Is it us, or would the bickering among witnesses in the Martha Stewart obstruction-of-justice trial shock even Gordon Gekko's Wall Street?

We have no idea whether Merrill Lynch assistant broker Douglas Faneuil, in fact, lied to investigators for fear that he'd be fired, or worse, because he was "physically afraid." What we do know is that he admits to having done so.

Most stockbrokers are upstanding citizens, but handling other folks' money is an extremely high-pressure business fraught with potential conflicts. Whether looking for a financial planner or a full-service broker, you must absolutely choose wisely. Better yet, choose yourself. You probably already know more than you think you do, and better yet, you come highly recommended.

TiVo's Voyeur Power

Is there a whole new meaning to the term "boob tube"? TiVo(Nasdaq: TIVO) tattled earlier this week that the Super Bowl's halftime show received twice as many viewers as the game itself.

If that news blip got you thinking, the rest of the story fell into place late Wednesday, when the company said it has signed an agreement with national ratings service provider Nielsen to market information to the television industry. TiVo, a Motley Fool Stock Advisor pick, said it will receive an undisclosed licensing fee from Nielsen. Privacy proponents will be relieved to know that the company will only track TiVo loyalists who "opt in."

The power of TiVo was evident in its post-Super Bowl announcement. According to the company, the Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction" incident caused "viewership [to spike] up to 180 percent as hundreds of thousands of households used TiVo's unique capabilities to pause and replay live television to view the incident again and again." Again and again, eh? Given the controversial nature of what happened, it's not too surprising, but it is a strong example of TiVo's power to track what viewers want to see.

The relationship between TiVo and Nielsen is not a new one. Back in Sept. 2002, Wired reported that the companies were conducting experiments to collect viewer data through their devices. Now, rumor has given way to a much more concrete deal, as well as an answer to one important piece of speculation. Namely, the idea of the death of advertising has been bandied about since TiVo's birth. But in addressing advertisers, the deal shows that maybe it's not the idea of skipped ads, but the ads that don't get skipped that advertisers need to think about.

(Several denizens of the TiVo discussion board have already been speculating about the Nielsen/TiVo connection before Wednesday's announcement. In fact, FrappuccinoFuel had already tuned right into the power of tracking popular ads.)

The announcement opens a lot of doors to speculation and ideas. Will networks such as General Electric's NBC (NYSE: GE) or Time Warner's(NYSE: TWX) cable stations go nuts for this opportunity? What about big-time advertisers such as Procter & Gamble(NYSE: PG), Anheuser-Busch(NYSE: BUD), or McDonald's(NYSE: MCD)? If they could find out what works and what doesn't, wouldn't they be "lovin' it"?

It's pretty interesting stuff, even though it may not change the competitive or financial outlook surrounding TiVo right now. If the privacy aspects don't add a little "fear factor" into viewers, it's an interesting new use for the machine.

Shameless Plug: Brothers Crushing The Market

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Since the newsletter's launch in April 2002, the brothers' attempts to best each other have bested the market -- big-time. With huge winners such as Marvel(NYSE: MVL), eBay(Nasdaq: EBAY), and Amazon.com(Nasdaq: AMZN), David currently leads with a total return of nearly 70% since inception. Tom isn't far behind with a return of 46%. The S&P 500? The laggard. It's up only 18% over the same time period. Try Motley Fool Stock Advisor risk-free for six months.

Sierra Wireless' Stunning Ascent

The last few years have proven a tremendous opportunity for wireless investors. Picking out solid yet oversold companies was almost too easy. The wireless sector was one of the first to snap out of the market funk late in 2002, with a broad base of leaders quickly outpacing the laggards. Just take a look at where some wireless bellwethers and nifty mid caps stand today:

Another company in the 600% club is Sierra Wireless(Nasdaq: SWIR). Stock in the little known Canadian manufacturer of wireless cards for laptops has been on a tear lately, growing revenues and recently reporting a profitable fourth quarter and full year. While expanding sales in North America, it's also recently made inroads in Europe, China, and other international markets.

The company recently acquired its prime rival -- private CDMA player Airprime -- that brings with it key customers such as Sprint PCS(NYSE: PCS) and Audiovox. The deal made a lot of sense: Airprime focused exclusively on CDMA wireless data devices, while Sierra Wireless' product line favored other data technologies such as GPRS. While Sierra Wireless already had CDMA products, the acquisition brought them coveted experience in Qualcomm's(Nasdaq: QCOM) CDMA broadband data technology called EV-DO, which Verizon Wireless is now rolling out nationwide.

Sierra Wireless is also branching out into the smartphone market and is poised to offer its first product -- the Voq professional phone -- by midyear. The combination cellular phone and PDA uses Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system and is aimed at mobile professionals around the globe.

Risks certainly lie ahead, however. Many of the recent wireless high-fliers are now richly valued (some even overblown), and Sierra Wireless is not as cheap now at five times sales. Developing smartphones is very capital intensive, so a lot rides on the success of its Voq line.

A recent secondary offering brought the company $75 million to help fund the launch of Voq and other new products, but investors are banking on a beefed-up bottom line to fund future growth. With the wireless data market finally taking off though, Sierra Wireless is well-positioned to capture a good share of a growing market.

Quote of Note

"Man is an artifact designed for space travel. He is not designed to remain in his present biologic state any more than a tadpole is designed to remain a tadpole." -- William Burroughs

Talk Is Cheap

The next time someone tells you that talk is cheap, ask if he's referring to Talk America(Nasdaq: TALK). The provider of bundled local and long-distance calling services certainly put up some heady numbers yesterday.

Talk America earned $2.75 a share last year and produced free cash flow of better than $2 a share. You're right to demand more information. So let's fill in some blanks. The company grew its revenues by 20.5%. It slashed its net debt by 80%. And, to be fair, if you were to factor out deferred tax benefits and apply a 39% tax rate, earnings would have come in at just $1.30 a share in 2003.

What? You have more blanks to fill? Sure. But let's say that the stock is trading for just pennies more than a Hamilton. That's $10 for those not up on their legal tender.

So why is this stock sporting a single-digit P/E and trading for just five times free cash flow? Well, phone companies have gotten a bad rap over the last few years. Shares of names you know like AT&T(NYSE: T), Verizon(NYSE: VZ), and Sprint(NYSE: FON) have put up some recent gains, but the companies are trading for a fraction of what they fetched five years ago. And let's not even get started on WorldCom's demise.

That is all the more reason to get excited about Talk America. Juggernauts with tainted brands can make for decent targets if you're nimble. Talk America is nimble. Its growth has come from teaming up with local carriers and bundling their services with its own long-distance plans. That has given the company the ability to run a full-service, bare-boned operation as it enters new markets.

Unlike clunky telecom behemoths like Lucent(NYSE: LU), Talk America has the flexibility to grow in a smarting sector. You can't beat the valuation, and that's one of the reasons why Talk America was singled out a few months back by Tom Gardner in his Motley Fool Hidden Gems.

The company is upbeat for 2004. It is looking to grow revenues by at least 18% this year with as many as 800,000 bundled accounts by year's end. The bottom line won't be as kind, with the company looking to earn between $1.18 and $1.25 a share. Yet, here we go with those single-digit multiples again. Talk is cheap. Indeed.

Discussion Board of the Day: Value Investing

Are you drawn to companies with single-digit earnings and cash flow multiples? Do you like companies in turnaround situations, or asset-rich operations trading for little more than enterprise value? If so, you are a value investor. Want to learn about more dirt-cheap companies fit for dusting? All this and more -- in the Value Investing discussion board. Only on Fool.com.

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