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07:16

Social Media Tools Reinvent How Business Is Done

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When Red Robin Gourmet Burgers introduced its new Tavern Double burger line last month, the company had to get everything right. So it turned to social media.

The 460-restaurant chain used an internal social network that resembles Facebook to teach its managers everything from the recipes to the best, fastest way to make them. Instead of mailing out spiral-bound books, getting feedback during executives' sporadic store visits and taking six months to act on advice from the trenches, the network's freewheeling discussion and video produced results in days. Red Robin is already kitchen-testing recipe tweaks based on customer feedback -- and the four new sandwiches just hit the table April 30.

Facebook's initial public offering Friday -- the largest by a technology company -- is a watershed moment for the consumer side of the Web, but social networking's real economic impact might be ahead as companies learn how to harness "social business" tools.

Beyond advertising on Facebook or Twitter, companies are using social networks to build teams that solve problems faster, share information better among their employees and partners, bring customer ideas for new product designs to market earlier, and redesign all kinds of corporate software in Facebook's easy-to-learn style.

"At a very basic level, Facebook is the most popular application ever, with a billion people who know how to use it," said Marc Benioff, chief executive of salesforce.com, whose Chatter social-networking tools are used by 150,000 companies. "The ability to access information is much better because it's easier to get to it."

After a slow start, Big Business is embracing social media in a big way. Forrester Research says the sales of software to run corporate social networks will grow 61% a year and be a $6.4 billion business by 2016.

Two-thirds of big companies surveyed now use Web 2.0 tools such as social networks...

07:13

Wireless Carriers To Roll Out Data-Share Plans

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Brace yourself, parents: You may have to share your monthly wireless data allotment with your Netflix-loving kid.

In a bid to sell and connect more devices to their wireless networks -- and generate more money per subscriber -- major carriers are preparing to introduce "data share" plans.

In such plans, customers get a fixed bucket of monthly data and share it among family members or among multiple wireless-enabled devices such as tablets, smartphones and security monitors. For example, a plan could have 5 gigabytes for two devices, instead of 3 GB for one.

A typical current wireless family plan allows you to share voice minutes, but any data allotment has to be assigned to individual devices.

The changes come as wireless companies are trying to improve profit margins even as they invest heavily in the next new generation of fast wireless networks, called 4G LTE. The carriers are tinkering with their data plans to maximize revenue and also to try to bring in new waves of users still using call- and text-only phones.

Fran Shammo, CFO of Verizon Communications, which controls Verizon Wireless, told analysts Wednesday that it will introduce a data-share plan and phase out unlimited data plans.

"Customers have told us that they want to share data, similar to how they share minutes today," Verizon Wireless said in a statement Thursday, confirming Shammo's comments. "We are working on plans to provide customers with that option later this year."

Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&T Mobility, has said in recent days it will have a similar plan.

Sprint declined to comment.

Verizon and AT&T didn't give pricing or details of their data-share plans. But analysts say they'll be structured to make it easier for users to add new devices and to expose more people to the Web or streaming a movie while on the move.

"Now, if you...

07:10

Costco Ready To Up Its E-Commerce Game

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It's a curiosity of how the Internet works that a shopper using a search engine to find a flat-screen TV probably will not turn up Costco Wholesale, a major television vendor and the country's largest retailer after Wal-Mart.

Costco.com is not built to attract online hits, but it does decent business -- about $2 billion in sales a year. It does so by offering everything from caskets to an 18.88-carat diamond, while attracting customers even more affluent than the average shopper at its warehouses.

Now the chain -- based in Issaquah, Wash., less than 20 miles from the offices of online Bigfoot Amazon.com Inc. -- wants to up its game online, and experts say it's about time.

Costco.com hopes to launch mobile applications for Apple and Android this month, grow internationally in the coming year and improve its ranking in online searches.

"The stakes are very high," said Vladimir Zwass, a computer-science professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, N.J., and editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Electronic Commerce. "The growth of e-tail is far sharper than the growth of retail in general, and sooner or later those companies will simply eat Costco's lunch."

Currently, Costco.com ranks 17th among online retailers. Amazon ranks first and Wal-Mart fourth -- and both are growing faster than Costco, according to the trade publication Internet Retailer.

"A lot of other chain retailers, including Wal-Mart, are doing things sooner, better and quicker, including going international," said Mark Brohan, director of research for the publication. "Wal-Mart has included Sam's Club (a Costco competitor) in its aggressive plans for overseas online sales, including China, and Wal-Mart is buying social-media companies to get hold of the always-connected buyer."

Ginnie Roeglin, senior vice president of Costco's e-commerce and publishing operations, said the chain does not appear in searches partly because "we don't advertise and we don't...

07:08

YouTube Launching Food Channel with TV Veterans

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Bruce Seidel is confident the future of food television won't be seen on television. Which is why the Food Network and Cooking Channel veteran has checked out of network TV to oversee the launch of YouTube's latest original content channel, HUNGRY. The channel, which goes live on July 2, is expected to feature a freewheeling blend of how-to and celebrity-driven food videos.

