A "Soft" Spot For Microsoft

You would have to live on top of the highest mountain in the heart of the Himalayas, and be without computer or television to not know who Microsoft C.E.O. Bill Gates is.

Gates is an American business magnate, philanthropist, the world's third richest man (as of 2008), and chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of CEO and chief software architect, and remains the individual majority shareholder with more than 9% of the common stock.

Now Gates is positioning himself to step down from his full-time work at his own software development company and charge gears just a bit. He plans to put more time and effort into his philanthropic endeavor, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (founded mostly by his own fortune). His decision won't elude his presence in the media. In fact it will keep him in the publics eye for many years to come. "If he was the third-richest man in the world, I don't think there would be anything near the mystique around Bill Gates that there is," says Gary Rivlin, author of "The Plot to Get Bill Gates."

Recently Gates dropped from the number one spot on the Forbes Magazine's Worlds Richest People. Still, his estimated fortune is around $59 billion, and he will always be remembered as the world's richest man. "It's almost like being compared to God, in some ways. People would say, as a matter of speech, he's not as rich as Bill Gates," claims Michael Cusumano, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management who has written several books on Microsoft and the technology industry.

Perhaps even more amazing than his fortune is the entrepreneurial story of how he obtained it. Though he comes from a well-to-do family and has many privileges such as education at an elite private school, his story is still quite unique. He is credited with being among the earliest people to note the enormity of which the computing and technology industry could grow to. These include the power of the personal computing and the potential to make a fortune selling software. Driven by his new ambition, Gates dropped out of Harvard and started Microsoft with his high school friend Paul Allen. With this solid foundation they built one of the nation's most successful corporations.

Ed Lazowska puts it into words when he says, "It's easy to lose track of the fact that this is two kids with a dream." Lazowska is the chair of the computer science and engineering at the University of Washington and serves on the technical advisory board for Microsoft's research team. "I think there are other people now as well as Bill, but I don't think his influence has diminished."

Gates has done more than create an amazing success story. He has, in fact, made the image of "geek" a more socially acceptable persona. At this year's CES (Consumer Electronics Trade Show), a parody video about his impending departure from full-time work at Microsoft showed Gates playing with action figures in his office, pumping iron with Matthew McConaughey, trying to talk Bono into letting him join U2, and even trying to convince Jon Stewart he'd be a good Daily Show co-anchor. The short film flattered him, but it also shed light on the fact that aside from being a technical guru and business executive, Gates holds a strong place of power in popular culture.

Recently Microsoft has been involved in an antitrust trial. Opinion polls that have been released, however, show that Gate's public opinion has not been seriously hurt by the trial. "We have this love-hate relationship with ruthless and successful people," says Andy Gavil, law professor at Howard University. Gavil closely followed the trial and is currently in the process of completing his book on Microsoft. "We admire them even though we fear them."

Many who watched Gates at the height of the U.S. antitrust trial have been surprised by his transformation into a major philanthropist. He is now intent on solving major global health problems. This dichotomy is yet another reason for the public's fascination with him. "It's extraordinary that this guy in the late 1900's who was so fiercely competitive, is deciding at a relatively young age (his mid 50's) to give most of his energy, not to mention half if not more of his money, to philanthropy," says Rivlin. "It's just shocking."

The company of Microsoft will neither benefit nor hurt from this major change in administration. The next person in charge will keep the company moving at the same stagnant pace it has been at for the past couple decades. As share holders, the stock will not lose value. In fact there is a much better probability now, that the common stock's value could begin a slow rise. If you own Microsoft, continue to hold it. If you don't own the stock, keep watch and look for good opportunities to buy in. Now may just be one of those opportunities.

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A Tribute To Warren Buffett

When investors think of the one person they would most like to portray in the investment field, there is one person who comes tom mind. Hiss success in the stock market is an admirable accomplishment. This man is Warren Buffett. He is depicted as an extremely successful and ethical investor that has made his money through dedication and diligence.

Buffett's entire life is a direct testimonial to the American Dream and a prime example of what can be achieved through intelligent investing. He holds the second spot on the list of America's most affluent men. He is unique in this way because almost all of his success was earned by investing in other companies. Warren Buffett presently presides as the C.E.O. of his company, Berkshire Hathaway (brk.a). He acquired this company in the late 1960's building it up and sculpting it into the highest priced and most fruitful listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

Warren offers an unusual persona as a business man. He describes himself as an "introvert with  simple tastes and a disheveled appearance. Take this shy, grandfatherly exterior and mix it with a commanding aptitude for power investing constantly seeking out talent in the corporate world and you get and unstoppable combination. 

Buffett's philosophy is diligently studied, he is idolized, respected and recognized all over for his success. Conservation in business and appearance shows he is liberal at heart, which is sharply different from his peers. He has set the standard for and broken the stereotype that a successful business man cannot flourish financially and maintain a solid set of ethical ideas.

