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Getty Images Sheryl Sandberg

Harvard Business School's graduating class was eager to hear what Sheryl Sandberg would say about Facebook's IPO, in her Class Day Speech at Harvard Business School.

(She graduated from Harvard back in 1995, when CEO Mark Zuckerberg was 11.)

But as expected she steered clear of any controversial issues -- no talk about the Nasdaq or the stock price

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[FB  Loading...      ()   ]. She talked quite a lot about working with CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the premium both of them place on honesty and clear, simple communication.

In her closing thoughts of the twenty minute speech she finally referenced Facebook's IPO with a quip: "I wish for your four things, first keep in touch via facebook, this is critical to your future success, and we're public now so can you click on an ad or two when you're there?" The line drew laughs and applause.  » Read More

The National Cable and Telecom show is all about the convergence of content, distribution and technology, and today I had the pleasure of moderating a panel at NCTA's annual show that addressed all those issues.

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It was an eclectic group: Comcast Cable

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[CMCSA  Loading...      ()   ] CEO Neil Smit, Verizon Wireless

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[VZ  Loading...      ()   ] CEO Dan Mead, Vevo CEO Rio Caraeff, and Writer/Director/Producer Ed Burns.

Mead kicked off the panel with an exciting announcement: Verizon Wireless is launching a new mobile video portal, "Viewendi," which will allow Verizon's subscribers to search, find, and watch video from any number of providers and Comcast's Xfinity 'TV Everywhere' service is one of its first partners.

Mead says this is one of Verizon's "most important announcements of the year," and the service will launch within a month, helping consumers access content on Hulu Plus, Netflix

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[NFLX  Loading...      ()   ] and mSpot, with Verizon FiOS expected to be added soon.

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AP A Discovery Communications property

David Zaslav's Discovery Communications is bucking the trend, and proving that content is king.

Despite the fact that overall cable ratings are flat and broadcast ratings fell 7 percent last quarter, Discovery grew US ratings 6 percent, with hit networks including "Investigation Discovery," "TLC" and "Animal Planet." And with 147 networks in 209 countries, international viewership grew 12 percent in the first quarter across all regions.

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The National Cable and Telecom Association's annual show is underway at Boston's Convention & Exhibition Center, and over 13,000 attendees from the content and distribution side of the business are expected to tour the convention center for a look at the latest technologies and to meet and greet cable stars like the Kardashians.

While the cable industry celebrates its accomplishments — growing distribution, advertising revenue, etc. — there are also some looming questions about the industry's transition to the digital future.

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Francis Luu | Facebook Team members building prototypes at Facebook's Hackathon.

By the time Facebook shares start trading at 11 am ET, many Facebook employees will be exhausted and ready to go to sleep. All through the night Facebook headquarters was hopping and packed with people.

It wasn't a traditional party — but a Hackathon — the company's 31st. Even in the dead of the night- 4 am — there were over 500 people coding and taking breaks for a game of street hockey.

What's a Hackathon? It's a Facebook

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[FB  Loading...      ()   ]tradition — staying up all night coding, fueled by Red Bull, Chinese food, and the excitement of everyone pulling an all-nighter together. The idea is to use the time to create products and work on ideas outside your day job. It was Hackathons like this one that produced the "Like" button, Facebook chat, and the precursor to Facebook's time line.

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Ted Aljibe | AFP | Getty Images

Facebook isn't losing its commitment to its "Hacker" culture when it goes public — instead, it's celebrating it, with an all-night "Hackathon."

Other companies might celebrate doing one of the biggest IPOs on record with a big party with food, alcohol and dancing. This party will have plenty of food and DJ, but instead of dancing, Facebook employees will be hunkering down and coding new programs for Facebook.

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Over 1,000 Facebook employees at the Menlo Park headquarters have RSVPed for the event which starts at 7:00 pm PT and will go all night until CEO Mark Zuckerberg rings the opening bell at 6:30 am PT.

It's not just Facebook's main office participating — people at the company's satellite offices around the globe will also take a break from their regular work to play in this hackathon. And Facebook will send out "Hackathon 31" T-shirts to its employees around the world.

Peter Folley | Bloomberg | Getty Images A Facebook Inc. IPO announcement flag flies outside of JPMorgan Chase & Co. headquarters in New York.

There’s been a lot of talk about Facebook’s valuation, but the real question behind that valuation, is how Facebook makes money and what its prospects are in the future.

First: The value of Facebook’s

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[FB  Loading...      ()   ]  reach shouldn’t be underestimated. Facebook had 901 million monthly active users at the end of the first quarter — and it turns those users into dollars, primarily by showing them ads.

It had 526 million daily active users at the end of the first quarter, 41 percent more than the prior year. Users generated an average of 3.2 billion likes and comments per day in the first quarter, and there are more than 125 billion friend connections.

One key number: mobile is a huge driver of growth — the company now has about 500 million monthly average users. That’s a potential source of revenue growth, but also a challenge.

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Moritz Hager | World Economic Forum Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer of Facebook.

Sheryl Sandberg is jokingly referred to as the “grown up” at Facebook.

As the social network’s COO, Sandberg runs its all-important advertising business, business development, and oversees hiring. In her four years at the company she’s helped Facebook

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[FB  Loading...      ()   ] become profitable, expand internationally, and grow its user base by more than a dozen times over to over 900 million. While her boss, Mark Zuckerberg oversees Facebook’s products, the bottom line is that she figures out how they can make money, without alienating users.

Sandberg’s story is a nice complement to Zuckerberg’s Harvard dropout tale. She graduated from Harvard, first in her major, economics and also graduated from Harvard Business School. Her undergraduate thesis advisor served as a key mentor and boss. He hired her as a researcher at the World Bank soon after she graduated college, and later, he brought her on as his Chief of Staff at the Treasury, where he would become Treasury Secretary.

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Source: Amazon.com Diablo III goes on sale May 15, 2012.

When Activision Blizzard’s long-awaited Diablo III went on sale at midnight, it had already broken records. Blizzard reports that the fantasy demon-killing game is its best pre-seller ever, and Amazon says it’s the most pre-ordered PC game yet. It’s been a dozen years since Diablo II, but that hasn’t hurt the franchise — if anything it’s only built up excitement for the PC game that retails for $60.

Despite the fact that gamers can download the game from the Internet and don’t have to deal with the hassle of going to a store to buy a physical disc, fans still turned out in droves for the event of last night’s launch. More than 1,500 people gathered for a release party in Irvine, Calif., near Blizzard’s headquarters, to play the game and get their copies signed by the developers. And more than 8,000 retailers around the world held midnight launch events.

Activision

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[ATVI  Loading...      ()   ] said in its earnings call last week that pre-sales have been strong — analysts expect about 5 million copies to sell in the second quarter, which adds up to $300 million in retail sales. This could drive some upside for Activision’s second quarter numbers.

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Facebook’s business is based on the idea that people want to share information about themselves, and its advertising model is predicated on the idea that ads that are targeted based on personal information are more valuable. So to guarantee its growth, Facebook needs to ensure that people don’t feel like Facebook is sharing their information against their will.

That’s precisely why Facebook highlights privacy as a key risk factor in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and why it’s making a big push right now for users to better understand its privacy policies and initiatives.

 » Read More