eDoorways Corp. today told investors that its decision to go Open Source, in an effort to expedite its Web development and develop the platform’s mobile applications, was partially hinged on its ability to attract one of the top developers within the open source environment. DPCI, an interactive technology agency that delivers integrated content management solutions, agreed to assist eDoorways in converting the company’s Internet platform to Drupal, an Open Source Content Management System written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License.

Gary Kimmons, Chairman & CEO of eDoorways Corporation, stated, “DPCI comes highly recommended by a number of organizations that have implemented Drupal in their enterprise. As an Acquia Platinum partner, DPCI brings with them a specific skill set in programming along with a design expertise that has afforded them a wealth of knowledge in areas related to our

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eDoorways Corp. announced this morning that it has chosen to rely on Drupal, an Open Source Content Management System written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License, to accelerate its Web 3.0 development and delivery of SOLVE version “Beta 2.0″, which will include the first incarnation of the platform’s mobile applications.

“Drupal is a globally established Open Source software with over 2 million downloads since 2001,” stated Gary Kimmons, Chairman & CEO of eDoorways Corporation. “Open Source is indeed the future of the Internet.”

Google’s increasingly popular cell phone operating system, called Android, is Open Source. Furthermore, the White House has just moved the whitehouse.gov website to Drupal and the Defense Department’s Chief Information Officer David Wennergren recently put out a memo saying that Open Source software can be advantageous in pursuit of the military’s missions.

Mr. Kimmons added, “Given all

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pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/-Gb4DZlL6YZX8HuZFSHh8L-dwjU/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/-Gb4DZlL6YZX8HuZFSHh8L-dwjU/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pLast week you noted that consumer and a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://mast-economy.blogspot.com/2009/03/consumer-pessimism-receding-investors.html"investor confidence were up significantly/a. But taking a closer look at the data reveals just how significant the confidence bounce was.br /br /In fact according to the archive of a href="http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/business/indexes/rasmussen_consumer_index"Rasmussen Confidence Index data/a, it only took five days last week for a href="http://legacy.rasmussenreports.com/rasmussen_index.htm"the daily index/a to make up almost all of the ground it had slowly lost over the past five months. (Click to enlarge chart)br /br /a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jlRX6zR7UgM/ScG_xpHp-aI/AAAAAAAAAUU/MAYFqHcJ4Oo/s1600-h/5days.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 398px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jlRX6zR7UgM/ScG_xpHp-aI/AAAAAAAAAUU/MAYFqHcJ4Oo/s400/5days.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314739894846355874" border="0" //abr /You've seen how a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://mast-economy.blogspot.com/2009/03/retail-growth-is-indeed-leading-us-to.html"consumer spending drives recovery/a. Here's just one more data point leading us out of the winter doldrums into a much a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://mast-economy.blogspot.com/2009/02/evidence-points-to-recessions-end-by.html"cheerier spring and summer./adiv class="blogger-post-footer"div/div No Gloom here. Only Good ...

The markets continued to rally as the Dow Jones ended up 1.23% at 7486.58 while the S&P and NASDAQ closed up 2.09% and 1.99% respectively. The 10 year saw yields shrink as news that the Fed will increase its open market purchase pushed prices up. Yields closed around 2.55%. Gold and oil settled up at $49 and $929.50 as investors pushed funds into these commodities.

Big news from the tech sector today as International Business Machines [IBM: 91.95, -0.96 (-1.03%)] is in talks to purchase the ailing hardware maker Sun Microsystems [JAVA: 8.89, +3.92 (+78.87%)].  The two Companies have not outright stated anything, but sources close to both sides say an agreement is fast approaching. Could this be a strategic maneuver for IBM as competitors are beefing up their offerings in the data center space?   After all, CEO Palmisano did say he is now on

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      As the fallout in the financial markets continues to unwind, a number of companies have bolted down balance sheets and insured some cash flows by cutting their once attractive dividends.  In the past month we have seen the likes of General Electric [GE: 10.32, +0.32 (+3.20%)], JP Morgan Chase [JPM: 27.11, +1.97 (+7.84%)], Bank of America [BAC: 7.67, +1.40 (+22.33%)], Pfizer [PFE: 14.25, -0.01 (-0.07%)] and Alcoa [AA: 5.48, -0.11 (-1.97%)] all cut these coveted yields, proving that this trend has extended into and beyond the financial sector.  However, one sector that has maintained their healthy yields has been the utilities sector.  While equity prices in the sector have been beaten down with the overall market, there is still a basket of companies that have the means to continue redistributing lucrative cash flows to investors.  By no means are

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Jon Stewart torched Jim Cramer live on TV, but did he do more harm than good by slamming long-term investing as well?