Warren Buffett was a "reluctant" philanthropist at first shying away from donations in general. It was his wife and traveling companion, Susan, who inspired him to give money to a number of local charities. These nonprofit organizations were mainly helpful to poverty stricken regions of the US. Even though he believed that these organizations would misuse the funds he donated to them, he still donated freely. He supported his wife's ideals and became an active participant in her causes which centered around birth control and homeless youths. Together the pair created a foundation called Glide. This organization was a joint venture used to direct monetary contributions to these particular causes.

Currently Buffet remains at full-invest mode constantly scouting out a new company to buy up or market to invest in. We here at Squawk want to honor Warren and salute his investing career. Thank you Mr. Buffett.

-Squawk

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Google Finance Fun

On March 21, 2006, Google, Inc. launched the new Google Finance website. The service features business and enterprise headlines for many corporations including their financial decisions and major news events. Stock information is available, as are Adobe Flash-based stock price charts.

Google launched a revamped version of their finance site on December 12, 2006, featuring a new homepage design which lets users see currency information, sector performance for the U.S. market, and a listing of top market movers along with the relevant and important news of the day. A top movers section was also added, based on popularity determined by Google Trends. The upgrade also featured charts containing up to 40 years of data for U.S. stocks, and richer portfolio options.

Every once in a while, Google will have a glitch in their system. Just yesterday, Apple Inc. (aapl) was showing a $4.47 gain during trading hours and a $4.50 loss in after hours trading. This was known not to be true. Though rare, we have caught some of their mistakes in screenshots and thought we would share them with you. So sit back and enjoy a lighthearted few photos from Google Finance.

First up, Tele Norte Celular (tnc) with a gain of $198,986.95 

And again as a top mover...

Here we have Cons. Cyclical taking a huge hit...

And finally we come to Squawks top stock pick of the millennium, United Industrial Corp. (uic) with an outstanding performance of more than 10 billion percent gains in a day!

We hope you enjoy these wonderful stocks. But remember, we here at Squawk highly recommend consulting your investment advisor before making any serious investment decisions.

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Calling All iPhones! Calling All GPhones?

Google Inc. is in a position to develop its own mobile cellphone and incorporate wireless Internet into the device with hopes of competing with Apple's iPhone. Code-name gPhone by the Tech community, Google is not in facet creating a telephone with a google like operating system. Instead they are hoping to persuade wireless communication companies and cellular telephone makers to use their own software in the phone. Their plan is to have Google offset the advertising costs of manufacturers to make the devices more attractive to companies so that they will jump on board.

Byron Acohido of the USA Today writes, "Google`s widely anticipated (not to mention top secret) GPhone mobile phone project could trump Apple`s glitzy iPhone by going low cost and low tech." Google recently acquired Finnish company Jaiku who holds a multitude of Short Message Service patents (SMS), which is the technology that enables the exchanging of short messages between cell phones.

Google currently holds a 29% share of the US Market over 16% to Yahoo according to internet marketing research firm eMarketer, and would like nothing more than to control the mobile device market such as cell phones, blackberry's and more, including their own GPhone. Their market share recently skyrocketed when Yahoo! announced it will be listing ads with Google on their sites. On this news Google's stock rose to a whopping $600 per share, speculating that Google's profits may climb to as high as 50% over last year's numbers.

Acohido reports that, "Richard Doherty, research director at The Envisioneering Group, claims Google is driving toward getting device makers to produce basic handsets equipped with a "Gbutton" that takes users right to a Google texting screen." According to Doherty, "Their goal is to get GPhone texters in the habit of querying its vast databases for directions, phone numbers, movie times or restaurant tips and woo advertisers to sponsor GPhone-delivered answers." Apparently the hush-hush top secret project by Google (said tongue in cheek of course), is already in a phase where a model is being designed with rumors abound that includes a Google browser and access to Gmail and YouTube (both of which are Google operated, and both of which are already accessible on the iPhone by Apple).

The first question that all consumers will ask of course, is about the cost. The iPhone was introduced at a price of around $600, only to be dropped $200 dollars in price after the initial hype wore off. Google insiders claimed that the GPhone will be offered at a fraction of the cost of the iPhone, Blackberry and Palm Trio, but this is becoming more and more difficult for Google especially because of Apple's recent announcement of the iPhone 3G and the new price tag of $199 per phone. Google will use its power of advertising to reduce the price of their gPhone, but one drawback according to Acohido is that, "cell phone carriers want a cut of the advertising revenue". A cut that many say Google isn't ready to give.

Although nothing has been released as far as an agreement between Google and a cellular provider, manufacturers are said to have devices ready to go and according to Acohido, "could be ready to be on the shelves in a matter of weeks." The Gphone will be aimed toward a younger consumer. For those teens around the neighborhood, chances are this may be the next hot item on it's way just it time for the summer craze and the holiday season to roll in.

