Donald Trump with his wife, Melania Knauss Trump

Today, Donald Trump announced that he will be endorsing Mitt Romney for President. Some were surprised that Trump didn’t choose Gingrich, and right up until the announcement, there was suspense over what he would announce. For the life of me, I can’t understand why anyone would care who Trump endorsed.

Donald Trump is little more than a reality star. Does anyone care what the cast members of Survivor, Big Brother, or American Idol think about the election?

Sure, Trump mentioned the idea of running himself on numerous occasions, but decided against it. In my opinion, it was nothing more than a ploy to get his name in the news and boost ratings for The Apprentice. The new season of The Apprentice begins in two weeks, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this announcement were planned.

Here’s my guess: Donald Trump will find another “announcement” he has to make around the time of the season finale. If Romney falters, he might also bring up the idea of running again. Anything for ratings.

Rupert Murdoch seems confused when it comes to Myspace.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. purchased Myspace in 2005 for $580 million. Six years later, the site is losing money, and is reportedly for sale. The price? Likely between $20 million and $30 million. That was a spectacular failure, if I’ve ever seen one.

In 2005, Myspace had a huge advantage in the social networking market. Now, it’s just a footnote in the short history of the industry. As I think about the sale of Myspace, I can’t help think about the AOL Time Warner merger. That was another case of a traditional media company failing to blend with an online entity. AOL still has a pulse, and has some potential for future growth. As for Myspace, I hope the next owners are creative.

The key to turning around the site will revolve around removing intrusive ads, becoming integrated with other sites, becoming mobile friendly, and finding the secret to reinventing the field it created. Personally, i have my doubts. If the new Myspace owners try it, Facebook has probably already thought of it.

The new model will be available on June 24th, and will be available in a 16gb model for $199, and a 32gb model for $299 (both with a 2 year contract). To top it off, Netflix also announced a new app that will be available this summer, which will allow users to stream movies on their phone. Unfortunately, the news isn’t all good.

If you’ve been following tech news lately, then you know that AT&T is going to eliminate their unlimited data packages. That leaves new subscribers with a choice of a $15 package which includes 200mb of data, and a $25 package which allows 2gb of data. AT&T claims that the vast majority of its users are below the 2gb level, but with apps like Netflix, more people will undoubtedly be joining the 2gb+ club. It’s unfortunate that AT&T’s changes to its data plan has put a damper on Apple and Netflix’s good news and innovation.

If you currently have an unlimited data plan, you will be allowed to keep it. If you don’t, do your best to use wifi!

1. Not everyone should own a home.

Many will find this statement appalling. After all, isn’t home ownership the American Dream? The problem is that the federal government encouraged home ownership and encouraged relaxed lending standards, which allowed unqualified buyers to receive mortgages. Many of these loans had adjustable rates, didn’t require documentation, or required no money down. Is it any wonder that banks were overwhelmed with bad loans?

This leaves us with another problem: Escalating prices. Once you make it easy for borrowers to get money, you increase the supply of buyers. If the housing inventory doesn’t keep up, prices will rise. As a result, you having rising home prices being brought about by a federal government which haphazardly encourage banks to lend, and banks foolish enough to go along with the feds. Of course, this isn’t the only problem.

2. Force banks to take responsibilty for their loans.

I’m not a fan of over-regulation, but one simple rule could have prevented most of the problems we are encountering in the housing sector: Force banks to keep loans they originate on their books for at least 5 years.

As you may know, many banks would originate loans, collect the fees, then sell them shortly after. Why would the banks care if the borrower was on shaky financial ground? All they had to do was keep churning out loans like a mortgage factory, and their profits would keep increasing. By forcing banks to keep loans on their books for at least 5 years, you ensure that banks will do their due dilligence and believe the borrower will be able to make payments regularly. Since many foreclosures happen within the first two or three years, this is a good way to ensure that loans aren’t being quickly sold off and securitized.

There’s no doubt that less interference by the government and more responsibility from banks could have averted the current economic crisis. It could have also been averted if borrowers had used some common sense by realizing they couldn’t afford large mortgages and actually understood the terms of their loans. Of course, in today’s America, expecting people to take responsibility for their actions seems unacceptable.

During the announcement, Steve Jobs spoke about how the iPad fills a void between the iPod/iPhone, and a typical notebook computer. He also criticized netbooks as cheap laptops. There’s no doubt the iPad will be a huge success, especially for people who want it for media or entertainment purposes. The larger screen is superior to netbooks for movies, viewing pictures, and games. Of course, there are always going to be people who want to push actual buttons especially when typing a paper or writing an e-mail.

