Gold is a solid investment. Literally. And privately owned gold is perhaps the most significant investment you can make - because it truly is the only real measure of monetary value. Fiat currencies come and go (as we are witnessing with the US dollar) yet gold bullion coins & bars have been accepted as a store of value for thousands of years.

Today, demand for gold bullion is unprecedented. The economic crisis stemming from the US has provoked a huge demand as investors rush to attain the most fundamentally sound investment known to man - gold - as a hedge against inflation and economic uncertainty.

For my new blog theme I created a 3D RSS icon (seen crashing into your right hand side). Making a 3D RSS icon for your blog can quickly be done using the technique I'll describe below. For this tutorial we'll be using Photoshop & ZBrush.

Overview: ZBrush, then Photoshop

We'll use ZBrush to create basic 3D shape of the RSS box. Then with a high resolution image of the symbol (the two lines and the dot) we will "stamp" it into the model to create the displacement & texture. ZBrush's rendering engine can then create a nice quality image. And finally, we'll bring it into Photoshop to enhance the color and make the transparent background.

Recently I've launched the new theme for the Nerd Business Blog. Hope you enjoy it. For your benefit, here I will provide a rough overview of the design process.

The Concept

The first step to creating anything: is to have a solid concept of what you want to create. The old adage is true - everything starts with a vision. Whether you're envisioning the success of a business enterprise or a design for your website - you must first have a grasp on what the final result will be.

In the circus show of modern day mainstream media you can watch countless hours of boring, repetitive economic analysis. In the midst of all this fluff & hyperbole, only a handful of experts stand out from the crowd.

These experts are unbiased. They represent principal and value. They speak with integrity... they are the most honest economists of our time.

#3 Jim Rogers

A Wall Street legend, Jim Rogers has a unique perspective on the economy that is generally in contrast to the mainstream reports.

How can you buy a business with no cash of your own? It's actually simpler than you might think. And surprisingly few people know about the strategy - so I'm going to spill the beans on this arcane method right now.

The way you do it, is by leveraging the assets of the specific business you want to buy: at about exactly the same time you buy that business.

It's called a full leverage buyout: acquiring a company by using the assets and cashflow of that company to finance the purchase.

Although the strategy is generally unknown to most internet nerds and even general business owners: big corporations have been doing it for a long time. And the strategy has become an accepted and widely practiced financing strategy.

But nevermind the big corporations. For the small business owner or an individual starting with little or nothing: leveraged buyouts can effectively help you skip the 2 to 5 years it generally takes to build a strong company.

After selling a few websites on the SitePoint Marketplace I decided it was time to splurge on a new laptop. But not just a laptop: I wanted to fit my new notebook into the perfect laptop bag.

As a business nerd - I would need something that is strong & portable, yet lightweight & professional looking. So it can survive rugged travel AND look professional at meetings.

Which is quite the challenge - because it's hard to find a durable laptop bag that doesn't make you look like a dork when you walk into business meeting.

So I did some research on the best solution. And the results are surprisingly different than you might expect. Yet I'm absolutely convinced that I have discovered the best laptop case & backpack solution. Here are the four elements to make it happen.

Every once in a while, we all need to step back from the daily grind of business and look at the big picture. Here is a selection of insightful quotes to help you do just that - from great business leaders and philosophers of our time...

High expectations are the key to everything.

Sam Walton
Founder of Wal Mart

In light of recent news that Google will soon be launching it's own web browser (code-named Chrome) - there is now a real possibility that Mozilla will launch it's own search engine.

In a pre-emptive counter measure to Chrome, Mozilla may now launch it's own new competitive product to google: Mozilla Open Search. That's right Google, two can play at this game.

And why wouldn't Mozilla release it's own search engine? The gloves are off. And Google dropped them first.