The social world has been fiercely mobile for some time now - what with Facebook all but blaming its lower than expected stock price on its slower than expected mobile ad sales. Fact is, mobile has caught on because it's convenient: Whatever we used to do on our desktops or laptops, we now want to do on our phones.

Nextdoor knows this. The neighborhood-based social network has been growing quickly, with lots of neighborhoods signing up to get social. It's a good idea that makes sense: communicate more efficiently with those in your area about everything from garage sales to crime, thanks to easy to use software.

Like just about everything else, this, too, is more convenient when mobile. Nextdoor gets it, and just launched a mobile app of its own. Available on your iPhone, the Nextdoor app has already been downloaded frequently after launching thursday. If you think about it, it makes sense: See a cool garage sale, or a need for a new speed bump? Why wait until you get home to tell your neighbors - now you can do it right away, by pulling out your phone, where the app is a touch away.

We've spoken to David Sze of Greylock Partners about both Nextdoor, and another social network he helped fund, Facebook. Lately, he's been crowing about Nextdoor, and its growth potential. He's got a point. Neighborhood by neighborhood, people love to stay in touch.

Now they can do it, with the touch of an app.

Scott resides on Twitter: @scottbudman

The Blue Angels have buzzed their last fly-by through the skies of San Francisco.

Or have they?

Budget cuts recently forced the U.S. Navy to cancel several Blue Angel flyovers, including our beloved Fleet Week here in the Bay Area. But a local entrepreneur wants to raise money to bring them back.

Marc McCabe has taken to redefined Crowdtilt.com to try and raise $650,000 to bring the Angels back. No guarantee that it will work; this is, after all, a government agency we're talking about. But it's a cool effort, that has brought in about $7,000, with a little less than a month left in the campaign.

Much like Kickstarter, the money you donate only gets taken if the final goal is met.

McCabe, a tech worker at San Francisco's Airbnb, has a lofty goal, but you never know. Maybe the Blue Angels will once again cruise under the Golden Gate Bridge, thanks to investors.

Scott cruises on Twitter: @Scottbudman

The news from Angelina Jolie has spurred lots of reaction: Cheers, yes, but also awareness.

The fact that the Oscar-winning actress and director had the preventative double mastectomy - announced Tuesday in a New York Times piece - because of genetic information has put genetic testing in a new light.

The immediate problem is that when many people think "genetic testing," they also jump to the conclusion: "Too expensive, and my healthcare plan probably won't pay for it."

MORE: "I Had Double Mastectomy to Prevent Breast Cancer"

It's also a bit mysterious: How can my background, and that of my family, help tell me what might lie in my future?

Both of those problems are being tackled head-on by technology companies. In the Bay Area, a Mountain View-based startup called 23andMe - co-founded by Sergey Brin's wife, Anne Wojcicki - offers genetic testing (and education) starting at 99 dollars. It's meant to help people learn about their genetic makeup, at a price that allows far more people to do so than ever before.

MORE: Cancer Survivors, Fellow Celebs Commend Jolie on Preventative Mastectomy

We're also seeing reaction from a company called Myriad Genetics. Based in Salt Lake City, Myriad says one of its products can be used in the genetic testing that Jolie had. As more attention comes to such testing, Myriad saw a jump in its stock price on Tuesday.

While it makes sense that most of the attention regarding Jolie's announcement will focus on breast cancer and its prevention, the issue of genetic testing is also getting a boost. Thanks to companies looking at new, high-tech ways to bring such testing to more people, this will likely be a helpful development.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

 Comments? Scott is on Twitter: @scottbudman

Tesla is for real.

If you had any doubts, just look to Wall Street this morning. Shares of Tesla Motors stock (TSLA) have soared about 25 percent so far this morning. Over the last couple of months, the share price has doubled, adding close to four billion dollars to its market value.

Even more impressively (at least for me, a non stock holder), look at your local roadways. Teslas are everywhere these days. They're outselling The Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf, despite the fact that the Model S is much more expensive. What was at first a trickle of Teslas in the wild has become a steady stream.

According to the company's latest earning report, Tesla sold 4,900 cars over the last three months, with sales expected to pick up even more steam in the month ahead. Net income for the quarter was $11.2 million dollars, sharply up from the $89.9 million dollar loss recorded the year before.

On top of all that, Consumer Reports just published a very favorable review, giving the Model S a 99 out of a possible 100 rating. Yowza. This from the magazine that couldn't bring itself to recommend the iPhone 5.

