Most cellular customers use their handsets for voice calls and little else. There are a few people who take advantage of the internet and video features on the phones, but not to the extent where it has become a big business.

The Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone may be changing all of that. According to the FT "after years of false dawns for operators, the use of mobile phones for web surfing is on the verge of becoming widespread in Europe and the US, and iPhone research by (Europe phone company) O2 shows the device is acting as an important catalyst for such activity."

Most carriers get an additional fees for data transfers and internet access. Just as important, consumers going onto the internet on handsets are ideal targets for wireless broadband-based advertising. It is a chance for phone companies to capture revenue that is now mostly based on PCs.

For phone companies in Europe and the US, the news could be critical. These markets are becoming saturated in terms of the percent of people who own wireless phones, so growth prospects are not robust. Now, it seems that they may have a whole new way to make money.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Based on recent figures, retailers who offered the best discounts may have pulled in the lion's share of holiday shoppers.

"I have never seen consumers more cautious, more bargain driven, more savings obsessed than I have this year," Britt Beemer, founder and chairman of American Research Group, told Reuters..

American Research found the most aggressive discounter were Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) and Costco (NASDAQ:COST). The companies that may have failed to discount enough included Macy's (NYSE:M) and Circuit City (NYSE:CC).

The figures may be a little misleading. A chain that discounted merchandise 10% more than competitors but brought in only 8% more traffic may not have been better off.

The real advantage for the holiday sales period may go to a firm like Wal-Mart. It has low labor and other operating costs and is large enough to get the best deals at wholesale. Deep discount may have effected its margins less than it would at many other chains.

But, based on numbers from companies tracking shopping activity, the consumer was tight everywhere he went.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Presidential candidate and Congressman Ron Paul has brought the role of the Federal Reserve into focus in a way that it never has been. He has a lot of young voters questioning the Fed's very existence and, in a congressional hearing made famous on YouTube, he referred to Ben Bernanke as a "price fixer."

In a column in the the New York Times, Harvard professor and Mitt Romney advisor N. Gregory Mankiw says everyone should just relax -- Politicians should stop complaining about the risk of a recession and just let the Fed do its job:

Congress made its most important contribution to taming the business cycle back in 1913, when it created the Federal Reserve System. Today, the Fed remains the first line of defense against recession. ... Because housing woes are the source of the current slowdown, the Fed's tool kit is well suited for the task at hand.

That all makes perfect sense until you stop and think about the fact that there's a strong argument to be made that it was the Fed that got us into this mess. The notion of "Let's ask the drunk who hit me with his car for a ride to the hospital" is not necessarily one that I subscribe to. Here's what Jim Cramer had to say about all this in a conversation with Ron Paul:

"Now, you have been, I think, spot on in saying that the Federal Reserve created the stock bubble with low margin rates and it created the housing bubble with low mortgage rates, yet I never hear about anyone talking about investigating the Fed in Congress. It's a creature of Congress. Why don't we do it?"

Given that, Ron Paul and others have a pretty good reason to question the power of the Federal Reserve.

I was alarmed to read an article on Bloomberg early this Sunday morning about Texas high school football. While I am a recovering football addict, I still jump at the chance to even watch Pop Warner football on TV at 3 AM. But enough with my issues. There is something really serious going on in Texas and internationally with certain drug-resistant staph bacteria. This bacteria, a type that's plagued hospitals for decades, has made its way into the general population in recent years.

Without proper treatment, it can spread to internal organs and bones after reaching the bloodstream, causing organ failure. Texas faces a certain type of this bacteria with the acronym, MRSA.

Bloomberg reports that this MRSA has migrated to playing fields in Texas, particularly on artificial turf. Texas has artificial turf at 18 percent of its high school football stadiums. It also has an MRSA infection rate among players that is 16 times higher than the estimated national average, according to three studies by the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Scary, absolutely. What makes this even more troubling is that there doesn't seem to be an accepted practice by the medical profession to treat MRSA. Doctors have differing opinions as to what drugs to use as first-line treatments. One company that provides such a drug is ViroPharma (NASDAQ: VPHM), a small-cap bio firm with a market cap of around $600 million.

Ben Stein generated some controversy with his column a few weeks back, alleging a conspiracy between Goldman Sachs' (NYSE: GS) economist and the firm's shorting of the mortgage market. Herb Greenberg called it "classic take-no-prisoners, grumpy Ben Stein."

In his latest take-no-prisoners, grumpy screed, Stein discusses Wall Street's massive breach of fiduciary duty: "The biggest of the big names were among the most aggressive in betraying their clients' trust, as I see it. Some of the biggest names were selling securities that they -- apparently -- barely understood themselves. In so doing, they exposed their buyers, and their stockholders, to immense losses. (Think Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and many others.) Other major players, including Goldman Sachs, were aggressively shorting the very same sort of products they were underwriting."

Of course, everyone makes mistakes -- and selling billions of dollars worth of securities you don't understand at all is a pretty big one.

