Information Week writes that Google Is Riding To The Rescue (cue the music).

Google CEO Eric Schmidt says “The phone and cable monopolies, who control almost all Internet access, want the power to choose who gets access to high-speed lanes and whose content gets seen first and fastest.” And he’s building a measurement tool to make it easier to catch ‘em red-handed.

The Measurement Lab will provide ‘netizens will a yardstick to measure Internet speed and compare performance degradation.  Backed by Google, the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute, the PlanetLab Consortium and others, it offers network diagnostic tools to determine how fast or slow your connection is and if your ISP is doing anything to degrade it or block access to P2P sites. The site also hopes to offer comparative information so users have a benchmark as to what they should be getting compared to what they are receiving.

Sources: Information Week, Google

I used to work for the man 9 to 5. That’s until I discovered an AMAZING way to make money online. Now, I just sit and home and watch the cash role in! There’s no commuting, no living week to week and no annual performance reviews. I’m rolling in riches — and you can do it too!

According to Newsweek, all you need to Get Rich Quick is to master the intricacies of Cocoa Touch for mobile devices. Which is Mac-programmer talk for learning to create apps for the iPhone. Newsweek writes about Ge Wang and Jeff Smith, a college professor and an entrepreneur who teamed up to create a handful of iPhone apps which have generated $1 million in revenue this year.

There are several sites dedicated to being an iPhone entrepreneur as well as iPhone quickstart programming tutorials.

Horace Greely once gave the advice “Go West, Young Man” to those starting out and wanting to blaze a new path for themselves. Is the new mantra “Go East, Out Source, Get Rich?”

See also: Newsweek, iPhone Developer Blog, Cocoa Is My Girlfriend, AOL iPhone Tutorial

Remember Monopoly by Parker Brothers? Whenever three or more people play, there’s always some wheeling and dealing for property. Well, Facebook just sold 1.6% of its stake to Microsoft, along with a seat on the Facebook Board.

Facebook’s investors, including Accel Partners and Greylock Partners have the company worth an estimated $10-15 billion dollars according to the latest valuation. Microsoft’s new 1.6% stake cost them four hundred eighty thousand of those orange $500’s. That money will now serve as capital for buying servers and engineers (houses and hotels) and expanding the company. They plan to double their employees to 700 in the next year.

This is a big win for Microsoft considering the favorite was Google, that young newcomer who seemed to land on and buy all the right properties the first two times around the board, including Boardwalk and Park Place. The whole world seems to have landed on Boardwalk to the point where Google has practically become the new banker. Maybe they can consider this a win seeing as how they made Microsoft spend heavily for Facebook’s hot corner of green and yellow properties.

Microsoft certainly had the money to play, though. They’ve been around the board more than a few times, owned the blue and purple properties since the 80’s and even got in trouble a few years back for owning all the railroads. They also struck a deal with Facebook in September for U.S. ad sales good until 2011. With this new acquisition, the deal will be expanded into international ad sales. Had Google ended up winning, that property would have been mortgaged, and Google would have easily bought it back from the bank.

Facebook has also reported that they will be announcing their new ad network at the upcoming Ad Tech Conference in NY November 6th. Will it be a Google network or a Microsoft one?

As any great Monopoly player will tell you: stacks of orange $500’s might seem appealing in the short term, but dwindle quickly with poor decision-making. Let’s not rule Google out just yet. There may be more deal making in the works.

Last Thursday through Sunday’s Digital Life Expo at the Jacob Javitz Center could easily have been described as a gamer’s paradise. Organized by Ziff Davis Media with Best Buy as the Official Retail Sponsor, Digital Life is perfect for a technology education, or some early Christmas shopping.

In the gaming arena, throngs of attendees lined up to show off their licks on unreleased Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock, available 10/27. Those who overcame their stagefright competed in nightly tournaments. Nostalgic gamers played original Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and Galaga machines, which promoted the Namco Mobile Ms. Pac-Man nightly tournament.

Madden, a new Lord of the Rings, and many other titles let gamers go head-to-head on hundreds of screens. PC vendors like Dell and HP displayed their latest models with mind-blowing graphics, processor speeds, and memory that made the average computer look like a Commodore 64. The Blackbird002 was a huge hit, with its liquid cooling technology, sleek design, and easy-access hardware for a paltry $5,600.

Hourly seminars, skits, and e-raffles showed just what some piranhas would do for free T-shirts. Technology innovators included CircleUp, a business and social networking e-mail aggregator that organizes multiple e-mail responses into a customizable chart. Zip-it is a hand-held device for around $150 that allows for chat with your buddy list free over every IM service simultaneously at any Wi-Fi hotspot. Hasbro showcased their playful robots, while the Eye-Clops ($50) magnifies anything 200 times and links to your TV.

The usual Mobile and Wireless vendors were back, offering seamless remote access to home or office computers, transcribing voicemail into e-mail text messages, even linking your favorite mobile or wireless device to your favorite car.

When asked to describe this year’s Digital Life in one word, the overwhelming response was “AMAZING” while one sullen gamer said “depressing”. “There weren’t enough manufacturers. No Sony, no Nvidia”, but he did like the “Can You Frag a 4th Grader?” booth. Vendors responded to the same question way differently after the show. Frazzled and haggard, one exhaustingly said “In … sane. I have no more … talk-ability … left in me.”

Is it next year yet?