There are, of course, future roadblocks in the way for Tesla. But recently, at least, this company has done just about everything right, and it's being richly rewarded.

Scott, who test drove the Model S, is on Twitter: @scottbudman

Get ready to download your next copy of Photoshop, Premier, and Acrobat. Adobe is going completely out of the box.

Jumping all in when it comes to software downloads, Adobe announced on monday that it will no longer sell its software products out of a box. From now on, everything will be downloaded from its "Creative Cloud." That is, you'll bring all of the Adobe products you like to you via the Internet, and will not have to go to a store and buy it from a box.

The monthly subscription, according to Adobe, will be $50.

Adobe has been trying this out for a while; as part of its recent financial update, the San Jose software company says sales of software from the cloud has been growing steadily. This will make it easier for it to go all-in on the cloud.

Yes, we expect some Adobe fans to complain a bit - mostly, though, thanks to things like iTunes and DropBox, we're getting used to snagging our products from the cloud.

The move to the cloud will likely also be felt in the entertainment industry, which seems to adopt more Silicon Valley technology with every passing month. Now, creative types will go straight to the Creative Cloud to get what they want.

Says Adobe's Scott Morris, "During the creative process, on any project, everyone has access to the same files, really a great way to collaborate."

Another benefit to Adobe? Less piracy. Instead of finding out that one sale of Photoshop leads to several people using it (whether in a business, or a neighborhood), the downloads will likely curb much of the piracy that costs Adobe so much money every year. If this really catches on, expect software to be sold only this way - along with video games, etc etc.

Yes, we've been on this "cloudy" path for a while now. Adobe's move is a big one to push the entire industry in that direction.

Scott can be found on Twitter: @scottbudman

Online education is growing so quickly, it's actually controversial: Is it worth the time and effort to go online and get your learning without going into the classroom?

Just ask Justin Kitch. When we last caught up with Justin, he was leaving Homestead.com, where he helped millions of people create their own websites, to become chief growth officer at Intuit. There, he helped millions of people to use the internet to change how they moved - and managed - money.

Now, Kitch has something new, and it's in the field of online education. Curious.com aims to bring teachers and students together to facilitate not just learning, but what comes next - entrepreneurship.

On the site, teachers can post lessons, and they can even charge for them. Students can, of course, learn from those lessons, but they can also interact with the teachers, the goal being that the young people can take their knowledge and start businesses. It's how Silicon Valley has growth for decades.

Now, Justin Kitch is bringing the whole thing online. This could potentially lead to more money for teachers, and more jobs for students.

If it works, expect Washington to take notice.

Scott can be found on Twitter, for free: @scottbudman

It's been a tough week, but you can end it with a feeling of pride, both for what technology can do, and what humans can do - especially when they work together.

This is a spacewalk, livestreamed by NASA, of two Russian astronauts walking around the International Space Station.

NASA is streaming the whole thing (expected to last six hours) via UStream, a San Francisco-based company. It's said that this is one of six planned spacewalks around the ISS.

If nothing else, it will make you feel a bit better about how we can accomplish things, our use of streaming media, and heck, how well Americans and Russians can work together.

Streaming live video by Ustream

Scott can be found on Twitter: @scottbudman

They are tracking humpback whales, both by sounds and on giants screens inside the Sunnyvale headquarters of Liquid Robotics.

And they are doing it by collecting data from a solar powered device called a Wave Glider. The Wave Glider SV series is a powerful computer disguised as a surfboard that moves through the water unlike anything that's come before.

It's fast, super high tech and has solved a problem. "It's really hard to operate in the ocean. There are no extension cords there," said Liquid Robotics CEO Bill Vass.

Vass showed us how his newest machine can operate 100-percent on solar and wave power without any emissions. It's like a Tesla for the ocean.

"With this new platform, we add wave and sun to thrust for our ability to move in the ocean," Vass said.

And did we mention its power? The solar batteries that run inside the surfboard essentially make the board a floating data center.

"If you think about it, these are like powerful floating cell phones. They have the same chips as your iPhone, and the ability to collect, process, and send data from the high seas," Vass said.

The Wave Gliders will be used to track fish populations, find oil and secure borders. Bass says they will help bring big data to 70-percent of the globe - our bodies of water - with one goal in mind.

Vass said he wants to be able to begin to manage and protect the ocean like we do on land. "The reason we do it on land is because we have the data. The reason we don't in the sea is that we don't have the data," Vass said.

With Wave Glider, it's becoming a little easier and a lot cleaner to get that data now.