The venture is part of the Google Inc.-owned video site's plan to launch roughly 100 channels of niche-oriented programming. Earlier this month, YouTube pledged to spend some $200 million to help market those channels across Google and its advertising network.

Seidel was drawn to the project in part for YouTube's ability to create a more direct community with viewers than generally is possible with network television. It also offered more flexibility not just for viewers, but also for producers, who can more easily experiment with format and content.

YouTube also offers an enviably large and young demographic, truly the icing on advertisers' cake.

"The wonderful thing about YouTube is it has 800 million users worldwide and they all need to eat," Seidel said in a telephone interview. "I'd like to get just 1 percent of them."

YouTube content historically has been dominated by low- and no-budget user generated videos. But Seidel, a former top executive at Food Network who oversaw the launch of its sister network, Cooking Channel, said HUNGRY will feature professionally produced videos worthy of any network.

At launch, videos will stick mostly with YouTube convention, running one to three minutes, with new episodes posted weekly. Seidel said they also are eager to explore longer format videos. By the end of the summer, the channel hopes to have close to a dozen series, all produced in partnership with multimedia studio Electus-IAC, which is responsible for the channel's content.

One of the series will...

01:00

Facebook Snapshot Cool, But Doesn't Capture Dynamics

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In my five years on Facebook, I've shared a lot of photos, links and other tidbits about my life. I've commented on what my friends share, and I've endorsed plenty of their posts by hitting the "like" button. I've gained Facebook friends over the years, and I've lost some.

[I] decided it was a good time to take CEO Mark Zuckerberg up on his offer to give back to me everything I've put up on Facebook.

In announcing the Download Your Information feature in 2010, Zuckerberg promised "an easy way to quickly download to your computer everything you've ever posted on Facebook and all your correspondences with friends: your messages, Wall posts, photos, status updates and profile information."

It was billed as part of Facebook's effort to give you more control over your data.

Why might you want this?

Internet services sometimes lose data. A few of my Facebook posts have inexplicably disappeared over the years, so it's reassuring to know that I can download a backup anytime.

The feature also allows me to close my Facebook account without giving up all of my memories, should I ever want to. As long as Facebook keeps offering the feature, I can post to my heart's content and rest assured that I always have the option to leave without losing my digital investment.

Perhaps one day another social network will overtake Facebook. It would be great if you could populate that with years' worth of photos and musings from Facebook, rather than have to start over. There's no good way of doing so now. I'm surprised rival Google Plus doesn't have a huge "import" button for transferring over your Facebook life. But having that archive is a start, and it'll just take someone to build that transfer capability.

I'll also add that a Facebook archive could be useful if a...

00:41

Report: Hewlett-Packard To Slash 25,000 Workers

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Hewlett-Packard is considering eliminating up to 25,000 jobs -- 7% of its workforce -- to slash costs and help the venerable tech company cope with declining demand for computers and services, according to several reports.

The cuts could include 10,000 to 15,000 from HP's enterprise services group, which sells information technology services but has been bedeviled by shrinking profits, according to a report by Bloomberg News, citing unnamed sources. USA TODAY could not confirm the report.

HP is mulling reductions to its 349,600-person workforce through early-retirement packages, Bloomberg reported.

Purging 18,000 jobs could result in $1.2 billion in savings and add 50 cents to annual per-share earnings, Brian Marshall, an analyst at ISI Group, estimated in a research note this month.

HP spokesman Michael Thacker declined to comment.

The 73-year-old company, the original garage start-up in Silicon Valley, could announce the layoffs Wednesday when it reports fiscal second-quarter earnings.

Meg Whitman, HP's CEO since September, is trying to reverse a series of missteps that led to the ouster of her predecessor, Leo Apotheker.

HP faces fierce competition from all sides. Its PC business is under siege from Apple and other computer makers. At the same time, HP vies for corporate sales of hardware, software and services with heavyweights IBM, Oracle and Cisco Systems.

The layoffs "might be tied, in part, to marketplace performance of the business units," says Forrester analyst Frank Gillett.

In February, HP forecast sales for the quarter through April that fell short of analysts' predictions. Sales in the current year may decline 4% to $122.4 billion, according to average analyst predictions.

Whitman, who ran eBay for a decade before an unsuccessful run for governor of California, in March said she would merge HP's PC and printing divisions, step up R&D investments and take steps to shore up HP's balance sheet.

"While the (rumored layoff) number sounds big, it...

21:29

Apple Rebrands Itself as iRenewable with Green Data Centers

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Some Apples will be green. Apple data centers, that is.

The technology giant has announced that its new half-million-square-foot data center in Maiden, N.C., will only use electricity that has been generated by renewable energy. The company said that the Maiden facility will be "the most environmentally sound data center ever built."

