Facebook makes money, tops 300 million users

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -

Facebook is making enough money to cover its costs and now has 300 million users, the world's largest social networking site said on Tuesday, proving the Internet's newest star industry can be a viable business.

Facebook is now generating enough cash to cover its operating expenses, as well as the capital spending needed to maintain its fast-growing service.

Analysts said this shows the financial viability of Facebook, which has faced questions about its underlying business model, despite its popularity, and was a good sign for a potential initial public offering.

"It's certainly meaningful to show that this is absolutely the real deal," said Broadpoint Amtech analyst Ben Schachter. "They are executing. People are spending money on the site."

Since its creation in a Harvard dorm room five years ago, Facebook has emerged as one of the Internet's most popular destinations and is increasingly challenging the Web's established powerhouses like Yahoo Inc and Google Inc.

Facebook unveiled a revamped search engine last month and is currently testing an online payment system. Facebook users have tripled from about 100 million a year ago.

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a blog post on the company site on Tuesday that Facebook reached its goal of being free cash flow positive in its most recently ended quarter. The company had previously projected reaching the target sometime in 2010.

"This is important to us because it sets Facebook up to be a strong independent service for the long term," said Zuckerberg in the blog post.

Facebook spokesperson Larry Yu said the free cash flow metric does not include any cash from private investment.

In May, Facebook announced a $200 million investment from Russian investment firm Digital Sky Technologies in a deal that valued the company's preferred shares at $10 billion.

DST valued Facebook's common shares at $6.5 billion in a subsequent deal to purchase shares from Facebook employees.

Facebook's becoming cash flow positive ahead of schedule provides another nugget of data to back up the lofty valuations, and according to one analyst, makes Facebook a more attractive candidate for a potential public offering.

"They can command higher confidence from investors now," said Collins Stewart analyst Sandeep Aggarwal, who noted that he believes Facebook could go public in the second half of 2010, or in 2011.

Zuckerberg said in May that any IPO is "a few years out."

Facebook did not provide any other financial details on Tuesday. The company has previously said its revenue was on track to grow 70 percent this year.

Facebook board member Mark Andreesen told Reuters earlier this year that the company will surpass $500 million in revenue this year.

Zuckerberg said in his post that the company is exploring ways to make the service perform faster and more efficiently as the number of Facebook users continues to grow.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Gary Hill, Richard Chang and Bernard Orr)

Adobe to buy Omniture for $1.8B; 3Q profit slides

NEW YORK -

Adobe Systems Inc. said Tuesday it will buy Web analytic software company Omniture Inc. for about $1.8 billion, giving the maker of content-creation software a way to let marketers measure the effectiveness of such content.

San Jose, Calif.-based Adobe, which makes Flash, Acrobat and Photoshop software, said it will buy Omniture for $21.50 per share in cash, a premium of 24 percent to Omniture's closing stock price Tuesday. Omniture shares jumped nearly 26 percent in extended trading.

The announcement came as Adobe said it earned $136 million, or 26 cents per share, in the fiscal third quarter that ended in August, down 29 percent from the same time a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, Adobe earned 35 cents per share, a penny above what analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting.

Revenue fell 21 percent to $697.5 million, inching past analyst expectations of $686.2 million.

The recession has slowed demand for Creative Suite 4, the most recent version of the software package that brings in the bulk of the company's revenue. But analysts say this will likely mean more pent-up demand for Creative Suite 5 when it launches.

For the current quarter, Adobe forecast earnings of 23 cents to 29 cents per share and adjusted earnings of 33 cents to 39 cents per share. The latter compares with analyst expectations of 37 cents per share.

Adobe expects sales of $690 million to $740 million for the quarter, bracketing Wall Street's estimates of $719.2 million.

Omniture, based in Orem, Utah, offers a variety of Web traffic analysis and other products for companies to improve their marketing over the Internet. Its customers include Apple Inc., Time Warner Inc. and Walt Disney Co.

The acquisition would marry Omniture's services for figuring how to best deliver messages with Flash and other Adobe tools for creating Web sites and ads. Omniture services could then be used to monitor how effective the messages are.

"Adobe's Creative Suite products and Flash platform help customers create and deliver engaging experiences. The addition of Omniture's online marketing suite will help customers measure, analyze and optimize the impact and value of those experiences," said Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen in a conference call with analysts.