But the problem as I see it as that these Wall Street firms that messed up badly aren't taking responsibility where it counts -- the pocketbook. Note to Stan O'Neal: a $160 million severance package isn't accountability. Wall Street bonuses soared this year, even as stock prices plummeted for most financials, a sure sign that, on average, Wall Street bonuses are not a reflection of value creation.

That's a big part of the problem that had led to massive unchecked risk-taking: No one making the bad decisions stands to lose much if they backfire.

"Heads we win, tails our bonuses still rise 14%" is not the way to run a public company, and investors should be outraged.

For 25 years, Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, has surveyed the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is one of 100+ ideas in the Best Stocks for 2008 report.

"The commodity bull market has a long way to run," says Martin Weiss, editor of Money & Markets. "And while individual stocks are inherently more risky than funds, they also have more potential upside. And one area with a lot of upside potential is silver. As such, my top speculative pick for 2008 is Silver Wheaton (NYSE: SLW).

"Silver should ride a tidal wave of fundamentals higher in 2008. Above-ground stockpiles are getting very low, new mine production is lagging, industrial demand is surging and jewelry demand is growing in both China and India.

"And then there's the demand from silver exchange-traded funds, such as iShares Silver Trust (NYSE: SLV), which held over 161 million ounces of silver as of December 7, and keeps growing. India doesn't have a silver ETF yet but should have one in 2008 -- that will bring more demand to bear on the market.

"Silver Wheaton gets 100% of its revenue from silver, and has outperformed both gold and silver this year. It purchases silver from operating mines at a set rate, less than $4 per ounce, insulating it from rising costs. Its production should come in at 13 million ounces in 2007 and rise to 25 million ounces by 2010. Finally, Silver Wheaton has 362.2 million ounces in proven and probable silver reserves.

"The stock isn't cheap, but it is outperforming both gold and silver. And I expect precious metals to head much higher in 2008. Overall, I consider this a red-hot silver play."

As one of the stars of Grey's Anatomy, one of the most popular shows on television in the past year or so, Isaiah Washington seemed to have it pretty good -- until an incident in October of 2006 in which he reportedly used a homophobic slur against a fellow castmate. Still, he apologized (at the prompting of Touchstone Television) and underwent anger counseling. It might have been but a minor bump in Washington's career had he not continued to antagonize fellow cast members by such things as his flippant remarks about the incident at the Golden Globe Awards ceremony in January of 2007.

Still, he went back to work on the hit show, amid speculation that the incident would influence impending salary negotiations. But by June ABC had had enough and cut Washington loose. Further accusations flew, and Washington threatened to sue, to leave the country to dedicate himself to charity work, and to focus solely on a career in independent film.

For 25 years, Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, has surveyed the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is one of 100+ ideas in the Best Stocks for 2008 report.

"My favorite, and more conservative investment idea for 2008 is Japan -- specifically, the iShares MSCI Japan ETF (ASE: EWJ)," says Mike Burnick, editor of Global Market Investor.

"Japan has been one of the most out-of-favor major industrial stock markets over the past two years, yet corporate profits are growing at a fast pace, thanks to a robust export market. Japan's proximity to China certainly helps in this regard, as Japan has become a key exporter to China, as well as other emerging Asian nations.

"From a valuation perspective, Japan appears to be the most undervalued major market in the world right now. Many blue-chip Japanese banks and industrial firms sell at book value or even less then book.

"Meanwhile, bonds typically yield more than stocks, to compensate investors for the lack of appreciation potential in bonds. However, in Japan today the normal stock/bond risk/reward relationship is turned upside-down.

Over the course of the year, Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) shares fell from $36.61 to $20.60, near their 52-week low. The company's revenue is still growing about 20% year-over-year. It may be hard to believe that such a strong financial performance would not command a higher price.

But, the Starbucks management team has done an unusually poor job of convincing Wall Street that its plans for the next year are likely to yield stronger same-store growth, especially in the U.S. The company talks about eventually having 40,000 stores worldwide, but has yet to give a convincing explanation of how it will get there.

The big knock against the coffee chain is that it has too many stores in the U.S. That would lead most analysts to believe that the stores actually compete with one another for business. And, with the big McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) push into premium coffee, Starbucks is trying to get market share in a field that is becoming more crowded.

I've been writing about finance for longer than I care to admit (okay, 15 years, which feels like a long time, even if Floyd Norris might scoff). But one of the most surprising news flashes of my career has to be when I read in mid-November this year that E*Trade was tanking on concerns the company could go bankrupt.

E*Trade (NASDAQ: ETFC)? Bankrupt? I've seen discount brokerages come and go, but E*Trade has long been one of the survivors. It was up there, knocking on king Schwab's (SCHW) door, leaving competitor TD Ameritrade (AMTD) snapping at it heels. Or so I thought.

But it turns out that was the way things were before the mortgage market went bust. And before CEO Mitch Caplan decided to place a big bet on residential mortgages. Caplan, formerly head of a bank that E*Trade acquired, became CEO in 2002.

