Facebook has made news and headlines many times before and it is doing it again – albeit for somewhat different reasons. Facebook is filing to become a publicly traded company and will allow people to buy shares on the stock market as of Wednesday. Since Facebook literally represents the social network for this era, its initial public offering(IPO) will be historical and astonishing to say the least.

With the FB symbol as its identifying mark for the stock market, Facebook will have more than 845 million users and, some say, is looking to get at least $5 billion during this initial offer. There are other reports that are claiming Facebook is seeking a much higher amount: between $75-$100 billion in fact!  If Facebook were to receive that high of an amount it would put it well above many other companies that have been around for many years – companies such as Ford Motor, Kraft Foods, Goldman Sachs, and more.

The company makes a large portion of its profits off of the advertising and selling that goes on throughout the Facebook network and last year it made $3.7 billion in revenue (increasing 88% from the year before).  The ads on Facebook are highly targeted towards individual users since Facebook utilizes the information and recorded actions of users to collect data. Much like a data processor, Facebook archives everything – from interests, locations, articles, links, and “likes”. This data is then used to help better target and understand users so that more efficient ads can be displayed.

Facebook has changed not only how advertisers work, but it has also led to the rise of a variety of other companies such as Spotify and Zynga – Facebook actually is responsible for 90% of the profits Zynga gets. Having this in mind, the next logical step for Facebook was this historical IPO.

Despite all of the current profits Facebook is making off of advertising, it actually is a meager amount compared to what it should be making. For example, last year Facebook only made about $1 per user which is such a small amount especially since Facebook has the capacity to utilize all of that user information and display targeted ads.

Indeed, Facebook is still seeking to learn how to properly use all of that user data and generate more profits without damaging the sensitive social ecosystem. If Facebook moves too quickly or makes too many drastic changes to its structure then users protest however Facebook is gradually making more and more changes. For instance, Facebook recently introduced the new Timeline which allows users to scroll through and see an overview of people’s activity in a timeline format. On top of that there are also reports that Facebook is designing its own mobile phone which will give it even more of a foothold into people’s lives.

Unfortunately as Facebook’s presence in people’s lives continues to grow, so does the ever mounting scrutiny that is being directed at it from Washington. With privacy issue concerns and more, Washington is doing its best to protect user’s private data from being misused by the social giant.

Facebook is still young, however its part in millions of lives worldwide. As it continues to grow and develop innovative new ways to connect with other users, its value to both advertisers and consumers grows exponentially as well. There are only estimations at how much Facebook will get during its historical IPO, however it is amazing to see this Internet phenomenon, developed from such humble roots, expand and grow with each and every year.

That having been said, Strategy Analytics revealed that Android OS tablets accounted for 39 percent of the market share in the fourth quarter of 2011. Apple still is hard to catch up with, at 58 percent, down 10 percent from the previous year.

Global tablet shipments, not including over-the-counter sales, according to Peter King, Strategy Analytics’ research director, rocketed 150 percent, from 10.7 to 26.8 million between the fourth quarters of 2010 and 2011. Now consider that Apple sent out 15.4 million iPads in the fourth quarter of  2011. Not only that, the company also retained a 58 percent of the share lead in the market. Perhaps you can say Apple did not have much to worry about, with that much of a lead, but then again, the 29 percent leap of Android from one year to the next is enough to make Apple look twice over its shoulder.

The stick in the wheel of all this, is that Amazon’s Kindle Fire was counted among the Android units. It is not quite fair, since Kindle has a highly tweaked Android OS. Still, this device is no Galaxy Tab or Xoom. The question that begs to be answered, though, is how big a share of the 39 percent Android slice is taken up by Kindle. After all, Kindle has some whopping sales figures.

Some are saying that Android has not lived up to its expectations to take on iOS and that the Kindle Fire being counted in is tainting the data. However, it is rather like comparing apples and oranges (pun intended). The iOS is only released on devices from one manufacturer. It is impossible to separate the success of that manufacturer from the success of the OS or that of the design or the experience as a whole. But comparing the Android OS on a gadget by two different manufacturers gives us a good measure of these issues in the Android field. When it comes down to it, there is really no point in comparing every Android tablet with Apple’s iOS tablets.

If you would like to stand off the Kindle Fire against the iPad, well then you are just plain crazy. Who wants a mere book instead of an entire computer? The other apples and oranges aspect is the difference in distribution models. Apple spends its time looking at profit margins, while others watch their market shares.

Apple has very little to be afraid of when it comes to tablets. However, Microsoft, who was one of the earliest entries into the market, and who commands a huge amount of resources and partnerships, only snatched up 1.5 percent of the market shares. So Android OS tablets maybe put some pressure on Apple, Microsoft will find it increasingly impossible to catch up.

Back in 2009 a federal prisoner by the name of David Whitaker was the lead actor in an investigation of Google’s advertising operations. The United States government took action against the internet giant and had David Whitaker (an experienced con artist) pose as an agent for online drug dealers. Mr. Whitaker then spent over four months contacting Google (and being contacted in return) about advertising narcotics, steroids, and other illegal and controlled substances.

