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Do you remember before computers churchgoers got up, got dressed and walked or drove to their local church for a live performance by Pastor XYZ, prayed as a congregation, received the Pastor's in person blessing and returned home?

With the advent of computers, the world has changed. People use computers to shop online, get their news, express their opinions and search the world for information about almost anything we can imagine.

Now churches are using the computer to provide church services with all of the components of a regular church service, expect for person to person interaction. These sites are interactive and even provide music as well as live pod casts.

First off, what is smart grid technology? Smart grid technology allows two-way communication between a home or business and the utility company.

Then you are probably wondering why is there so much interest in smart grid technology now? The key reason is that our electrical transmission system is outmoded and overloaded. Our present system will be unable to handle the increasing demand for electricity for much longer. Take the electric car. If thousands of these cars are on the road next year, we will need the electrical delivery system to power them.

The clean technology private equity momentum continues. In New York, a group of partners has launched NewWorld Capital Group, a private equity firm that will focus on mid-market investments in clean energy infrastructure companies in the United States and selectively in Europe.

The new fund will work closely with Ambienta, a European environmental assets private equity firm in Italy. Both said they plan to collaborate on finding and analyzing investment opportunities -- with NewWorld taking care of the United States and Ambienta addressing Europe.

There are certainly many advantages to getting a franchise. You receive leverage from higher marketing dollars, an existing platform that increases the speed to market, a brand, and helpful techniques and systems to improve success.

Great, huh? Well, as with any investment, there are risks. And, you need to get a sense of these before acquiring a franchise.

This means conducting an extensive due diligence. So, here are some tips:

Ray Kroc did not start McDonald's (NYSE: MCD). But he was the one that had the vision and energy to turn it into a global powerhouse.

Back in 1977, Kroc wrote a book about his story, called Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's. The title is appropriate. You see, he did not get involved in McDonald's until he was 52 (in 1954).

What I like about Kroc's book is that he has some simple advice for building a successful business. And, it's always a good idea to look at the fundamentals. So, here are some of the takeaways:

If you are among the millions of day traders out there, here is a device that could help you. Researcher Geert Christiaansen, working for the Dutch electronics firm and ABN AMRO, Philips, has a new gadget that will measure you stress level while you are day trading.

How does it work? Users wear a bracelet called the Emobracelet that senses stress and makes an accompanying light signal. The signal changes from yellow to red depending on the person's stress levels. The emotions being measured are fear and greed. These two emotions often color a person's judgment to make rational decisions. At this stage of development, a prototype of the device is being made.

In the hedge fund business, there are many who can post a few years of strong gains. But how many can beat the averages for three decades?

Well, it's a rare feat. And, it means you'll be a billionaire.

This has been the case with James Simons, who is the leader of Renaissance Technologies. However, according to a recent letter to investors, he plans to retire by the end of the year. He is 71 years old.

Over the past couple years, Simons has been loosening the reins at the firm, so as to provide for a smooth transition. Actually, in his place will be co-CEOs: Bob Mercer and Peter Brown.

One of the best ways for your business to get exposure and credibility is through public relations. Yet, hiring a PR firm can be expensive, easily running $5,000 to $10,000 per month.

Despite this, it's possible to do PR on your own. Keep in mind that a key to success is having an active and passionate founder or CEO who makes media relations a priority. This has been the case with many great leaders, such as Howard Schultz at Starbucks (NYSE: SBUX) and Marc Benioff at Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM).

So, let's take a look at some of the steps you can take to improve your PR.

It was only three years ago that Aaron Patzer started Mint.com, a free web-based financial planning site. In his mid 20s, he encountered much skepticism. But, this was no problem for Aaron. He realized he could make a difference.

And he certainly did. This week, he sold Mint.com for a cool $170 million to Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU).

Actually, over the past few years, I've been able to have calls as well as meet with Aaron. He gave strong demos and was always passionate about his company (he would even demo his personal account, showing that he would "eat his own dog food"). Mint.com seemed like a mission for him.

Evan Williams has a knack for creating the "next big thing." Back in the late 1990s, he developed the prototype for blogging, which became Blogger.com. Williams sold it to Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) in 2004.

A few years later, Williams struck gold again: he started Twitter.

And, it looks like this one is going to be a mega blockbuster. According to a report in Techcrunch, it appears that Twitter is raising $50 million -- at a whopping $1 billion valuation. The company's last round came in February, at a valuation of $250 million.

Is it possible to run a business by giving away your stuff? It sounds counterintuitive. But hey, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) gives away much of its offerings, right? I'm actually using Google Docs to write this column, for example.

True, Google is perhaps an exception (it certainly helps to have a huge user base and brand name). But it is worth exploring the concept. In fact, there is an excellent book on the topic -- Free: The Future of a Radical Price-- which came out recently.

In 1997, tech entrepreneur Greg Gianforte started a company in an extra bedroom in his house. It became known as RightNow Technologies (NASDAQ: RNOW), which now generates more than $100 million in annual revenues.

Recently, I had a chance to talk to Greg. I asked him: Is it a good time to start a business?

His answer was simple: It's always a good time to start a business.

Look at what the computer did for communication. We are now is the midst of a revolution in technology.

Now innovation moves to the auto industry. Electric and hybrid cars have the potential to take us off the "oil standard," at least in a major way. Imagine the money you would save if you were not held hostage to the oil cartel.

President Obama has granted $2.4 billion for research in the development of electric/hybrid cars. There will be 48 different projects in more than 20 states as part of the American Recovery Act.

What is the Swiss Post Box? Now being introduced in Switzerland, the Swiss Post Box system is a new way to deliver mail online, instead of having the postman stop by and put your mail in your mailbox.

How does this new email postal service work? First, I should mention that the program was designed by Earth Class Mail, based in Seattle. Earth Class Mail has tens of thousands individual subscribers and charges $10.00 to $60.00 a month for the service. The service is used widely in Britain, the United States, Canada and Mexico. Now the Swiss postal service has started redirecting mail from the letter box to your online inbox. The Swiss service starts at 19.90 Swiss francs.

Here are some specific tools which are provided:

• Allows subscribers ot receive scans of their unopened envelopes via email and decide which ones to open and scan the entire contents.
• You can ask to have the contents archived and send unopened letters to another address or have them shredded and recycled.

Found an interesting article from the Associated Press while I was watching Gene Simmons Family Jewels last night (fun episode, Shannon on painkillers buying Ginsu knives and Gene trying to figure out how to stimulate the economy -- by ringing the opening bell). The article says Scott Painter and business partner Greg Brogger have started a group called SharesPost.

This vehicle was launched publicly in June and allows Painter to try and sell shares in companies he helped found, which includes car pricing start-up TrueCar.com. However, Painter wants to go further, backing an idea allowing insiders to sell shares in companies before their initial public offering (IPO). A couple of the companies Painter is interested in include Twitter and LinkedIn (sites you may be familiar with).