Google Sets $26 Million For Funding Good Causes

US search engine giant Google’s philanthropic arm is making more than $26 million in new grants and investments in organizations and companies devoted to causes that the Internet search leader believes will help make the world a better place.

The financial commitments announced Thursday are the largest made by Google.org since the Mountain View-based company launched its altruistic effort with $90 million in funding in 2005.

Pasadena-based eSolar Inc., a startup specializing in solar thermal power, is getting the most money from Google.org so far — $10 million investment.

Google.org also is contributing toward fighting health and environmental threats, improving public services and supporting small businesses. The foundation also plans to back efforts to accelerate the use of plug-in hybrid vehicles, which can be recharged from a regular home socket.

The philanthropic arm evolved out of a commitment made by Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they took their company public in August 2004. The men, now both 34, committed to creating a foundation that “may eclipse Google itself in terms of overall world impact by ambitiously applying innovation and significant resources to the largest of the world’s problems.”

Google has pledged to donate 1 percent of its prized stock and 1 percent of its steadily rising profits to Google.org. Those assets are currently worth about $2 billion

Vanessa Arellano Doctor
http://jump2top.com

Facebook Application Allows Users To Join 2008 Election fever

ABC News and Facebook have partnered to create a news feed and an interactive forum covering the 2008 presidential election. Now try imagining a mini-feed for John McCain or Barack Obama.

The collaboration comes in the form of the U.S. Politics Facebook application, which the Web site’s 56 million active users can add to their accounts with the click of a button.

“It’s an easy way for users to engage with other like-minded people in a real-time way,” Medill Prof. Steven Duke said. Duke teaches the course Introduction to 21st Century Media, which examines media and audience trends. “It’s great use of new media by an old-media company.”

The application offers up-to-the-minute election news and debate groups, allowing users to follow ABC News reporters as they update their Facebook profiles with articles, videos and blog posts from the campaign trail.

“It gives the news consumer the opportunity to pick a reporter that they particularly like or trust, follow them in detail and get more real-time information from them,” Duke said. “It makes the whole (reporting) process more transparent.”

The U.S. Politics application also allows users to control content and view only the information they want to view. “I can get my news when I want it, where I want it, how I want it,” Duke said as he added the application to his Facebook account. “I don’t have to wait for ABC News to present it in the order they want me to hear it. It’s very smart.”

Minutes after the Jan. 5 New Hampshire presidential debates, ABC News broadcast results from Facebook polls such as, “Which issue do you wish the Republican candidates spent more time on?”

Certain polls had nearly 30,000 responses, an indicator of audience involvement.

Vanessa Arellano Doctor
http://conbuzz.com

Facebook 2008 Stock IPO “Highly Unlikely”

Popular Internet social networking company Facebook probably won’t try to go public this year, Its Chief Executive announced in an interview.

“I think what I can announce is that it’s highly unlikely that we will go public in 2008,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told CBS news program “60 Minutes” in an interview aired Sunday night on CBS news.

Zuckerberg said the company could make an initial public offering maybe later. “When going public makes sense to do, we’ll do that. Maybe that’s two years out. Maybe it’s three years out,” he said.

Microsoft Corp. paid $240 million in October for a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook, valuing the startup at $15 billion. The social networking firm reportedly has turned away offers to buy the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company outright, stoking speculation that it is preparing for an eventual IPO.

Bankers are expecting 2008 to present a less welcoming environment for technology-sector IPOs than 2007. A survey of 100 technology bankers by research firm 451 Group shows they expect a median of 25 IPOs this year, down from 60 in 2007.

Vanessa Arellano Doctor