Call it "Girls Gone Mild." In 2000, Geraldine Laybourne, the former president of the Nickelodeon network for children, and Oprah Winfrey, who needs no introduction, got together to launch a media empire focused on women -- called Oxygen. The idea was to create synergies between TV and the internet. Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) founder Paul Allen liked the idea enough he helped back the venture.

But the dreams never matched the reality. The sexiness of the idea -- a woman's media empire! -- never lived up to its potential. And today, NBC, a unit of General Electric (NYSE: GE), announced that it would buy Oxygen Media for $925 million.

Two UC Santa Barbara Grad students analyzed Jim Cramer's picks on his show Mad Money and reached an unsurprising conclusion. From the Economics Blog on Portfolio.com: "Mid- and large-cap post-pick excess returns are generally of the correct sign, though the magnitude of these returns is relatively small. Where Cramer displays the most ability is with small-cap stocks, in both his caller and non-caller picks"

This is consistent with the overall trend of money managers being most able to create alpha when investing in small-caps. Given Cramer's limited time for researching any one stock, and the vast quantity of research already done on almost every large-cap, how can anyone expect him to identify ideas that aren't already conventional wisdom and priced into the stock? Markets are just too efficient at that level for superficial analysis to yield much in the way of results.

But in small-caps, research is much more likely to yield an edge.

Perhaps most interesting, the students found that Cramer's picks generated the most excess returns when he made small-cap sell calls.

So perhaps the strategy for people looking to profit from watching Mad Money is to short small-caps where Cramer's pounding the "Don't buy it!" button.

What's the price of a blogger's soul? In some cases, it's as little as dinner with a guest at a nice restaurant.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "As online food sites become increasingly influential in the restaurant business, chefs and owners are plying bloggers with free meals to get good write-ups. Some are also posting favorable reviews about themselves on popular Web sites or becoming Internet scribes."

This is as clear a violation of journalistic ethics as you will find. Real food critics dine anonymously and pay their own bills -- a known critic is likely to receive special treatment, which of course could make their experience less than indicative of what their readers can expect.

And then there's another problem: Is it really possible to be objective in a review when you aren't feeling the sting of having paid for it?

Blogs are certainly giving the traditional media a run for their money. But in order for the coup to be successful, they will have to adopt some of the ethical standards of the traditional media. For what it's worth, this is the policy for all blogs in the Weblogs Inc. (owned by AOL; includes BloggingStocks) network:

• Bloggers do not receive free products or services from the companies they write about.
• Bloggers do accept review units (e.g., a new cell phone at Engadget, a video game at Joystiq, or a week-long car loan at Autoblog); however, when they're finished reviewing products, they return these items to the manufacturers. If the manufacturers do not take the items back, we give them to our readers. This is the same editorial policy as the New York Times or Wall Street Journal.

Question for Henry Blodget's many detractors: Are you mad that Michael Milken has become respectable?

Blodget and Milken symbolized the excesses of their internet bubble and 1980s respectively. Both were punished for their misdeeds. Milken, who went to prison, now devotes his time to his philanthropic work and an economic think tank. Blodget received a lifetime ban from the securities industry, a punishment he deserved.

Now pundits including MarketWatch's David Weidner and my colleague Zac Bissonnette say they are outraged that Blodget's writing is published in leading news outlets including the New York Times. What about Milken? Bloomberg News just interviewed him about the housing crisis. Should my former employer have killed the story given Milken's notorious past? Of course not.

Milken did his time and paid his fines. He's a brilliant man who still has plenty of interesting things to say. Same goes for Blodget. To be clear, investors shouldn't forgive or forget them for what they did. As far as I know Blodget has stayed out of legal trouble since he was banned from the securities industry. In 1998, Milken agreed to pay a $47 million fine to settle an SEC complaint that he violated his lifetime ban.

It's been three weeks since our Money Face-Off feature ran here at BloggingStocks and on AOL, offering you the opportunity to share who you though had the financial edge in a series of twenty head-to-head match-ups. So I thought I'd take another look and see how things have worked out.

It's hard to pick just one big winner. In terms of the largest lead over a rival, Ivanka Trump easily beats Paris Hilton with 89% of the vote. Others holding big leads over their opponents include Tiger Woods, Warren Buffett, Steven Spielberg, and Rupert Murdoch.

In terms of receiving the most votes, the clear leader is the Oprah Winfrey vs. Martha Stewart match-up, with just short of 150,000 votes. Other big vote getters were Tiger Woods vs. David Beckham, Rudy Giuliani vs. Michael Bloomberg, and Bill Gates vs. Steve Jobs. In terms of the liveliest discussions in the comments, the winners are Oprah Winfrey vs. Martha Stewart, Erin Burnett vs. Maria Bartiromo, and Bono vs. Angelina Jolie. Also check out the comments for the J.K. Rowling vs. J.R.R Tolkien, Tiger Woods vs. David Beckham, and Ivanka Trump vs. Paris Hilton posts.

