WORST COMPANIES IN AMERICA

24/7 Wallstreet has compiled a list of the worst run companies in America. It used a number of factors to evaluate the companies including stock price, dividends paid, product launch success, financial results, success of new management and the performance of each company within its industry. Not surprisingly a number of technology oriented companies made the list.

Research in Motion (RIM) came in at #2 on the list. It's delay in releasing competitive products and poorly designed products with the inability to compete against Apple and Android were sited as two of the main reasons.

At #4 on the list is Eastman Kodak. With the inability to transition from an operating company to a patent holder with intellectual property to license investors are very skittish on the company. It's stock price is down 79% YTD and many investors are suing the company for misleading them about how much capital it had on hand.

In the 7-9 spots are Hewlett-Packard, Groupon and Netflix respectively. HP has lost up to 22% of it's stock price with the main concern around the ability to find a successful successor to Mark Hurd. Groupon has never made a profit and there are concerns about it's accounting practices. Rounding out the list is Netflix. It makes the list mainly due to the debacle this summer where the company raised rates on customers 60%. It lost over 800,000 customers according to it's most recent filing.

To read the rest of the list and see who was in the best companies catagory, hit the link above.

GOOGLE MOST VALUABLE BRAND WORLDWIDE PER BRANDFINANCE

According to BrandFinance's latest annual ranking, Google has just barely edged out Microsoft for the title of most valuable brand in the world, with the pair of them pushing Walmart out from the number one spot last year. As for Facebook, it just entered the top 500 for the first time at number 285, while Apple jumped twelve spots to make its first appearance in the top ten at number eight -- a shift that partly comes at the expense of usual suspect Coca Cola, which has dropped out of the top ten for the first time. The biggest loser? Nokia. It dropped all the way from number 21 last year to number 94 this year.

To see the entire list click HERE.

BILL GATES LOSING WORLD'S RICHEST MAN TITLE

When Forbespublishes its 2011 list of billionaires on Wednesday, William Henry Gates III will not be at the top. This is by design, however — the world’s richest man title may have been lost after, but a far more important title remains: the world’s top philanthropist.

Gates is not new to this title according to the Global Philanthropy Group, and it finally cost him his spot as the world’s wealthiest man last year. Gates has reportedly given away a third of his wealth at this point, and the majority of this astonishing sum has gone to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

When Forbes’ list is published on Wednesday, Carlos Slim will sit at the top again with approximately $60 billion, up from his 2010 sum of $53.5 billion. Gates will occupy the No.2 spot with $49 billion followed by Warren Buffet, another renowned philanthropist, who is now worth roughly $47 billion. According to David Lincoln, director of global valuations at wealth research firm Wealth-X, Gates would currently be worth $88 billion had he not given away any money.

16 OF THE BEST SCI-FI CARTOONS

Geeks are sexy has a top 16 (I don't know why they chose a weird number like 16) list of the best sci-fi cartoons.  I don't necessarily agree with all their choices, especially #1, but it makes for a good read.  They have clips and descriptions of each of the picks as well.  [GeeksareSexy]