US authorities recently filed 20 people with securities fraud in what is probably the largest inside trading case since the 1980s.

This news may be considered par for the course for greedy stockmarket brokers but what has made this case more titillating is inclusion of a 44-year-old former teenage beauty queen who used more than her business acumen to get a leg up on other traders.

Danielle Chesi, an analyst for New Castle Funds LLC, reportedly used her feminine charms to get insider information on various technology companies. Her tactics were so effective that she amassed an impressive list of contacts that included the former Chairman of AMD and other top executives in IBM and Akamai Technologies.

What’s surprising here is how such well-established and successful businessmen fell for the oldest trick in the book. I guess deep down inside these powerful men are still nerds who are hungry for the attention of the prom queen.

Hi. I’m a Facebook user and I’m a Mafia Wars addict.

I’ve never been big Facebook user until after I actually discovered Mafia Wars. That game really hooked me on Facebook, and in the process I discovered how cool this social network is in finding long lost friends. And Facebook seems to have realized that Mafia Wars and the other games in the site is the ticket to profitability.

Facebook is currently testing a new payment scheme where it will get a cut each time a player buys an in-game item on the site. This will potentially earn Facebook a yummy piece of the financial pie that is already in the hundreds of millions being taken by Zynga, Inc., the creator of the some of the most popular games in Facebook, like Mafia Wars, and Farmville. Another company, Playfish, Inc., which makes Pet Society, is also a part of the pay system being tried out. With the social games market predicted to grow three-fold to $2 billion by 2012, this is the perfect time for Facebook to get in on the action.

The company is testing a payment system to gain a cut each time an online-game player buys a digital tractor, weapon or hat on the site. That would give Facebook a piece of the hundreds of millions of dollars that are being pulled in by Zynga Inc., creator of “Farmville” and “Mafia Wars,” and Playfish Inc., maker of “Pet Society.” The social-games market will almost triple to $2 billion by 2012, estimates ThinkEquity LLC.

Both Zynga and Playfish allow Facebok users to play its games for free but rely on selling virtual goods as part of its revenue. These items are sold through microtransactions. The companies’ success has made Facebook the largest game portal with over 100 million users.

The system being used by the site is Facebook Credits. The payment service will allow users to buy credits that they can use to buy items in different games. This is different from the present system where a player can only buy credits through the game he’s playing and only be able to use it in that game and nowhere else.

With new games coming (Civilization is particularly exciting), it will be awesome if Facebook finally earns some money from the social-network addicts that have made Facebook their virtual home.

The announcement that Disney has acquired Marvel for $4 billion came as a shock to many people.

The family-oriented company successfully made its buyout offer for Marvel Comics, which currently has over 5,000 characters in its stable. This includes, of course, such popular characters as Spider-man, The X-Men, The Hulk and Iron Man.

The thought of the Magic Kingdom coopting some of the most bad-ass characters existing today leaves me cold. Disney’s been known to “kid-ify” its properties. I don’t want to see my beloved comic book characters starting to pull punches just because of Walt’s evil influence. Yup, you read it right Disney’s the devil. Looks like the Marvel super heroes have one tough fight to deal with and it’s going to be from Mickey and friends. As far as I’m concerned I’m all for Wolverine goring Mickey’s ass.

The King of Pop is dead.

Michael Jackson died almost a month ago but the circus that has surrounded his life still hounds him to his death. It’s funny how people are trying to cash in on his death — something that people have already been doing when he was alive.

Just look at eBay and any of the other online auction and online buy and sell sites and you’ll see a huge increase in the sale and auction of Michael Jackson memorabilia. From CDs to t-shirts to buttons to magazines, anything with Jackson’s mug on it is getting sold at exorbitant prices — and people are actually buying it! It’s really amazing. I’m pretty sure that if someone actually kept Jackson’s original nose we’d see it on eBay, too.

Chrysler tries to beat total collapse by getting aid from the government in the form of $4 Billion dollars last January is again getting protection with the blessing of the White House by filing for bankruptcy. The globally charismatic President Obama whom people simply cannot get enough of carries a sense of something everywhere he goes, call it charisma or call it the change he is promoting in the government but many favor his style, well not all. There will always be detractors for as the eternal Continue reading »

Talk about the lack of control and forward thinking, in the UK, health officials released a drug-dependent schizophrenic on the grounds that his out-patient treatment would be monitored by health servicemen that just didn’t happen. The outcome, the drug-laden man goes on a rampage eventually killing a police officer in the process before being stopped by other police officers. The man was released to care for himself, expected to take all his necessary medication with NHS people supposedly to go check in on him regularly for progress and evaluation of his case. He misses his scheduled check-ups, eludes health officials who by the way fail to inform the police that a dangerous man is at large which could have gotten him back into custody for his and the general public’s safety. Continue reading »

The housing market crash that is currently bringing chaos to the many homeowners who stand to lose their homes even with the ton’s of bailout money the government is shelling out is far from over. From the idiots at wall street and the banking sector who conjured out home packages that required no collateral to the very top levels of the housing market giants, Freddie and Fannie who are two of the biggest players in the housing industry they all benefited from the billions of dollars that the market earned. To make matter worse, all the watchdogs watching the watchdogs all knew this was happening and they simply looked the other way, till the market crashed and everybody started pointing fingers at everybody else. Continue reading »

The economic crisis has many a companies fighting for survival and yet out of the blue an underdog in the It industry made it big and even managed to post earnings. Apple has managed to post good profits in spite of the economic downturn which may be reason for a former CFO ratting out on the company’s CEO Steve Jobs. They’ve been at it for a while and it seems that the capitalist mind is hard at work trying to get the better of both of them. The stocks issues and many other financial information that was leaked to the SEC has Jobs in hot water for seemingly unfair stock options in terms of ownership of the company. The truth is out there somewhere yet many questions still have to be addressed Continue reading »

The effects of the recession may be bad, bad enough to get a 13-year old boy to get the bright idea of robbing a bank for some extra cash. The boy was caught red-handed, literally when dye packs blew and stained him red. According to police records, he is the youngest ever bank robber who has ever been documented making parents shiver at the thought of the way these kids are dealing with the hardships of life in today’s challenging times. They truly are getting younger, may be all those violent video Continue reading »

As if the world isn’t getting too crazy, politicians in India are seeking protection from show throwing that was made famous by that infamous journalist that got a shot at President Bush as he was heading out of office, diligently doing his farewells. Seems the act has become a significant sign of defiance that has been taken in by the world as a means of defiance or disdain. May protection come in the Continue reading »