As for the face-off posts here that got the most attention, the clear winner is Erin Burnett vs. Maria Bartiromo, with more than 13,000 hits. Lindsay Lohan vs. Britney Spears and Oprah Winfrey vs. Martha Stewart also attracted lots of readers.

Results for all the face-offs follow below, but keep in mind that the voting is still open. It's not too late to add your vote or let us know what you think.

As newspapers nearly everywhere fret over the threat that bloggers pose to their very existence, one of the best and best-known blogs out there has decided she wants to have more in common with traditional media. The Huffington Post, which sports 43 full-time employees and another 1,800 bloggers, has decided that it wants to become an "all-inclusive digital newspaper," according to the Editors Weblog. Best-known as a left-leaning political blog, co-founder Arianna Huffington wants to make it more balanced, and has even suggested she would like have someone like Karl Rove join the staff.

The Huffington Post could give traditional news sites a run for their money because it links to contents from numerous other sites. It's status as a sort of news 'zine allows it to provide readers with a sort of "best of the web" news coverage -- a one stop-source for everything (some readers think) they need to read.

It remains to be seen whether The Huffington Post will be able to make the crossover into becoming a more "fair and balanced" media outlet. The founder, after all, has a history of switching sides as it suits the prevailing political winds.

And we all love our media "fair and balanced," don't we? We all turn to Fox News (News Corp. NYSE: NWS) as a place to watch right-wing whack jobs spouting their demagoguery, but no one would ever take it seriously as a source of information. Right? Right?!

Burt's Bees - the North Carolina-based manufacturer of environmentally conscious personal-care products including sunscreen, lip balm, shampoo, and the Soap Bark & Chamomile Deep Cleansing Cream in my shower stall right now - is looking to make a deal.

AEA Investors, which acquired Burt's for $180 million four years ago, has reportedly tapped Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) to sell its Burt's Bees unit for up to $1 billion. According to TheDeal.com, Goldman began accepting first-round bids early this month.

Interested parties could include French cosmetic firm L'Oreal (and I'm worth it!), which ponied up $1.15 billion for the Body Shop International chain last year. Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL) is another name rumored to possibly have an eye on Burt's Bees as it works to expand its footing in the natural and organic-goods market. Last year, CL scooped up Tom's of Maine for $100 million.

Private equity firms are also potential suitors, but the credit crunch makes this a less likely outcome.

Burt's Bees was started in 1989 as a roadside stand that sold products made from bee's wax. In the past four years - as part of AEA -- Burt's began peddling its wares at Walgreen's (NYSE: WAG), Target (NYSE: TGT), and in various other large-scale chains. Previously, the products were available in natural-food stores and online. The company booked about $50 million in annual sales last year.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

Some of the readers who commented on my Made in America post feel so strongly about buying products that are made here that I think they would be willing to pay more for them.

This got me to thinking about just how much more people would be willing to pay for a product that is actually made in America. So I am asking you to consider voting in a hypothetical poll. Imagine you could purchase one of three baskets from Longaberger:

• A $90 11" Round Keeping Basket made by American citizens working in an American factory made 100% of American materials (this is a hypothetical product and price).
• A $59 11" Round Keeping Basket made by American citizens working in an American factory whose basket shell was made in America but whose lining was made in China (many commentators said this is how Longaberger currently makes its baskets and this is a real price for a real product); or
• A $20 11" Round Keeping Basket made by Chinese citizens working in a Chinese factory made 100% of Chinese materials (another hypothetical price).

I would be happy to send the results of this poll to Longaberger's CEO. Maybe if enough of you are willing to pay a premium for an All-American basket, the company will start making them.

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

For many entrepreneurs, the VC world is a mystery. What do VCs really want? What are the valuation metrics? What are the key terms in a shareholder's agreement?

It's all complex stuff (even for some VCs) and, yes, there are numerous VCs who are blogging about these issues.

Is it a good thing? Well, there's a piece on the topic on Boston.com. So far, it seems the answer is "yes."

After all, if entrepreneurs have accurate guidelines, it means that the parties won't waste time. Something else: certain companies – that may provide tremendous benefits – can get the funding they need.

Oh, a blog can also bring more deal flow for VCs, and in light of the competition, this can be a nice advantage.

What's more, VC blogs can be a good source for those who aren't looking for capital. After all, VCs must keep a pulse on the latest-and-greatest. So, they often have some intriguing opinions.

If you want to check out some of the VC blogs, click here.

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

If the idea of an Alan Greenspan blog doesn't get you excited, congratulations: You are much more likely to have success in romance than those of us who care about these sort of things.