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Yahoo! Ads On Google

Yahoo! which is in a heated battle against a takeover attempt from Microsoft, said Wednesday it would host search advertising from Google, one of Microsoft's many rivals. This test-drive, expecting to last for two weeks, could show whether Yahoo! can raise more funds counter balancing its already tanking revenue by outsourcing a key part of its business to Google.

Yahoo! released a statement claiming that it would run ads as part of an experiment that would only last up to a couple weeks and would be limited to no more than 3 percent of their searches. "This is only a limited test and does not necessarily mean that Yahoo! will join the AdSense program." As with most deals like this, Yahoo! would receive the majority of the money from the ads and Google would keep the rest. This would also allow them to make significant job cuts to their search-advertising team, saving them a lot of money, say analysts.

The competition with Google in search-based advertising is the sole reason Microsoft wants to acquire Yahoo!. Microsoft said last Saturday that if Yahoo! did not agree to their offer in three weeks, they would attempt to overturn the board of directors and replace them with those who would vote in favor. They also threatened to lower their offer for the company. Yahoo!'s reasons for resistance are uncertain. The company could be trying to show investors that it has found alternative ways to raise their profits, and ultimately its stock price, without being bought out by Microsoft. Yahoo! has said repeatedly that Microsoft's generous offer of $31 a share is below what they would like to see.

Analysts at Citigroup have calculated Yahoo! could boost its annual cashflow by 25% by outsourcing the sale of search ads to Google, because Google has more efficient technology and an agreement would allow Yahoo! to cut its own investment in this area. But a tie-up would give Google control of more than 90% of all the advertising sold next to search engine results, putting the deal at risk of being blocked by regulators.

In the end, Google once again comes out on top. They lead the market and the industry, and continue to improve their search capabilities. The company is growing at an exponential rate and their stock has proven that it can weather any storm that blows its way.

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Apple Seeds

Right now Apple is poised in one of the most lucrative positions the market has seen it in for almost half of a year. Rumors are running rampant. Here is some good history about the company courtesy of Yina Dong.

The Macintosh computer began life as the Apple I in 1976 when two friends, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs with the aid of some friends built the first of fifty computers for the Byte Shop for $500 each. This first Apple computer came equipped with a display screen (a rarity at the time), and was the first computer with a fully assembled circuit board. Eventually, the little group made and sold two hundred Apple I for $666.66 each. With loan of $250,000 Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs and Armas Clifford ‘Mike’ Markkula joined forces to form Apple Computer on April 1, 1976. By mid-1977, they had improved upon the design of the Apple I and the Apple II was made available to the public.

Ever wondered why the Company was named, Apple Computer? Simply because the trio realized that “Apple” would come before the most famous name in computers at the time, Atari. Over the years, Apple Computers continued to improve, becoming cheaper thereby making it easier for many homes to have a personal computer. Apple was the first computer company to use GUI (Graphical User Interface) in their machines; a concept that was to revolutionize the computer industry. After many trials and errors, Apple came out with a true home computer, the Apple Macintosh or Mac in 1984.

The Apple Computer was the beginning of desktop publishing era. Apple revolutionized publishing with its magic combination of a PC, it’s LaserWriter printer and specialized software, Aldus PageMaker and MacPublisher. Aldus is now Adobe PageMaker. These components allowed the designing and printing of documents complete with text and graphics. It is for this reason that the Macintosh is still a favorite among the graphic design crowd.

Apple faced stiff competition from Microsoft, especially in relation to the cost of PC-clones. Apple’s popularity waned and the home PC market was taken over by Bill Gates’ Microsoft. However, there are still many different lines of Macs on the market today: the iMac and Power Mac being two of the most popular.


Times have changed for the company since they first began. Apple has planted its seed in many emerging markets. They now hold one of the top market shares in the computer and mp3 player categories nationwide. The company continues to grow and with the new iPhone 3G hitting shelves July 11th, we will see this company begin to take over market share in the cell phone industry as well. The stock is at a low and Squawk is upgrading it today to a strong buy between $150 and $185 per share. This is a window of opportunity for investors. Our projected sell point is $245 per share before the end of fiscal 2008.

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Walt Disney: The "New Mickey Mouse Club"

After Squawk's 2008 annual board meeting in Walt Disney World in Orlando Florida this past week, we have decided to highlight the Walt Disney Company and bring to light some of the lesser known plans of action Disney has in store for the future.

The Walt Disney Company (dis) is the third largest media and entertainment corporation in the world, after Time Warner and News Corporation. Founded on October 16, 1923 by brothers Walt and Roy Disney as an animation studio, it has become one of the biggest Hollywood studios, and owner of eleven theme parks and several television networks, including ABC and ESPN. Disney's corporate headquarters and primary production facilities are located at The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California.

The company has had great advancements in its time. On December 20, 1991, upon opening Old Key West, their newest resort on the Orlando property, Disney began the DVC or Disney Vacation Club. The Vacation Club is a company, entirely-owned by Disney, that operates as a vacation timeshare, allowing families to purchase a real estate interest in one of the DVC resorts. Operations of DVC and its resorts are managed by Disney Vacation Development. This Club revolutionized the concept of timeshares and is one of the fastest growing "clubs" in the industry.

