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Normally we think of revolutionary products created by start-ups or entrepreneurial minds just out of college, but the most talked about new projects of 2009 are being produced by some of the best known companies in the world.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN): With its massive online presence and a truly efficient business model, Amazon has become the largest online retailer in the world. It is now taking on a new business, web services, namely cloud computing (learn more HERE), called the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). While hosting this infrastructure and presenting e-commerce with a reasonably affordable alternative with no up-front costs, Amazon has taken an early lead in this space, with some believing its cloud computing business will one day overtake retailing. "Amazon will be like a book store that sells cocaine out the back door. Books will be just a front to sell storage and cloud computing." says Larry Dignan, Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic.

Palm (NADAQ: PALM) closed at $13.94. PALM is scheduled to report Q4 EPS after the market close. July option implied volatility is at 95 below a level of 112 from June 23. PALM August volatility is at 93; versus its six-month average of 94, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement into EPS.

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) closed at $409.30. GOOG is expected to report Q2 EPS in mid July. It has been speculated GOOG may be close to launching Google Voice, a service that lets users link all of their phones to a single number. July option implied volatility is at 39, September and December is at 34; below its 26-week average of 44, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Today was an unusually active day for extremely volume increases in several stocks which traded on news and rumors.

Shares in Sequenom (NASDAQ: SQNM) jumped over 10% on takevover rumors.

Rite Aide (NYSE: RAD) moved higher by 5% on larger than normal volume as it beat earnings estimates and Monsanto (NYSE: MON) traded up on strong numbers and took a number of agriculture stocks with it. Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) also benefited from earnings above Wall Street forecasts.

Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) traded higher as RBC upped its price target to $18 from $14, and MEMC (NYSE: WFR) fell on a downgrade from JPMorgan.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at VSInvestor.com.

If you plan on liquidating any profitable, or taxable, positions in the stock market thanks to the current uptrend and also want to give to your favorite charity, the strategy outlined below is key to optimizing your gift, as well as your capital.

Though giving cash to causes is the most popular form of charity, desperate times call for creative measures, and any type of gift will be gladly accepted. By giving stock directly to charity, and bear in mind that the stock must be in your portfolio for one year or more as short-term capital gains are not applicable, you not only avoid capital gains taxes on your gains, but you can actually use the gift of your stock as a tax deduction. Hence, the cost of your gift is lower than giving cash directly. Think of it as an overall investment for yourself and the charity.

A Buy rating has been issued in these circles for Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM), but there are several qualifiers.

Palm left a great deal of market share gains behind, as a result of what looks like inadequate production of the Palm Pre, but the view from here argues that strong reviews from technology critics and a the slow-but-continual increase in applications, will enable the Pre to achieve good things for this device manufacturer.

Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) is just under a week into the launch of its groundbreaking Pre smartphone, and so far the wireless handset is a great seller for exclusive partner Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S). Former Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) executive Jon Rubinstein, who was brought in to reinvigorate Palm and who is largely credited with the Pre, will now take over the Palm CEO spot from longtime CEO Ed Colligan.

As soon as Sprint Nextel Corp. (NASDAQ: S) and Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) announced the Palm Pre back in January, Palm's stock has shot up from just over $3 to today's close of over $10. All this based on the announcement of an untested (albeit incredibly slick) new handset called the Pre. It debuts on Sprint's network on June 6 and is being billed by many as the "iPhone killer" that so many phones have tried to be but failed at.

Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) closed at $12.06. Sprint announced pricing and nationwide availability for the Palm Pre phone on June 6. PALM June call option implied volatility is at 79, puts are at 85; below its 26-week average of 99, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Sprint (NYSE: S) closed at $5.32. S June option implied volatility of 77 is below a level of 93 from May 4 and below its 26-week average of 117, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

• Citigroup upgraded Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) to Buy from Hold on expectations the company's top-line growth rate could be more sustainable than expected and its operating margins could recover given due to less retail discounting. The firm raised its price target on shares to $97 from $65.
  
• UBS upgraded King Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: KG) to Buy from Sell based on expectations that Sandoz will settle patent litigation regarding Skelaxin after last weeks settlement of Clarinex with Schering-Plough (SGP).
  
• Jefferies upgraded Reliance Steel (NYSE: RS) to Buy from Hold as it believes steel prices and demand are close to near-term bottoms. The firm raised its target on the stock to $44 from $25.
• Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Banc of America/Merrill.
  
• Nestle (OTC: NSRGY) was lifted to Neutral from Underweight at JP Morgan.
• Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) was upgraded at Wachovia to Outperform from Market Perform.