This complements plans for a data center currently in Newark, Calif., and one planned for Prineville, Ore., to go 100 percent renewable.

'An Industry First'

Two solar array installations are being built to support the North Carolina center, and both will use high-efficiency solar cells and an advanced solar tracking system. One array will be a 100-acre, 20 megawatt installation on the same site as the data center, and it will generate 42 million kilowatt-hours each year.

The other, also 100 acres, is being located several miles away, and it will produce another 42 million kWh. A bio-gas-powered 5-megawatt fuel cell installation is being constructed, and will become operational later this year. It will add another 40 million kWh.

These Apple-owned energy generators will generate 124 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, which will account for 60 percent of the data center's needs. The remainder will come from area providers of renewable energy.

Greenpeace Protests

The data center planned for Prineville will use only renewable energy, purchased from local providers of wind, hydro and geothermal. The data center in Newark has received regulatory permission to purchase electricity from renewable sources, and expects to be 100 percent renewable by February of next year.

In a section called "Apple and the Environment" on its Web site, the company pointed out that its operations center in Austin, Texas, has been using only purchased renewable energy for nearly a decade, and now its operations centers in Sacramento, Munich, and Cork, Ireland, do as well. The corporate headquarters in Cupertino,...

21:07

Comcast Suspends Xfinity Broadband Data Cap

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Comcast has suspended its 250 GB monthly data usage threshold for its Xfinity broadband customers and plans to begin trials of new multi-tiered Xfinity data service featuring a minimum data allotment of 300 GB per month in selected U.S. markets.

The nation's largest broadband service provider said the change is being driven primarily by a dramatic rise in demand for data-intensive content such as high-definition video streaming.

Comcast said it was immediately ceasing enforcement measures associated with the Xfinity service provider's current 250 GB data usage cap. In other words, excessive data users no longer face having their accounts suspended if they repeatedly exceed their monthly data caps -- at least with respect to the duration of Comcast's coming multi-tier trials.

"We've never had any intention to limit the lawful use of the Internet or restrict our customers' ability to view online video," said Comcast Executive Vice President Cathy Avgiris in a blog post Thursday.

"The purpose of the usage threshold was simply to ensure that all of our customers were treated fairly and had a consistent and superior experience while using our high-speed data service," Avgiris said.

Piloting Two Approaches

Comcast said it was still determining trial locations and expected to share more details soon.

"We'll be piloting at least two approaches in different markets, and we'll provide additional details on these trials as they launch," Avgiris said.

The new trials are expected to offer usage allowances that incrementally increase the user's allotment for each tier of high-speed data service. The new base plans in trial markets will start at 300 GB of data usage per month -- with higher tiers in 50 GB blocks costing an additional $10 per block.

Offing more flexible data usage management approaches will "ensure that all of our customers enjoy the best possible Internet...

19:58

Summer Forecast Sparks Concern Over Fires

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As the nation swelters through its warmest year on record, a new forecast for a broiling summer is raising concern about wildfires and water shortages, especially across parts of the western and southern USA.

Federal forecasters from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released their summer weather forecast Thursday.

About three-fourths of the nation -- from the Southwest to the Mid-Atlantic -- faces elevated odds of above-average temperatures this summer, NOAA forecaster Jon Gottschalck said.

"However, we can't predict how much above average that area will be," he said.

Summers have trended warm in recent years: The National Climatic Data Center reports that all but two of the summers since 2000 have been warmer than average, including 2011, which was the second-warmest on record.

"We may see a pretty significant wildfire season in the West," meteorologist Greg Carbin of the Storm Prediction Center said Thursday. "Conditions aren't looking good," he said, because of recent dry weather and lack of soil moisture.

In addition to wildfires, the unusually dry winter in parts of the country is also raising drought worries.

"Areas of the Southwest are extremely dry," NOAA climate scientist Jake Crouch said. "There is a concern about water resources this summer, as reservoirs are below average in New Mexico and Arizona."

As for precipitation, the Northwest and northern Rockies are likely to see below-average rainfall this summer, Gottschalck said. No areas are expected to be wetter-than-normal this summer.

Weather forecasting firm AccuWeather issued a forecast earlier this month that the worst of the heat this summer will be in the Rockies and over the western and central Plains.

As for severe weather, Carbin reported that there have been 475 tornadoes in the USA through April, above average but still far below last year's devastating January-April total of 912.

19:57

Commercial Rocket Will Fly to the Space Station

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For the first time, a private company will launch a rocket to the International Space Station, sending it on a grocery run this weekend that could be the shape of things to come for America's space program.

If this unmanned flight and others like it succeed, commercial spacecraft could be ferrying astronauts to the orbiting outpost within five years.

It's a transition that has been in the works since the middle of the last decade, when President George W. Bush decided to retire the space shuttle and devote more of NASA's energies to venturing deeper into space.

Saturday's flight by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is "a thoroughly exciting moment in the history of spaceflight, but is just the beginning of a new way of doing business for NASA," said President Barack Obama's chief science adviser, John Holdren.

