profits

This week on preGAME we bring you the video game version of the world's greatest soccer tournament, the World Cup. On today's show, Mark and Jeff will play a half of 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa.

But first, we'll try and unravel the mystery behind a recent Capcom trademark request for the name "Mega Man Universe." While dozens of ideas race through our heads, we can only assume that this next-gen iteration of Mega Man might bring us the first-ever massive multiplayer online game in the franchise.

If you've ever wondered what a … Read more

As recently as February, Sony was still losing around $18 per every PlayStation 3 sold. A whole three and a half years after the console's November 2006 launch, it appears a new component will finally allow for a profit to be made on each system.

Thank a cheaper, cooler, 40-nanometer RSX graphics chip for the reduced production cost. Even better, the chip will require less overall power to run (about 15 percent), which is ultimately good for your wallet. These consoles with updated chipsets will be available in stores as they are manufactured.

Microsoft has gone through a similar … Read more

One of the most closely watched races in online video the past two years has been between Hulu and YouTube, and it appears Hulu has just earned some bragging rights.

In a New York Times interview, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar said the streaming video service has posted profits in two quarters (though he provided few details). Kilar also said that revenue surpassed $100 million in 2009.

Profits are a significant benchmark for the company, jointly owned by News Corp., NBC Universal, and Disney. Two years ago, Google's YouTube reigned over online video nearly unchallenged. YouTube employees snickered at the … Read more

On Tuesday, I was enlisted to help out with an event in conjunction with the New York arm of the "Social Media Week" conference-fest--called "Digital Divas," the cocktail affair was organized by a handful of women involved in various niches of technology and digital media. Yes, dudes were allowed too.

As the event grew closer, we decided that we wanted some kind of innovative way for guests to donate to support Doctors Without Borders' relief efforts in Haiti. So after some brainstorming we thought about using Square, the new mobile-payment company co-founded by Twitter Chairman Jack Dorsey. … Read more

Pandora, the popular music recommendation and online radio service, said Tuesday that it has recorded its first quarterly profit and is now striving to be profitable for all of 2010.

"We became profitable for the fourth quarter of 2009, and now we're shooting for profits for the entire 2010 [period]," Tom Conrad, Pandora's chief technology officer, told GigaOm.

While Pandora has yet to reach profitability for a full year, breaking the barrier--even for a quarter--is an accomplishment for the ravaged digital music sector.

Among the so-called Web 2.0 digital music services that sprang up in … Read more

Have you seen a bunch of Facebook statuses consisting only of colors--white, black, pink, beige--recently? That's not a coincidence.

Somehow, a viral campaign bubbled up through the nooks and crannies of the massive social network this week--female members of the site changing their status messages to the colors of the bras they're currently wearing in order to spread awareness about breast cancer.

According to The Washington Post, no one is really sure where or on behalf of whom it precisely started, but it appears e-mail chain letters went around earlier in the week to encourage it.

As far … Read more

It's hard enough to make a go of a restaurant by emphasizing things like food, service, and sanitation. Where too many good restaurants fail is not in the kitchen or the dining room but in the office, where costs, inventory, and profit and loss are often left to fend for themselves. Restaurateurs who want to succeed need to pay as close attention to their bottom line as they do their menus. Spreadsheet123's Restaurant Monthly Profit and Loss Statement Template for Excel RPLT 1 isn't too long a title for such a helpful tool. It contains five Excel … Read more

NEW YORK--What's it like to watch a dot-com mogul spend $1 million? Well, it's sort of nice when it's going to a good cause.

On Monday night, at the annual benefit gala for the nonprofit Charity Water, Bebo founder Michael Birch, one of the event's co-hosts along with the likes of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and entrepreneur Sean Parker, made a surprise announcement. Shortly before the event's live auction to solicit donations for new wells, Birch declared that he would personally match all donations up to $1 million.

Charity Water, a favorite cause of the dot-com set, … Read more

Quick MBA is a set of Excel worksheets geared toward entrepreneurs who need help with business planning. The program is rife with business jargon and is obviously geared toward users who appreciate this style of planning; some users may find it too formal for their needs.

Although the program is an Excel workbook, the creators did a nice job of making it look like more than a glorified spreadsheet. We liked that the program's setup is relatively simple, with an interactive dialogue that helps users choose the appropriate business model and set goals accordingly. A "sales funnel" … Read more