Different form the typical timeshare investment plan, Disney actually sells ownership to the vacationer and signs over a property deed. In a nut shell the real estate interest is represented by "vacation points". A customer purchases a number of vacation points as a one-time purchase, becoming a "member" of the "club". The price as of March 5th, 2007 was $16640.00 ($104 per vacation point with the minimum purchase being 160 vacation points). After the initial purchase members are charged annual dues based on the number of vacation points they own. Members receive a yearly allotment of these vacation points. Vacation Club members can then use these points to make reservations at one of the Vacation Club resorts or any number of other resorts all over the world. The number of points needed depends on the room type, resort, and time of year selected. Points can be saved, or "banked", for use the following year. Points can also be borrowed from the upcoming year.

The magic of the vacation club is the sheer mountain of money Disney rakes in that they wouldn't otherwise be getting upfront. They are securing three things: 1) 16 thousand dollars per package from every person who initially buys in, 2) A guarantee that the people will be coming back to Disney World on vacation for the next 50 year, and 3) A nice supply of annul fees for upkeep on the buildings they sell out. This is Disney's little gold machine. They currently have 3282 Vacation Club rooms that have sold and are currently building an estimated 1500 more rooms which will be available for sale within the next two to three years. Each room is divided into between 20 and 50 deeds. The newest project is the addition to their centrally located Contemporary Resort.

Construction is underway launching a $110 million, 15-story tower next to its iconic Contemporary Resort that likely will feature Vacation Club rooms bringing the units closer to the Magic Kingdom than ever before. Disney will say little publicly about the fast-rising Contemporary addition. The new tower already stands 12 stories on 14 acres just to the north of the resort's signature A-frame main building, which was just the second hotel at Disney World when it opened a few months after the park itself first welcomed guests on Oct. 1, 1971. But there is ample evidence Disney plans to use the tower for Vacation Club units. Building-permit applications filed with Reedy Creek Improvement District identify the owner of the property as a company called JMSRM Inc. State records show that is a fictitious name created in August 2006 by Celebration-based Disney Vacation Development, parent company of the Disney Vacation Club time-share arm.

A very modest calculation of the net revenue brought in by the unique vacationing experience brings the total to approximately 1.5 billion dollars raked in upfront and in advance by the corporation. With this money, Disney has plans to expand their parks, resorts, entertainment businesses, and develop new ideas and concepts to keep the people coming. Disney has come a long way from the weekly Carousel of Progress programs and the Mickey Mouse Club. They are among the finest companies in the World today and will only continue to grow. To quote Walt Disney himself, "I only hope we don't lose site of one thing, that it was all started by a mouse."

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How To Invest In The Oil Crisis

In 1956 a prominent geophysicist, Mr. M. King Hubbert, made a prediction at a time when the U.S. was the world's largest producer of oil and the annual production was growing larger every year. He claimed that, "U.S. oil production will peak in the late '60s or early '70s and then decline steadily thereafter." This was a startling claim which many ignored or publicly disagreed with. Oil executives laughed in Hubbert's face when he first published his idea in the mid 1950's.

Just 14 years later, in 1970, U.S. oil production peaked, and it has declined ever since (from 3.5 billion barrels annually in 1970 to 2 billion barrels annually today). Today Hubbert's proven theory is called Hubbert's Peak, or PEAK OIL. Simply put, it says that the easy half of any oil reserve is harvested first, and what remains becomes harder and harder to get, resulting in steadily declining production. Once Hubbert was proven right, his formula was applied to the world's oil supply, and now experts forecast that world oil will peak sometime before 2010. In other words, we are there. It's important to note that the world is not out of oil, but rather that the remaining half will be harder to get, so production will decline.

Today oil is up $4.30 as of 12.00 p.m. Eastern Time. There are a few good companies to put your money in at a time like this. These are safe, blue chip-style investments with a special "hidden advantage" that can give you explosive growth-style returns of 115%... 150%... even up to 700%, in a matter of a few short years. In fact, these 4 stocks could become the most powerful performers in your portfolio over the next 5, 10, even 15 years.

First up is Posco, which is up over 147% since May 2005. Posco (pkx), or the Pohang Iron and Steel Company, based in Pohang, South Korea, is the third largest steel producer in the world. Currently, Posco operates two steel mills in the country, one in Pohang and the other in Gwangyang. In addition, Posco operates a joint venture with U.S. Steel, which is located in Pittsburg, California. Along with Samsung Electronics, Posco is viewed by many Koreans as a symbol of national pride and 'can do' spirit. With the strong Korean shipbuilding and automobile industry dependent on POSCO for steel, it has been seen as the bedrock of Korea's industrial development over the past 40 years.