By handing off space station launches to private business, "NASA is freeing itself up to focus on exploring beyond low Earth orbit for the first time in 40 years."

California-based Space Exploration, or SpaceX, is the first of several companies hoping to take over the space station delivery business for the U.S. The company's billionaire mastermind, Elon Musk, puts the odds of success in his favor while acknowledging the chance for mishaps.

NASA likewise cautions: This is only a test.

"We need to be careful not to assume that the success or failure of commercial spaceflight is going to hang in the balance of this single flight," said Mike Suffredini, NASA's space station program manager. "Demo flights don't always go as planned."

Once it nears the space station after a two-day flight, the SpaceX capsule, called Dragon, will spend a day of practice maneuvers before NASA signals it to move in for a linkup. Then its cargo -- a half-ton of food and other pantry items, all nonessential, in case the...

19:57

Scientists Discover Giant Prehistoric Turtle

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A team of paleontologists including scientists from North Carolina State University has discovered the fossil remains of a new species of dining table-size freshwater turtle that apparently lived side-by-side with the 50-foot snakes and super-size crocodiles that they had found earlier in the same Colombian coal mine.

Carbonemys cofrinii, or "coal turtle," was more than six-feet long from nose to tail. It represents a rapid increase in size from the largest known to have lived just before it, which were about two feet long. That makes it an intriguing piece of the evolutionary puzzle.

In part, said the scientists, that growth spurt may have been a Darwinian strategy to fight off the giant crocs by making the turtle simply too big for dinner.

"It was so large that it may actually have been chomping on some of the smaller crocodiles itself," said Dan Ksepka, an NCSU paleontologist and a research associate at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences. "Once it grew to its full size, nothing much was going to be able to eat it."

The shell of the turtle they found had bite marks from a couple of crocodile attacks, but none that came close to piercing the thick carapace. The head was equipped with surprisingly large and powerful jaws.

Ksepka and NCSU doctoral student Edwin Cadena were among the authors of a research paper on the turtle published Thursday in the Journal of Systematic Paleontology.

Cadena was scouting for fossils in 2007 in the Cerrejon mine in northern Colombia when he spied part of the turtle's shell protruding from clay-based rock about 120 feet down in the pit.

It took six days of painstaking labor with a hand broom and a screwdriver to uncover the full remains of the shell.

"It was only when I was finished do I see that it was something different than...

19:57

Veterans Exposed to Explosions at Risk for Dementia

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A generation of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans exposed to explosions may be at risk for early-onset dementia, according to a new study that looked at the autopsied brains of four former combat service members and four athletes.

Scientists said their work showed evidence of a progressive degenerative brain disorder known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a disease found in recent years among deceased professional football players who had suffered multiple concussions.

What researchers said was particularly alarming was evidence that the disorder could result from exposure to a single blast.

"Ramifications are that these hundreds of thousands of military personnel are at risk for this disorder. It doesn't mean by any means that they all have or will get it. But they are at risk for it," says Ann McKee, a Department of Veterans Affairs scientist and co-author of the study in Science Translational Medicine.

The study findings were based on comparing brain autopsies of four Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with four young athletes, as well as studying mice exposed to a simulated blast.

Brain-trauma scientists who treat or study soldiers and Marines who suffer combat brain injuries applauded the study for focusing attention on CTE but questioned some of the conclusions.

Given the limited number of brain autopsies in the study, Army Col. Geoffrey Ling cautioned against sweeping conclusions about risks to veterans in the future.

Daniel Perl, professor of pathology and a neuropathologist at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, says the findings will spur more research.

"It's not the whole story. It's just the beginning," he says.

Progression of CTE -- which is marked by memory loss, suicidal thoughts and aggression -- is slow, but appears to be irreversible after eight to 10 years, with the prospect of early dementia within a few decades, the scientists say.

"We need to find some answers quickly so...

19:39

9 Million Pre-Orders for Samsung Galaxy S III Reported

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Samsung, the world's No. 1 mobile-phone maker, appears to have another hit device on its hands even before it goes on store shelves overseas at the end of the month.

The Galaxy S III, the latest flagship phone from the South Korean electronics giant, has already racked up 9 million pre-orders, according to a report published in a South Korean business newspaper.

The Korea Economic Daily, citing an unnamed Samsung official as its source, said the orders came from a hundred carriers and the company was producing about 5 million Galaxies per month. The phone will launch in Europe on May 29th but isn't expected in the U.S. until June. The price and wireless-carrier partners in the U.S. have not been announced.

Timing Is Good

Neil Shah, senior analyst for wireless mobile strategy at Strategy Analytics, told us the Android 4.0.4 device's reported pre-order figure is credible because of timing and past numbers.

"Considering the iPhone 4S effect is slightly fading since it launched last year and a lot of people are anticipating the iPhone 5, the Galaxy S III numbers could be very healthy," Shah said.

