Newsfire
NewsFire is not a web program, per se, in that it’s not run via some scripting language inside your web browser. But it is most definitely a program for the web. It’s an RSS newsreader for MacOSX and it is beautiful. It’s fast, intuitive, and just slick overall. If you’ve got a Mac, are interested in increasing the quality and quantity of your knowledge of the world around you, it’s highly recommended. (N.B.: It, too, has excellent keyboard shortcuts.) Don’t know what RSS is? This introductory article in CNET might help you on your way.

Google’s rapidly rising profits soared to new heights in the third quarter as its internet-leading search engine churned out a sevenfold earnings increase that blew past analyst expectations.

The Mountain View, California-based company said Thursday that it made $381.2 million, or $1.32 per share, during the three months ended in September. That compared with net income of $52 million, or 19 cents per share, a year ago. Last year’s results included a $201 million charge to account for a legal settlement with rival Yahoo. If not for charges related to a recent acquisition and employee stock options issued before the company went public 14 months ago, Google said it would have earned $1.51 per share.

That figure easily exceeded the consensus estimate of $1.36 per share among 31 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. Even the most bullish analysts hadn’t expected Google to fare as well as it did; the highest earnings estimate had been $1.46 per share.

When was the last time you saw the Evil Empire post earnings like that? My uncle mentioned this in passing a while ago, but he’s totally right: Microsoft had to start issuing dividends to their shareholders because they were no longer really giving any return on equity. They’re a dying company, too locked into their comfy anti-competitive, non-impassioned corporate mindset to do anything of real world-shaking value. Thus they’re always playing catchup to something that Google thought up: search, quazi-GIS, increased storage space for e-mail, etc. There’s probably an exhaustive list out there somewhere, but there’s no point in wasting any more energy on it: Google is simply the best company in the world and shows no signs of stopping.