So, how much does this cost? The 16gb model will sell for $499, 32gb for $599, and 64gb for $699. Unfortunately, those aren’t 3g models. If you want to add 3g, you’re looking at another $130, which boosts the prices to $629, $729, and $829. There is also a keyboard adapter and stand, for those who anticipate doing a lot of typing. The iPad looks like a fun gadget, but do you really want to spend almost $1,000 for a “computer” with just 64gb of storage?

I would like to have an iPad, but at the current price and specifications, I think I’ll wait. It’s a great entertainment device, but not too impressive when work-related tasks are taken into consideration. As someone who uses a 17″ laptop for work and a 10″ laptop when i’m on the road, I don’t see the benefit of spending the extra money for the iPad. With a 250gb hard drive, bluetooth, 10 inch screen, 9 hours of battery life and a $360 price tag, I think I’ll keep my “cheap” netbook.

When I heard the news, I couldn’t help but laugh. Liberals like Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse like to refer to conservatives as the “lunatic fringe,” but isn’t Air America’s bankruptcy evidence that the exact opposite is true?

The big names on Air America were Al Franken and Rachel Maddow, who now has a show on MSNBC. If you look at the ratings, MSNBC’s liberal shows hosted by Maddow, Keith Olbermann, and others are way behind behind the conservative shows aired by Fox news. Sean Hanitty, Bill O’Reilly, and Glenn Beck are always near the top, while MSNBC’s cast of characters are near the bottom. Let’s not forget that those hosts also have radio shows, along with others like Michael Savage, Mark Levin, and Rush Limbaugh. The conservative hosts are still working and thriving, while the liberal network collapsed. What does that tell you about the opinions of typical Americans?

Liberals enjoy attempting to marginalize conservatives, but when they do so, they accomplish nothing but illustrating that they are out of touch with reality. They conveniently ignore the millions of American that are conservative and listen to these programs, just as they write off the people who attend Tea Party rallies and town hall meetings.

Maybe they think Americans will start to believe their lies about the “lunatic fringe” if they repeat them enough. Personally, the surge among Republican candidates and conservative commentators tell me that the “lunatic fringe” is actually on the left.

I’m not sure how the Nexus One stacks up to the iPhone, but there’s no doubt it is a game-changer for the wireless industry. Those who purchase the phone can buy an unlocked version that can be used with any carrier. Of course, that will be pricey, since the initial price will be $529. For those who are a bit more frugal, there is also an option of signing up for a 2 year agreement with T-Mobile and paying just $179.

I don’t see myself paying more than $500 for a phone, but a trend toward unlocked phones is certainly a positive for consumers. As for Google, this is definitely a big step for the company. Do you remember when they were just a search engine?

Ford’s recent innovations seem to be far ahead of both Chrysler and GM. Is it merely a coincidence that the most innovative American car company is also the only one that is profitable and wasn’t bailed out by the federal government? Perhaps GM and Chrysler should take notes.

“And so I urged these institutions here today to go back and take a third and fourth look about how they are operating when it comes to small business and medium-sized business lending,”

Unfortunately, this might not be possible. Due to the problems of the past two years, regulators have been keeping a closer eye on banks. Even if banks were able to safely lend substantially more, is it wise? Is taking a “third or fourth look” at a business that was too weak to make it by earlier screenings worth a shot in this precarious economy? Wouldn’t a large number of these loans put the banks stability in question?

Of course, Barack Obama probably doesn’t care much about the details. He wants to be seen criticizing the big bad banks, and wants the economy to pick up at any cost, even if what is built is no stronger than a house of cards.

The phone could be a game-changer in many ways. For one thing, the phone will be unlocked, so it can be used on both AT&T’s and T-Mobile’s network. It will also be sold in retail locations, and with the iPhone’s exclusivity agreement with AT&T about to expire, it could open up a potentially interesting competition. As for features, it will have a touch screen, two microphones, and voice-to-text, for those who don’t like typing on a touch screen.

This could really heat up competition with the iPhone, and possibly change the marketplace for cell phones. Right now, phones are typically purchased at a carrier’s store and linked to their service. With this business model, the purchase of the device and the service are separated in a way which should encourage competition and encourage other equipment makers to give this model a shot.

There’s no question the Google Phone has the potential to be revolutionary from a technological perspective, but its greatest impact could be on the cell phone industry’s business model