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Harry Newton's In Search of The Perfect Investment Technology Investor. Harry Newton Previous Columns
9:00 AM EDT, Friday, October 16 2009: I've been pushing Google shares for three reasons: First, the economy. It's picking up. Second, Google is picking up business as traditional print advertising slumps. Third, Google improves its business constantly. Google is killing Microsoft's awful Bing. Fourth, Google is getting very creative as regards soliciting new business. They just offered me (and I'm guessing you) a $100 coupon to Google AdWords. I choose some snazzy words -- say "Perfect Investment" -- and watch the clicks (and money) roll in. Well, not the money, since I don't charge. But you get the message.

Last night Google's revenues rose 7% from the year-earlier quarter (i.e. in 2008). Its profits were up an incredible 27%.

How bad is traditional print media? Around midnight last night, I placed an ad on Craigslist for a writer/researcher. By 8:00 AM this morning, I'd received nine replies. These people were awake through the night looking for work. Bad for them. Good for me. I have some ideas.

Google is going higher. I don't know of any other company that's more in the right place at the right time than Google. Though I do continue to like Apple (AAPL), Brazil (EWZ) and Australia (EWA).

As regards Apple, I see more and more business types carrying a BlackBerry (from their job) and an iPhone (for themselves). That means we've passed some sort of milestone. Since the launch of Apple's App Store on July 11, 2008. more than 85,000 apps have been posted and over 2 billion downloads have been made by Apple owners. Interestingly, no one complains of the "lousy" AT&T service. Apparently it's much better than its reputation. One guy at the tennis club had an iPhone running on T-Mobile. I asked, "How?" He said his IT department had found a source of unlocked iPhones. T-Mobile was much cheaper than AT&T. And the service was fine, in contrast to T-Mobile's reputation.

No doubt, Cramer is right. We are in the midst of a mobile Internet tsunami. I nibbled away at as few shares of Intel yesterday. And I keep eyeing Verizon. I like its 6.5% (and rising) yield. I continue to like Warren Buffett's BYD (BYDDF), which I've mentioned before.

How to help your kids' career: First, understand this is not your career. Your kids will have far more jobs than you ever had. They'll be fired far more often than you ever were. Your kids are more entrepreneurial than you ever were. But they need some help with their career planning. Your kids need to aim their careers now at starting their own business then (i.e. later). Their own business is the only place that will give them the security and wealth they deserve.

Two civil engineers got married recently. Their wedding was perfect. They're now focussed on their careers. We agreed on a simple plan:

You guys are doing the right thing. Take the exams. Get qualifications. Participate in professional organizations. Get transferred around your company. Get experience in all aspects of the business.

Sit down together and plan your desired accomplishments over the next 2-3 years. Make a time line. Lay it out on a Pert chart (or whatever they call those things these days), print it out BIG and hang it on your bedroom wall. Then mark off your accomplishments as they get made... See if you stay on track, etc.

I love the idea of the two of you having this precise defined plan with a rigorous timetable. Too many young people let their lives control them. This is your chance to control your own life.

Email me the first iteration of the chart. It might be fun to add some comments. Don't forget computer skills.

Please take care of your teeth. Two days ago I had two root canals. They hurt. What hurt more was being rebuked by dentist. He said my “home care” sucked. I thought I was obsessive about cleaning. I wasn’t. There are six parts to decent home care:

1. Dental flossing between each teeth. According to excellent dentist and savvy reader, David Rhoden, you need to take your dental floss below the height of your gum tissue. Most people only take the floss between the contacts of the teeth but it should continue till it is buried below the height of the gum tissue between each tooth. That is where the movement of the floss should occur. This flossing should then continue to the adjoining tooth and also carried below the height of the "gum tissue." This may cause "bleeding " of the gum tissue initially because plaque "toxins" have built up and have caused the epidermis layer of the gums to be "thinned"....once these toxins are removed the gum tissue "thicken" as it heals and no more bleeding will occur. This often requires 14 days of continued flossing in the described way I recommended.

2. Proxibrushing between each teeth and under each bridge. This is a proxibrush:

3. Brushing with a good electric toothbrush, e.g. Sonicare. Dr. Rhoden recommends brushing with plain Arm and Hammer baking soda is a great adjunct to cleaning your teeth and gums and roof of the mouth, top of your tongue and inside of the cheeks (a lot of dentist say that baking soda is too abrasive for your teeth, but this is BS )....rinse your mouth, then brush with your regular tooth paste. Using the baking soda tooth paste is not good enough...one needs to use plain cheap Baking Soda. Don't use baking soda with a Sonicare. It will crack the brush. Use a normal, manual toothbrush.

4. Gargling with Act Fluoride or Crest ProHealth Night. Or as Dr. Rhoden suggest, salt water rinse, especially at night before bedtime after all the flossing and brushing has occured....a level teaspoon of salt into a glass of warm, not hot water...dissolve then 'swish' for 10 seconds then empty....do this a 2nd time and discard the rest...!

5. Dr. Rhoden encourages vitamin supplements for all his my patients.

6. Visit your dental hygienist four times a year.

7. Have your favorite dentist show you how best to do it. Make him/her demonstrate precisely what you should do and where in your mouth you should go. .

You don’t want my teeth. Trust me. So clean yours properly.

Jay Leno's latest political quips.

"The big story out of Washington is this healthcare bill passed the Senate Finance Committee by a vote of 14-9, I believe it was. The Bill cost over $800 billion. And that's just what lobbyists had to give to members of Congress."

"The good news is we'll probably have some kind of improvement in our healthcare system. The bad news is it won't be in our lifetime."

"And the Fox News White House correspondent, a man named Major Garrett, has the swine flu. President Obama has ordered Fox News quarantined for up to five years, as long as it takes!"

"The Republicans still can't believe that Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. And the Democrats can't believe that Sarah Palin wrote a book. So, it's even."

"And for the first time in a year, the Dow closed above 10,000. You know what that means? More AIG bonuses!"

Half-time show. I get sent videos. This one showing blunders in the half time show is priceless. Click here.


This column is about my personal search for the perfect investment. I don't give investment advice. For that you have to be registered with regulatory authorities, which I am not. I am a reporter and an investor. I make my daily column -- Monday through Friday -- freely available for three reasons: Writing is good for sorting things out in my brain. Second, the column is research for a book I'm writing called "In Search of the Perfect Investment." Third, I encourage my readers to send me their ideas, concerns and experiences. That way we can all learn together. My email address is . You can't click on my email address. You have to re-type it . This protects me from software scanning the Internet for email addresses to spam. I have no role in choosing the Google ads on this site. Thus I cannot endorse, though some look interesting. If you click on a link, Google may send me money. Please note I'm not suggesting you do. That money, if there is any, may help pay Michael's business school tuition. Read more about Google AdSense, click here and here.