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Fear is a human emotion. It's part of our survival mechanism--the adrenaline fight or flight response. In ancient times when a caveman felt fear, he ran and hid or readied himself for battle. Those who paid attention to their fear survived; those who didn't, well, let's just say their descendants probably aren't around to read this.

Having courage does not mean ignoring fear. It means facing fear head-on and doing the right thing anyway. At least that's my definition. If you fail to face fear and act appropriately you're not necessarily a coward, but you're not the best you can be either.

The most successful people on the planet are the ones who face the cold, hard truth of reality and act accordingly. They don't surround themselves with "yes men" and they don't view the world through rose-colored glasses. ... Read more

(Credit: Jeff Bakalar/CNET Networks)

CNET was more than happy to attend an exclusive roundtable Q&A regarding Wii Fit with Nintendo mastermind Shigeru Miyamoto on Thursday afternoon at the Le Parker Meridien in New York. Miyamoto led the presentation with an in-depth look at the origin of Wii Fit and the challenges that came along in developing such an ambitious platform.

Interestingly enough, Wii Fit was conceived by Miyamoto in the process of his own personal awareness of his body weight. By graphing his weight over a period of time, he was able to see a visual representation of how it fluctuated. With his family encouraging him to keep in shape, Miyamoto did so by creating a personal game out of the whole thing--as a result, Wii Fit was born.

What separates Wii Fit from other "working-out-can-be-fun" concepts is that it creates a game around each person who plays it. Nintendo hopes that this personalized experience will attract people who would otherwise not be playing video games--and we think they're on to something. By making Wii Fit an easy-to-use, practical, and accessible device, it can appeal to just about anyone who can stand on a scale. Wii Fit may not have you dropping pounds as fast as intense exercise and dieting would, but it can definitely make keeping track of your progress a whole lot easier and definitely more entertaining. Miyamoto explained that Wii Fit makes you more aware of your body, which is the first step toward improving your health. Wii Fit is already starting to pop up in gyms across Japan and we'd imagine a similar response here in the states. ... Read more

(Credit: Nintendo)

Rumors have been circulating for several weeks that the upcoming Nintendo interactive fitness game, Wii Fit, which comes bundled with the Wii Balance Board peripheral (pictured), would be priced at $89.99. Well, now that number has become official along with the not-so-secret May 19 launch date.

According to Nintendo's press release, Wii Fit boasts, "A dynamic mix of more than 40 yoga, aerobics, strength training, and balance activities, Wii Fit provides consumers with a fun, easy, and affordable way to incorporate exercise into their daily routines. Using the included wireless Wii Balance Board accessory, every member of the household can step up and stay active, setting individual fitness goals and tracking their progress over time."

If you happen to live in or around New York, it's worth noting that from April 18 through 20, the "first 1,000 consumers who place a $5 deposit for Wii Fit at the Nintendo World store in Rockefeller Plaza will receive a limited edition Wii Fit T-shirt featuring the image and reproduced autograph of legendary Nintendo video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto."

Nintendo says it's already sold 1.4 million Fit kits in Japan and chances are the bundle is going to do very well in North America. Will Fit match the success of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, which also carry somewhat hefty price tags? Hard to say. What do you guys think? Can casual gaming translate into buns of steel?

Technology companies run into trouble from time to time. Today it's Yahoo, Dell , and Motorola. Tomorrow it could be Google, Cisco Systems, or Apple.

Lest we forget, it wasn't that long ago that Apple flat-lined for an entire decade before ousting Gil Amelio in favor of ex-chief Steve Jobs. Jobs restructured the company by first cutting Newton and other unprofitable products, then introducing exciting new core products like iMac, and finally branching out into consumer devices like iPod and iPhone.

But that's nothing new. It happens to most companies, sooner or later. ... Read more

In the future, air travelers across the country will be able to get their boarding passes sent to their cell phones.

Continental is testing a new system that allows people checking in via their cell phone to get their boarding pass sent directly to their phones. The electronic boarding pass, which has an encrypted two-dimensional bar code, can be used instead of a paper boarding pass to get through airport security and to board planes, according to a story published Tuesday in The New York Times.

Several U.S. airlines, including American, Continental, Delta, Northwest, Southwest, and Alaska, have already been allowing people to check-in for flights via their cell phones. But they still have to print out the tickets at a kiosk at the airport or a computer printer before they arrive at the airport. Continental is the first airline in the U.S. to test the new electronic passes.

Cell phone check-in and electronic boarding passes sound like a great idea to me. Whenever I travel, I try to check in online and print my boarding pass from home to avoid lines at the airport. But getting to a computer with a printer isn't always convenient. And more often than not, I find myself running late. I can't tell you how many times I've broken into a cold sweat sitting in the back seat of a taxi trying to get through the Midtown tunnel at rush hour to make my flight out of JFK. Checking in via cell phone and not worrying about printing my boarding pass would ease a lot of my last-minute travel anxieties.

Apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks mobile check-in and digital boarding passes are a good idea. According to Henry H. Harteveldt, a vice president with Forrester Research, about 47 percent of frequent travelers are interested in using their phones for flight check-in, he told The New York Times. And about 42 percent said they'd be interested in using their mobile phone as a boarding pass.

The Transportation Security Administration, the federal agency that oversees security for airports, likes the electronic boarding passes too, because the two-dimensional bar codes are harder to forge than the one-dimensional bar codes that are used today on many tickets printed online.