Along with having David pose as an agent, the government meticulously created aliases, false companies, and even used around $200,000 in their operation. David then contacted employees and executives regarding advertising the illegal substances and made it clear on several occasions that the operations were illegal – despite everything, both Google employees and executives continued working with David as their eyes were only on his money.

David Whitaker stated that he felt bad about the whole operation especially since he had grown to like several of the people he was dealing with but “I took ease in knowing they…knew it was wrong.”

Despite actively assisting someone advertise illegal products Google only got a slap on the hand and had to pay a mere $500 million dollar fine (nothing compared to their 40+billion dollars in cash). However this isn’t the only time Google’s had problems with advertising illegal products.

The lead prosecutor against Google in this case is Peter Neronha who stated that the settlement was incredibly important and “signals that, where evidence can be developed that a search engine knowingly and actively assisted advertisers to promote improper conduct, the search engine can be held accountable as an accomplice.”

On top of the evidence gained from David Whitaker the government also had some highly embarrassing allegations against some of Google’s top executives including Larry Page. Page is Google’s co-founder and apparently these executives were notified about the issues surrounding drug ads but that nothing was done about it.

The case against Google was held in a secret Grand Jury and not much else is known about it nor will the head prosecutor reveal more information regarding the evidence gained against Google. Unfortunately no Google executives agreed to comment on the situation either.

After the operation was ceased by the government and the evidence gained from Google Mr. Whitaker, who faced a hefty prison term of max 65 years, was sentenced to only six years however now he is due to release in just two. Google, on the other hand, has six private shareholder lawsuits against their executives and will hopefully change their advertising policies so that illegal actions are prohibited rather than encouranged.

Espen Fumes, a fund manager for Storebrand Asset Management, which manages more than $60 billion, including Nokia and Apple, admitted that Nokia must maintain and even surpass 1 million in order to restore its credibility and regain investors confidence.

The move that put Nokia in a pinch was made by CEO Stephen Elop last year, when he dumped the Symbian and MeeGo phones and announced the coming Microsoft only line of smartphones. The estimates are significant, because there was low confidence that the Nokia-Microsoft team could provide adequate competition against the iPhone and Android devices.

Elop was able to manage the confidence game, by avoiding inflated expectations. He placed special emphasis on the gradual development of a new world order within Nokia, both applications and developers, that would be Microsoft oriented.

According to Lee Simpson, an analyst at Jefferies International in London, there is plenty of room for Nokia to capture a significant portion of the market, what with none of the other big players stepping up to the bat. RIM, HTC, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola have all shied away.

The big hit on Nokia’s revenue and profit will ultimately be the 36% drop in Symbian smartphone sales in only two quarters. This was due to the announcement of Lumia. Independent analysts indicate Nokia has taken a 92 million-euro loss in the fourth quarter.

Just for the year 2011 the shares plummeted 52%. However, the gains this year amount to a 15% increase. Compare this to HTC, down 1.7, and Apple, up only 3.8. According to the many positive reviews, Nokia’s Lumia phones are to thank. They took over a dozen awards at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas. The European markets saw Lumia 800 start in November 2011 at 420 euros, while the Lumia 710 hit the Asian and Russian markets at 270 euros in December.

Nokia was overtaken by Apple between 2007 and 2010, when Apple introduced the iPhone. Elop was then given the helm of Nokia, coming from Microsoft as a kind of secret weapon in the smartphone market. Apple wiped out 60 billion euros of Nokia’s value. However, Standard and Poor slashed Nokia’s debt ratings, as well as by Moody, indicating an anticipation of a sluggish recovery from such a devastating blow.

Nevertheless, Nokia was unable to sell out the Lumia models. One theory is that the Lumia 800 was just a bit too high priced for those considering jumping into a Microsoft-based phone. When Nokia does release their fourth-quarter results, they will include the Nokia N9, which is identical to the Lumia 800, but is loaded with their proprietary MeeGo software.

The Windows Store was built on the idea that customer experience was the key. They wanted to ensure that people could find apps easily and acquire them just as easily. With that in mind they took that simple goal and applied it to a massive and diverse catalog that encompassed the entire Windows Store. As you continue reading you will learn more about each various aspect of the Windows Store User Experience.

Landing Page

The landing page of the Windows Store is minimal and simply brings the apps to the front and allows the apps to capture your interest. The apps will continuously change and new content will take its place so that each time customers come there they can see something different. Additionally Windows used research to device a landing page that contained featured content, data-driven lists and even category listings so that the user could have a comprehensive browsing experience.

Searching and browsing

Since searching is fundamental in most web interfaces, the Store has made it so that you can have a search charm in all of your apps so when you are using one of the apps all you have to do is tap on the icon and you can search away!

When you are searching for an app or for something else as you type it search suggestions will begin appearing underneath the search bar (much like the familiar Google).  Once you enter your query into the search bar you will be taken to a search results page that has everything initially sorted by relevance however you can change the search filter to your liking.

App listing pages

Learning more about the app before you purchase it is crucial so that you can make sure you’re spending your money on something that will actually be useful. These listing pages really let the apps show all – from a simple description and feature list to user ratings and even visually appealing overviews and photos.

