Buffett to Fans: Opportunity Exists But Berkshire May Not Be Best Bet

Investors, take heart: Warren Buffett sees investment opportunities in the U.S. stock and bond markets, and believes widespread financial turmoil from the credit crunch is behind us.

All eyes were on Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb.

Speaking to reporters Sunday, a day after Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s annual fan-fest for shareholders at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb., both Mr. Buffett, 77 years old, and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, 84, criticized regulators, politicians and accountants for lax oversight of financial institutions that are at the center of the subprime-mortgage crisis, and, according to Mr. Munger, were guilty of "deep conflicts of interest."

"The regulators and the accountants have failed us terribly," Mr. Munger said, adding that mark-to-market accounting rules are necessary but can obscure other problems within a company.

This year at Mr. Buffett's annual gathering for shareholders -- often called "Woodstock for Capitalists" -- 31,000 Buffett enthusiasts were serenaded by Fruit of the Loom minstrels, enjoyed samples of Berkshire portfolio companies such as Dilly Bars and watched artist Michael Israel speed-paint a Buffett portrait with Benjamin Moore paints.

Mr. Buffett credited the Federal Reserve for helping to avert a more-widespread crisis on Wall Street by orchestrating a bailout of Bear Stearns Cos. that "prevented, in my opinion, the contagion where you're going to have runs on investment banks."

Bank losses "aren't over by a long shot, but a lot of it has already been recognized," he said, adding that the depth of the housing crisis, unemployment and other economic factors would help determine how long the write-downs continue.

"The idea of financial panic -- that has been pretty much taken care of," he said.

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Steve Jobs Needs A Raise? Apple CEO Out of Top 10 Best Paid CEOs

It’s official! Steve Jobs should ask for a pay raise! According to Forbes, Oracle’s Larry Ellison came first in 2007 as the best paid CEO (although he doesn’t seem to need his salary, since he is no. 14 among the world’s billionaires, with an estimated $25 billion of assets), topping big names such as Apple’s Steve Jobs (no wonder, the poor man is paid $1 for the job!).

The top 10 best paid CEO are as follows: Larry Ellison (Oracle) - $192.9 million, Nabeeb Gareel (MEMC Electronic Materials) - $79.6 million, John Cambers (Cisco) - $54.8 million, Mark Hurd (HP) - $27.6 million, Jen-Hsun Huang (NVIDIA) - $24.6 million, Samual Palmisano (IBM) - $24.3 million, Wendell Weeks (Corning) - $22.6 million, Joseph Tucci, EMC - $20 million, William Sullivan (Agilent) - $17.4 million, Paul Otellini (Intel) - $16.3 million.

Steve Jobs not only didn’t make it on the top 10 list, but 2007 was far less productive than 2006: this time he took home an estimated $14.6 million in compensation, compared to 2006 when he took compensations estimated at $646 million (oh, it’s nice to have stocks!).

The secret to making it to Forbes' top list: don’t lose your job! Yahoo’s former Chief Executive Officer Terry Semel didn’t make it this year, and neither did Michael Dell, the founder of Dell, who is currently working hard to bring Dell to the light (however, he does have some pretty good savings, in case things don’t work out so well; Forbes estimated his value at $16 billion, making him the 40th richest person in the world).

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Blonde Face

Five Best Instant Messengers

On Tuesday we asked for your favorite instant messaging applications, and over 550 comments later, we've culled it down to the most popular five. From web-based chat to desktop clients to tools that combine IM, email, and social networking, your nominations spanned a wide range of instant messaging applications. Let's take a closer look at the five most voted-for apps, and face them off against each other in a final showdown to crown the ultimate favorite.

Digsby (Windows)

The youngest application by far to make the Hive Five, Digsby has taken the world by storm since we first mentioned it in February. Boasting integration with all of your IM networks as well as your email and social networking (Facebook and MySpace included), Digsby is converting new users left and right with their simple but appealing formula: IM + Email + Social Networking = Digsby. Currently a Windows only app, Digsby's developers promise that Mac and Linux versions are in the oven—and that they're constantly squashing bugs from the still-young Windows version.

Pidgin (Windows/Linux)

Formerly known as Gaim, this cross-platform, open source IM client has a huge following on both Windows and Linux platforms, estimating over 3 million users in 2007. Much like Firefox, Pidgin is open and extensible, meaning you can add your own improved functionality and tools to Pidgin by simply installing a plug-in (like one of these 10 must-have Pidgin plug-ins.)

Meebo (Web)

By far the most popular web-based chat application, Meebo boasts support for all popular chat networks, video and voice chat, and even an iPhone interface. Meebo's main appeal is that it works wherever you are, no matter what operating system you're using, as long as you've got a web browser and an internet connection. Can't go wrong with that.

Adium (Mac OS X)

The overwhelming favorite chat app for OS X, Adium puts Apple's default IM application, iChat, to shame. Like Pidgin, Adium is highly customizable, extensible with plug-ins, and works across all your favorite IM networks. In fact, Adium is kind of like a brother from a different mother to Pidgin; it got its brain from Pidgin's daddy, libpurple, but its looks straight from the dangerous maiden that is OS X.

Trillian (Windows)

Once an overwhelming favorite for cross-network instant messaging, Trillian has lost a lot of users to newer apps like Digsby or fresher ones like Pidgin. That said, the long-awaited update to Trillian, Trillian Astra, is still in alpha, and those who have tried it continue to place all of their IM trust to Trillian. In the future, Trillian is also promising a Mac release along with an iPhone version, so it may have plenty of life in it yet.

Now let's see if we can't crown a favorite.

Honorable mention goes to Miranda IM and Google Talk/Google Chat, both of which barely missed the cut.

Whether or not your chat app of choice made the top five, let's hear what you love about it in the comments.