Next is Invesco, up more than 113% since November 2004. Invesco Ltd. (ivz) is an investment management company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. It is traded on both the New York Stock Exchange and on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Invesco is a constituent of the Russell 1000 Index and the Russell MidCap Index. It has branches in 20 countries, with more than half of its business in the United States. Invesco operates under the Invesco, Invesco Aim (AIM Investments prior to March, 2008), AIM Trimark, Invesco Perpetual, Atlantic Trust, WL Ross and Powershares brand names.

Finally we come to Norsk Hydro, up about 74% since November 2006. Norsk Hydro ASA (nhy) is a Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. Hydro is the fourth largest integrated aluminium company worldwide. It has operations in some 40 countries around the world and is active on all continents. The Norwegian state holds a 43.8 percent ownership interest in the company, which employs approximately 28,000 people. Eivind Reiten has been the CEO since 2001. The company had a significant presence in the oil and gas industry until October 2007, when these operations were merged with rival Statoil to form StatoilHydro.

Investment in these companies can provide big returns in companies that are safer than your average blue chip-type stock. Analysis of these three "better than blue" stocks points to a bright future in clean renewable energies. That is one of our goals here at Squawk On The Street. We want to provide great oportunities to invest in that are also good for the environment.

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Live Coverage of Apple's WWDC Keynote

Here at Squawk On The Street, we will be updating the site with live coverage of Steve Job's keynote speech at the World Wide Developers Conference expected to start at 1 p.m. Eastern Time. Stay tuned for updates (we recommend refreshing this page every five minutes or so for most accurate information). So sit back and enjoy.

12:07 p.m. Eastern Time

-People are going inside and one covered banner has been spotted.

12:18

-Balcony is filling as people get comfortable. Still another 42 minutes until the presentation starts.

12:35

-Pictures of the line waiting to get inside along with a picture of the covered banner... Flickr

12:50

-People are being let into the hall with less than 10 minutes to go.

1:00

-The stage is set with blue curtains and a large screen with the apple logo on it. The audience is excited with anticipation. This is the largest number of attendees this conference has ever had and it sold out in the first month of selling tickets.

1:01

Al Gore is in the audience.

1:05

Lights go down. The show is about to begin.

1:05

Steve Jobs walks onto to stage, "We've been working real hard on some great stuff that we can't wait to share with you." There are 52,000 attendees at WWDC '08.

1:10

Steve is talking about the iPhone this morning, among the three parts of Apple Inc. "After lunch, Bertrand Serlet will be giving us a peak of the new OS X, Snow Leopard."
Over 250 Thousand people have downloaded the iPhone SDK

1:11

Three sections to the iPhone 2.0, Enterprise, SDK, and new end-user features.

Starting with enterprise. Exchange support out of the box, push email / contacts / calendars, auto-discovery, global address book, remote wipe. 35% of Fortune 500 companies, along with higher education institutions have participated in the iPhone beta program.

1:13

They are now playing a video of many different higher level executives of different companies talking about their interest in the iPhone 2.0 for their employees.

1:16

The video has ended and Steve has retaken the stage. Now talking about the SDK. Scott Forestell has been brought on stage to demonstrate. The video demonstrated searching contacts, which filters contacts as you type.

1:17

Right now Steve is talking about the APIs, Cocoa Touch, Media, Core Services, Core OS. Core OS makes use of the same kernel as Mac OS X. Core Services includes everything from a complete database layer to core location, for easily building location-based functionality into applications. Also a very fast implementation of OpenGL. Cocoa Touch makes creating great UIs a breeze. He is talking now about the development tools, xCode, Interface Builder, the iPhone simulator, and Instruments.

1:21

Demo. Steve is showing how to construct a UI in Interface Builder. He is creating a basic Cocoa Touch application called Nearby Friends. It uses the built-in Address Book API to access contacts as well as the Core Location API. The application will show contacts within a 10 mile radius.

1:23

He is displaying how easy it is to create a UI by dragging in interface elements and combining them. Interface Builder keeps the orientation of the iPhone in mind and rearranges the controls appropriately. He is now displaying the app through the simulator, which now has the appropriate UI.

1:24

He hooked up the controls to the API and redisplayed it in the simulator showing off the functionality. The application was then loaded onto his actual iPhone, where he is showing how it actually works on the phone. Within 10 minutes, he had created this fully functional, location-based application.

1:25

The demo has concluded. Scott is now reading quotes from various developers discussing how great a development platform it is.

1:27

A handful of developers are invited on stage and are demoing the apps.

1:30

Those who remember the last keynote by Jobs will recall Super Monkey Ball. Again, SEGA is demonstrating it playing the last level and showing how well the tilt-control works. It will be available at the launch of the App Store for $9.99.

1:33

Next up, eBay. Demonstrating Auctions on the iPhone that began development just 5 weeks ago. Incorporates much of the typical eBay functionality. The app's main screen allows you to quickly view the auctions you've listed, have bid on, or have been out-bid on. Also includes a custom photo viewer.

