  We show how optimization methods from economics known as portfolio strategies
can be used for minimizing download times in the Internet and travel times in
freeway traffic. While for Internet traffic, there is an optimal restart
frequency for requesting data, freeway traffic can be optimized by a small
percentage of vehicles coming from on-ramps. Interestingly, the portfolio
strategies can decrease the average waiting or travel times, respectively, as
well as their standard deviation (``risk''). In general, portfolio strategies
are applicable to systems, in which the distribution of the quantity to be
optimized is broad.