"Demand is going to be pretty high, considering the average selling rate for Samsung flagship devices the last two or three quarters have been between 5 million and 6 million per quarter," he said. "The Galaxy S II reached 20 million in February 2011 [after a year], which is an average of 5 million per quarter."

The company's unique Galaxy Note, a cross between a tablet and smartphone, reached 5 million units shipped in March after only four months on the market, he noted.

"If these two units can sell 6 to 7 million units per quarter and Samsung has a great distribution reach across more than 100 countries and hundreds of operators, 6 to 10 million [for the S...

18:45

Facebook Hit with $15 Billion Privacy Class Action Suit

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Facebook is now a publicly traded company -- and it's also under legal fire. Beyond Yahoo's patent litigation against the social media giant, Facebook is the subject of a class action suit over privacy concerns.

Facebook users on Friday filed an amended consolidated class action complaint in federal court in San Jose, Calif. The privacy suit involves alleged Facebook Internet tracking violations and seeks a minimum of $15 billion in damages.

"This is not just a damages action, but a groundbreaking digital-privacy rights case that could have wide and significant legal and business implications," said David Straite, a Stewarts Law partner. Stewarts Law, a London firm that set up U.S. offices in April, is representing the class action.

Tapping the Wiretap Act

The lawsuit argues federal statutory and California state causes of action related to the revelation in September 2011 that Facebook was improperly tracking the Internet use of its members even after they logged out of their accounts. The class action consolidates 21 related cases filed in more than a dozen states in 2011 and early 2012.

The plaintiffs' argument is based on the federal Wiretap Act, which provides statutory damages per user of $100 per day per violation, up to a maximum per user of $10,000. Even if Facebook's alleged actions constitute a single violation of the Wiretap Act per class member, that implies more than $15 billion in damages across the class. The complaint also asserts claims under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Stored Communications Act, various California statutes and California common law.

The amended suit comes on the day Facebook went public. Facebook hit its financial targets, raising $16 billion in its IPO. The stock climbed $4 a share to about $42 a share, a 10 percent boost, in the first few minutes of trading on Wall Street Friday morning....

18:17

Twitter Supports 'Do Not Track'

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The "Do Not Track" movement has one more corporate supporter. On Thursday, leading social media site Twitter announced that it will honor requests from users who do not want their online behavior monitored and reported.

With this action, Twitter becomes an official supporter of the voluntary privacy initiative for U.S. companies, which has been backed by the Federal Trade Commission, the Mozilla Foundation and online privacy organizations. A set of best practices for U.S. sites goes into effect next year. In Europe, the mandatory European Union Privacy Directive goes into effect on May 26 for all European-based companies and for multinationals.

'Tailored Suggestions'

Twitter has begun implementing experiments in "tailored suggestions," which recommends whom users might want to follow, based on a user's personalized information. The site points out on its company blog that, as a supporter of Do Not Track, "we will not collect the information that enables this feature" if someone has DNT enabled in browser settings.

Twitter has gone so far as to tweet that "we applaud the FTC's leadership on DNT." The move by Twitter was praised Thursday in a statement by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who said the action "is something that responsible, competitive companies can do." Mozilla has recently noted that nearly 9 percent of its desktop users and 19 percent of its mobile users are using the DNT feature in its browser.

A Do Not Track option is now available in Mozilla's Firefox, Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Apple's Safari Web browsers, and soon in Google's Chrome. But in the U.S., Web sites have the option to comply or not.

To assist Web sites in managing and disabling tracking-related third-party tags, Cupertino, Calif.-based Ensighten recently released a free Web tool. Called PrivacyDNT, it allows Web site owners to identify all third-party tags, create lists of which ones...

18:12

California Museum Gets Big Gift To Build Shuttle Exhibit

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The California Science Museum said it has raised nearly half of the $200 million needed to build a permanent exhibit for the space shuttle Endeavour.

The museum recently received a donation from the Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Oschin Family Foundation that will allow it to start the design phase of the project. The museum didn't disclose the amount of the gift, citing an agreement it made with the foundation.

"This is a huge boost. It gives a vote of confidence for the project" museum president Jeffrey Rudolph said Wednesday.

Rudolph spent the past year fundraising and still has halfway to go to fulfill the museum's goal. The museum has received gifts from private foundations, corporations and individuals, but Rudolph said the latest donation was "very significant and truly transformative."

The museum planned to introduce the foundation at an event Thursday that will be attended by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa,

When the display opens in 2017, it will be called the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center in memory of a real estate developer and astronomy enthusiast, and will feature Endeavour in a vertical position, as if it's ready to launch.

Until then, Endeavour will be housed in a temporary exhibit currently under construction. It is slated to be bolted to the top of a modified jumbo jet and arrive in Los Angeles in late September.

