Based on the partial 2010 earnings figures, Facebook had net earnings of $400 Million on $1.6 Billion in revenue. These numbers just seem too good to be true and value Facebook at a whopping P/E ratio of 125.

Facebook’s only form of revenue is advertising along the right column of their site. These ads are notorious for having very low click through rates for advertisers. Some more information regarding where the revenue is coming from would be helpful. Companies like Zynga have grown tremendously on the back of Facebook’s platform and it is only fair that they pay a hefty fee for access to its users.

Google has a very high operating margin of 35%, but is also the leader in search on the internet and boasts one of the highest CTRs in the industry. Google’s market cap is nearly $200B, only four times that of Facebook, with a trailing P/E of 25.

The big question to ask is if by the time Facebook goes public… will it have already grown in value so much that the average retail investor will have missed the boat. Just look at what happened to MySpace after being sold to News Corp, a slow death. Facebook can continue to grow as more users signup to use the service, but what additional revenue streams can they create to bring value to its shareholders without becoming a bloated, slow moving company?

[tags]facebook, social networking, investing, IPO, myspace, news corp, google[/tags]

Some of the top electronics deals at Walmart this year include:

eMachines laptop – $198

42″ LCD TV – $398

XBox 360 4BG w/ 2 Games – $199

DVD Movies – $1.96

Bluray Movies – $5

With all of these deals starting at 5am on Friday, Walmart will be the place to be as usual this Black Friday. Good luck!

The Droid X seems to outwit the Droid 2 in most areas of performance, having a better camera, HDMI port, double the installed microSD card, 480p HD video playback and recording, and faster load times on many bench tests conducted in recent days. However, the Droid 2 does have something important that the Droid X does not, a physical keyboard.

I have grown accustomed to the use of a physical keyboard and am not sure how well my large thumbs will handle the virtual keyboard or Swype. That is what has held me back from switching to an all-touchscreen phone in the past.

One factor that may trump them all is that many users have been reporting significant signal strength issues on their new Droid 2.

Right now I am leaning toward the X, and will be stopping by a local Verizon store to compare the two phones first hand.

[tags]verizon, droid, droid x, droid 2, android, blackberry, blackberry pearl, smartphone, new every two, phone upgrade[/tags]

Brand New Droid X For Only $64.99 – I’ll show you how!

Those of you who are clamoring to get your hands on the latest and greatest smartphone to come from Motorola so far this summer, the Droid X, I will show you how to get it cheaper than anyone else, using a few simple methods of leveraging your power as a consumer!

Step 1: The first thing you will want to do is signup for a free account at Big Crumbs. This website will enable you to get cashback for all of your online shopping (and that of your friends too!). You will get a whopping $60 cashback for using this free website to order your Droid X!

Step 2: Login to your new Big Crumbs account and search for LetsTalk.com. LetsTalk is one of the Internet’s leading cell phone service websites and this is where you will be ordering your new Droid X. You MUST click the link to LetsTalk through your BigCrumbs account or you will not get your $60 cashback! The price of the Droid X on LetsTalk is $149.99 with a new 2-year agreement on Verizon.

Step 3: On the checkout screen at LetsTalk, use the coupon code “25rafpcver1” to save an additional $25 off your Droid X order. This will bring your total being charged to your credit or debit card to $124.99.

Step 4: You will receive your $60 cashback from Big Crumbs via PayPal or Check a couple of months after your purchase. After this cashback your total cost for the new Droid X is only $64.99!

That’s it! Using these four steps you can save $135 off the price that Verizon is charging for a new Droid X. Enjoy!

[tags]droid x, verizon, motorola, rebate, cashback, cell phone, smartphone, big crumbs, paypal, lets talk, cell phone[/tags]

The problem I have with these attack ads is not their frequency, it’s the claims and comparisons that are being made and disputed by the companies. AT&T set off a furor and sued Verizon when the first of the 3G coverage ads were launched. The claim was that consumers would interpret AT&T’s lack of 3G coverage as meaning there was no cell coverage in those zones. Unless the consumer is stupid (a likely possibility), then those assertions are ridiculous.

AT&T’s response to this Verizon ad compares the two services and is even more misleading than the original Verizon ads! AT&T claims to have the fastest 3G coverage – ok that’s possible but the coverage is severely limited to major urban areas as accurately conveyed in Verizon’s ad. Another claim is access to over 100,000 apps – yeah that’s great but only if you have the iPhone! The two Samsung models they peddle in the ad can’t run most of those apps! The ad also claims the ability to talk and use apps at the same time, again that is only possible with the iPhone.

