Facebook is Cash-Flow Positive

It's been a big week for Palo Alto based Facebook. For those you in the 25-27 age range a little company we once used as thefacebook is doing quite well for itself. They announced they have 300 million users worldwide which is 50 million more than they had in July. In pure sense 1 out ever 22 people in the world have Facebook. I can't think many of other products or services that penetrated the market so fast. Facebook launched in February 2004 and in a mere 5 years has 300 million users. This also represents about 30% of all Internet users. The company has been valued at $5-15 billion dollars over the past few years depending upon how you value companies.

One year ahead of schedule, Facebook is cash-flow positive. In a basic sense Facebook brought in more cash last quarter than it spent for the first time ever. Ironically, even though the mainstream would think the company is banking is has yet to turn a profit. They are a privately held company so they could be hiding it by making huge capital expenditures at the end of the quarter ala Amazon in its early days. Facebook is supposedly bringing in $500 million this year and might even turn a profit after burning through $350 million in cash just last year.

Facebook's future depends on the question that has plagued them for years: How do we monetize our users base? If they can master targeted ads on their site they will be just fine. With their large user base and tons of data pieces going threw their server monetiziing it now should be a problem. Facebook added search into their features over a year ago and has become a destination website. I look forward to the day they IPO so I can see what their books really look like. I'm truly interested into how much money is going in and out of there. How are they not making money or what I think is that they are and just hiding it. Time will only tell.

Where DOE is spending green loan guarantee progams...

Solyndra
A 4 year old company based out of Fremont, CA. Solyndra manufactures a propietary thin film photovoltaic (PV) panels and hardware to generate solar power. Solyndra received $535 million dollar loan in early March and looks to be a growth company in the years to come as solar panels become the norm on all buildings. Keep an eye out for the IPO in years to come because once they acheive economies of scale they'll be printing money

Nordic Windpower
After 20 years of R&D in Sweden this company has come to the forefront of windpower. They are SF based company that is slowly making its way into the mainstream marketplace. Windpower is only 20% efficient, but is highly effective in middle America. It will be a part of the solution

Beacon Power
This MA based energy storage company is a spinoff of SatCon in 1997. The company uses a flywheel-based regulation service to store wind and solar power for utilities to use. Beacon got $43 million in early July to apply put their research and facilities on the fast track.

Tesla
An electric car sports car company based out of San Carlos already has 260 employees. $465 million dollars from the DOE in June is going to go along way into getting down the prices of their lithium ion batteries. Elon Musk is on the right track here witha 300 mile rang and 45 minute quickcharge for a 0-60 electric car at 3.6 seconds for his $109,000 roadster. The Model S comes out in less than 2 years and for $50,000 it's our country's best bet to stay in the forefront of automobiles.

New Music

Albums
The Blueprint 3 - Jay-Z
This wil be the 11th solo #1 breaking record for him breaking Elvis record, pretty impressive for a kid from the Mecry Projects, ridiculous beats from the world's best producers, plus guest spots from Kanye, Alicia Keys, Drake, and more make this album a must have

Backspacer - Pearl Jam
Limited edition import only album that from what I can tell was made with Europe in mind as not much has been on the radio about the album except "The Fixer" which is a ridiculous track

Songs (Big week as the VMA's and back to school are an oppurtune time to drop new music)
I Will Not Bow - Breaking Benhjamins
Songs from the Bruce Willis movie "Surrogates" is sure to be heard on a bunch of previews is a decent rock song but not a must hear

Paparazzi - Lady Gaga
Sure to get a ton of play after her VMA performance this Sunday but it's really not a great song, sounds like she's trying to channel an electric dance song from Madonna which probably isn't a good thing

LOL :-) - Trey Songz
Amazing this song is getting play, almost worth one spin for a good laugh and that's it, the sad part is the beat is pretty decent but a whole song on LOL what will they think of next?