Since NASA retired the shuttle fleet last year, technicians have been busy prepping the shuttles to their final destination as museum pieces. Atlantis remained in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Last month, Discovery wowed crowds by swooping over the nation's capital before landing in Virginia where it will go on display at the Smithsonian Institution's hangar at Dulles International Airport. Several weeks later, the prototype shuttle Enterprise sailed over the Statue of Liberty and past the skyscrapers along Manhattan's West Side before touching down at Kennedy...

17:23

Cash from Facebook IPO Likely to Fund More Startups

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Facebook shares are officially trading. The social media giant set its initial share price at $38 and offered 421 million shares. That means Facebook could make IPO history with an $18.5 billion offering on a $104 billion valuation.

Facebook boasts about 900 million monthly active users. Facebook officially became the top-ranked Web site in the U.S. in March 2010, according to Experian Hitwise. Twenty percent of all Web page views stateside are on Facebook.

The stage is set. The shares are trading. But what happens when the dust settles? If Facebook's IPO meets expectations, social media startups could become the investment du jour. But if Facebook doesn't hit on all IPO cylinders -- or if it can't sustain its success in coming quarters, the story could look much different for social networking upstarts.

A Profound Impact?

We asked Scott Sellers, co-founder and CEO of Azul Systems, which develops runtime platforms for executing Java-based apps, his take on the Facebook IPO. He told us the day you see your company stock symbol moving across the ticker is one you never forget.

"Facebook going public will have a profound impact on Silicon Valley and sprout an entire new crop of startups as a result of this newfound capital," Sellers said. "I believe this IPO will create a domino effect of new money flooding into the mobile realm as well as international markets as Facebook's technology becomes more widely accepted and utilized."

Can Facebook Remain Authentic?

We also looked to Rob Vandenberg, president and CEO of Lingotek, which provides Web-based automated language translation tools, what he thinks about the Facebook IPO phenomenon. He told us Zuckerberg has literally created a 'universal human network' via Facebook.

"How can you not like what Zuckerberg has done to revolutionize the way we communicate? Essentially, he invented a platform that brings us...

16:44

LG Upgrades Flagship Smartphone To Revive Fortunes

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South Korean handset maker LG Electronics Inc. has upgraded its flagship smartphone model with a faster chip and a longer battery life, hoping to regain ground lost to more nimble rivals.

The Optimus LTE II smartphone, which costs 935,000 won ($804) without subsidies, will be released by all three mobile carriers in South Korea this week. Park Jong-seok, president of LG's mobile business, said Thursday the new model is for South Korean users only but similar iterations would be released overseas.

LG, which is recuperating from massive losses in its mobile business since 2010, is betting on the introduction of a faster mobile network called LTE around the world to boost smartphone sales.

Mobile carriers in South Korea, Japan, North America and Europe have begun services on the latest wireless network, aiming to lure consumers seeking quicker downloads of videos and smooth web surfing on a phone.

With a 2-gigabyte memory capacity, the new Optimus phone can run multiple applications simultaneously at a faster rate, LG said. Most other high-end smartphones have a 1- or 1.5-gigabyte memory.

LG claimed the new phone's battery life is about 40 percent longer than its predecessor, the Optimus LTE.

Once the world's third-largest mobile phone maker, LG was overtaken by Apple Inc. last year. Sales of LG's low-end phones were hit by Chinese competitors while its top-end lineup could not compete with the Galaxy series of smartphones by Samsung Electronics Co. or Apple's iPhones.

IDC Group ranked LG as the world's fifth-largest phone maker in the first quarter of this year as China's ZTE Corp. climbed to No. 4 and Apple went up to the third place.

"We reduced the shipments of lowest end feature phones last year," Park told reporters at a press conference. "We are not so focused on the unit shipments as much as the quality and sales of...

16:39

Nice Problem: Customers Clog Panera's Free Wi-Fi

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Restaurant giant Panera Bread made a big business bet eight years ago to offer free Wi-Fi to its customers as a way to boost sales, long before Starbucks.

The fresh breads eatery aimed to court customers in between meals. The experiment worked, raising sales early on about 15%.

But now, it's become a challenge to meet the Wi-Fi demand, says Panera's vice president of technology, Blaine Hurst. "With mobile carriers cracking down on data plans, more and more people say, 'I'll go to Panera for free Wi-Fi.' How do we make sure we have capacity?"

With free Wi-Fi available at national chains such as Starbucks and McDonald's, and becoming more accessible without charge at hotels or airports, Panera is grappling with how to keep its Wi-Fi customers happy amid heated rivalry.

For now, Panera has got a gold-plated problem: Customers' use of its Wi-Fi is way up. Monthly connections to Panera's wireless network at its 1,565 locations have grown to 2.7 million sessions in April from 2.2 million a year ago.

The downside is slow Internet service. The company's network sometimes gets clogged because so many people are online at once. Some Panera locations will restrict Internet use to 30 minutes during the busy lunch hour. But Hurst is looking for solutions.