The FIRST Robotics competition kicks off its Bay Area run Friday, with hundreds of young people competing with dozens of cutting-edge robots designed and created by the students themselves.

The San Jose State University Events Center will be loud, crazy, visual, and a great place to check out the next generation of Silicon Valley engineers.

Fittingly, lots of tech companies get involved in FIRST. They do it to support science, math, and engineering. But they're also there to recruit.

Yes, the students are a little young to start working at companies (at least by a few years), but contests like this one spur interest, and from that interest comes future careers.

Check 'em out while you can see their work without an appointment. The FIRST competition runs through saturday.

Scott, humbled by these students, is on Twitter: @scottbudman

What Mark Zuckerberg said on Thursday is true: "Lots of people and developers want Facebook on their phones."

Zuckerberg, and his designers, have taken care of that request big-time, with a smooth, good-looking feature for Android phones called "Home." It's a suite of apps that basically makes Facebook your home screen.

In fact, it makes Facebook all but inescapable for your Android device. But in a world where everything, including Facebook, is already one click away on any phone, do you really need photos and status updates on your home screen?

Personally, I prefer my Facebook checkups to be a bit (strange word here, I realize) private. I'll share them a few seconds later if you'd like, but at first, let me see them by myself. 

There may be FB fans who want to see these things right away, and good for them. But is it really that hard?

HTC has even cranked out a nice-looking phone, the "First," to make Facebook the very first thing you see.

Check your friends in the coming weeks to see how many really buy into this.

You'll be able to - they're the ones very very willing to share.

Related story:

Facebook Unveils New Mobile Experience

Scott is on Facebook & Twitter (@scottbudman)

 

The huge Pixar hit "Finding Nemo" will at last have a sequel.

Prepare to go back underwater for "Finding Dory," which the Emeryville company is telling reporters will come out in November of 2015.

Ellen DeGeneres, who voiced Dory the fish in the original, has long campaigned for a sequel. After initially shunning them, the Pixar that was bought by Disney has cranked them out. First "Toy Story" 2 and 3, "Cars 2," now the upcoming sequel to "Monsters Inc."

DeGeneres herself has been posting about the sequel on social media today. Look for a ton of publicity coming from the Disney/Pixar machine as we get closer.

Then, prepare to dive, and search all over again.

Scott is on Twitter: @scottbudman

This would make a good April Fool's joke, if it weren't for the billions of real dollars changing hands.

Tesla Motors is forecasting profitability this morning, and Wall Street is responding by revving its collective engine. Shares of Tesla (TSLA) are higher by nearly 20 percent as I write this, a huge bump for the Bay Area electric car maker.

While Wall Street was forecasting a loss of 7 cents per share, Tesla just called full profitability for the first quarter. In addition, the company says it sold 4,750 Model S cars over the last three months, also beating expectations.

It's worth noting that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been Tweeting about "big news" coming Tuesday.

Can he possibly top this?

Scott is on Twitter: @scottbudman

It's one of the cautionary tales of our high-tech times: Texting while driving, claiming 1,400 deaths or injuries every day. Clearly, laws against texting and driving are not the solution.

Instead, the solution may comes from new technology, fighting technology.  Products like Cellcontrol. Something we first saw at CES, Cellcontrol is a small device that plugs into your car, and disables mobile devices.

No texting, emailing or surfing while you drive. It's that simple.

With distracted driving the No. 1 killer of teenagers, this is potentially huge. Where other products like Apple's Siri lets you talk your messages instead of text them, Cellcontrol lets you shut down even the temptation of reaching for the phone while driving.

Could this be the next cigarette lighter? Gone from cars forever? Stay tuned. If the statistics don't improve soon, this could be technology we see a lot of .. even if it's hidden away.

Scott won't tweet while driving, but is at @scottbudman

The Force will soon be with Silicon Valley.

The Tech Museum of Innovation on Thursday announced plans to open a 10,000-square-foot "Star Wars: Where Science Meets  Imagination" exhibit, launching in October. Not far, far away, but right in the heart of downtown San Jose.

About 80 artifacts from the "Star Wars" films will be displayed in  the exhibit, which includes a thrill ride based on the Millennium Falcon, the  spaceship featured in the first "Star Wars" movie released in 1977.

To kick of Thursday's announcement, Billy Dee Williams, who played Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, “Obi-Shawn” and other costumed characters staged a musical good vs. evil battle in front of the Tech on South Market Street. San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed was there, too.

The display was created by the Museum of Science, Boston, featuring props and displays used in the Star Wars films, and presented by the Bose Corporation.

