Facebook earnings: Good, but not good enough

 Facebook's shares plummeted to all-time lows in after hours trading after the company's first quarterly earnings report failed to wow investors.

Shares of Facebook (FB) fell more than 10% to around $24 -- nearly 40% below the company's initial public offering price.

Facebook did beat analysts' revenues expectations slightly and earnings matched forecasts, but that was apparently not enough for Wall Street.

Behind the numbers: Facebook is still posting strong growth. It generated $1.18 billion in second quarter revenues, up 32% from a year ago.

Related: Facebook analyst: Sell to buy in 2 months

And while Facebook reported a net loss of $157 million due mainly to $1.3 billion in compensation expenses tied to stock-based pay following the IPO, the company did generate a profit of 12 cents per share when excluding those costs.

Analysts were expecting sales of $1.15 billion and earnings (backing out the compensation charges) of 12 cents per share.

Zuckerberg addresses concerns: CEO Mark Zuckerberg highlighted the company's investment in research and development as a positive.

"Our goal is to help every person stay connected and every product they use be a great social experience," Zuckerberg said in a release. "That's why we're so focused on investing in our priorities of mobile, platform and social ads to help people have these experiences with their friends."

Click here to continue reading: http://money.cnn.com/2012/07/26/technology/facebook-earnings/index.htm

The myth of the 'drunk phone'

Some young adults are so fond of their expensive smartphones that they take a cheaper backup phone with them to bars and leave their fancier phones at home where they are safe from spilled vodka tonics, pickpockets and uncoordinated drunk people.

That's according to consumer-behavior expert Laura Krajecki of the Starcom MediaVest Group, who stumbled upon the trend while researching beer and shared it with AdAge. "They take what they call their 'drunk phone' ... because they don't want to lose their smartphone," she said.

CNN's independent research yielded different results, however.

An exhausting, though hardly exhaustive, survey of bar patrons in San Francisco this past weekend turned up zero people who had opted to carry a beater phone out with them on a night of drinking. Nor did any interview subjects know other people who had ever done such a thing.

But as seasoned bartender Jerome Bishop put it, "I've never heard of anybody doing that, but it doesn't mean they don't."

It's possible the people in watering holes visited by this reporter were not young enough (are college students more likely to binge drink and lose things?), well-off enough (a stream of secondary phones can add up), or beta testing top secret phones for their Silicon Valley employers.

Interestingly, while the mythical back-up phone was nowhere to be found, carrying multiple phones was not uncommon. Two friends at Churchill bar were hauling around their assigned work phones -- both BlackBerrys, of course -- in addition to their personal handsets.

Many people admitted to having lost their phones while drinking in the past but were still set on taking their smartphones with them on nights out.

Click here to continue reading: http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/17/tech/mobile/drunk-phones/index.html

Leaked documents reveal 'Xbox 720' plans

 A 56-page document from Microsoft, dating back to mid-2010, reveals company plans for an "Xbox 720" gaming console. The recently leaked document has been removed since its discovery.

Notable features include Xbox SmartGlass, Blu-ray support, 3-D glasses, cloud-based gaming and an improved Kinect system. If the Xbox 720 described in the document is true, Microsoft's next-generation entertainment console could change the future of gaming.

The console will be loaded with a 1080p output with full 3D support, according to The Verge. The image above shows what the follow-up to the Xbox 360 might look like.

The sleek black Xbox 720 portrayed in the documents will seemingly be the only entertainment device you'll need. Microsoft's goal is to sell 100 million units at around $299 each in 2013. New Kinect 2 hardware will incorporate better voice recognition, hardware processing and stereo imaging.

Click here for more information: http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/18/tech/gaming-gadgets/leaked-documents-reveal-xbox-plans/index.html

The high-school blogger who's been cracking Apple's secrets

Trying to scope out Apple's (AAPL) product plans in advance is serious business for a small army of tech journalists, one that has been dominated in the past by the team that covers the company for the Wall Street Journal.