Installing apps

When you are signed into the Windows Store all you have to do is tap on the app and it will install provided it’s free. If it’s a paid app you will have to type in your password as a confirmation for the purchase however this can be turned off as well so that a one tap purchase is enabled.

Updating apps

This is a fairly easy feature since Windows took the liberty of making sure that your updates were checked for automatically each day. If any updates are required will be notified and then you can just tap a button and all of your apps will be updated.

Overall

The new Windows Store User Experience looks amazing and it feels that Microsoft completely aimed at keeping things simple for the user while allowing app developers the ability to adequately feature their products. The new user experience at the Windows Store will definitely make consumers happy and is a big step in the right direction.

IPv6 was announced and then disappeared. Today it is back again, but is not going anywhere this time. The Internet Society gave a public announcement Tuesday of the “World IPv6 Launch Day”. It is the beginning of the last stage of transitioning out of IPv4 and into IPv6. This launch day is still a little more than five months off, due June 6, but it is quite nearly a year following a 24-hour test run of the IP protocol. At that time quite a number of high profile businesses activated IPv6 AAAA record resolution on the domain for their main websites.

This IPv6 Day, last year, served as a confirmation about the hypotheses regarding interoperability across the Internet with already deployed computer systems. However, not everything went as expected. There were access difficulties, but they amounted to only a fraction of 1%. Most of those companies who participated in the event turned off IPv6, though a handful kept it operating. Those who turned it off reverted to the IPv4 legacy setup.

The dating period is finished. We are into the engagement period of our relationship with our newly beloved IPv6. Quite a few troubles that were connected to the operating systems of PC’s and portable devices, as well as those related to network devices, such as routers, have been adequately addressed and implemented. Now many of the same business who participated in the test last year have switched back on IPv6 and will run it even up to June 6^th.

Typically, you might expect IPv6 to affect those utilizing universities, or international and the small, advanced thinking tech companies. On June 6^th, though, we are talking about something much bigger. The major ISP companies will be activating IPv6, not only at their root servers, but along the line down to the customer level. About one percent of you will have IPv6 addresses after June 6^th.

Here is the catch. They are only applying it to a mere dribble of customers in order to test it again. As customers complain and problems arise in these customers’ connection issues, the ISP’s will try to adapt to the situations and create solutions. Then, as they can solve more of the problems, they will apply IPv6 to more customers and fix further issues as they present themselves.

I do not think ISP’s should be congratulated for this approach, because it means those customers will suffer for us all. This should be a voluntary program with incentives. However, with the major ISP’s getting onboard, it will motivate smaller ones to just in order to stay competitive. They will not want to be labeled inadequate because they refused to adopt a technology all the major players activated, and which was easily accessible to them. Every company will have to follow suit.

After months of waiting the Chronic Dev Team (a team of iOS hackers dedicated to freeing Apple products from their obnoxious constraints) began teasing followers with tidbits of information on the release of the jailbreak.

At first it was just tweets stating they were working on it tirelessly and that they “were close” and then, much to everyone’s delight, a video was released showing an untethered iPhone 4S sporting Cydia (see it here on YouTube). This video literally sent many into “check twitter every 10 minutes” mode – their perseverance was only rewarded with more frustration when the Chronic Dev Team released the Mac version of the iOS 5 jailbreak. Finally on the 21^st the jailbreak titled Absinthe was released for Windows.

Since the jailbreak was hosted on the Chronic Dev Team’s servers the first  hours after the release the servers crashed multiple times with only a lucky few getting their jailbreak done. Now, days later, the Dev Team is totaling the amount of jailbroken devices.

Jay Freeman (aka saurik) is a leading part of the hacking team that produced the jailbreak. Via Twitter saurik released some astonishing figures: “So, @MuscleNerd’s 205k number was just the number of on-Cydia iPhone 4S’s; I believe that is now 494k. iPad 2 5.0.1 adds an additional 463k.” Additionally it was reported that Absinthe was downloaded over a million times so far and this is only a few days after the release of the jailbreak – imagine what the totals will be a week from now!

Jailbreak Your Device in 5 Easy Steps!

1. Jailbreaking your iOS 5 device is incredibly easy. First go to the Chronic Dev Team’s site http://greenpois0n.com/  and choose the correct file at the top right (there is Mac or Windows).
2. Once you’ve downloaded the files connect your ipad 2 or iPhone 4S to your computer and then launch the Absinthe program.
3. Once that is launched you’ll be told to back up your device so do so. If you attempted to download the Mac jailbreak and use that on your iDevice then you will likely lose all of your data when reverting the jailbreak as we attempted that and found out firsthand what impatience does!
4. Now that you’re all backed up and ready to go then hit the “Jailbreak” button on the right side of the Absinthe program. It will now begin the jailbreaking process starting off with a restore so be patient as it can take a while!
5. After the restore is done unlock your phone and then click the Absinthe icon and your device will reboot after it’s made contact with the GreenPois0n servers. In a few moments your device will be done rebooting and your Absinthe icon is going to be replaced by a glorious Cydia one!