An impression of our Pro Cycling Experience by Pierre & Vacances

It will not give you a full www.procyclingexperience.com , but you'll get a sense of what things are like back there :)
You 'll see @samreklam , @crossthebreeze , @kennethmercken , @ArdiVIX , @sander_slager , @fr3db , @duvandre , @maartenvherck climbing mountains and flying down the hills @nodesktophero provided us with a POV and a great cut of this movie. For those who make it until the end, might even see @johanvanmol passing by.
Enjoy.

$1,6 billion in revenue through advertising and facebook credits (games)

In the first six months of 2011 Facebook had $1.6 billion in revenue and about $800 million in operating income, says a source I trust a lot. That revenue number has been reported before. And the 50% profit margin is in line with last year’s $2 billion in revenue and $1 billion in operating income.

With Facebook growing revenue and profit by more than 50% every six months, it won’t be surprising if they hit something close to $2 billion in operating income for the year.

To put that in perspective, realize this – Facebook will likely be more profitable than Amazon this year. On a quarterly basis they’re already there. Amazon had $191 million operating income in Q2 and $322 million in Q1 (financials here). That’s $513 million v. Facebook’s $800 million for the first half of the year.

Amazon’s Q3 financials are coming out this week, and Citi analyst Mark Mahaney says to look for around $298 million in operating income from Amazon for the quarter. Q4 is obviously Amazon’s big sales period – operating income for Q4 is usually almost double what Q3 is.

Mahaney also notes that Amazon’s Q4 may not look as rosy as usual due to the launch of the Kindle Fire. Says Mahaney, “There is the distinct possibility that an aggressive/successful Fire launch could materially negatively impact AMZN’s margins and EPS near-term.”

The Kindle Fire is irrelevant though – Facebook will likely be more profitable than Amazon for the year even if the Kindle Fire doesn’t negatively impact Amazon’s Q4.

Does that mean Facebook is still undervalued at $70ish billion, despite the fact that recent secondary market sales are stalling? Amazon’s market cap is currently around $107 billion.

Of course Amazon has far more revenue than Facebook, nearly $10 billion per quarter, and Q4 will be much higher than $10 billion. Last year they had $34 billion in revenue.

They just have terrible margins compared to Facebook because they sell (and deliver) actual stuff. Facebook delivers ad impressions and Facebook credits to buy stuff on Zynga.

And about Zynga. The company is still completely dependent on Facebook – “We generate substantially all of our revenue and players through the Facebook platform and expect to continue to do so for the foreseeable future,” says the Zynga S-1 For the first six month of this year Zynga reports $522 million in revenue.

That doesn’t include Facebook’s cut, which is taken before Zynga recognizes the revenue – “Facebook remits to us an amount equal to 70% of the face value of Facebook Credits purchased by our players for use in our games. We record bookings and recognize revenue net of amounts retained by Facebook.”

That means Zynga sent Facebook some $250 million in the first half of the year, or about 16% of the total Facebook revenue for that period. So Zynga is a very important source of revenue for Facebook, and probably will be for quite some time.

So is Facebook undervalued? Based on a comparison to Amazon today, and taking into account that the big growth years for Facebook are just getting started, that answer is yes.

Sounds like we should be buying Facebook stock and adding it to our list of portfolio companies, stat.

I like the idea of smart powergrids! Power to the people. Now watch & RT pls

Vergeet de kredietcrisis, het is niet vergeleken met de problemen die nog gaan komen. Dit zegt topeconoom Jeremy Rifkin in een exclusief interview met EenVandaag.
http://www.eenvandaag.nl/binnenland/35444/topeconoom_rifkin_niemand_ziet_de_c...

Volgens Rifkin hangt alles af van de vraag; hoe we met energie omgaan?
Blijven we vasthouden aan fossiele brandstof dan staat het voortbestaan van de mens op het spel.
Gaan we over naar een duurzame samenleving waarin iedereen zelf energie opwekt en uitwisselt dan hebben we een kans om te overleven.

Hij baseert zijn 'Third Industrial Revolution' op vier pijlers:

1.de produktie van hernieuwbare energie
2.de herinrichting van de gebouwen zodat deze instaan voor hun eigen energieverbruik en beperking van hun CO²-uitstoot
3.de opslag van energie om plotse uitvallen op het energienetwerk te voorkomen
4.de verdeling van de energie via smart grids waarbij elke gebruiker ook leverancier wordt.
Deze vier pijlers vindt Rifkin terug in Vlaanderen in Actie, het toekomstplan waarmee de Vlaamse Regering naar de top vijf van Europese regio's wil tegen 2020. De Vlaamse doelstelling om tegen 2020 minstens 13 % van de totale energievoorziening uit hernieuwbare energie te halen, springt het meest in het oog.

Binnenkort nemen Jeremy Rifkin en minister-president Kris Peeters weer contact met elkaar op. Ook Vlaams minister van innovatie Ingrid Lieten en Vlaams minister van energie Freya Van den Bossche zullen hierbij betrokken worden. Op de agenda staan dan de mogelijkheden bij een eventuele samenwerking met Jeremy Rifkin in verband met de verdere uitbouw van het Vlaamse energiebeleid.

ziet er een plezant plankje uit 'The Merlot' maar dat zijn alle board die een prosurfer dragen...

The Merlot
 

                 

(//)

"The Merlot is a tripped out Craig Anderson signature small wave model. It’s main feature is the concave / side cut outline concept that runs from the wide point down to a pronounced hip behind the front fins.
The concave outlines are engaged when the board is put onto rail, and causes the water flow to follow this concave outline which gives makes the board turn on a tighter radius without effort. This allows the board to draw tight curvy arcs in fun everyday conditions.
The center line rocker is flat which gives great planing speed when not on rail racing down the line or through fat sections.
The Merlot is a board that is really forgiving in the front end of the board but has a very sensitive and reactive feel off the tail end for maximum performance. It has a unique feel at first but once you have it dialed in there is a lot of fun to be experienced."