You’d think that when it comes to tax policy, Buffett would be the first to champion tax cuts and preferential treatment for the wealthy. Nothing could be further from the truth, and at a dinner last night in Chicago, he expressed his frustration with the absurdity of his secretary and cleaning lady paying a higher tax rate that he does. Every year, whether the administration is Democratic or Republican, we have to raise 20% of our GDP to cover the costs of funding government programs. The question is who should pay the bill.

To someone’s remark that higher personal or corporate taxes might reduce one’s motivation to work and invest, Buffett replied that in his 60 years of business, he’s known capital gains taxes as high as 39% and personal income taxes as high as 70%. Never did he meet a wealthy business person who would say, “Taxes are too high, let’s knock off of work at 3pm today.”

Buffett has proven that he knows how to make money. It’s fascinating to watch him become a more influential voice in how to give it away.

I was hesitant to even open it since I was so easy to disappoint by the time it got here. That aside, I am here to tell you “WOW! Nintendo has really done it this time!”

So here are the highlights thus far (Day 5 – Fit Age 35):

- Starting it is easy and fun: they make the first test really easy to get through in a matter of moments.

- Guilt is good: This thing is honest in ways that has gotten it into trouble when consulting preteen girls on their weight. However those same methods seen as unfair for one audience are super effective for another. For example: if you gain weight, it asks you why you think you gained. One of the choices is late night snacking (…you know who you are snackers) so I am now starting to find that prior to eating that cookie (or 4) at eleven I am saying to myself “Do you really want to fess up to that tomorrow on the fit? Step Away from the cookie and no one gets hurt.”

- Feedback early and often: The trainer that works through all the exercises with you doesn’t wait for a rep to be over to tell you how to improve another one. They also are quick to recommend other activities that could help improve the weaknesses you are experiencing.

- Benchmarking: You are scored on everything and, unless you lock your data, compared to your fellow fitters. Seth and I have turned this into a game within a game to see who can play king of the mountain on the high score boards for a certain activity.

More to come on our progress, I have a long way to go – my Wii Fit age is still 35!

I was at Coudal when we conceived of the notion in 2003, but they’ve taken the concept to places I couldn’t have imagined that first year. In addition to dozens of new online reviews, the 2008 launch of Field Tested Books includes a limited-edition print collection of all Field Tested reviews written to date. I got my contributor’s copy via FedEx yesterday, and the book is a fine piece of work from its geographical organization scheme to the cover, designed by John Solimine of Spike Press and also available as the screenprinted poster you see at left. A portion of all book sales go to First Book, an organization that puts books into the hands of underprivileged kids.

Maybe you’re headed somewhere you’ve never been and you’re looking for the perfect printed companion. Maybe you’re looking for the book that can change the way you experience your usual summer haunts. Maybe the book you need is the Field Tested Book itself. Whatever your circumstance, there’s a book in Field Tested Books for you, and the only thing likely to prove more fun than seeking it out is finding it.

This tool has taken off in ways no one could have predicted, and some bloggers originally seeing this as a useless idea have even flipped their script now that they see the social hole on the internet that twitter fills. In a world so disconnected, we are all looking to connect — even if not IRL.

Today, I am questioning the most current use of twitter. Currently there is a presidential debate brewing between Obama and McCain and it’s all happening on twitter. This all sounds like a good idea in theory, but let me demonstrate by copying the twitter I posted this morning around this event:

“Writing in 140 char (twitter limit) to show why twitter is not a great idea for presidential debates.140 char isn’t much, so no real content”

It seems to me that this idea falls down on some many levels:

1) Supports the “we just need the sound byte” culture that is really starting to bug me. In only 140 characters, all one can achieve is a sound byte – and not even a great sound byte.

2) They aren’t actually using it the way it is intended to be used: To answer the ultimate question of “what are you doing?” Couldn’t they focus on micro-blogging from the campaign trail or something very close to the intent of twitter? That could actually be interesting.

3) They aren’t actually twittering! If you read through the transcript, they are being represented by others. This seems even more defiant to the tools actual purpose, and also counter to the way debates generally run.

4) This gets back to my 140 character message to prove a point, but this debate is totally complicated and almost impossible to follow. I guess they wanted the “tech set” to “get it”, but unless this was intended to be written by LOL cats I am confused by how this is supposed to be easy to read and understand.

Managing all the partners seems to be the biggest deal-breaker of all when it comes to phone technology, but it certainly gives me a new respect for the product Apple was able to deliver when I see the problems a megacorp like Google finds. Sure, vaporware is always easier to hype than to actually deliver, but Android could have been a real iPhone contender for those who don’t like certain aspects of Apple’s product.

Hopefully Google can get their act together, as more competition leads to better consumer choice in the end.