The iron is hot for the striking, in fact it's blazing red hot. Right or wrong, there's another "shake down" happening at eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY). I'll spare you the details.

I'll get right to the point here because I know you have other reading to do. It's time for someone, anyone, to readjust the online auction game. However, I think it's about time to give up expecting that savior to be Google (NASDAQ: GOOG).

Someone with a couple million dollars needs to find and use the synergies among the growing multitude of independent online auction sites. I'm not talking about someone trying to buy them all in an attempt to sew them together. What is needed to completely change the playing field is for one single entity to create a one stop pipeline where all the little auction sites can be found.

A big rule in books I've read from John Bogle to Peter Lynch to Warren Buffet always comes down to one single phrase that has never left my mind (and has done me well): invest in what you know. It's hard to invest in what you know if you are using auto-pilot solutions like index and mutual funds unless you scrutinize the industries those funds participate in as well as costs and other investing tidbits that all investors should really take the time to know. After all, it's your money -- where is it going? Invest yourself in information and then let your money do what it needs to, right?

This article over at Forbes tells of Dean White and his journey of 80+ years, as he's gone from teenage hard worker to billionaire real-estate magnate who built his fortune in the billboard industry. With that division gone, his sole focus now is the apartment industry, something Dean knows very, very well.

Which comes back to why billionaires get to where they are. In most cases, it takes decades (except the tech boom recently) to find out which industries you know, how to make money in them and how to stay personally invested in the areas where your money is working hard for you. After all, throwing wads of cash into a gaping hole -- and not knowing where it leads -- is the mistake many investors make. There could be a money-copying machine at the other end of that hole or even a paper monster ready to eat all those bills. Which would you rather have?

As the dust settles from Google's $1.65 billion purchase of Internet video hub YouTube, serious questions remain. Such as: What on earth were co-founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen thinking when they had these silly photos taken? The same question could be asked of the founders of Google Inc.(NASDAQ:GOOG), PayPal, Digg and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) after their big payouts. Is it a symptom of striking it rich, or a carefully planned public relations scheme we just don't understand?

You decide: Check out our analysis of what went right with these promotional shots... and what went certifiably wrong.

Silly Valley

After review, we must ask: What have we learned? Is it simply that young tech titans will forever be geeks at heart? Or could it be that -- suddenly rich and famous -- they feel the need for self-depreciation, to "keep it real" so-to-speak with the millions who obsessively use their products?

That may be unfair. Instead, we place the blame on the photographers -- these mysteriously esoteric people with an arsenal of bright turtlenecks, cargo pants and Jungle Gyms -- whose sole responsibility is to make sure that our beloved dot com billionaires look... well, not silly.

Then again, who are we to judge? Might one of us become unbearably silly in front of the camera, like Hurley and Chen did recently in front of a TGI Friday's, were we to find ourselves with the ability to purchase five -- that's right -- five Cadillac Escalade SRX Crossovers? Possibly. Though not in front of a Friday's.

B. Brandon Barker is the author of the novel Operation EMU.

Warren Buffett got married yesterday, and if you're a follower of the Warren Buffett saga (and aren't we all, here in investing land?), you know that Buffett lived separately from his first wife, Susan Thompson Buffett, for decades. She died two years ago. This news prompted the BloggingStocks team to ask: Is Warren Buffett more billionaire, or more regular ol' guy from Omaha? Let's look at the evidence:

1. Diet. Warren Buffett feasts on hamburgers, Omaha steaks, and Cherry Coke. Advantage: regular Omaha guy.
2. Homes. Warren still lives in a home in Omaha he bought for $31,500, although he does have a vacation home in Laguna Beach. Still ... Advantage: regular Omaha guy.
3. Jet set or no jet set? Warren was famous for his modest string of Lincoln Town Cars, but he bought a corporate jet in 1989 ... and then bought a whole jet company. Advantage: billionaire.
4. Friends. Sure, Warren counts Bill Gates, fellow richest man in the world, as a friend. But they're both gigantic nerds and play golf and -- I am not making this up -- bridge rather than high-stakes poker. Advantage: regular Omaha guy.
5. Media saturation. What's this? Warren is working on his very own TV series. I know you're saying, like, ohmigod Sarah! That's so totally billionaire behavior. Ahem. But it's an animated series about investing. Haha! Advantage: regular Omaha guy.
6. Parties. Oh you're very funny. Warren Buffett at a party? As if. Advantage: regular Omaha guy.
7. Women. Warren Buffett just got married, and it's only his second wife, after all. But Astrid Menks used to be a cocktail waitress. What's more, at 60 to Buffett's 76, she's a much younger woman. Advantage: billionaire!