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This is my shortest post ever but I had to share with our readers a marvelous little bit of musical humor. Click on this to see the best Tech-stock bubble video on YouTube, performed by the Richter Scales (to the tune of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire") -- very clever. Hope you enjoy it. I am sure it will make the rounds for a long time to come.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money. Disclosure: I do not own shares of GOOG, but I do get silly once in a while.

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It's been a good week for Wi-Fi startup Meraki. First of all, the company raised a cool $20 million in venture capital. Investors included Sequoia Capital, DAG Venture and Northgate Capital.

What's more, Meraki says it will offer free high-speed wireless Net access throughout San Francisco. No doubt, the announcement is getting a lot of buzz.

But what does this really mean? I had a chance to interview Craig Settles, the author of Good Fight for Municipal Wireless. According to him:

"It is vitally important that people realize Meraki is NOT making this service available for free elsewhere. People have to pay for the hardware and individuals have to step up to provide DSL or some other high-speed landline access for some of these repeaters. Meraki is doing what EarthLink -- along with Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) -- should have done, that is, use the big, high-profile city as a marquee account, but sell the service to everyone else. Don't get sucked into the 'free' hype.

"However, municipalities also have to realize that the cost of the Meraki solution is going to be a lot less than building out what has been a typical muni wireless network. Also, the revenue is very much driven from the community level, so some of the development costs are going to be borne by end users. This could make it easier for cities to do what Wireless Philadelphia is doing, which is finding government agencies, philanthropic organizations and others to underwrite the cost of getting this technology into the hands of low-income communities.

"As with all things related to muni networks, anyone who jumps on board with the Meraki solution without being prepared for the long implementation journey is setting themselves up for disappointment and failure. This happened too often when politicians blithely announced they were going to cure all of their city's economic development woes with a muni network, but clearly hadn't thought through the logistical, financial and technical challenges."

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

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As the holiday season approaches, we thought you might appreciate some gift suggestions with a twist, appropriate for those on your list who aren't satisfied with the same old, same old.

I admit to an abiding fascination with automata, mechanical devices, usually hand-cranked, that perform often-elaborate movements (think cuckoo clocks on steroids). If you have someone like me on your holiday gift list, and an unlimited budget, check out the offerings of Cabaret Mechanical Theatre.

Among my favorites:

• Anubis operating a jackhammer
• Wankel's Self-turning Sausages
• Honeymoon Bed (yes, it bounces)
• The Queen's Royal Wave
• Miniature jousting knights that fit in your palm
• Guillotine fun
• Spaghetti eater sitting in bathtub

Lest you think these are toys, note the prices: $500 to $2,000. The Cabaret Mechanical Theatre also tours a collection of much more elaborate automata.

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"Stock prices continue to behave bearishly," caution David Nassar and Larry McMillan, options experts and editors of the industry-leading The MarketWatch Options Trader.

Here, they offer a bearish market overview along with a bullish look at beverage stocks -- along with an options play on PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP).

The advisors explain, "Rallies can't gain footholds, while declines are deeper and more long-lasting than seem possible. As a result, there is an oversold condition in this market -- one which can spur sharp, but short-lived rallies at any time -- but a true intermediate-term buy signal is not at hand, for none of our indicators have turned bullish.

"The Standard & Poor's 500 turned bearish when the index fell through what had been support at 1490. That was the last piece of the bearish puzzle. The market has been under extreme pressure ever since. Any rallies towards 1490 can be sold, as that level now represents resistance.

"Meanwhile, where is support? It was at 1430-1440, but that level gave way and it seems likely now that the averages will test 1410 (the August closing lows) and perhaps 1370 -- which is multiple support from both August and March.

"Should that give way, then a true bear market would be underway. Support levels are somewhat meaningless in a nasty decline like this anyway; it is more important to monitor oversold conditions.

"The equity-only put-call ratios remain strongly on sell signals as they continue to climb on their charts. They are not 'oversold' yet, in our opinion. However, some of the minor index ratios are beginning to get oversold, as evidenced by the S&P 500 futures weighted put-call ratio which is very high on its chart and may be rolling over to a buy signal.

"Market breadth has been abysmal. Advances have only outnumbered declines one day in the last eleven trading days! Breadth has reached extremely oversold levels, not seen since the August bottom.

"However, the market needs to see, at least, back-to-back days of advances leading declines before one could say that breadth was turning truly positive. That hasn't happened in some time.

