The I.T. Life

Once upon a time (in 2008) Facebook was kicked out of China, shortly after Google was kicked out as well. These two giant companies being blocked by the “great firewall of China” didn’t make it look very positive for anybody hoping to break into the Chinese market.
Well today, Facebook is rumored to be working out a deal with one of the major Chinese ISPs which should bring Facebook to the Chinese masses. Now how excited are you about this? Very soon the Chinese population will be able to stop socializing in person and communicate through pokes, likes, and status updates… Just like us…

The great guys at M.I.C Gadget have made a limited edition Mark Z action figure. They only made 300, and are charging $70 each so I would recommend you get one now before it ends up like the Steve Jobs action figure they made. I’m holding out for one with his new puppy though.

Warner brothers is testing out renting and selling movies via Facebook. They are starting with The Dark Night, and renting it for $3. This has to be a direct attack by Facebook to try and catch up on some lost revenu that Apple, Microsoft, Sony, and Netflicks (and many others) are making through digital distribution. But seriously, who wants to watch a movie in Facebook?

Another article from Wired this morning, it looks like Facebook may be getting ready for there initial public offer. Facebook is said to be work $50 million, so if this actually goes public it could get very interesting. The reason behind this is that Facebook is supposed to cross the line at 500 shareholders this year, once that happens they will be forced to start filing yearly statements with the SEC. According  to US federal Law, any company with over 500 shareholders and $10 million in assets must file financial reports every year; this does not mean the companies have to go public however many do in order to have more access to there capital.

In 2003 Google crossed the  500 shareholder line; in 2004 Google went public at $85 a share, last Thursday they closed at over $600. According to the documents behind this, Facebook profited over $355 million. This is going to be grate news for those 500 that already have invested in the company, they will no doubt be receiving a great turn around on there investments.

I never liked MySpace, it was alwayse ugly and full of people I don’t care about. Once Facebook came around MySpace really started to take a hit, to the point that most people don’t realize they still exist. Well, about two months ago MySpace decided to do a bit re-design to try and bring themselves a few blocks further from deaths door…. wait for it…. wait for it…. It didn’t work. MySpace has announced some massive layoffs, how massive? How about half the company. Time to lower the flag to half mast and start burning desks for heat guys, its all over.