So hopefully you’ve caught wind of the $240,000,000 that Microsoft invested in Facebook today, if not you can read about it everywhere else. So aside from the mind blowing $15 Billion valuation, what does this mean to you and me? Well probably more to me than you, but I digress. Essentially this means two things for Facebook, and one thing for Microsoft.

For Facebook it means that they get a war chest of cash to acquire and expand with, something they did not have before (they were running about break even). This will let them snap up small apps, key intellectual property, and build their own internal structure a LOT. This will also let them get access to Microsoft’s huge ad sales team, and their resources. This lets Facebook focus on building traffic and features, and allow them to focus less on building their own internal team of ad sales people.

Microsoft on the other hand gets a piece of what is going to be essentially the biggest people search engine on the planet. They also get a piece of what is quickly becoming a huge percent of people’s online attention. Online attention is a huge business, think how many thousands of times you’ve heard of the term sticky. Well folks, facebook is like a tar pit.

So what does this all mean to me? Well as a facebook app developer, it means there will be much better monetization options coming, more robust infrastructure, and a lot more money flowing into the facebook eco-system. The Facebook economy has just had a major booster shot. Remember folks, if anyone knows about building software platforms, its Microsoft.

So after coming back from a whirlwind trip to Vegas and San Fran this past weekend I decided I would give you my faithful readers some tips and tricks for living it up in Vegas. I am by no means an expert on the city, having only been there a few times, but I think there are a lot of things I’ve learned while there.

So first off: disavow all assumptions that Vegas is cheap. It was cheap back in the day, but now its more like Disney for adults. If you want to have a decent time, expect to fork out cash.

If you are going to sit at a casino bar and order drinks, sit at a video poker seat, and put a buck in. Why? You just made your drinks free. yeah, thats right, free. So order up folks. Just make sure to tip the bartender.

Next up, eating. Avoid the buffets. The food is really not worth the money you are paying, go enjoy a real restaurant, its vegas, its worth it. Emeril, Flay, everyone has a fancy restaurant there, splurge! PLEASE don’t go to chains (unless its in-n-out burger), you can eat factory food at home.

Gambling: When playing poker, and there are a short number of players at the table, make sure to ask the dealer for a reduced rake (they will oblige, and save you a few bucks an hour). Also make sure you sign up for the player rewards cards, they will potentially earn you a free night or dinner. My favorite poker rooms: Caesar’s (although they no longer have my fave 1/2 NL holdem), Planet Hollywood (brand new, easy tables), MGM (lots of tourneys n the sub-$100 range), and Harrah’s (old and musty, but I have won a lot there).

So in a future post, I’ll tell you more about where to stay and how to get there. For now, viva las vegas.

So all the buzz this morning is that Ikea will be opening its store at 6am wednesday october 17 not too far away in Sunrise, FL. The sun-sentinel expects 25,000 people to show up on opening day, so I’ve decided there is no way in hell I am going to be visiting the new store for at least a couple of weeks.

What intrigues me about Ikea isn’t the low prices or design aesthetics (despite liking minimalist design), its the sheer enormity of their stores. Ikea appeals to the more predominant business side of me more than anything. The store is 300,000 freakin square feet! Any company that can manage to stock, and manage a store that size (and almost 300 of them) impresses me. They carry a bajillion products that they manufacture themselves (Q: is there a factory in the US?), and seem to have made amazing efficiencies everywhere imaginable in their supply chain.

So how can we transition these lessons in efficiency and scale to web development, or other industries?

Hey folks,
Today you have the chance to help me win $5,000! Yes its true, you can help me win the CommunityNext Iron Coder contest by adding my new facebook application Vocabulario and inviting your friends!

If we win I will be giving out a prize to one of the users.