But in the walk-up to this week's World Wide Developers Conference, everybody -- including the Journal -- got scooped by an 18-year-old kid named Mark Gurman who goes to high school in Los Angeles and writes on the side for Seth Weintraub's 9to5Mac.

Let's review, with the benefit of hindsight, the WWDC predictions Gurman posted over the past month:

Seven out of eight ain't bad, and I suspect that the one that we don't yet know about -- his report that Apple is bringing the Retina display to the rest of its notebook line -- will eventually be proven true.

I ran into Gurman in San Francisco, where he is attending Apple's developer sessions. He clammed up when I asked him where he gets his stories. But Weintraub -- who hired Gurman two years ago when he realized the teenager had his finger on Apple's pulse -- was more forthcoming. Some of his stories come from sources inside Apple, but most are based on what used to be called old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting -- poring over Apple's published documents and building a network of Apple developers and parts suppliers that he hammers relentlessly.

Click here to continue reading: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/06/12/the-high-school-blogger-whos-been-cracking-apples-secrets/?iid=SF_F_LN

Facebook employees have millions. Now what?

When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg rang the Nasdaq opening bell on Friday to mark Facebook's public debut, he also rang in a crop of new millionaires and billionaires.

It's a rite of passage for Silicon Valley's most successful entrepreneurs and the employees who joined their ventures early -- and so is learning how to handle that fortune. Those who have been there before are full of advice.

"Buy one thing you've always wanted," suggests Karl Jacobs, a serial entrepreneur and early Facebook (FB) advisor. "A lot of people don't celebrate the fact that they've worked really hard."

Color CEO Bill Nguyen -- who sold his last company, Lala, to Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) in 2009 -- has a quirky suggestion: don't buy a house. Build one.

"It slows you down," he says. "All these things happen to you so quickly, you don't get the time to think about it."

Nguyen took his own advice. He used part of his fortune to build athoroughly customized tropical compound on the shores of Maui's Mokuleia Bay.

Click here to continue reading: http://money.cnn.com/2012/05/21/technology/facebook-ipo-millionaires/index.htm

Own an iPod? Then you're suing Apple

If you're one of the millions who purchased an iPod between September 12, 2006, and March 31, 2009, you might be in for a surprising email from RealNetworks.

The company, which developed Real Player and the service Harmony, has officially enlisted iPod owners in a class-action lawsuitagainst Apple -- though you do have the right to recuse yourself.

Why RealNetworks? Back in 2004, the company created the music service Harmony, a digital rights management (DRM) translation service. It allowed users to play songs downloaded from the RealPlayer music store on Apple's iPod.

But as any iPod user knows, songs must be loaded onto iTunes to be played on Apple's devices. That's because Apple created an iPod firmware update not too long after the announcement of Harmony, which blocked it and other music services from uploading songs to the iPod.

Several iPod users filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple, accusing the company of unfairly blocking competition. Now -- eight years later -- it's gaining steam.

Click here to continue reading:http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/10/tech/gaming-gadgets/apple-ipod-lawsuit/index.html

AT&T expands into wireless home security, automation

 AT&T is joining the expanding field of home security and automation, introducing a wireless service that will let homeowners use their mobile devices to remotely set alarms, turn on lights or even shut off water.

Called AT&T Digital Life, the service will connect users with a vast array of domestic devices and appliances, including cameras, door locks, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and thermostats.

It will run on AT&T's IP-based wireless platform and can be accessed via smartphones, tablets or PCs. And despite being from AT&T, it will work regardless of the user's wireless carrier.

The company plans to begin trials of the service in Atlanta and Dallas this summer.

"AT&T Digital Life will change the way people live, work and play -- and meets a clear need in the market," said Kevin Petersen, senior vice president of Digital Life for AT&T Mobility. "The service is smart, simple and customer-centric -- freeing homeowners to do the things they want to do without compromising on the things they need to do to care for family and home."

Digital Life joins other existing products and wireless companies that are taking advantage of people's increasing reliance on mobile devices.

Click here to continue reading: http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/07/tech/mobile/att-home-security/index.html