Wall Street Woes Will Wallop Tech Sector

...because 2010 was not 1999

(NEWSER) - With more money pouring into tech funds and some huge valuations for IT companies, there are more and more signs that we're in another tech bubble . But there are also some big differences, notes the New York Times , which compares the tech boom of 1999 with that of 2010. For instance, many more people use the Internet now, around 2 billion, compared to less than 250 million 11 years before. And there isn't such an onslaught of tech IPOs: 308 in 1999, about half of all the IPOs in America that year, compared to just 20 last year. More»

By delaying, Facebook keeps secrets, avoids regulation

(NEWSER) - The $500 million Goldman Sachs and other investors just dropped on Facebook will stave off its long-awaited IPO for a good while longer, the New York Times observes. Until recently, tech companies would jump to go public as soon as possible, but Facebook has so far decided it’s not worth bothering with the ever-shifting winds of Wall Street and the strictures of government regulation—and others are following suit. More»

Farmland has outperformed S&P 500 since recession

(NEWSER) - While Wall Street fiddles and the rest of the real estate market largely fizzles, there's a new hot commodity that has investors flocking to it: Farmland, reports the LA Times. Average farm real estate prices have doubled over the last decade, unlike, say, Florida condos, and many Americans and foreigners alike are turning to what they view as a safer alternative to the markets. "You want to throw your money into something you can't touch?" says one California farm manager. "Or do you want to put your money into soil and sun, into food that feeds people?" More»

(USER SUBMITTED) - So much to choose from; such a short list. Weighing in as the heavyweight champion of all time among venture capitalist bombs—Webvan, the brain-dead effort to use the Internet and a series of high-tech warehouses to deliver low-margin groceries. But at least there was a there there. More»

(NEWSER) - Marc Andreessen, the tech pioneer who co-founded Netscape, launched a boutique venture capital firm today, intent on investing in “anything that involves chips and computers.” Though Andreessen and business partner Ben Horowitz have been dropping angel investments around Silicon Valley for years, they’ll now have much more capital at their disposal, to the tune of an initial capitalization of $300 million, Wired reports. More»