This post is not really about politics. Sure the presidential campaign continues marching towards an exciting conclusion. Sure a sudden bevy of vocal, cynical, and amateurish political observers and bloggers are loudly decrying the two presidential candidates as basically undifferentiated “clowns.” There are major differences between the two parties and the two candidates – would we really be so divided as a nation and would our political debates be as heated if they are essentially the same? Please people, let’s be respectful of our diverse …

The Web is changing. The current Web is designed to allow computers to retrieve and deliver documents from other computers for the end user to view, read, and interpret. As anyone who has used Google’s (GOOG), Yahoo’s (YHOO) and Microsoft’s (MSFT) search engines can attest, sometimes the retrieval of desired documents and information is accurate and sometimes it is way off base. The Semantic Web, others prefer to call it Web 3.0, has the potential to change the game completely. In the Semantic Web, computers have …

Even the mighty are falling. The last two major independent investment banks on Wall Street, Goldman Sachs (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS), have received permission from the Federal Reserve to convert from traditional investment banks into commercial banks or bank holding companies. Plenty of ink, digital or otherwise, has been spilled about the disappearance of investment banks so I won’t dwell much on that. We’ve seen the collapse of Lehman Brothers (LEH) and Bear Stearns. Still somehow, I’m sure there were some who sentimentally held out hope that the two …

Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com (OSTK), was one of the lone voices sounding caution while the market was steadily marching upward to record levels. In good times when everyone in the market is making money, few will listen to the radical iconoclast in the corner warning of an impending end to the party. Contrarians are often seen as party poopers. The financial press regularly ridiculed Byrne for his passionate crusade against naked short selling. Many perceived his actions as a desperate attempt to save his own company from short sellers. …

A while ago, I wrote about patent trolls and wondered about the viability of intellectual property, in the form of patents, as a liquid, tradeable, securitized asset class. I also mentioned Nathan Myhrvold’s Intellectual Ventures as one outfit that could drive patents toward an elevated asset class status. In a recent TechCrunch post about Myhrvold, it appears he’s gone a long way in pushing patents to become more liquid and tradeable. In summary, Intellectual Ventures has systematically acquired a patent portfolio of over 20,000 patents. In the eight years since …

Don’t start giving in to panic as the market works its way lower. Sure some once impressive financial institutions are going the way of dinosaurs. Perhaps your 401(k) looks like it might lose weight faster than you can. Whether you’re managing your own account or entrusting your nest egg to a professional mutual fund manager, the market and your investments have seldom felt more bleak. Whatever you do, don’t panic.
Don’t make a run to your bank and demand to close out your savings and checking accounts. …

A few months ago I came across a piece by Jeff Nolan, titled Incrementalism and “The New New Thing,” which struck poignantly at a raw nerve. He called attention to the incrementalism gripping Silicon Valley despite the flush amount of capital available for startups. Much of the attention and hype has surrounded social networking and Web 2.0 startups but each new entry is a slight improvement over the previous. But only discontinuous, quantum leap innovations create disproportionate value. So what’s next?
Umair Haque’s An Open Challenge to Silicon Valley put it …