"So, none of our major indicators are bullish. In reality, only breadth is deeply oversold. The others have room to run before they reach oversold levels. However, that doesn't mean that this market can't occasionally be traded from the long side, when it gets very oversold.

"Just remember that 'oversold' does not mean 'buy.' Short-lived rallies arise out of oversold conditions, but true intermediate-term buy signals only arise when our technical indicators give multiple, confirmed buy signals.

"It might seem strange to recommend a long position in the midst of a horrendous market decline, but Coca Cola (NYSE: KO) and PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) have been moving up. Both made all-time highs recently. We favor PEP slightly, just because it's been a little stronger. Stock volume patterns are positive, and there is support at 74.

"Specifically, for options traders, we are recommending purchase of the January 72.5 PepsiCo calls at a price of $4.10 or less. We also suggest to stop yourself out on any close below 73 ½.."

Each day, Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com website features the latest investment commentary and favorite stock picks of the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.

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Starting next year, Israel will require pilots who fly to its airports to use the Security Code System (SCS), a local invention designed to ensure planes that have been commandeered for al Qaeda-style attacks are spotted in time. Israel plans a trial run for the system, using a credit card-sized keypad, next month, in cooperation with five airlines from the United States, Europe and Africa. About 10,000 of the units will ultimately be issued, with Israel bearing the cost. Pilots who fail the authentication test when they approach Israeli airspace will be denied entry. Should a plane go ahead, ignoring further warnings, Israel will consider it hostile and scramble fighter planes for an interception. In the worst case, that could mean an aircraft is shot down.

Several experts familiar with Israeli methodology say the system -- also known as "Code Positive" -- is based on the assumption that a hijacking will take place in one of two ways. Hijackers could either kill the pilots and take control -- as is believed to have been the case in the September 11 attacks on the United States. Or they could force pilots to issue a compliant response to the system in the hope of buying enough time to reach Israel and crash the planes into a target on the ground. In the first case, the hijackers would fail the security check as they entered Israeli airspace, giving military authorities about 15 minutes to launch a response. In the second, Dani Shenar, chief of security for Israel's Transportation Ministry said, pilots would be expected to relay a "May Day" alert.

Let's all hope that this system is never put to use, but in the event of a hijacking, this Israel system could save hundreds of lives.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. Author holds a position in ESLT as of 11/21/07.

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M2E Power has reportedly received a total of $8 million in funding from a group of venture capital outlets including: OVP Venture Partners, Highway 12 Ventures, @Ventures, the CMGI Inc. (NASDAQ: CMGID) clean technology venture unit, and various angel investors. The first round capital funding, it is said, is to be put to work developing "no battery" power sources in mobile devices for military applications with the long-term focus being on civilian applications such as for iPods, cell phones and cameras.

Business Wire reports that M2E, in partnership with General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD), has filed six patents on technology exploiting the Faraday Principle, which involves creating electricity by passing magnets through coils. The reader may wish to note that his principle of electromagnetic induction was proven viable in 1831. Rob Day, principal at @Ventures stated, "They've reached the stage where they've proven this really does work. Prototypes are in actual D-cell or A-cell batteries." You may read about some of the details at AOL Money and Finance.

For the time being, it is expected that the Faraday-based, battery-free power sources will have a price point approximately 20 percent higher than conventional rechargeable batteries. There is much speculation as to whether consumers would be willing to pay that premium to free themselves from changing and recharging batteries. I say, in light of the green day dawning, consumers will happily pay a few extra dollars when purchasing the sources to power their electronic gadgets in order to make themselves that little bit more independent of the grid. Kudos to M2E and General Dynamics for bringing this technology forward.

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Since the market's sell-off in March, large cap stocks have outperformed their small-company peers by a hefty margin.

Among other reasons, investors have favored the shares of companies they deemed less vulnerable to the spreading credit crisis, as well as those that might benefit from strong growth in overseas markets should the U.S. economy falter.

Within the universe of larger companies, one group, in particular, has done noticeably better than others. Large cap technology shares, which includes the likes of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), and Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM), have had a stellar run, both in absolute terms and relative to other shares.

Since the year began, for example, the Nasdaq 100 index has gained more than 23%, and it has beaten the blue chip-rich S&P 100 index by 13 percentage points.

Recently, however, the ratio of the latter to the former index has approached levels last seen in January 2006. At that time, technology stocks staged a dramatic about-face, losing ground in comparison to other, less volatile shares.