RECOMMEND Haven't Met You Yet - Michael Buble
A true talent and great song, could be off a Jason Mraz album and I meant that in a good way

Runaway - Love and Theft
Country song from a new band that sounds really good for you country fans to enjoy

Shake My - Three Six Mafia F. Kalenna
Guaranteed to be played in every club this week as it a has solid beat and chorus to shake my "ask"

Replay - Iyaz
Nice slow tempo R&B track that Neyo & Usher fans will truly enjoy

RECOMMEND Fireflies - Owl City
Songs has been on KROQ for awhile but now is mainstream should be around for awhile

Body Language - Jesse McCartney F. T-Pain
I can't believe I just typed that and the scarier part is the song a actually pretty catchy

RECOMMEND The Fixer - Pearl Jam
Best new rock song out this week, hands down, listen for yourself

Do I - Luke Bryan
A nice country piano ballad about a relationship that lost its "magic"

Under - Pleasure P
Ginuwine sounding like slow R&B track is just OK

Number One - R. Kelly
Classic R. Kelly track from his "Down Low" days

RECOMMEND Startstruck - 3OH!3 F. Katy Perry
Another track that'll get mad play for catchy, jingly chorus and of course Katy Perry

Face Drop - Sean Kingston
I like the kid just not on this track

Million Dollar Bill - Whitney Houston
Can still sing after all these years, I really wonder how big she'd be if she didn't fall into drugs

Baseball Stats That Make You Go Wow!

Joe Mauer - .371 BA
Aaron Hill - 32 HR's
Marcus Scutaro - 99 runs
Brandon Inge - 27 HR's
Rajai Davis - 36 SB's
Derrek Lee - 33 HR
Pablo Sandoval - .321 BA
Albert Pujols - 47 HR, 125 HR
Derek Jeter - 192 hits
Russell Branyan - 31 HR's
Billy Butler - 46 doubles
Mark Reynolds - 41 HR, 194 SO
Zach Greinke - 2.19 ERA
Jorge De La Rosa - 14 wins
Mariano Rivera - 1.69 ERA
David Aardsma - 34 saves
Adam Wainwright - 2.59 ERA
Javier Vazquez - 216 SO
Edwin Jackson - 3.22 ERA
Scott Feldman - 16 wins
Andrew Bailey - 2.03 ERA
JA Happ - 2.77 ERA
Ryan Franklin & Heath Bell - 37 saves
Jair Jurrjens - 2.81 ERA
Joel Piniero - 3.21 ERA

NBC Premiere Week and more...

Categories for new TV:

DVR it - put it on or tape it if you can't see it
For you, maybe - some shows I just don't like but you might
Why? - who paid for this show to be on TV

DVR it

Gossip Girl, Monday a 9 on CW
The girls are all grown up and heading to college, can I just say that Josh Schwartz is a genius (Chuck, Gossip Girl, and the OC) although we'll see how the producers deal with not having the main characters at the same school and we all know that this could be the last season for Chace and Leighton as their careers have taken off from this sow

Jay Leno, Weeknight at 10 on NBC
The late night man himself is back and all of Hollywood is rooting against him because he chewed up 5 hours a week of what could be scripted TV on NBC, his first show features Seinfeld and Kanye (apologize to Taylor, please even though you were right about the award) so you can bet I'll be watching, if this works watch ABC who hasn't made good TV in awhile go after Oprah for their 10 PM slot next fall

SNL Weekend Update, Thursdays at 8 on NBC
The Office, Thursdays at 9 on NBC
Two Thursday favorites return to TV, The Office is probably the funniest show on TV and SNL weekend Update always does a good job making our sad daily newscast a bit more upbeat than the real one

The Community, Thursdays at 9:30 on NBC
Joel McHale graduates from the Soup on E! to major network TV as a lawyer forced back into college in NBC's best new show of the year which is sure to make NBC Thursday's the funniest night of TV on any 1 network

The Beautiful Life, 9 PM Wednesdays on CW
Ashton Kutcher produces this show about a modeling agency starring Sara Paxton and High School Musical's Corbin Bleu plus it has Elle McPherson as their boss and Mischa Barton as the model who has made it

Bored To Death - 9:30 PM Sundays on HBO
Rushmore's Jason Schwartzman and The Hangover's Zach Galifianakis start in a story about a fake private eye in New York plus Ted Danson is there too for some laughs giving you another reason to watch HBO on Sunday besides Entourage (and True Blood)

For you, maybe
Bones, 8 PM Thursdays on Fox
Fringe, 9 PM Thursdays on Fox
2 shows that people seem to love, especially Bones which enters its 5th year and is now syndicated on TNT every night if you can't get enough
Parks & Recreation, 8:30 PM Thursdays on NBC
Honestly I just need a 30 minute break from TV, just happens to be on the same night as every other funny show is

Why?
Survivor: Samoa, 8 PM Thursdays on Fox
19 seasons!!!, on since 2000 and people still get into it

The Biggest Loser, 8 PM Tuesdays on NBC
Now on its 8th season and watching people lose weight has never really done it for me

Crash, 10 PM on Starz
Never try to take a successful movie into a TV show, it just doesn't work

Week 1 Recap: Fantasy Football

A ton will be written this week about how certain players were genius picks (The Jones' RB) or how you never should have picked any Texan. Everybody chill out, it's one week and one game. You really need a month to see how you team and acquire your assets to help you through the bye weeks.