It opened in Boston in 2005 and began traveling around the country ever since. The final stop is at the Tech in San Jose, where the exhibit will run from Oct. 19 to Feb. 23, 2014. To find out more information, click here.

 Scott, a big fan of "Star Wars" and Billy Dee, is on Twitter: @scottbudman

San Jose's Bestronics took the wraps off a giant 71,000-square foot manufacturing facility Wednesday.  By giving tech companies a local place to see their products being made, it’s bringing testing back.

“Here they can just drive down 101 or 880 and they're here,” Bestronics President Nat Mani said. “We can send our engineers over there to talk to them. The advantage of that can't be quantified."

Manufacturing jobs, long outsourced to other countries are coming back to the Bay Area, giving the already hot tech industry a slightly different shot in the arm.

"This is another category of jobs -- technical jobs – there will be some PHDs, but there will be people with technical degrees and technical expertise to do the manufacturing,” San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed said. “We’ve lost a lot of that over the last few decades and it's great to see it coming back."

As we buy more mobile technology, more components have to be made and tested to fit into our gadgets. And that means more jobs in facilities like Bestronics’.

“We’ve already hired – if you look at our head count what it was last year at this time and what it is now – it’s about a 15-20 percent increase because we were planning for this move for a while to make sure we got the right workforce trained," Mani said.

New jobs for a veteran industry making a local comeback.

It's the kind of stunt we used to see in the go-go days of the Tech revolution, and if you look up today, you might just have to smile.

Or, at least pull out your cell phone and take a quick picture.

Mobli, a New York-based company, wants you to give up on Instagram, and choose its photo and video sharing app instead. How to break through the "Oh, great, yet another photo-sharing company" clutter? It's going to fly a plane over Facebook headquarters a few times over the next couple of days, buzzing the Instagram owner with a 100-foot banner advertising its contest.

Here's the deal: Give up Instagram for Mobli, and you're entered into a contest to win $100,000. The company will surely get at least that much publicity by flying over Facebook; it will probably follow this up by showing off photos from its big winner.

The contest "natch" even has its own hashtag: #mylastinstagram.

Good luck, and happy shooting.

Scott is on Twitter: @scottbudman

With the stock market climbing like there's no tomorrow, it's nice to see investors taking a bet on the future with another red-hot IPO popping from Silicon Valley.

Model N is based in Redwood City. It's a software company that specializes in helping companies in the life science field (think Amgen) manage their money. Anything helping to smooth out the science and healthcare field looks to be a winner these days, and Model N is looking good.

Shares popped out of the gate on Wednesday morning; the stock price (MODN) is up by close to 35 percent as it trades on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock opened at $20.40 and moved as high as $22.25 in the first hour of trading on Wall Street.

Speaking by phone from New York, CEO Zack Rinat told NBC Bay Area that this just shows how fast the health care industry is growing. "We feel well positioned," he said.

Employees at the Peninsula office watched the trading numbers rise remotely, watching on a huge flat screen TV, and popping open bottles of champagne and red-and-blue balloons.

Like other companies likely to IPO fairly soon (think Box and Dropbox), Model N is careful to point out that it's products can be deployed in the cloud, as well as on the spot.

We'll continue to follow Model N today, and let you know what it was like at company headquarters when the stock started trading.

Scott can be found on Twitter: @scottbudman

Just when you thought it was safe to slam the green tech industry yet again, another sign that things are still popping.

Silver Spring Networks, which powers what we in Silicon Valley call "Smart Grids" (i.e., power plants, utilities), had its IPO this morning, and it was big. Oversubscribed by eager investors, at last check the stock price (SSNI) had already jumped by more than 25 percent.

Silver Spring is the latest indication that green power is still humming along. Tesla stock (TSLA) hit all-time highs this week, and Solar City (SCTY) has now seen its share price double since it went public recently.

All is not super smooth in green tech land, to be sure. Just today, electric car maker Fisker announced that its chairman has stepped down, as that company struggles to put cars on the road and make money.

It's not going to be an easy ride for green tech: too much competition, and the challenge to make money will always be there. But investors want in, at least for now, and that's always a good sign.

Scott can be found on Twitter: @scottbudman

The world's first solar-powered plane that can fly day or night, without fuel, is here in the Bay Area. Business and tech reporter Scott Budman got an exclusive look.

Watch the video above to see this “Only on NBC Bay Area” report.

Zynga has been on a roll lately, largely because of rumors involving gambling.