With earnings season approaching and at least some evidence that operating results and the outlook going forward, especially in some consumer-related sectors, may not live up to high expectations, the market-leading technology bellwethers could be poised for at least a short-term relative pullback.

Michael Panzner is a 25-year veteran of the global stock, bond, and currency markets and the author of Financial Armageddon: Protecting Your Future from Four Impending Catastrophes and The New Laws of the Stock Market Jungle.

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Are DVDs on their way out as a way to distribute films, specials, TV shows and other video content? Although the early-adopter crowd says yes, I have my doubts. The value added into DVDs these days far outweighs the relative complexity many consumers must confront to get downloadable video content onto their living room televisions.

Alternate audio tracks, digital surround and a plethora of extra features movie producers add to most DVDs are prized by almost every DVD fan I know. On the other hand, downloading a movie for free can be a bit of a process for the technically challenged as well as being a pain to get on that television. There are products like the Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Apple TV that takes care of this, but at a high cost. DVD players? $30 at a local retailer and you are ready to go.

The price of DVDs has continued to come down slowly but surely, which has to cause concern for movie studios who fear margins are being eroded at the same time movie downloads threaten to lower the revenue bar even further. In an age where DVD releases are meant to make up theater revenue letdowns, the dropping of DVD prices could be seen as a threat. But movie downloads? It's hard to find one solution offered by any company that even comes close to threatening the physical DVD as distribution medium for video content.

Why are retailers dropping the prices on DVDs so fast, then? For one, it's timing: like it or not, we're now in holiday shopping season now, and loss-leader prices like $3.99 get customers in stores and keep them there longer. Ever witness a shopper spending 10 minutes rifling through countless bargain DVD racks looking for that special movie at that great price?

Retailers need to keep feet coming in the doors, not clicking on a website to download a movie. The price drops keeps those feet coming in, but at the same time, angers movie studios who see vanishing margins. Who will win this? If the movie studios want to jettison the DVD for a download, there has to be an easier and better way to enjoy that content on the big TV in the house, complete with extra features and digital surround. Does that exist right now without a significant investment and some techno-geek know-how? Hardly.

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The New York Times [registration required] reports that Pudding Media is offering a Web phone service that will listen to your phone calls and display advertisements on your computer screen on the topic of your conversation. In exchange, your calls will be "free."

A conversation about movies, for example, will display movie reviews and ads for new films that the caller will see during the conversation. Pudding Media is working on a way to e-mail the ads and other content to the person on the other end of the call, or to show it on that person's cellphone screen.

The government currently can spy on your phone calls, your Internet activity, and your e-mail. So would you really mind Pudding Media spying on you so it can send you spam while you talk on the phone? While I can see the appeal of this strategy to advertisers, I am confident that people looking for free calls without the spying and spam will be able to do just fine using eBay's (NASDAQ: EBAY) Skype.

Why not visit Pudding Media's site and give their spymasters a piece of your mind?

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates,. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter.

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Call it Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) de-personalized, un-personalized, non-personalized or just Google without personalized results. Any way you phrase it, the concept is the same. There is apparently already a plug-in available which will bypass Google personalized search results for you. Take a trip into the blogs using the keywords, Google and personalized, and you'll likely find what you seek there.

As soon as Google initiated its personalized search function, I noticed (and disliked) the results. You see, our household PC serves dual functions and Google's personalization efforts have had a slightly negative impact on the utility of it. During the day, my wife uses the computer for her online retail endeavors. She often spends time searching suppliers, searching competitors, searching trends and the like. However, when I get on the machine later at night, I'm looking for stock tips, news items, financial blogs and other hot topics. What happens is that each day, depending on the intensity of the other person's prior use, the Google personalization feature has tainted the field for the subsequent user.

If you also are having difficulty dealing with the way Google has chosen to sculpt your search results, go ahead and cruise the blogs to find that plug-in. If you're like me and you don't mind hard keying a bypass when you go into Google search, try typing &pws=0 after the URL for your search term. I'm told that works also.

I do have one thing to state in support of Google related searches. At least its search utility still works on our machine. For some odd reason, which remains a mystery to me, Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) image searches have taken a particular dislike to our machine or the Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) software on it. Every time we try to move harvested images from the internet into our archives via Yahoo!, the Yahoo! search not only blows us out of the search pages but it closes our browser in the process. As of yet, I have not tested our image links from Flickr and the jury remains out on Yahoo migrations to Photobucket.

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