WOW! Performances of The Week

• Drew Brees - 6 TD!, it's the Lions in all
• Tony Romo - 3 TD, and he's on my team
• Thomas/Julius Jones - 100 yards and a TD each (Thomas even had two)
• Reggie Wayne - 10 catches and 162 yarda and #2 goes down
• Eagles DEF - 5 sacks, 5 picks, TD, and 2 fumbles

WTF! Perfromances of The Week

• Michael Turner - 65 yards
• Andre Johnson - 4 rec, 35 yds
• Anquan Boldin - 2 rec, 19 yds
• Steve Slaton - 17 yards and a fumble
• Brandon Jacobs - 46 yards (Ahmad outplayed you)

Trends to Keep An Eye On

• Ahmad Bradshaw/Donald Brown stealing carries from Brandon Jacobs and Joseph Addai
• How do RB committees for Cowboys, Jets, Cardinals and Bucs play out as well?
• Brian Westbrook and Lesean McCoy while McNabb is out
• Is Jake Delhomme done done?
• Should Joe Flacco be starting in fantasy after 300 yards today?
• Will Austin Collie step up in Indy with Anthony Gonzalez out?
• Hixon-Manningham-Barden as #1 NY Giants receiver

Trade Targets

• Andre Johnson/Steve Slaton/Matt Schaub - after the Titans shut them down in week 2, schedule goes Jags-Raiders-Cards-Bengals-49ers so start the conversations now
• Brandon Marshall - bad first week, especially if you drafted early the owner is more likely to move him
• Anthony Gonzalez - out a month returns to Rams, 49ers, Texans fot Colts in weeks 7-8-9
• Steven Jackson - team stinks, but he doesn't
• Ahmad Bradshaw - give him some time and he'll be starting in NYG
• Anquan Boldin - injured and had a bad week

Waiver Wire Picks

• Mike Bell - Saints RB this week and more (ownership under 15% in CBS & ESPN before today)
• Austin Collie - Colts new #2 with Anthony Gonzalez down
• Earl Bennett - Jay Cutler's college roomie and now Bears tandem
• Matt Cassel (OAK), Jason Campbell (STL), Brady Quinn (DEN) - a QB if you lost McNabb to fill-in for you next week and possibly longer as McNabb is out until week 5 because there bye is in week 4 and I don't think Reid will rush him back for NO or KC

Note: This post will be Tuesday to include MNF and better injury updates moving forward

New Movie Friday

In what will be a soft new release weekend at the box office thanks to the return of the NFL and the VMA's on MTV on Sunday night leave us with the following new movie choices:

Whiteout - Kate Beckingsale (damn you looked good at the premiere) stars as US Marshal in Antarctica who must find the killer before winter starts in 72 hours

Sorority Row - I Know What You Did Last Summer at a sorority: 5 sorority sisters cover-up an accidental murder in remake of this 1983 film

Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself - Brad Pitt's mom from Button is in it and it's a Tyler Perry movie, people will see it just not my thing

9 - animated flick about an apocalyptic world without any humanss so it'll good for older kids, just not this one

Beyond A Reasonable Doubt - soft opening around the country so I might be jumping the gun in your city, but Michael Douglas stars as lawyer who frames himself for murder just to one up a newsreporter as he tries to run for office

Sorry to be so short and sweet, but next week should be much much better as Jennifer's Body, The Informant, and Love Happens all come out...

NFL "Recession" and Blackouts

As the NFL season kicked off tonight, the league begins its first year under our recession. Last season they had sold all their seats and sponsorship before the economy truly tanked in late 2008 as Lehman Brothers went bankrupt about a year ago this week. Much has been written about the effects of the economy on the NFL but I don't buy it. 2/3 of the NFL funds come from national sources such as their broadcast deals and licensing which are steady even in this downtimes. So let's say for example you are the Lions, who were last in revenue last year per Forbes and brought in a mere $208 million. $130 million is coming in from the league you do only 66% due to the "bad economy" of the 33% that is local you are still bringing in almost 90% of the revenue from last year. If your company is only down 10% in revenue this year I think your company is going to be OK. The economy is only a crutch because the league could be headed for a lockout so everybody is crying poverty but in reality everybody involved in the NFL is banking due to the national TV contracts.

