mutual

The best of NY Tech Day, a showcase of startups

NEW YORK -- Today, more than 200 startups, most from the Big Apple, came together for the first NY Tech Day, their chance to show off their wares to a gathering of more than 1,000 press, investors, and members of the public.

While the companies' offerings were diverse and rather uneven, there were some that stood out, and CNET did its best to pull together a list of the best that were on display:

FoundIt FoundIt is a useful service with an analog approach. The idea is to help you recover lost belongings. By signing up, you receive a sheet of stickers, each with an ID number assigned to your FoundIt account. Affix a sticker to your phone, your wallet, or anything worth recovering, and the finder can contact FoundIt via a phone number or by entering your code number on FoundIt's Web site. FoundIt then notifies the owner via text message or e-mail that the item has been located.… Read more

Nasdaq shift to lighten Apple's weighting

The Nasdaq stock exchange will cut the weighting it gives to Apple on a key index at the same time that it boosts the weighting for tech titans including Microsoft and Cisco Systems.

In a major rebalancing of the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index, which will go into effect ahead of the market open on May 2, the exchange aims to better reflect the current market values of several significant companies. For example, Apple's weighting on the Nasdaq 100 is currently more than six times that of Microsoft, even though Apple's market value is only 46 percent larger, according … Read more

Goalmine lets you give the gift of mutual funds (podcast)

If you're looking for a last-minute holiday gift, consider something that never goes out of style. It's called money.

Of course you could just write a check or hand over a wad of bills but, aside from some people considering that tacky, chances are that it will be used right away and long forgotten.

Another option is to give someone a savings bond, a gift certificate for a micro-loan from Kiva or Microplace, or start them out with a mutual fund from Goalmine.

With Goalmine, you go to the site, select "Buy a GoalPack," pick a … Read more

Personal finance reporter

Personal finance and investment management software is becoming more powerful and capable yet easier to use than ever. Case in point is Believ's flagship product, Fund Manager Personal, a comprehensive portfolio manager designed to give investors powerful reporting and graphing features that are also easy to learn, understand, and apply. Its customizable financial analysis and reporting tools make it suitable for individual investors and family finances as well as active traders and market professionals.

Fund Manager's clean, elegant, businesslike interface is anchored by a full-featured menu bar, including an excellent Help file as well as controls for the … Read more

Finding gems in troubled tech funds

Technology investment funds are taking a beating, ranking nearly dead last among more than a dozen categories of domestic stock funds tracked by mutual research company Morningstar.

But even though all of the 75 specialty technology funds listed by Morningstar are down year-to-date, some of the portfolio managers have found ways to minimize the carnage, which has seen the category pushed into the red by an average of 19.16 percent as of Friday.

Within tech funds, an index approach has proved to be a more successful strategy in this current climate, as evidenced by the North Track NYSE Arca Tech 100 Index Funds.. … Read more