, and then make your decision. As a “subset” of this commandment, I would also include: Be careful when listening to others. What’s good for one person is terrible for another. The media does a great job of generalizing advice and investments, and I think that’s an awfully dangerous game to play.

Unless someone really understands your personal situation and goals, I firmly believe it’s nearly impossible to make conclusive and general statements as to “what’s good” and “what’s bad” for you. No good doctor could ever diagnose a problem without getting the answers to some basic questions. If they fail to do this, prescribing a pill can literally kill you. The same is true with investing. Only when a few key questions are answered could anyone really give prudent advice on “what’s good” or “what’s bad” for you. So the next time someone tells you to “stay away from this” or “you should invest in that” be careful. Educate yourself, assess the advantages and disadvantages of the advice you’re getting, pause, then make your decision. By doing so, chances are you’ll make the right one.

Here is the rest of The 10 Commandments of Investing. It's a good read if you are just beginning or really, if you want to evaluate the choices you have already made.

By Nat Torkington

My friend Skud recently went to Vanuatu, and I caught up with her as she passed through Auckland on her way to SF. Vanuatu is a Micronesian nation with no real industry other than tourism. She has a Flickr set of photos of a "solidly middle class" family that'll blow your mind if you've never been to a developing nation (her commentary on those photos provides some context).

She's been organizing technical books for Vanuatu, helping the Vanuatu IT User Society build out their library. She's got some amazing stories about the kids, and also the adults who have potential and curiosity and the same hacker sense we see in ourselves but don't have instruction or even a computer of their own to build it out on. She's also helping them to get OLPCs, not trivial because Vanuatu is so small it doesn't rate on the scale against Africa.

I had a great afternoon with Skud, and was really inspired by what she's doing. O'Reilly has helped similar projects in the past, getting books in the hands of those who need them and we're going to send VITUS a box of books per Skud's request. It was uplifting to see Skud's passionate and pragmatic approach to helping the people she'd been staying with. It does us good to remember that the Internet can be used to connect people in more ways than Facebook friending.

babooo404 points out Newsweek coverage of Google focusing on areas in which the search giant may be vulnerable. In some countries outside the US, local competition is handing Google its head. In South Korea a company called Naver dominates. And in Russia, portal site Yandex leads in both search and advertising. In the Cyrillic language market Google is a distant third in search, and Yandex is trouncing Google in the advertising arena by 70% to 2%.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Last week we saw quite an uproar when a number of prominent blogs had their Google Page Rank (Google’s measure of a site’s authority) dramatically lowered, presumably for engaging in the practice of selling text links to other sites. Today, Matt Cutts of Google has confirmed that the company does indeed penalize web sites [...]

We’re all pretty much accustomed to Google being king of the hill regarding everything search-related. However, a Newsweek report finds some gaps that spell good news for the competition - at least in regional markets. According to comScore, 60 percent of all searches worldwide are done through Google, while the second and third place is [...]

rs232 sends in a BBC piece on the UK computer agency Becta advising schools against signing up for a Microsoft educational license because of alleged anti-competitive practices. "The problem was that Microsoft required schools to have licenses for every PC in a school that might use its software, whether they were actually doing so or running something else." We have discussed Becta's role in British education here several times as they have acted as a watchdog warning of perceived Microsoft excesses.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Update: The original link went to a slightly reorganized version of a Wikipedia page -- but with no credit given. I've de-linked the page. This is basically plagiarism, and it stinks. Here's a fine collection of 87 bad futuristic predictions from years gone by -- many of them are risible because of their skepticism (see the "telephones" section below), but I'm very fond of the optimistic ones, too, like "Nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners will probably be a reality in 10 years" (Alex Lewyt, president of vacuum cleaner company Lewyt Corp., in the New York Times in 1955). # «This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.» A memo at Western Union, 1878 (or 1876). # «The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys.» Sir William Preece, Chief Engineer, British Post Office, 1878. # «It's a great invention but who would want to use it anyway?» Rutherford B. Hayes, U.S. President, after a demonstration of Alexander Bell's telephone, 1876. # «A man has been arrested in New York for attempting to extort funds from ignorant and superstitious people by exhibiting a device which he says will convey the human voice any distance over metallic wires so that it will be heard by the listener at the other end. He calls this instrument a telephone. Well-informed people know that it is impossible to transmit the human voice over wires.» News item in a New York newspaper, 1868. Site (http://www.2spare.com/item_50221.aspx) de-linked for plagiarism. (via Futurismic)...