For anyone who didn't catch it on March 12, comedian Jon Stewart put to shame many hard-nosed financial journalists when he caught CNBC's Jim Cramer in outright lies about his scamming ways running hedge funds.

Stewart, host of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," also blasted Cramer for his less-than-substantive antics on CNBC's "Mad Money" show. 

We should all stand up and applaud Stewart's performance. But he took it too far when talking about how his elderly mother had bought into the industry's long-term investing mantra.

Stewart should've stayed on-topic, drilling Cramer and not letting him off the hot seat. Instead, he ventured too far afield when relating the apparent drubbing his mom took in the markets during the ongoing recession.

Although ex-journalist Cramer is the sort of slumdog

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Notes from the

Investment Underground

Wednesday, March 18, 2008 Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Plastic Paddies… The now and future inflation… Spendaholics Anonymous… Waiting for the Treasuries bubble to pop… The perversity of ‘self-stimulation’… Paul Volcker’s two-tier financial system… Notes in “Fantasyland”… Going to ground in Ireland… And more!

*** Paddy’s Day celebrations are over. Yesterday, the streets of Buenos Aires filled up with lots of Latin “plastic paddies.” All very strange indeed. More on this below.

*** This morning, the Financial Times reports that Mr. Market is waiting to see whether the Fed will start buying long-term U.S. Treasuries to further ‘stimulate’ the economy.

And with rates at near zero levels, it’s running out of ammo. Talking to CNBC yesterday, Dr. Marc Faber, editor of the Gloom, Boom & Doom Report said

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With the arrest of both Satyam Computer Services Ltd.'s (SAY) ex-CEO and ex-CFO, the interim management announced that it'll make all attempts to clean up its books and appoint a new auditor. A new Board has been formed to spearhead the task of salvaging the company, and three members have already been appointed by the Government of India itself.A majority stake sale is currently being undertaken, and the Board of Directors announced that it will release the Request for Proposals (RFP) to all registered bidders. Previously, the Indian government announced that it would not step up to help Satyam with any financial assistance, citing the company's current receivables of approx. $350 million.Given the recent developments, we had earlier downgraded SAY shares to a Sell and have suspended our estimates and target price. Read the full analyst report on "SAY"Zacks ...

Not much happened in gold on Tuesday. The top was in around 10:00 a.m. in London trading…just like Monday. From there it got sold off a bit…and the boyz in New York finished the job. Volume in gold yesterday was light…81,377 contracts less a switch effect of 4,870.

With some notable exceptions, gold is never allowed to rise into, or during, an FOMC meeting.

click to enlarge

Silver’s path was similar…and one could be forgiven if one thought that Tuesday’s price action looked suspiciously similar to Monday’s. Silver’s trading volume was extremely light.

click to enlarge

Monday’s gold activity brought a decline in open interest of 5,741 contracts. Silver o.i. actually rose 30 contracts. Cut-off for this Friday’s COT is today, so whatever o.i. changes are reported later this

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I am moving in blindly behind Macro Man in his reiteration of the shock and awe effect of today's announcement by the Fed that they are going to do pretty much what it takes and most important that they now will be buyers of treasuries.

Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in January indicates that the economy continues to contract. Job losses, declining equity and housing wealth, and tight credit conditions have weighed on consumer sentiment and spending. Weaker sales prospects and difficulties in obtaining credit have led businesses to cut back on inventories and fixed investment. U.S. exports have slumped as a number of major trading partners have also fallen into recession. Although the near-term economic outlook is weak, the Committee anticipates that policy actions to stabilize financial markets and institutions, together with fiscal and monetary stimulus, will contribute

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