The TSA has been working with Continental since December to test the new electronic boarding pass, the Times said. Continental is only using the new boarding pass technology on nonstop domestic flights out of its hub in Houston. But the airline will likely expand the service to other airports later this spring.

Harteveldt told the Times that a mobile check-in system also has other benefits. For example, airlines can communicate directly with passengers about on-board services, provide information about baggage pickup, allow passengers to upgrade or change seating, check standby status, and help rebook canceled or delayed flights directly from their cell phones.

All this sounds terrific for a busy traveler such as myself. But for all these services to work as advertised, indoor cell phone coverage will have to be beefed up in many airports. It also wouldn't hurt if airports added more power outlets. The worst thing that could happen is for my boarding pass to disappear before I can get on my flight because the battery on my cell phone died.

Twing is launching a new site on Tuesday where you can find out what people have written about specific topics in forums and other online communities.

The site shows search results for keywords in individual posts, topics, and whole forums and allows a lot of fine tuning for results. You can choose to include or exclude specific terms and filter so you only see items in a certain time frame, items from certain sources, or those that mention specific people or companies.

Twing searches the Web for sites and allows forum owners to submit their sites to the directory. It also shows you what topics and forums are hot, listing which are the fastest growing and most active communities.

Other message board and forum search sites include BoardReader.com, BoardTracker.com, and Omgili.com.

Twing lets you use keywords to search by post, topic, or forum across a variety of message boards and online communities.

(Credit: Twing)

Note: I wrote this on Thursday before Microsoft's latest bid for Yahoo; it's a follow-up to a post I wrote six months ago. I have two comments on Microsoft's offer: 1) It's aggressive and it's a sweetheart deal for Yahoo's shareholders; I think Yahoo's board will accept it; and 2) nevertheless, the issues I present are the same; it just becomes Microsoft's problem.

It's been seven months or so since Yahoo chief and co-founder Jerry Yang replaced Terry Semel at the helm of the ailing internet giant. At the time, I pondered the obvious question: Can Yang fix Yahoo?

For the record, I thought the board acted rashly in appointing Yang--a relatively inexperienced executive--to perform what would clearly be a challenging turnaround. I didn't think he had the experience to pull it off.

At the time, I thought that Yang--a visionary--wasn't what Yahoo needed. I thought Yahoo's problem was largely failed execution and missed opportunities in search advertising that allowed Google to leapfrog its more mature rival.

At this point, I'm even more convinced that Yang was the wrong choice. But I think the problem is bigger than missed opportunity and failed execution. The company does indeed need a new vision. And it needs a CEO who's capable of articulating and selling that vision down through the ranks and ensuring everybody's goals are aligned.

That's a tall order, but it can be done. Lou Gerstner did it at IBM, and that was no walk in the park. But Jerry Yang is no Lou Gerstner. ... Read more

I don't know how many times I've read a post or an article by some small-minded, self-important journalist advising a public company's board of directors on how to "fix" the company. The most common advice is "sell the company," "fire the CEO," or better still, "fire all the executives."

Even if a company is screwing up, how is a journalist--whose entire management experience consists of looking at his watch to be sure he files a story by 3 p.m.--qualified to dole out management advice? Is mastery of a keyboard sufficient experience to know how to run a company?

Did you know that the president has a Corporate Fraud Task Force? That's right, he does. It's led by the deputy attorney general, whoever that is.

Anyway, this task force has apparently been very busy. Over a five-year period since its inception, the task force claims 1,236 corporate fraud convictions, including 214 CEOs and presidents, 53 CFOs, 23 corporate counsels, and 129 vice presidents.

That's a lot of fraud. Who knew there were so many dysfunctional executives in this great nation? The dark side of greed and capitalism must be pretty attractive, huh?

I also wonder what these executives' boards of directors were doing while all this fraud was going on? Aren't they supposed to be looking out for shareholders? Isn't that what corporate governance is all about?

Anyway, members of the task force have successfully brought a laundry list of fraud and other charges against executives of Adelphia, Cendant, Comverse, Computer Associates, Dynegy, Enron, Enterasys, Homestore, Imclone, Impath, Monster, Network Associates, Prudential Securities, Qwest, Refco, and WorldCom.

The Justice Department has also recovered $1 billion in ill-gotten gains and distributed the funds to victims of corporate fraud. Want to know how much money shareholders actually lost in all those fraud cases? Me too, but I'm confident the number has two or three more zeros than what was recovered.

According to a Department of Justice fact sheet, President Bush created the task force in July of 2002 "to restore public and investor confidence in America's corporations following a wave of major corporate scandals." Did it work? Has your confidence in America's corporations been restored? Not mine.

You know what I think? I think it's great that the government is cracking down on white-collar crime. Sure, it's sad that so many officers of public companies have such flexible views on ethics and morality. But you know, if that's the way it's got to be, then I say lock 'em up...without the severance package.

While that might be rewarding, I have to admit it doesn't help investors. If, like me, your confidence in America's corporations has not been restored, there's only one thing you can do about it. Don't let your investment and retirement strategy depend on a branch of the government to cover your butt.

The only way to truly mitigate the potential risk of corporate fraud is to diversify your portfolio, plain and simple. If you don't, you're asking for trouble. I hate to say this, but with these kinds of fraud conviction stats, anyone with 5 percent or 10 percent of their assets in one company's stock really doesn't deserve to keep it.