The doom-and-gloom has its boom in the shape of the pawn industry. Search for the term "pawn shop" enjoyed steady gains since 2007. The spikes in the search traffic - with the exception of the most recent spike - relate to criminal investigations. br / br /a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_WWGUfU1tOjI/ST0ob-H14KI/AAAAAAAAApg/4NTGRq6E6-c/s1600-h/Pawnshop.png"img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 160px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_WWGUfU1tOjI/ST0ob-H14KI/AAAAAAAAApg/4NTGRq6E6-c/s320/Pawnshop.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277418799345557666" //abr /span class="fullpost""Sell my stuff" made an emergence as a search term mid-2007 just before the market headed south. br /br /One stock with an interest in the field is First Cash Financial (strongFCFS/strong). Since it's feature on a href="http://zignalsblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/2009-depression-investment.html"November 20th/a the stock is up 41% and on its way to challenge August 2008 highs at $19.89. br /br /a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_WWGUfU1tOjI/ST0sAoph1BI/AAAAAAAAApo/on9YpI-yqpM/s1600-h/FCFS2.png"img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 178px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_WWGUfU1tOjI/ST0sAoph1BI/AAAAAAAAApo/on9YpI-yqpM/s320/FCFS2.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277422727771313170" //abr /But looks like Ebay (strongEBAY/strong) is out of favour as an avenue to sell the brick-and-brack.br ...

I have been coming across many comparisons between Apple (nasd: AAPL) and Google (nasd: GOOG) lately, especially given that Apple’s market cap surpassed Google’s last week. A recent example is Felix Salmon, who doesn’t think Apple should be worth more than Google as he argues in “Apple vs Google.” Mark Krieger compares Apple to Google and concludes Apple’s valuation is lofty and due for a pullback. The authors do make some great, valid points, yet their conclusion is ultimately flawed due to the failure of comparing on a free cash flow basis. Cash flow, not accounting earnings, determines an asset’s value. For the matter of an Apple-Google comparison, there are significant differences in free cash flow production, hence return on invested capital (ROIC).

I present the following analysis of the similarities/differences between the

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Elysium Internet Inc. (OTCBB: USBF) (Pending name change), an emerging direct navigation Internet media company, with a diversified domain portfolio and proprietary directory and local search platforms. Today the company announced it will launch its proprietary Local Search Platform by July 1. The new search channel is expected to boost directory brands and strengthen its advertising relationships.

“Our majority owned subsidiary Dice Ventures Inc. has built a state of the art platform able to monetize local search traffic by generating search engine optimized, expandable landing pages in seconds,” Elysium CEO Scott Gallagher stated in the press release. “We plan to launch the platform over 50 geo domains as city directories by July 1. The local search channel will become our second significant revenue stream, allowing us to further leverage our directory brands for our ad partners.”

Elysium also announced plans to roll out its second subscription-based Internet directory, brand

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