After an explosion of computer usage in the early part of this decade, the computer world stayed relatively the same. That is until the last couple years when social networking came onto the scene and names such as MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter gained tremendous popularity. Entrepreneurs, investors and many others are now realizing the incredible potential of this new frontier and are actively seeking for ways to take advantage of the incredible growth.

The investment frenzy for these new ideas began when Twitter raised its fourth funding round, a $35 million investment that valued the company at $250 million. With more and more individuals subscribing to high-speed internet services, a growing number of mobile devices capable of full Web browsing, and new Web technologies enabling instant transmission of data, there’s no way to measure the potential of this new market sector being

A significant piece of legislation that is part of President Obama’s stimulus package could open parts of the U.S. to new high-speed Internet services – giving local economies a boost. If so, we’ve identified one company that investors should consider buying in anticipation of a key piece of legislation that was passed last week.

High-speed Internet can exert a profound impact on how local businesses and consumers improve their own personal productivity and expand their entertainment venues. Our thinking here is very much along the lines of our “Cell Phone Indicator” that we use in emerging markets – improved communications boost the local economy.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved $6 billion in rules for billions in government funds to spur high-speed Internet networks in unserved and underserved areas.

The Internet funding portion of the stimulus bill — a potential huge boon to phone, cable, and wireless companies – helps fulfill President

Today, Zhone Technologies, Inc. announced that its MALC multi-service access platform (MSAP) has been selected by Birch Communications to boost network performance and cut ownership costs. Birch Communications, one of the largest local exchange carriers in the 31-state Southeast, Southwest and Midwest regions, anticipates offering all of its access offerings, including EFM, ADSL2+, T1 and voice over Internet Protocol, via one integrated platform.

“There is a race to help carriers realize the inherent efficiency gains by migrating to IP networks and MSAP provisioning,” stated Steven Glapa, Zhone’s VP of product management and marketing. “The Birch network strategy is a model for fast-growth service providers adapting to escalating demands for ultra high efficiency IP networks. By selecting Zhone’s MSAP, Birch can provision higher profit, higher performance access services while cutting ownership costs by up to 50 percent.”

Tom Stachowiak, VP of Engineering for Birch Communications, commented, “We selected Zhone because it is recognized

Tri-Star Holdings, Inc., (TSHL.PK), a newly-formed, diverse holding company based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, was founded with the primary goal of identifying and investing in undervalued companies and technologies with exceptional return potential. The company looks for opportunities that, with the proper funding and support, can generate significantly increased revenues.

Tri-Star is currently forming TriStar Gold to take advantage of precious metals mining opportunities, and has recently begun development of its first gold mine, Lucky Linda #1 in Nevada. The investment is based upon reports from core sample assays taken from various locations on the company’s 160-acre claim, indicating gold concentrations as high as 10 ounces per ton. A secondary round of testing supports the company’s earlier reports on gold and platinum reserves.

Tri-Star is already working on refining operations for the site, and is purchasing a water gravity recovery system from Aero Mining Technologies to process up to 15 tons of