Trip Chowdhry, an analyst with Global Equities Research, said the deal would allow Adobe to create new streams of revenue even as its existing businesses face a decline. The recession and the corresponding decline in technology spending has hurt Adobe's profit and revenue, as many companies have put off upgrading costly software packages.

Though he called the deal "very timely," Chowdhry believes Adobe is overpaying for Omniture, especially because that company's paid products have been losing market share to Google's analytics service, which is free. He said $12 to $13 per share — rather than $21.50 — would have been a fair value for the company.

Adobe expects the Omniture deal to close by November. The company will operate separately under Adobe as a new business unit, with Omniture CEO Josh James working as senior vice president reporting to Narayen.

Adobe's shares took a hit in after-hours trading, falling $1.64, or 4.6 percent, to $33.98. The stock had closed regular trading up 43 cents at $35.62 before the report.

Omniture's shares, meanwhile, soared $4.47, or 25.8 percent, to $21.79 after-hours. The stock closed earlier at $17.33, up 33 cents.

Must Have Sony PlayStation 3 Accessories Reviewed and Explained

The way games are played has changed drastically over the years. From simple board games to handheld games to TV games to sophisticated gaming consoles. And games are not exclusive to kids, teenagers, adults and seniors are hooked by the games and are investing in the sophisticated gaming devices and elaborate accessories.

Gamers competed with designers and manufactures to take gaming to new levels of excitement. This has lead to the creation of state-of-art accessories for the Sony play station. Here we take a close look at 3 accessories.

• The 8MB memory card for Sony Playstation 2: Most games are not completed in a single sitting and as an avid gamer if you want to save your game mid-way to play later, or you want to save characters you have unlocked or levels you have jumped then you just cannot do so on the CD. To write data and save games you need a memory card.

Most techies will tell you that a memory card is vital to a devoted gamer, it's the very heart of a gaming console. The market has original Sony as well as third party memory cards which can be used on the playstation. An original Sony memory card retails for approximately USD 15-USD 20 and has 15 blocks on which games can be stored. The immediate advantage or an original versus a third party card is that the original Sony Playstation cards rarely crash and cause loss of valuable gaming data. They last more that four years and you can write and overwrite data with no problems at all. If you are just a casual gamer then you may just need a 15 block Sony original memory card that will offer great security and dependability.

• Logitech Driving Force Pro Steering Wheel for Sony Playstation2: Gamers who are avid driving game players just cannot function without this Force Pro Steering Wheel. According to players using the steering wheel with the Sony Playstation 2 brings realism into the game and gives immediate force feedback. When playing driving simulator games the wheel introduces realism and the gamer can feel the torque and turn when confronted with different weather and road conditions during a game. It clues the player on how to reach new gaming levels by giving an indication of when to change tires, speed, and so on. It is made of durable material and offers a great grip and brings realism and comfort into driving games. The set up can be customized to suit individual needs. The wheel can be used for the playstation as well as PC, all a player has to do is download the USB steering wheel drivers from the Logitech site. The driving wheel retails at USD 129.99.

* Sony Network Adaptor : This allows players to play with gamers online. Using this accessory a Sony PlayStation gamer can expand his gaming base and test his gaming skills with gamers all over the world. The Network Adaptor permits gamers to compete against others, evolve in games, learn new tricks, and reach new levels of excitement. Costing around USD 35.49, the adaptor supports broad band as well as dial up internet connectivity. The CNET editor's review rated this accessory as 7.3 out of 10 which means very good.


Every gaming console has a parallel accessory market and gamers need to weigh the pros and cons of Sony Playstation accessories before spending valuable money. Two great sites that give in depth and informed reviews are CNET.com and Eopinions.com. Learn all about gaming accessories and only buy the best.

Author Bio
Aaron Brooks is a freelance writer for www.1888freeonlinegames.com, the premier website to play thousands of free online games including arcade games, action games, card games, flash games, strategy games, puzzle games and more. He also freelances for Free Software Downloads Site www.1888softwaredownloads.com

Article Source: http://www.ArticleGeek.com - Free Website Content

The PS3: What is Sony Thinking?