One real problem the league will face though is going to be local blackouts throughout the country on TV for your local teams. As I type this the Cardinals, Bengals, and Raiders are all facing a potential blackout if can't clear out their inventories by the end of business day today. The Cardinals made the Super Bowl last year. As much as I blame the economy or the fans, some blame is on the teams for not allocating their seats properly to avoid these blackouts. The NFL rolled out a "solution" to the problem by announcing one could watch the game on their website at midnight. Who wants to watch live sports the day after? People will find a way to stream games by using "slingbox" technologies which allow people in the market to to get the game to logon to a website and stream it from somebody who doesn't face the blackout. I imagine a ton of these websites will pop-up soon. If you live in Cincy, Cleveland, Jacksonville, San Diego, Oakland, Detroit, Tampa, St. Louis, or Seattle this same fate might be coming to your team soon so find a friend with Slingbox out of town and an adapter cord so you are all good.

Van Jones and Background Checks

First off in the interest of full disclosure, I love Van Jones "The Green Collar Economy" and still recommend reading it. Until last week, Van Jones served as a special adviser to the President on green jobs. Last week some comments out where Van Jones is a "truther" (people who question what happened on 9-11) who organized copwatch.com which actually blames the NYPD for the loss of many firefighters on that horrific day. Additionally thanks to a firestorm from FOX's Glenn Beck a video come out where he referred to the Republicans as "a**holes". Van Jones resigned over the holiday weekend.

We as country all lived through this, Van. I sat through 2 funerals from the Pentagon crashes. One didn't even have casket. It happened. I wrote my college application essays on that horrible day. I read the governments 9-11 commission report. But, I'm not here to write about 9-11 or our country's reaction. Van, like all Americans, has a right to his opinion whether or not I disagree with it or not is truly besides the point here. Van, we agree to disagree.

I dug a bit deeper to find how such a perfectly operational campaign and now Barack Obama White House got "punked" in this situation. Apparently, there was no background check done when he was hired. All they had to do was Google "copwatch re-evaluating nypd performance on 9-11" and this blemish never would have happened. We live in imperfect world and expect our politicians to be perfect. The WH dropped the ball here on the background check. Politicians who we give the privilege of running our country to need to be perfect in order to get elected. I understand that, but you can't have this type of behavior and expect to hold a public office of any kind. For those of you in HR or hiring roles at your company, I implore you to not only do a basic background check so problems like this don't arise in your company. Here's to hoping the new "Mr/s. Green jobs" is properly vetted.

Life Settlements To Help Jumpstart Economy

I was reading the NY Times on Sunday and stumbled across an article about Wall Street's new plan to sell life settlements as a bond. At first, I was mortified. Insurance long has been an alogrithm for years in all, but to be betting (I mean investing) on somebody's life or really against it. The best bonds to own will be those of the elderly and ill with the worst being the young and the healthy. This idea is from the same people who brought you the Gaussian Copula function (Google it) which ruined our bond markets and our economy, credit derivative swaps, "structured" investment vehicles, subprime mortgage loans, recently starting doing re-remics (bundling dirty assets into a new higher rated one) and now these "life settlements bonds".

After my sticker shock was over, I thought about it a little more. These "life settlements" will not only work they really help everybody as horrible as it is to be investing for/against somebody's life. These "life settlements" will create cash for those whose retirements got killed and are underneath their loan on their house . I know it sounds just like refinancing your home loan. Plus these new securities will be a boon for Wall Street and in some weird way will help do what Wall Street does best "create something out of nothing".

I expect it will take a few months or even years to work out the details but get ready to for every American to be traded on Wall Street just like a stock. As long as these practices are regulated I have no problem with these hitting the marketplace. We don't need another marker like what happened in the un-regulated CDS world last year. I don't know if I'd feel this way if I were in my 60's because it's their life settlements that will really be in play here. Best of luck to Wall Street and Barack in figuring this out. I think we as people deserve some details first and then some cash later too if we like what we see.