Sugar is one of the most basic commodities. Countries throughout the world are wanting sugar. Supplies of sugar are reaching a 20 year low this year. The shortage may become especially acute in the third quarter.

Here some supply/demand statistics:

• India the biggest importer may need an extra 2.5 to 3 million tons to meet a 7 million ton deficit.
• China, the biggest consumer after India may have a deficit of 3.3 million tons.

Best Buy (BBY) has done great things in recent years, even amid the economic downturn and a crunch in consumer spending. It has basically pushed Circuit City out of the market forever, held its own against the likes of Walmart (WMT) in flat-panel televisions and consumer electronics, and has launched various initiatives for the future.

Why keep itself to the consumer electronics space, then? At some point, could the largest consumer electronics retailer in the U.S. carry electric vehicles alongside those LCD televisions? Best Buy's recent push into individual "green" transportation indicates that the passenger vehicle of the future may not be something you visit a traditional automobile dealer for.

At the same time Yahoo! (YHOO) has taken a different road. It chose to offer display ads on search pages. The ads component added to its revenue stream in 2009, making it number one.

One facet of the Obama administration's sweeping stimulus initiatives of which I have taken particular interest is its protracted effort to increase our national broadband access and capabilities. In pursuit of that end, The Broadband Technologies Opportunities Program (BTOP), which seeks to build and enhance broadband access in unserved and underserved regions of our country, has been provided with over $4.5 billion in Recovery Act funds.

I am pleased to report that amazingly, BTOP has already dispensed with much of the red tape that might normally bog down an effort of this magnitude. Large chunks of BTOP funds are beginning to be granted. In the short term, the benefit of this program may well be to create jobs. In the long term, these infrastructure improvements could possibly increase the profit bases of companies such as Verizon Communications (VZ), Sprint Nextel Corp. (S), AT&T (ATT) and a host of other digital communication and entertainment providers.

Now that Toyota Motor Company (TM) is embroiled in a sea of bad publicity and severe trust problems around the world, Ford Motor Company (F) has now announced that a "software upgrade" to owners of recent Ford Fusion Hybrid vehicle owners is needed to fix "strange feelings" in the brakes of those cars.

So, what is it with all these higher-tech vehicles having so many odd braking problems? Good question -- and now that the similar issues from Toyota and Ford are now public, how many other cars will need a reboot to fix problems? Although Toyota's CEO has now publicly apologized for that automaker's numerous issues, will Ford do the same? Is this the new order of the day: transparency and apology from automakers in lieu of recalls?

You have to love Mark Cuban. The guy basically hasn't stopped chattering about tech and business since selling Broadcast.com to Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) for billions at the height of the dotcom boom almost a decade ago. Although opinionated, much of what comes out of Cuban's mouth is prescient or garbage. The NBA aside, Cuban's latest foe is none other than Google Inc. (GOOG). The company that promises to "do no evil" is being called a "vampire" by the billionaire blabbermouth. How touching.

This morning the big news of the day was the drubbing of European stock markets as fear spread throughout the region. Fear was generated by concern that some European countries could default on their sovereign debt. Among them are Greece, Spain, and Portugal.

Greece's budget gap is 12.7% of GDP Greece has to slash spending and may need IMF assistance.

Investors sold investment deemed risky such as commodities, gold and stocks and moved their money into bonds. This started a selling frenzy in commodities with oil falling $3.14 per barrel to $73.14 per barrel. Brent crude fell $3.79 per barrel to $72.13 per barrel.

Based in Silicon Valley, Ustream has built a sophisticated platform that allows users to stream videos on their desktops or mobile phones. In January, the company had roughly 50 million unique users.

But of course, Ustream wants even more. So why not go into Asia?

To this end, Ustream has struck a major financing deal, led by Softbank (a major telecom operator in Japan). The round comes to $75 million, with the first tranche at $20 million. The remaining portion is an option to purchase shares in Ustream.

Ahhh, Hulu. That wonderful destination where I can re-acquaint myself with my favorite Justin-Timberlake-on-SNL moments, catch up on episodes of Greek, and search for those old Silver Spoons clips I remember so fondly. The two-year-old website is a joint venture between Walt Disney's (DIS) ABC Network, General Electric's (GE) NBC Universal division, and News Corp.'s (NWS) FOX Entertainment Group, and is partially funded by Providence Equity Partners.

But just as online news readers may soon be charged to access The New York Times online, we may have to open our wallets for certain corners of the Hulu universe (they will likely still let me watch Silver Spoons for free).

Best Buy (BBY) will be bringing a whopping 1,000 jobs to its UK operations in the next five years as it unleashes and builds the Geek Squad services brand outside the U.S. Citing an increased demand for consumer support after technology purchases, this is a great move for the leading U.S. consumer electronics retailer in its effort to grow internationally.

Although a handful of brands design to simplistic consumer tastes, most do not -- seeding a demand for help connecting and using everything from MP3 players to digital cameras to laptops and netbook PCs.