He's experimenting with rewarding frequent Panera customers with loyalty program benefits: unrestricted Wi-Fi. "Is there a way you get guaranteed access because you're a frequent Panera shopper?" Hurst says. "How do we make it better for our guests?"

Nicole Miller Regan, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, says Panera would be smart to tie premium Wi-Fi with its MyPanera loyalty program, which she says has "extremely high" participation.

Panera says some 45% of all transactions are by loyalty members, who get free "surprises" (cookies, cupcakes, coffee) periodically in exchange for signing in with the card.

"The loyalty program...

16:36

Phones in the Sky: Virgin Atlantic Allows Calls

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The phrase "Can you hear me now" has entered the jet age. Passengers on certain Virgin Atlantic flights are now able to use their cell phones to make and receive phone calls at 35,000 feet, the airline announced Tuesday.

The British airline's new service could be a blessing for business travelers who want to stay connected during eight-hour flights across the ocean. It could also be a nightmare for the passenger sitting next to them.

"I suspect most passengers, like myself, would prefer not to listen to somebody on the phone for what might be hours," said airline analyst Robert Mann.

Only six passengers at a time will be able to use the system, which the airline says is intended "for use in exceptional situations." Passengers will be able to send text messages, make a call or access email on mobile devices. The airline won't charge extra for the service but cell phone users will be charged their carrier's international roaming rates.

Initially, the service -- which utilizes a satellite connection -- will only be available for customers of European cell phone providers O2 and Vodafone and U.S. carrier T-Mobile.

The service debuted Tuesday on the airline's new Airbus A330-300 planes flying between New York and London. It will expand to nearly 20 planes by year-end, from a handful now.

Dubai-based Emirates became the first carrier to allow passengers to use their personal cell phones back in 2008. A handful of other airlines in the Middle East including Oman Air and Royal Jordanian now have similar services.

Passengers today already wrestle for control of the armrest and the few precious inches of personal space they have. It isn't clear how the flying public will react to phone calls mid-flight.

George Hobica, founder of AirfareWatchdog, says Virgin will have to restrict times of day when passengers can make calls...

22:00

School Districts Adopt Brocade's Stackable FCX Switches

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Brocade is helping school districts in California, Missouri and South Carolina upgrade their IT networks to achieve substantial cost-savings by taking advantage of the latest technologies built into the company's entire range of FCX switches.

The goal of Brocade's new "effortless network" initiative is to help the IT departments at schools across the nation -- which have traditionally focused on supporting data -- deal with new challenges, such as streaming video, virtual desktops and unified communications, as well as providing support for personal devices and delivering anytime, anywhere access.

"Our students don't want access to just the server -- they want access to the world," said Cathi Eredia, interim director of technology at El Monte Union High School District in Southern California.

To make this possible, Brocade's entire range of stackable FCX switches are now powered by HyperEdge technology that delivers new levels of automation and simplification in campus LANs. According to Brocade, HyperEdge is all about "simplifying network management and paying for only what you need today while enabling you to add seamless capacity and functionality as your needs grow."

Economy Without Sacrificing Functionality

Among other things, HyperEdge automatically consolidates the management of all campus access devices to a single IP address, which makes it easier for schools to roll out new security access policies.

"Instead of manually reconfiguring each device or configurable stack, HyperEdge technology allows you to update user ports across the campus with just a single command," Brocade said in a HyperEdge technology video overview.

With most state governments sharply focused on reducing their annual budgets, school districts are also struggling to do more with less money than in the past. At the Fort Mill School District in South Carolina, for example, the student size has doubled to more than 10,500 in the past decade -- even as the...

21:35

Social CRM Essential, But ROI Takes Time

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Sales, marketing and customer service departments alike are adopting social applications. But seeing a return on social CRM investment may take a little longer than some hope.

According to research and analysis firm Gartner, Inc., only 50 percent of Fortune 1000 companies will receive a worthwhile return on investment from their social customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives by the end of 2012.

"For the 50 percent of Fortune 1000 organizations not determining, or even measuring, ROI, ignorance will mean failed projects," said Adam Sarner, research director at Gartner. "Among the companies who will not see a worthwhile return, only 20 percent will even have the data to evaluate where their social strategy is falling short. These organizations will be unable to justify future funding."

Looking for Measurable Results

Gartner predicts the worldwide market for social CRM software licenses and subscriptions to total $2.1 billion in 2012, up from $850 million in 2011, and that social CRM revenue will represent 10 percent of the overall CRM market.

Despite the uptick, Gartner sees the success of social CRM over the next two years depending on how well companies and social CRM technology providers can make these projects more than just social objectives by tying them to clear and measurable business objectives. Three-quarters of new social CRM initiatives that receive funding will have a business case incorporating measurable ROI by the end of 2012, Gartner predicts.

"Social data, such as numbers of fan pages and weekly Tweets, is not enough to correlate with the contribution of top business objectives," Sarner said. "ROI, measurable business value and budget justification for social projects are becoming unavoidable topics for many organizations."