A statement was issued this morning stating that the much anticipated PS3 will be delayed, AGAIN. The new release date for the PS3 in Europe will now be somewhere around March of 2007 for Europe, Russia, and the Middle East. It has also been confirmed that the production of the console has been scaled back by a considerable amount. There will be only 100,000 consoles released in Japan when it goes on sale for them on November 11th. On top of that, North America will only be receiving roughly 400,000 units for launch on November 17th. Sony had originally announced that the first launch would be around 2 million, and now they are falling quite short of that.

What is going on here? Does Sony not realize they could be taking themselves out of the console race with these delays? They are already starting to see slipping profits, and so are some of their game creators. And all we keep hearing are excuses, excuses, and more excuses. By the time they start releasing their precious console, most of the world is going to own a 360. The prices are already dropping for the 360, and parents will not be willing to shell out money for both consoles. Sony was already taking some chances when they priced their console much higher than the 360 and the Wii. But, if you make them wait too long, they will purchase the best product that they can get their hands on. With all of these delays and unit cutbacks, Sony seems to want to keep pushing people towards the 360.

I think the best thing for Sony to do at the moment would be to step up and admit they tried to take on too much at once. Sony has stated more than once that the PS3 will be on the market at least 10 before they consider making a replacement. So, they are trying to jam every new technology into this one, and it seems it's too much to juggle. There are many gamers that have expressed the feeling of being lied to by Sony, and they just want to hear the truth. If you deceive your customers, they will know it, and Sony has too much competition to risk that. It's like trying to play a video game with a broken controller: you can barely get through, you usually end up dying, and all your efforts were a waste of time. Wake up Sony!

Author Bio
You can find more articles, pictures, and reviews on all of the new consoles at GeekGods.net

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3 Must have Nintendo Wii Accessories Reviewed and Explained

Gaming is a multi-pronged world with consoles, accessories and more crowding the market. apart from gaming consoles there have developed over the years a great many gaming accessories that take gaming to new never before explored levels.

With Wii Nintendo brings to the fiercely competitive market a product that has family appeal, is affordable, and encompasses great technology. Nintendo intends with the release of Wii to retain its market presence and bring to its consumers new delights in gaming.

The much awaited Nintendo Wii comes with its own batch of must have accessories:

• The Wii remote is slotted for release in the US on November 19th and is priced at USD 39.99. According to pre-release information the Wii remote has a one-handed remote control design and so is more sensitive to pointing, movements, and user friendly. The remote has wireless functions and works using a short-range Bluetooth radio. One can use a maximum of four controllers at a distance of 5 meters from the Wii sensor bar. The Wii remote is multi functional and allows ambidextrous use, can be used horizontally, or like a steering wheel. According to expert gamers the design is such that experienced players will be able to hold a remote in each hand or a Nunchuk in one and a remote in the other. Technically advanced the Wii remote can sense movement and orientation. The remote can identify linear motion along three axes. The optical sensor can determine the direction. According to experts reviewers at CNET the pointer can get jerky or twitchy. And, the tilt control requires a light and subtle touch. The remote controls cannot be calibrated manually and gamers have to make do with Wii's calibrations.

• The Nunchuk is also slotted for release on Nov 19th and is priced at Us 19.99. This is a device that can be plugged into the Wii remote. It has an analog stick and two buttons and can be used in games like Red Steel and Twilight Princess. Since the nunchuk has motion sensors it permits gamers to perform specific character actions, like a spinning slash attack. According to industry reports this is all set to become the most popular and "must have" accessory.

• The Nintendo Classic Controller will also be released in the US on Nov 19th and is priced at USD 19.99. This is the classic-style expansion controller which can be used with the Wii remote slotted in to play games using a traditional game pad. It is to be used to play existing games, virtual console games, and multiplatform games. It connects to the Wii remote through a cord.
Aimed at gaming being fun the Nintendo Wii will disappoint if graphics and special effects are what are required. The biggest draws are supposed to be the motion-sensing remote , pseudo-reality controls, and internet capabilities. The Wii in its present form will not play CDs or DVDs although this feature is in the offing.

Author Bio
Aaron Brooks is a freelance writer for www.1888freeonlinegames.com, the premier website to play thousands of free online games including arcade games, action games, card games, flash games, strategy games, puzzle games and more. He also freelances for Free Software Downloads Site www.1888softwaredownloads.com

Article Source: http://www.ArticleGeek.com - Free Website Content