For 25 years, Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, has surveyed the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is one of 100+ ideas in the Best Stocks for 2008 report.

"The most boring part of the stock market is foreign bank non-cumulative preferred stocks," explains Vivian Lewis, in her Global Investing Pro. (Incidentally, Vivian was the #1 performer in last year's Best Stocks report.)

"But there is money to be made if you can keep your eyes open and your wits about you. For nearly 20 years, since the vehicle was invented by Barclays plc, British (and Irish) banks have issued preferred stock in denominations attractive to yield-hungry US investors, $25 at issue.

"These preferred shares have an expiration date. They normally run for ten years, after which they may be called. (They are not always called at maturity, if the issuing bank doesn't want to repay the $25 and interest rates are close to the level at which the preferred was issued.)

"They sometimes can be called at a discount from the issue price before the ten years are up, although in a period when banks are capital-hungry this is unlikely.

In doing some last-minute Christmas shopping this weekend, I was quite surprised to find three Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) laptop computer systems on display at a local Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) location. The Inspiron 1420 and 1421 looked like they had just been unboxed and put on display. No pricing or specification information was on display yet, which was the first clue.

Add that to Dell systems not being located on Best Buy's website and one has to wonder how these found their way to Best Buy shelves so quickly. After all, the power consumer electronics retailer and the comeback PC manufacturer just announced a partnership two weeks ago. Did Dell think that it could somehow boost last-minute Christmas laptop sales by having a few laptops on display?

It's odd to see a major retail partnership announced and almost immediately followed by having new products on shelves -- and especially at the nation's largest consumer electronics retailer. One thing these newer Dell laptop systems had going for them -- they were all finished in a very bright silver color -- in stark contrast to the charcoal and black of most consumer-level laptop PCs being displayed.

Which competitive laptop PC systems were shoved aside for the display of these Dell systems? Hard to say, since there were HP laptop systems not two feet from these new Dell systems. When these are properly displayed and priced, I'll be digging into whether Dell can really compete on the retail shelf when it comes to price (remember, laptop PCs are commodities to most retailer consumers). After just having configured a Dell Inspiron 1420 with the exact options of a HP Pavilion laptop (comparable processors, 14.1" screen, hard drive size and RAM size) available from Best Buy today, Dell's comparable offering -- direct from the Dell website -- was priced over $230 more. That won't fly in the consumer's mind, right? Stay tuned early next year as this becomes more closely watched.

Michael Jordan, aka MJ, spent his illustrious NBA career proving to the basketball world that he could fly higher and score better than any player in history. In 2007 he showed that even in the contest of divorce he was heads and shoulders above his competitors.

The terms of MJ's 2007 divorce from Jaunita Jordan, his wife of 17 years, called for a settlement of $168 million, giving her a huge leg up on the $60 million that Heather Mills received in her breakup with Paul McCartney. In fact, according to Forbes magazine, the Jordan's breakup was the most expensive entertainment industry divorce in history.

Jordan, whose net worth was thought to heretofore exceed $400 million, has been embroiled in an ugly paternity suit with a former lover, and an even uglier effort to bring competent basketball to the NBA team of which he is part ownership, the Charlotte Wizards Bobcats.

The huge hit to his wallet may convince Jordan to give up double-dribbling.

Be sure to check out other Money Losers of 2007.

For 25 years, Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, has surveyed the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is one of 100+ ideas in the Best Stocks for 2008 report.

"Hologic, Inc. (NASDAQ: HOLX), my top more conservative idea for 2008, is fast becoming the 'Amazon' of women's health care," says Benson George, editor of Top Stocks Insights.

"The company, which specializes in diagnostic and medical imaging systems, bought complementary Cytyc Corp. in October, making Hologic the warrior of reckoning in the growing women's health market.

Hologic develops products for mammography and breast care, osteoporosis assessment and general use radiology. Cytyc's products cover a range of cancers and women's health concerns, including cervical cancer screening, prenatal diagnostics and partial breast radiation therapy.

"The combined company offers a broad and diversified mix of products and services focused only on women's health -- a multi-billion-dollar market growing 16% compounded annually.

For 25 years, Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, has surveyed the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is one of 100+ ideas in the Best Stocks for 2008 report.

"My favorite speculative stock for 2008 is Elan (NYSE: ELN)," says Ken Kam, editor of Marketscope, who also featured the same stock as his favorite in last year's report.

"The stock started this year at $14 and now trades at over $24 -- up over 70% for the year, and more than triple from our original recommendation. It is hard to believe it, but I think Elan still has more room to run.

"I originally recommended it in June 2005 at $7 after the company withdrew Tysabri, a multiple sclerosis drug, from the US market. After being reapproved by the FDA nearly 17 months ago, Tysabri is used by less than 20,000 out of more than 1 million potential patients in North America and Europe.

"For all the gains we've seen so far (up 70%), these Tysabri sales have ramped up more slowly than I expected. However, next year there is a good chance that Tysabri sales will hit an inflection point where sales can more than double in a short time.