Blog Posts by Nicole Goodkind

Amazon is set to release its new Kindle Fire HDX tablet by mid-October, around the same time Apple will release the iPad Mini 2.

While both Apple (AAPL) and Amazon’s (AMZN) tablets will have typical upgrades -- nicer displays, faster processers, and a sleeker design -- Amazon plans to bring something new to the table: Mayday.

Related: Good News, Apple Fans: The New iPhones Are Pretty Cool

Call it a next-level Siri. The Mayday button on all new Fire tablets will purportedly connect the user with a live Amazon expert via video chat within 15 seconds. The customer service representative will be able to offer immediate tech support, but Yahoo Finance tech reporter Aaron Pressman thinks there’s more to it. “Why are they making this huge investment?"

Related: Apple Slammed: Howard Lindzon Says Avoid the “Battleground”

“They’re probably going to sell 5 to 10 million tablets," says Pressman. "They’re going to need a lot of live support representative for that. So maybe it becomes more than

Billionaire and cheap.

Those are two words you don’t often see together but the frugal billionaire is a more common phenomenon than you might think.

From John D. Rockefeller – who made his only son wear his big sister’s hand-me-downs – to Warren Buffett, who still lives in the Omaha, Nebraska home he purchased for $31,000 in 1955, billionaires have long shown us you don’t have to spend the money that you make.

The Daily Ticker brings you four of the thriftiest billionaires around today:

1. Azim Premji

Premji is the founder of Bangalore-based Wipro (WIT) and worth $17 billion, according to Forbes. The Indian tech titan reportedly monitors the number of toilet paper rolls used in Wipro facilities. And according to India Today, he used paper plates at his son’s wedding to save money.

Related: Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Mints Another Billionaire

2. Ingvar Kamprad

The founder of IKEA is worth more than $3 billion and he readily admits he’s tight with money. Kamprad flies discount

Jamie Foxx is a noted actor, singer, comedian, and businessman. He’s collected Oscars, Grammys, and Golden Globe’s for his work over the past 24 years.

Throughout, he’s gotten involved with causes he finds compelling. Today, Foxx joined noted fashion designer and stylist Ozwald Boateng at the Nasdaq market site to celebrate Africa50, a $500 million project funded by the African Development Bank to promote investment in the continent’s infrastructure and economy.

Related: Tony Blair: Africa Poised to Be a Great Economic Story of the 21st Century

Africa has some of the fastest growing economies in the world; the real GDP growth rate for Libya was 104.5% in 2012. Despite this, 48% of African citizens are in poverty. Through their support of the fund, Foxx and Boateng hope to build infrastructure and jobs, encourage tourism, and lift the people of Africa towards prosperity.

The fund hopes to raise over $10 billion.

Related: Jim Rogers: The 3 Most Exciting Investment Opportunities Right

There’s nothing simple about paying for basic health care. That’s what Americans are learning as the country erupts in debate over the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare).

Health-care exchanges, the marketplaces for uninsured people and those who don’t receive health insurance from employers, are launching in 36 states next week and while the premiums for insurance will only be revealed on October 1, the Department of Health and Human Services has shed some light on the exchanges. Rates will vary wildly from state to state; right now one of the lowest cost plans is in Minnesota at $192 per month, while it climbs to $403 in Mississippi. The system will also likely penalize young healthy people while reducing costs for those in poor health, according to many reports.

Related: Grading Obamacare: Why the Government Should (and Shouldn’t) Control Health Care Coverage

These 2.7 million young, healthy Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 are being dubbed the young invincibles and

You gotta "like" this.

According to the U.S. justice system your "likes" on Facebook are protected by the first amendment - free speech now applies to the social networking site.

It's difficult to imagine judges arguing about the nuances of Facebook (FB) but it happened in Hampton, Virginia where a deputy sheriff claims he was fired after "liking" the page of his bosses opponent in the race for city sheriff. According to court papers, after learning of the Facebook "likes" the Sheriff told his deputy, "you've make your bed now you're going to lie in it, after the election you're out of here."

Related: Facebook’s Back: Shares Top $38 IPO Price

The appeals court decision partially reverses a previous district ruling that claimed the "liking" of a Facebook page was insufficient "speech to merit constitutional protection." In his reversal, U.S. Circuit Judge William Traxler wrote that liking a political candidates page is the "internet equivalent of displaying a political sign in one's

Janet Yellen, Donald Kohn, Tim Geithner, Roger Ferguson—the next Federal Reserve Chairman is anyone’s guess at this point. But while it's unclear who will be the future leader of the Fed, we do know with certainty that Ben Bernanke’s days as head honcho are numbered.

Related: No, Ben Bernanke Doesn’t Hate Savers

Although he’s not going anywhere just yet, the Yahoo Finance team couldn’t help but recall our fondest memories of Ben Bernanke’s Fed reign. Love him or hate him, seven years is a long time and we’ll certainly miss him when he’s gone.

Related: Actually, Bernanke Has Done a “Phenomenal Job”: Jack Rivkin

In the video above, the Yahoo Finance team shares what we’ll miss most about Ben Bernanke. From his notorious beard to feisty congressional hearings, Bernanke has entertained, innovated and battled a financial crisis that no one was prepared for...

Related: As Stocks Rise, Frustrated Investors Vent About Ben Bernanke

Tell Us What You Think!

What are you going to miss most about

The debt ceiling cloud is looming over Congress once again.

The U.S. is nearing the roof of its spending limit - some economists estimate that it will be reached as early as mid-October. Congress will then have to decide whether to increase the limit or to default on the nation’s debts.

Congress last increased the debt limit in 2011 to $16.7 trillion after a harrowing debate that ultimately led to the downgrade of U.S. credit by Standard and Poor’s.

Related: Debt Ceiling Deadline Delayed: Good News and Bad

It looks as though a hearty debate is once again imminent -- House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has said that President Obama will have to negotiate spending cuts if he wants the ceiling raised. "For decades, the White House and Congress have used the debt limit to find bipartisan solutions on the deficit and the debt," he said in a news conference last week.

Obama, meanwhile, has said he is unwilling to negotiate. Gene Sperling, a senior economic advisor to Obama has echoed those

The robot trend is in motion, says Howard Lindzon, CEO and co-founder of Stocktwits. And iRobot (IRBT) is "the Intel of robot brands."

iRobot, a company that is perhaps most famous for the automated vacuum machine Roomba, has incredible potential for expansion Lindzon says.

"They don't have a huge brand name...but they have been around 10 years and have done a billion dollars in sales," he explains. "iRobot has got real business with the military and with the governments but behind the scenes they're taking all of those applications and trying to figure it out for consumers."

Lindzon sees iRobot's market cap increasing to $10 billion from its current $1 billion in a few years.

"When this robot trend hits, which it will with drones and consumer products, iRobot is going to be the company," he says.

Large institutions looking to invest in robots won't be able to pile into multiple small cap stocks, says Lindzon. Because of liquidity, they'll have to buy into a larger company and that