1:35

Next, Loopt, a location-aware social network. The app displays a map with pins representing where your friends currently are. User profiles show a log of where the person has been and the photos they've sent in. It's easy to call or text them as well. Works with Loopt users on other platforms and will be available for free at the launch of the App Store.

1:40

TypePad is next. Their native app makes it very simple to blog or send in a photo. The photo can be taken right then using the camera, or be selected from the gallery. It will also be free with the App Store launch.

1:42

They call it the Mobile News Network, and it gathers content from many trusted sources. It makes use of the location API by automatically showing nearby sources. Allows news video and photos to be viewed directly through the app. You can even report on news yourself by sending a first-hand report that includes photos and text. The app will be free at the launch of the App Store.

1:45

Next up is Pangea Software. They have ported 2 games to the iPhone. The first game is Enigmo, which is a physics-based game. Makes advanced use of the touch controls as well as the CPU. The second game is Cro-Mag Rally, which is a 3D racing game, the iPhone itself is the steering wheel. Both games will be on the App Store at launch for $9.99 each. Next -- Band, written by an independent developer from the UK.

1:50

Band, another new app, includes a virtual piano, drums, 12-bar blues "instrument", and a bass. All of the instruments sound very impressive and what you play can be recorded.

1:52

Next up is MLB.com. The app shows today's games with live, detailed scoring. It also includes real-time video highlights, which are delivered right after the play, not the game. It will be included in the launch of the App Store. Next, Modality (crowd laughing).

1:54

Showing 2 medical-based applications. First, The first is a learning application for remembering the names of parts of the body. They will have dozens of apps available within weeks of the App Store launch. The second medical app is from MIMvista. The MIMvista application is for viewing medical imagery. Takes advantage of the touch screen to change the information shown, zoom in and out, and scroll around. The images can be rendered in 3D live too. The app will be available at the launch of the App Store. The last demo comes from Digital Legends.

1:58

On to the last app. A game company. Their game took only 4 days to create. Uses accelerometer to jump. This concludes the app demonstration. In just 2 weeks, Digital Legends has brought an amazing looking 3D fantasy adventure game to the phone. Uses OpenGL and touch controls. A better experience than other mobile gaming devices. The game will be ready by September.

2:01

Thanking the developers for their hard work. Now talking about how the #1 request has been background support. Apple wants to solve this problem.

2:03

The wrong solution would be to allow for background processes; bad for battery life and performance. Poking fun at Windows Mobile's task manager. Apple has come up with a far better solution: a push notification service available for all developers.

2:05

When the user quits the application, Apple will push updates from their servers to the iPhone. The developer's servers push the notifications to Apple. These updates can include badges, sounds, and custom messages. This requires just one persistent connection and is extremely scalable. This functionality won't be available until September, but will be seeded to developers soon. Steve has retaken the stage.

2:07

Steve is discussing new features in the iPhone 2.0 software. First, contact search with live searching. Second, full iWork document support. Third, complete support for Office documents (Word, Excel, and now PowerPoint). Fourth, bulk delete & move for messages. Fifth, the ability to save images you get. Sixth, a new calculator with scientific mode when you rotate the iPhone. Seventh, parental controls. Eight, tremendous language support.

2:08

Fantastic Asian language support, including character recognition. All of the languages can be switched between on the fly. These are all some of the new features in the iPhone 2.0 software. iPhone 2.0 will be available in early for July. Free for iPhone owners, $9.99 for iPod Touch owners.

2:11

Talking about the App Store. A way for developers to reach every single iPhone user. Wireless download support, automatic updates, developer sets the price and keep 70% of revenue, FairPlay wrapped, no charge to anyone for free apps.

2:12

Available in 62 countries. If the app is less than 10MB, it can be downloaded through the cell network. Otherwise, it requires WiFi or iTunes. Enterprises can distribute apps just to their employees. They authorize iPhones within their enterprise and then create applications that just run on those phones. The apps can be distributed just through their intranet.

2:13

Adding a third way to distribute apps -- Ad Hoc. The apps can be distributed in any way to up to 100 authorized iPhones. Now on to their new unveiling of Mobile Me. Phil is on stage to demo.

2:15

Exchange, for the rest of us, "It works like ActiveStink... er... ActiveSync" - Phil. Push email, contacts, and calendars. Everything is up-to-date, wherever you are.

2:17

Everything stays in sync between iPhone, Mac, and PC. Data gets synched automatically both ways.Works over the air. Changes are displayed immediately. Works with Mail, iCal, and Address Book on Mac. Works with Outlook on Windows.

2:18

Includes incredible Web 2.0 applications to provide a desktop-like experience on the web to work with all of the data. Me.com.

2:19

Unbelievable looking Mail, Contacts, Calendar, and Gallery applications. Photos are synched over the air too. iDisk is integrated into Me.com as well. Phil is now demonstrating the functionality. The Mail app allows panes to be resized, multiple messages to be selected like a real application, and quick reply in-line.