The injunction sought by AT&T was denied, so they keep churning out more ads peddling the capabilities and features possible with an iPhone (without specifying that face) and then trying to sell a different type of smart phone in the end. A smart phone that doesn’t have the crippling revenue share agreement that AT&T is locked into with Apple for every iPhone activated.

This is causing me to really hate AT&T for making the assumption that I’m stupid and will buy into their marketing bullshit. While I may have been looking to find a new carrier at the end of my contract term that is approaching, I don’t think AT&T will be one of my choices.

I have an iPod Touch and love the interface, but can’t seem to get used to texting via a touch screen so I use a Blackberry Pearl. I have a love/hate relationship with my Blackberry, but that’s another story. The Droid, by Motorola, is definitely on my radar screen for my next smart phone purchase because of the combination of a touch screen and the world’s slimmest slide out QWERTY keyboard.

I am only actively utilizing one proxy, Unblock YouTube, which ranks #1 in Google for the term and generates thousands of unique homepage views each and everyday and tens of thousands of surfing page impressions. I have had to limit the geographic location of users that can access the site because of its popularity. Currently only users from the US, Canada, and Europe can access the site. I have considered setting up a database to change the advertising displayed based on the location of the user but I just don’t want to do the work when I can just profit from the tier one countries. Why chase after peanuts when the real advertising money comes from the above mentioned countries.

Web proxies are used to bypass filtering services utilized by schools, businesses and parents in order to access the entire web. This site is geared toward streaming YouTube videos which are usually blocked at work or school. The bandwidth required for such use is high and that’s why very few proxies allow video streaming, but I do. I am able to run the entire thing using a proxy host and being locked into a low cost $25/month plan that blows away the competition.

The revenue generated from Unblock YouTube is now exclusively through Google Adsense, although I did used to bring in money from popups, popunders and interstitials, however that income source had been declining steadily and it disrupted the user experience so I eliminated it completely about a month ago.

My other web proxy, MySpace Unblock It, is a work in progress. I would like to get it ranked #1 for the term “Unblock MySpace”, but have not been very successful as it is a highly competitive keyword and the script programming required to allow proxy surfing through MySpace is intense.

[tags]youtube, myspace, web proxy, surfing, filter, unblock, proxy[/tags]

My Twitter page is still rather bare and I will be updating it more frequently as time goes by with links to interesting stories, subjects and the like.

[tags]twitter, follow, shaun carter[/tags]

Next, I stopped at CIrcuit City where they were still holding people outside in a line and letting them in a few at a time. I picked up a blu ray movie for $8.99 and also a new webcam, which will be only $9.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate. I’m not a fan of rebates, but this was a good enough deal and is a webcam normally priced at $80. This will replace my five year old logitec that has a grainy picture.

I spent a lot less money than I planned on, which was good. But I didn’t get near as many items as I had hoped, oh well.

[tags]black friday, shopping, circuit city, walmart, shaun carter, usb drive, smart card, sale, webcam, gps, garmin, magellan[/tags]

You have most likely heard of Network Solutions, a company that built its presence on the web by selling domain names in the early days. They are now offering professional, custom web design packages that require no skills from you whatsoever, because they do it all.

They have successfully designed over 2,000 websites and are looking for more clients to build a professional  and affordable web presence. Prices start at $499 and up depending on the level of work you want done. I really like some of the premium website design packages they are offering because they include one on one work with a professional designer, phone consultations, search engine friendly design, copywriting and more.

All of the designers that will be working on your project are U.S. based and full-time. So you don’t have to worry about your important project being lost in translation by some outsourcing service. You also will have peace of mind knowing that a customer service professional is available 24/7 to assist you once your site is up and running should you have any issues.

Cuil is the Gaelic word for both knowledge and hazel, and features prominently in ancient legend. A famous poet fished for many years on the River Boyne hoping to catch the Salmon of Knowledge. When he finally caught it, he gave it to his young apprentice Finn McCuil to prepare, warning him not to eat any. As Finn cooked the salmon he burnt his thumb and instinctively sucked it to ease the pain. And so it was Finn and not the poet who gained all the wisdom of the world. Finn went on to become one of the great heroes of Irish folklore. Any time he needed to know the answer to a question, he sucked his thumb. – source: Cuil.com

Some of the Venture Capital firms backing the Cuil concept include Madrone Capital Partners, Greylock Partners, and Tugboat Ventures.

I think I’ll use Cuil on occasion over the next few weeks and see if it is something I could use in place of Google. But right now, I would say over 95% of my searches are with Google and it serves me very well.

[tags]cuil, google, shaun carter, venture capital, madrone capital partners, greylock partners, tugboat ventures, search engine[/tags]