To promote his upcoming book, The Age of Turbulence, Greenspan posted a blog post accessible on the Amazon.com page for the book, which drops September 17th. Here's a nice snippet, providing Greenspan's explanation for why he wrote the book:

There was also a personal story to tell. I'd known every president from Richard Nixon to Reagan, Ford, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. And what about all those other assorted characters from my childhood in New York, my years as a jazz musician, my complete career switch to economics – and my friendship with Ayn Rand? I wanted to make the leap from writing economic analysis to writing in the first person about what I'd experienced. And after years of talking "Fedspeak" in carefully calibrated congressional testimony – I could finally use my own voice!

But before you get too excited, The New York Times is reporting that the post was a one-shot deal. But if Mr. Greenspan ever wants to revive his blogging career, I'm sure we could make room for him at BloggingStocks.

He could be the next Perez Hilton.

As an M&A junkie, I'm always interested in cool blogs on the topic. The problem is: they're not many. But over the past couple months, I've been regularly following the M&A Law Prof Blog.

The blogger is Steven Davidoff, who is an assistant Professor of Law at Wayne State University. Before this, he was an attorney at Shearman & Sterling. Oh, and he is also the founder of Wasabi Sushi.

On his blog, Davidoff goes into detail on the intricacies of M&A transactions, covering things like Material Adverse Change clauses, tender offers, poison pills and so on. It's great stuff.

Well, he has a must-read M&A Fall Preview. Basically, the private equity crowd is going to be very busy with restructuring deals, renegotiations -- and perhaps some litigation. That's good news for strategic buyers (and, of course, deal attorneys). Also, it's a good bet that deal making in Europe will continue apace.

All in all, the M&A Law Prof Blog is standout. So, if you want to increase your deal-making IQ, definitely check out the site.

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.

There has been a lot of speculation over Apple Inc's (NASDAQ: AAPL) special event today, The beat goes on. Everybody wants to know what Apple will reveal, and anything from a new iPod to newly signed artists coming to the iTunes Music Store have been rumored. There is definitely a buzz of interest ahead of today's event.

The beat goes on will be held this afternoon starting at 1:00 p.m. EDT, and knowing Apple, it should live up to the surrounding hype. Most of the media speculation has been forming around Apple's highly successful iPod. Analysts everywhere are expecting to see Steve jobs come out and introduce the world to the new iPod or iPods. According to MacDailyNews, chances are that a new iPod is exactly what we will see today.

MacDailyNews is suggesting that we could see a new lineup of iPods inspired by the new features that were in the recently released iPhone. A couple of new features that the site is suggesting we may see in the new iPods (should we see new iPods of course) would be a flash memory drive, and a possible WiFi receiver, and touch screen interface.

For about 16 months I have been writing about business news, the over-all market, pet peeves and some stocks I like. At times I have responded to inquiries in the comments section or follow-up posts. Sometimes I have responded directly to some of our regular readers. Many of our readers are quite-well versed in the investment world and the stock market in particular; and I have learned some things from them too. On many occasions something a reader has commented on has stimulated another story, and I have done several sagas during my tenure.

BloggingStocks has improved every month and when I look at the company I am keeping lately I am flattered to be among them. Our editors have been extremely encouraging and supportive. One of the best features about this site that I think puts us head and shoulders above others is the almost instant feedback afforded by the comments section and the dialog that ensues. This is not possible in magazines or sites trying to compete online with large business journals.

When Morgan Stanley's (NYSE: MS) veteran Internet analyst Mary Meeker estimated that overlay ads on YouTube could immediately add $4.8 billion in gross revenue and $720 million in net revenue to Google's Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), her one-time competitor Henry Blodget was puzzled.

Her figures were dramatically bigger than his estimate of $12 million to $360 million of gross revenue. As Blodget discusses in his Silcon Alley Insider blog, Meeker made a huge mathematical blunder. She didn't calculate her estimates using cost per thousands (CPM), the common measurement used in selling advertising. She just forgot to divide by a thousand. So instead of $4.8 billion, Meeker really meant to say $4.8 million and $720 million becomes $720,000.

These ads are insignificant to Google's bottom line.

Blodget, who is turning out to be more honest as a blogger than he was as an analyst, clearly is delighting in jabbing the Internet Queen Meeker. It's odd that no one on her team caught this mistake before it was published.

Investors need to remember that analysts often are wrong. When they guess too low, as Wall Street often has with Google, it's called an "upside surprise" and when they guess too high it's called a "disappointment." This is a game that Blodget knows very well.

Alan Meckler, who is the CEO of Jupitermedia (NASDAQ: JUPM), is a deal junkie. Over the years, he's racked up quite a few transactions in the Internet space.

For example, one of his recent purchases is the $20 million deal for mediabistro.com, which is a career and community site for creative professionals.

A big help was Meckler's securing of a $115 million senior credit facility (from KeyBanc Capital Markets).

But will the recent turmoil in financial markets be a big challenge for deals? Actually, Meckler doesn't think so and has an intriguing post on the matter (from his always informative blog).