Facebook crawls under the covers with Microsoft

In the news today...

Microsoft bought $240 million dollars worth of online advertising, controlling the placement of banner ads on Facebook outside the U.S., where about 60% of Facebook's 49 million active users reside.

"Microsoft's 1.6% stake is small, for a company that had $23.4 billion in cash at the end of June, the price tag is a pittance."

Regarding other bidders... Google's Sergey Brin, co-founder and president of technology spoke to the issue by stating "We don't feel we need to own everything that is successful on the Internet." (Ha! I love it.)

"Facebook is expecting to earn a profit of $30 million on $150 million in sales this year. So if it were a publicly traded company, it would be valued at a whopping 500 times earnings. Google, no slouch when it comes to market value, is currently trading at about 53 times earnings. Zuckerberg, 23, wants to take Facebook public at some point. Facebook's Van Natta says the company will use the money to add employees, expand into new markets, and innovate."

That is a lot of money and Facebook is impressing me, not only for the application, but also for their business and communication strategies.

User Browsing Patterns

I have a browsing pattern. I go habitually and immediately, as soon as I am online, to a few of the same websites consistently. I don't just randomly browse about. Do you?

StumbleUpon is great for serving up pre-approved info on virtually any topic and you can customize your preferences to, so it's difficult to grow bored using this utility.

Or, get on a blog roll, and starting where you may have found a bit of interesting info, gradually end up in an alternate reality... ( could happen !). The path you take could lead you to the website of your dreams or a website you don't ever want associated with your IP (or any other acronym with the capability to identify you) .

I know too well the news, the tech, even the celeb crap, it's exactly like junk food, tastes good and is bad for me. I would love to hear about some interesting websites...

With 5 minutes:
I check my facebook.

If I have 15 minutes:
Check google mail, facebook.

If I have 30 minutes:
Google news, google mail, facebook.

If I have 45 minutes:
I check popurls.com, google news, google mail, facebook, itunes.

If I have more time:
Various news sources (Canadian newspapers, CBC, CNN, CBS), facebook, mail, itunes, reader , youtube, veoh, tvlinks, my blog.

With free time, do you have a routine, are there certain "must visit" sites on your agenda?

Do you have a pattern too?

Gadgets for Girls

AOL's Consumer Advisor, thinks there are three distinct tech personalities, among women.

From moms (Mrs. Doubtwires) who can barely email, but are the keepers of memories, to the "Pragmatechs", who need the "FUNCTIONAL" laptop, through to "Techs in the City" eagerly awaiting devices in new colours, the feminine technologically aware were summed up. Personally, I can think of several of women purchasing or potentially buying hard and soft wares that don't fit neatly into these "personalities".

On a positive, the article acknowledges that women buy technology for more than just colour,

"you have to do more than make a product in pink or candy apple red."

But, in a contradictory fashion, goes on to say:

"Devoted BlackBerry users will be excited to learn that there are two new models that will look nicer in their hand: the Curve model now comes in gold and the BlackBerry Pearl is in Sunset Red. And retailers like Target even sell accessories so that Techs in the City can bling out their gear."

This is why we need women in technology. Women consulting, designing and developing technology, incorporating function and utility that makes real sense, from all of our unique perspectives, and making products available that can simplify our lives in meaningful ways.

What would make your life easier, in a technical sense?

What can We Do About the Shortage of Women in IT?

Heather Ross was podcasting for EdTech Posse when I was presenting at BarCamp on Saturday, but she asked on the Ning site, if there is some active role we might be able to take to help encourage more young women in this area.

Here are some things we can do, for a start:

- Celebrate women (like Molly and Tara and danah and Kathy, mentioned in my presentation) already in technology, note that their lives and careers are exciting and cool, this will increase visibility. People want to do things that people like them are doing. When it looks like there aren't women in the field, it doesn't encourage more women to enter it.

- Mentor younger or less experienced women. We all need support and advice. A common reason women gave for leaving technology was that there weren't enough other women in the field. This is a self-perpetuating issue. Join and participate in groups like SW4, for example.

- The education system has a role to play. More emphasis needs to be put on the importance of math and science and more encouragement needs to be given to girls from a young age to build confidence in these areas.

Here are just a few resources for more info:

http://www.oreillynet.com/womenintech/

http://www.infoage.idg.com.au/index.php/id;1994765228;fp;4;fpid;1479507376

http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/01/29/05FEwomentechteen_1.html

http://anitaborg.org/

http://cse.stanford.edu/classes/cs201/Projects/women-faculty/definition.html

How do you think we can encourage more young women to enter technology and more women to stay in the industry once they've started along this career path?