It's triple-witching on Wall Street today as index futures, index options, and stock options all expire. But here in the Washington, D.C. area we have spookier things to worry about -- like the power being out for thousands of us in Hurricane Isabel's wake. Fortunately, that bicycle generator we bought during last winter's blizzards is coming in handy. New Fool editor Paul Elliott is getting a really good workout, pedaling to keep the lights on, but he's getting tired so we'll make this quick.

Send flashlights and batteries, Fools. The Potomac is rising and we're told to boil our drinking water. It's a challenging state of affairs, but the sun did peek out for a bit today. Hopefully, by Monday we'll be back on track with all the day's Foolish news.

In today's Motley Fool Take:

VeriSign Creates Havoc

Internet registrar VeriSign(Nasdaq: VRSN) has come up with a clever moneymaking scheme based on users' mistakes that has caused an uproar and spawned a lawsuit.

Before this week, mistyping or misspelling a Web address would likely direct you to a "404" error page, indicating the domain name did not exist. Now, however, VeriSign directs this typo traffic to a Web page of its own, called Site Finder. There, users might get help finding their lost site, but they'll also be subjected to advertising.

VeriSign has been entrusted by the U.S. Department of Commerce with overseeing all .com and .net registrations, and its latest actions have drawn accusations that it's abusing its monopolistic power. Major portal operators such as Microsoft(Nasdaq: MSFT) (irony noted), AOL(NYSE: AOL), and Yahoo!(Nasdaq: YHOO), for example, will likely lose significant search traffic to VeriSign's site.

This also means more spam in your inbox. Most Internet service providers (ISPs) can filter out email that is sent with false return addresses. Now, however, email that once showed invalid addresses will seem fine to the filters. The nonprofit Internet Software Consortium is already offering a patch to member ISPs that will counteract VeriSign's actions.

Yesterday, Popular Enterprises, the parent company of search engine Netster.com, filed a $100 million lawsuit against VeriSign. The suit alleges antitrust violations, unfair competition, and violations of the Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. "Imagine the uproar," says Popular Enterprises chief William Marquez, "if the Dept. of Transportation suddenly decided to direct all the traffic off the Interstates only to exits with D.O.T. sponsored hotels and restaurants."

VeriSign has remained rather quiet, saying it's only providing a much-needed service that helps Web surfers rather than directing them to a dead-end 404 page.

With an estimated 20 million misspellings each day, there's a lot at stake here. We're more inclined to agree with Carnegie Mellon University professor David Farber, who told The New York Times, "This is not any old company, but one that has been given a privileged position, although they are not behaving that way. I think what they've done is hijacking."

Looking at it another way, this is akin to a football team developing strategies to better compete against its opponents, and then having the referee change the rules in the middle of the game (and placing himself in first place in the NFC East).

Quote of Note

"Nothing happens by itself... it all will come your way, once you understand that you have to make it come your way, by your own exertions." -- Ben Stein

Sirius Car Trouble

If satellite radio is going to be the next big subscriber model winner, that movement is going to have to come from those sitting behind the wheel. Just as couch potatoes have fueled the cable networks and satellite dish industries, satellite radio will succeed or fail on the whims of the driver's seat potato.

So, cool. Sirius(Nasdaq: SIRI) announced that 10 different Ford(NYSE: F) 2004 models are rolling out of the assembly line ready for some Sirius business. Earlier this month rival, XM Satellite Radio(Nasdaq: XMSR) announced that its service would be available on a few new Honda(NYSE: HMC) models.

While this isn't exactly news -- the two satellite radio upstarts had established these relationships with auto makers years ago -- the fact that this is the time of year that the 2004 models start hitting the showrooms is significant.

But this isn't going to be the lay-up that many once envisioned. While a satellite television provider will practically give away its hardware and subsidize installation because it knows that the real money is made on monthly subscriptions, the satellite radio companies can't afford those kinds of markups. Charging between $10 and $13 a month for roughly 100 different channels of radio-broadcasted content, the two players aren't in a financial position where absorbing the costly component expenses is feasible.

Sure, you can get that new Sirius radio in your Ford Mustang or Mercury Mountaineer, but it's going to cost you. While the dealer-installed model will come with certain operating functionalities built into the car itself, its suggested retail price of $329 plus installation won't win over too many converts who are used to deep hardware discounts on most subscription products like cell phones and satellite television.

So, yes, it's great that auto makers pitching new car smells and attractive financing terms will be marketing these satellite services, but it's not going to be substantially cheaper or different than just hooking one up in the aftermarket through such retailers as Best Buy(NYSE: BBY) or Circuit City(NYSE: CC).

Poor Sirius. Not only is it well behind market leader XM (with nearly seven times as many paying users) and in a sector ripe with cash flow concerns, but, like a Ford Expedition on a hilly dirt road trek, it's apparently going to be a bumpy, uphill ride for Sirius.

Discussion Board of the Day: XM Satellite Radio

Are you a subscriber to Sirius or XM? When do you think the companies will turn a profit? How big can the potential market be? All this and more -- in the XM Satellite Radio discussion board. Only on Fool.com.

Palm's Mixed Screen

PDA and software maker Palm(Nasdaq: PALM) announced earnings after market close yesterday, and the picture is still mixed for the best-known name in handhelds and their operating systems. Losses and cash burn continued, though revenues climbed 3% year over year and cash management improved.

Q1 revenues came in at $177.4 million against last year's $172.3 million, while GAAP EPS improved from ($8.93) a share to ($0.74). Gross margins of 35% increased sequentially from 33% and year over year from 31%.

Palm still burned through the cash -- which we know thanks to the company's excellent practice of providing the cash flow statement in its press release. It consumed $14.5 million in operations and capital expenditures -- and that's even with a $6 million benefit from positive changes in accounts receivable and accounts payable. Still, that cash burn run rate of $58 million isn't too worrisome in the near term against $266 million on hand, but it may deteriorate.

That's because Palm plans to spin off PalmSource -- its operating unit that develops and licenses the Palm operating system -- and acquire competitor Handspring(Nasdaq: HAND). Former Palm execs started Handspring, maker of the Treo, and are coming home as finances worsen: There's barely three quarters of cash left at its trailing-12-month burn. After the deal, the surviving manufacturer will be known as palmOne, Inc., the small "p" sure to confound financial writers and editors.

Shares vaulted almost 8% yesterday to close at $22.57, but after the earnings report pulled back as much as 4% after-hours and 6% this morning. Former parent 3Com(Nasdaq: COMS) spun off Palm in a March 2, 2000 IPO with a first day close of $1901.20. That's not a misprint but the adjusted price given Palm's 1:20 reverse split on Oct. 15, 2002. The stock hit bottom six days later to close at $10.33. It has since outpaced even the Nasdaq's more than 70% rise.

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And Finally...

Today on Fool.com: More and more computer users are thinking outside the box. Does this mean (gasp) the Death of Desktops?... eBay's Meg Whitman weighs in on Internet Taxes and Stock Options.... Did you make this year's Forbes list of The Richest Americans?... Whitney Tilson is obsessed with JetBlue. But would he buy it?...And last but not least, is it a good idea to borrow money from your retirement plan?

Contributors:
Bob Bobala, Robert Brokamp, Paul Elliott, Mathew Emmert, Jeff Fischer, Tom Jacobs, Jeff Hwang, LouAnn Lofton, Alyce Lomax, Bill Mann, Selena Maranjian, Dave Marino-Nachison, Rex Moore, Rick Munarriz, Matt Richey, Reggie Santiago, Dayana Yochim