2:22

The contacts app incorporates lists, live search, and Google map integration. The calendar app has the typical day, week, and month views. Color coding and drag & drop events is supported as well. The gallery app allows for drag & drop too as well as live thumbnail scaling like in iPhoto. The iDisk app allows files to be sent to people right through the app. Phil is now demonstrating the over-the-air functionality.

2:25

He's showing that a pushed email appeared immediately on the phone as well as the web interface. A contact he just created on the phone also showed up right away on the web interface.

2:26

Now he's adding a meeting through the web-based calendar and showing that it appears immediately on the iPhone. Within seconds of making an adjustment to the calendar entry through the web interface, the update appeared on the phone.

2:27

He just sent a photo to a previously created gallery on Mobile.Me, which appeared through the web-based interface very quickly. A 60-day free trial will be available along with the iPhone 2.0 software in early July. MobileMe replaces .mac. .mac subscribers will automatically be upgraded. Steve has retaken the stage. Steve is now talking about the iPhone's first birthday.

2:29

The iPhone had an amazing intro with tremendous critical acclaim. Users love them too -- 90% customer satisfaction (off the carts), 98% are browsing online, 94% are using email, 90% are using text messaging, 80% are using 10 or more features.

2:30

In the first year, 6 million iPhones until Apple ran out several weeks ago. Apple figured out what the next challenges are.

2:31

1) 3G network support 2) Enterprise support 3) Third party application support 4) More countries (joking about unlocked iPhones in countries not officially supported) 5) More affordable.

2:33

56% of people that want an iPhone but didn't get one say it was due to price. Introducing the iPhone 3G. Apple has learned so much with the first iPhone. They have taken everything they've learned and more and created the iPhone 3G. Even thinner, black plastic back, solid metal buttons, same gorgeous display, camera, flush headphone jack, and dramatically improved audio.

2:35

How does the iPhone 3G tackle the challenges? 3G = faster data downloads, perfect for Safari and Mail. Comparing download speeds between 3G and EDGE. 3G finished in 21 seconds. EDGE finished in 59 seconds.

2:36

2.8X faster. Approaching WiFi speeds (WiFi scored 17 seconds). When compared to other 3G phones (Nokia N95 and Treo 750), the iPhone is 36% faster and better looking.

2:38

Now demoing an email download. The email attachment took 5 seconds to download on 3G and 18 seconds on EDGE. 3 seconds on WiFi.3G has great battery life on iPhone. 300 hours of standby, 2G talk-time now has 10 hours (as opposed to 5), 5 hours of 3G talk-time (most phones only have 3 hour 3G talk time), 5 to 6 hours of high-speed browsing, 7 hours of video, 24 hours of audio.

2:39

GPS support now integrated into the iPhone. Data from cell towers, WiFi networks, and now -- GPS. With GPS, the iPhone can do tracking. A pulsating dot is moving across the Google map as a car drives down Lombard street.

2:44

Checking off 3G from the list of challenges. The second challenge, enterprise support, is fully built-in and can be checked off. The third challenge, third party application support, can also be checked off. The fourth challenge, more countries, can be checked off as it will be available in Canada, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands and many others -- "It's a Small World" is playing as countries continue to appear on the map.

2:45

China, Japan, Australia, etc. 70 countries total. That rollout will occur over the coming few months.

2:46

Now on to the final challenge -- affordability. Started at $599 for an 8GB iPhone, now $399. The iPhone 3G 8GB will sell for... $199. $299 for the 16GB -- a white version of this size will be available too.

2:47

The iPhone 3G will be available July 11th in 22 countries. The maximum price around the world is $199 USD. Now showing an ad. The ad depicts security guards carrying a safe that is unlocked to unveil the iPhone 3G. Steve is having the crowd thank the iPhone team.

2:49

Overviewing the number of sessions and labs at WWDC -- best yet. Steve thanks the crowd and leaves the stage.That concludes the WWDC '08 keynote conference from Steve Jobs.

Apple: A Brief Summary On WWDC

Many people have been asking for a small roundup of what we can expect on Monday and how this will affect the stock. First a bit about WWDC (the World Wide Developers Conference).

The Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, commonly abbreviated WWDC, is a conference held annually in California by Apple Inc. The conference is primarily used by Apple to showcase its new software and technologies for developers, as well as offering hands-on labs and feedback sessions. The number of attendees usually varies between 2000 to 4200 developers; however, during WWDC 2007, Steve Jobs noted that there were over 5000 attendees. WWDC 2007 is the latest conference held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA on June 11-15 of 2007. It took place from June 11 to June 15 in Moscone West, San Francisco with the keynote presentation hosted by Steve Jobs. Apple showed off a feature-complete beta of Mac OS v10.5 "Leopard", though its release date was pushed back to October. Jobs announced that Safari will now be available for Windows and announced support for third-party development for the then upcoming iPhone. Jobs also announced the launch date for the iPhone, which he was widely expected to do, as June 29, 2007.