Differentiating Social CRM

Although social CRM was mostly at first a marketing concern, it has trickled down to other areas of the enterprise, from marketing and sales to customer service and support. Social...

20:56

Promoted Posts Could Bolster Ad Revenue for a Public Facebook

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Like promoted tweets on Twitter and sponsored messages on Google and YouTube, paid Facebook posts may soon linger in your Newsfeed if users are able to pony up a fee to make sure their latest status updates get the proper attention.

The world's largest social network is testing a system in New Zealand allowing users to pay a range of nominal fees, in the area of $2, for those "sticky" promotions, which ostensibly would allow the update to stay in friends' Newsfeeds without being pushed down by incoming posts.

Building Confidence

BBC News reported the trial program last week. Facebook told the network, "This particular test is simply to gauge people's interest in this method of sharing with their friends."

It's one of the potential revenue streams Facebook seems forced to explore as it offers its stock to the public and needs to convince investors that it is not a long-running fad.

Facebook has long rebuffed rumors that it would eventually start charging users a membership fee, or roll out some kind of premium service, declaring on its log-in page that it's "free and always will be."

As far back as 2009, hoaxes about a paywall prompted Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg to tell BusinessWeek: "We are not planning on charging a basic fee for our basic services. That question stems from people thinking we're growing so quickly, we're running out of money. We're growing really quickly, but we can finance that growth."

But as the IPO looms, as pop singer Gucci Mane might say, Facebook these days is "all about the money, money, money." The company is also planning a paid app store and reportedly partnering with restaurant chains for sponsored coupon offerings.

Return on Investment?

Relying on ad sales no longer seems enough now that General Motors this week opened a conversation about whether those ads are...

20:10

Drink Up: Coffee Lovers May Live Longer

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Coffee lovers are a loyal crowd. Most pour out their morning cup of java for the flavor, the aroma, and the accompanying jolt of energy, rather than the health perks.

So they may not mind if doctors debate new research suggesting that coffee lovers live longer.

According to an article in [Thursday's] New England Journal of Medicine, those who drank coffee at the beginning of a 13-year study had a slightly lower risk of death than others, whether they chose decaf or full-strength.

Coffee drinkers also were a little less likely to die from specific causes: heart disease, respiratory problems, strokes, injuries and accidents, diabetes and infections. Coffee offered no protection against cancer.

Drinking two to three cups of coffee a day lowered the overall risk of death 10%, says the study, funded by the National Cancer Institute and AARP.

"It's interesting that coffee is more healthful than harmful," says Frank Hu, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, who has studied the health effects of coffee but wasn't involved in the new study.

Not so fast, says cardiologist Steve Nissen of the Cleveland Clinic, who also wasn't involved in the new research. Asking people about their coffee consumption only once in 13 years can be misleading, since drinking habits change. Nissen notes the study didn't include vital medical information that affects longevity, such as cholesterol or blood pressure levels.

"This study is not scientifically sound," Nissen says. "The public should ignore these findings."

Neal Freedman, the study's lead author, acknowledges that the design of his study prevents it from definitively proving that coffee affects longevity.

"We wouldn't recommend that anyone go out and drink coffee based on these results," Freedman says. But he says his study could provide some "reassurance" that coffee didn't seem to cut patients' lives short.

Scientists still have unanswered questions about coffee, which...

20:09

'Ring of Fire' Eclipse Visible from China to Texas

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Sunrises and sunsets often dazzle, but they'll have a special ring to them in a few days for people in the western United States and eastern Asia: The moon will slide across the sun, blocking everything but a blazing halo of light.

It's been almost two decades since a "ring of fire" eclipse was visible in the continental United States. To celebrate the end of that drought, nearly three dozen national parks in the path of the eclipse will host viewing parties.

The solar spectacle is first seen in eastern Asia at dawn Monday, local time. Weather permitting, millions of early risers in southern China, northern Taiwan and southeast Japan will be able to catch the ring eclipse. Then it creeps across the Pacific with the western U.S. viewing the tail end.

The late day sun will transform into a glowing ring in southwest Oregon, Northern California, central Nevada, southern Utah, northern Arizona and New Mexico and finally the Texas Panhandle where it will occur at sunset on Sunday. For 3 1/2 hours, the eclipse follows an 8,500-mile path. Viewing, from beginning to end, lasts about two hours. The ring phenomenon lasts as long as 5 minutes depending on location.

Outside this narrow band, parts of the West, Midwest and South -- and portions of Canada and Mexico -- will be treated to a partial eclipse. The Eastern Seaboard will be shut out, but people can log online to sites such as the Slooh Space Camera, which plans to broadcast the event live.

A ring eclipse -- technically called an annular solar eclipse -- is not as dramatic as a total eclipse, when the disk of the sun is entirely blocked by the moon. As in a total solar eclipse, the moon crosses in front of the sun, but the moon is too far...

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