A big change has come in the way we receive financial news from Google (GOOG). The company recently announced that it was doing away with financial newswire releases, in favor of distributing company financial news through its own website(s). Google spokesperson Jane Penner stated it this way: "We felt it made a lot of sense, given that we're a technology company and that we announce virtually all of our company news on our blogs."

The change is almost insignificant, really, when we consider that Google is a glass-walled corporation anyway. What news happens at Google comes out of Google and gets splattered every which way. There's almost no escaping it.

Continuing with our defensive stock series for a choppy/consolidating market: generally, one would not list a tech stock as a defensive play. Cisco Systems (NYSE: CSCO) is an exception.

Two fundamentals warrant the advocacy of Cisco as a defensive play: 1) the company supplies the majority of networking equipment used for the internet -- it is the world's largest supplier of computer internetworking systems, and 2) emerging market growth. So long as the internet remains intrinsic to business processes in emerging/developed markets and so long as emerging markets continue to grow, Cisco will benefit in the years ahead. Analysts project a roughly 15%-20% annual revenue growth rate for CSCO for 2007-2009. Another positive: look for CSCO's advanced technologies unit to continue to contribute impressively to the company's revenue on video system business.

Further, we'll skip for this review the debate regarding the possible "broadband shortage" and focus instead on the counterargument. Assume deteriorating conditions in the U.S., perpetually high energy prices slowing global growth, and increased protectionist sentiment. The impact on Cisco? Most likely, CSCO keeps growing, albeit at a slower rate, but it will grow, nonetheless. CSCO's shares closed Wednesday down 28 cents to $31.26.

[Note: Technical analysis agnostics stop reading here; all others continue.]

Technically, Cisco's chart is strong. True, the stock has recently retreated from a 52-week high of around $33.60, but this came after an impressive advance from the $26-range. Cisco has dipped below its 50-day moving average for the second time in four months, but it's been above its 200-day moving average for more than a year. The p/e of 27 is elevated, but this is not an unreasonable p/e, given CSCO' s likely strong revenue growth.

Stock Analysis: Cisco (CSCO) is a moderate-risk stock not suitable for low-risk investors. Investors with an investment horizon longer than 1 year should be rewarded from CSCO's shares. Sell/Stop Loss: $22.

Back in the late 1990s, Parker Conrad and Michael Sha daytraded from their dorm room. At first, it went very well – that is, until the dot-coms crashed.

Despite all this, they are still stock market junkies. In fact, they have created a unique site for traders to hang out in -- Wikinvest. But this is no fly-by-night operation -- the company recently snagged $2.5 million in venture capital.

However, are wikis really a good platform for this? Even with the success of Wikipedia, there are many failed attempts in the wiki space, right?

"It's important that a wiki focus on a group that is passionate about its category," said Parker. "And that's the case with investing. It's also large. Even though we have been running only for about three months, we have attracted quite a lot of contributors."

It also helps that the Wikinvest site has some cool features. For example, each stock has a 3-point bull and bear case.

What's more, there's a bit of a "long-tail" aspect to things. That is, you can find useful information on obscure stocks.

I'm also impressed with Wikinvest's charts, which allows you to annotate things. So, if there was a big drop in the stock price, you can click the particular section and the get relevant news.

I suspect we'll be seeing more features as time goes by. And, it also looks like Conrad and Sha's hard daytrading lessons will have not been for naught.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.