WWDC 2008 will take place from June 9 to June 13 at Moscone West, San Francisco. Apple recently reported that, for the first time, this conference is sold out. There are three tracks for developers, iPhone, Mac, and IT. The rumor mill has been hard at work cranking out "news" upon news on what we can expect Apple to introduce this year. Some of the top items on the agenda include:

1.) iPhone 2.0
2.) iPhone with 3G capability
3.) GPS capability for the iPhone
4.) Video conferencing feature
5.) Possible smaller sized versions of the iPhone
6.) Solar powered iPhone/iPods (unlikely at this conference)
7.) A small portable tablet-like multitouch device
8.) The online appStore
9.) The introduction of Snow Leopard Mac OS X 10.6 (all cocoa)
10.) Possible new MacBook updates

Google is also highly expected to make a speech at the conference, possibly announcing a major partnership.

With all this info streaming in and rumors running rampant the stock (aapl) will be pushing higher between mid day today and Monday morning. Here is how it will all play out on Monday. IF we see the new iPhone 3G capability added along with GPS and video conferencing, the investors should be pleased enough to keep the stock stable, anything above that will be a catalyst for a push upwards. If the stock can break its all time high of around $205 per share, we will see a quick steady climb to 225+. If many of the products on the speculation list are announced apple could be into $230 by the end of next month. These are all big ifs but there is high speculation and probability around many of the rumors this year.

WWDC is going to be an awe inspiring event this year, there is no doubt about that. One thing is for sure. This company knows exactly what it is doing, it has a fantastic 10+ year plan for the future and there is no doubt that investing in Apple Inc. is nothing but a good investment.

A Bright Future

Oil prices continue to rise, and this is obviously not going to stop. There may be pullbacks over the next couple of years but the end result is inevitable: Oil is not a reusable compdity and so with supply and demand, eventually it will cost more than anyone can afford. The big shocker is that this "eventually" may be coming a lot faster than people think. The only answer to this oil crysis is to find an alternative source of energy that is viable for the economy. One fantastic, reusable, and free form of power can be found at the very center of our solar system; the sun.

There are many great companies that manufacture solar panels and focus their research on sunlight however one such company goes above and beyond.

SunPower Corporation designs and manufactures high-efficiency silicon solar cells and solar panels based on an all-back-contact "All-Black" design. SunPower has recently announced a number of projects around the world that utilize its patented solar tracker technology. The company maintains a market-leading position in Spain with more than 61 megawatts installed or under construction; recently completed a 2.2-megawatt solar power plant in Mungyeong, Korea; and the largest solar installation in the U.S., the 15-megawatt Nellis Solar Power Plant in Nevada. PowerLight, a subsidiary of SunPower, is a leading global provider of large-scale solar power systems, with over 210 million kWh generated by its customers SunPower is publicly traded on the NASDAQ as (spwr).

Along with an aggressive business plan for the upcoming years they add, "We will compete with retail electric rates by reducing system cost by 50% by 2012," earning themselves the innovative award for economical compatibility. Over time, the company will grow and prosper even more from the oil turmoil allowing them to develop new technology and develop their products even further. SunPower Corporation is right on track in todays world.

Google Is The New Berkshire Hathaway

Berkshire Hathaway (brk.a)is a conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S., that oversees and manages a number of subsidiary companies. Berkshire Hathaway's core business is insurance, including property and casualty insurance, reinsurance and specialty nonstandard insurance. The Company averaged a high annual return to its shareholders for the last 25 years while employing large amounts of capital and minimal debt.

Warren Buffet, a well respected name in investment companies and also known for his rather large fortune, is the Chief Executive Officer and has taken the company to new heights by investing in other smaller companies that he believes have huge potential for growth. Today, any larger companies that have made a big statement in growth are the lucky few that slip under the radar of Buffet while they are in their beginning stages of business.

Google Inc. (goog) is an American public corporation, earning revenue from online and mobile advertising related to its Internet search, web-based e-mail, online mapping, office productivity, social networking, and video sharing as well as selling advertising-free versions of the same technologies. Google's headquarters, the Googleplex, is located in Mountain View, California. They have grown in exponential fashion since they first opened their website and they continue to wow investors with their quarterly reports.

There are many similarities between Google and Berkshire Hathaway, but one major difference. This is what sets Google up for even better growth patterns than Buffet's company. Where Berkshire invests in companies it likes and sometimes ends up buying them out (or at least the majority share holders) Google takes things to the next level by simply BUYING every company they like. This strategy is most profitable because many of the companies Google buys are web based businesses and they buy them almost as soon as they hatch. Buy them cheap and hold them while they grow. Granted some may die but it is no big loss because Google spends so little on them. But most of these online companies grow at exponential rates and so Google reaps the benefits.

Bottom line: Google is the next great powerhouse with a little flare of their own. Their casual style and upbeat attitude is just what the Millenials are looking for. Google is now being raised to level in a portfolio of companies that are great picks in today's economy. Along with Google is Apple Inc.