Over the last couple of weeks, those rumors have revolved around whether or not the San Francisco online gamer will let its users participate in actual gambling. On Monday morning though, a different gambling rumor: Blake Harper, analyst at Wunderlich Securities, put out word that Zynga might be a target of Yahoo!

Yes, this would be a gamble. Zynga (ZNGA) has stumbled badly since going public, and, like most companies with struggling stocks, its future has been questioned. That said, there are still reasons to like the company (its games are popular, and you really can't count out CEO Marc Pincus); also, Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer is said to be looking to acquire companies to boost her company.

Neither company is commenting, but investors are voting with their wallets, boosting shares of Zynga stock by nearly ten percent in early trading.

Scott can be found on Twitter: @scottbudman

Facebook is a lot of things to its 1.06 billion users, but a place to quickly catch up on the news has not been one of them.

That's been where rival social web companies like Twitter, Yahoo! and Google have been leading. Now, with a News Feed re-design, Facebook is not shy about wanting to be your source for news.

Larger photos, more text, better ways to organize .. all to improve the experience, and make things more newsy.  Now, as with any Facebook update, this one will cause people to wail, and it's already starting, both on Facebook, and all over my Twitter feed.

But, as someone who uses the web for news updates constantly, I welcome Facebook to the game. It's been a great source of information of a certain kind, but honestly, not my go-to place to new happening right now.

That might change, and if it does, it would be a good thing.

Scott is on Facebook, and on Twitter: @scottbudman

To say Silicon Valley software maker, Salesforce, is reaching for the clouds is both nerdy and true. "The Cloud," where all sorts of software companies want to be these days, is hot, with everyone needing storage for all their data, and Salesforce is leading the way.

Sky high is also where Salesforce's business is these days. The company just released huge earnings, and its stock price (CRM), as I write this, sits at an all-time high. Business is very very good for the company and its well-known, well-respected CEO Marc Benioff.

So, with all those business customers, why is Salesforce hitting up local city employees?

Palo Alto knows. That city, known for its high-tech residents, just put Salesforce's "Chatter" to work. Chatter, true to its name, lets companies (or in this case, city employees) communicate quickly and easily. Think Twitter, but for a specific business.

Palo Alto is rolling out the service, to see if its employees can communicate better with it. We don't have results yet, but if it works, expect other cities (with police officers, fire fighters, school boards, etc etc) to want Chatter, too.

We all love to chat. Maybe a little technology can help.

Scott chats on Twitter: @scottbudman

Facebook, fresh off rolling out its new Graph Search, has another update to share with its billion plus followers: An updated News Feed.

The Menlo Park social network sent out invitations Friday morning, inviting journalists to its headquarters to cover its News Feed update on March 7. No further details were given, leaving the tech press to speculate, Apple-style, as to what Mark Zuckerberg and company are planning.

A guess? Maybe a little more "News" in the Feed. Facebook has been eclipsed by Twitter, and, to a lesser extent, Yahoo! and Google, when it comes to being a source of news. Most people, it seems, turn to Twitter to get the latest information, whether on a Middle East uprising, or results from the Oscars.

Facebook would love it if, in addition to updates about your nephews and food choices, it was a go-to source for news and information. Maybe the update will provide some sort of a filter to let you break through the clutter and catch up on the day's events.

I'll be there, and will send out updates, both on Facebook (do you ever check news there?), and Twitter. My handle is @scottbudman.

The newest Amazon advertisement is for the company's Kindle. But what's even more interesting about the ad (sorry, Kindle fans) is that it features a gay marriage.

At the end of the ad where two people talk about Kindles, a woman points out (to a man) that her husband is getting her a drink. No problem, says the Kindle man fan, "so is mine."

And, you know what? It's no problem. At least, hardly an issue for the ad itself. Had it been a woman and a man at the bar (i.e., "my husband and my wife"), I imagine the ending would have still been the same - celebrating Kindles, and about to get drinks from the bar.

Here's the ad, with thanks to ispot.tv.

What do you think? Seems like Amazon is not too worried about any politics, just pointing out that holy toledo, gay people and  straight people like e-books.

Scott is on Twitter: @scottbudman

Earning reports are typically about sales, profits, and future forecasts.

In Tesla's latest report, you had to throw in a New York Times article.

Thanks to a week-long dust up over whether or not a NYT reporter was completely accurate in his story about a Tesla Model S stalling out on a test drive (a drama complete with blog posts and tweets from Tesla CEO Elon Musk), the focus on the Palo Alto automaker has been on its range, rather than its profitability.

Until now.

Moving past the article, Tesla just released its latest quarterly report. The last three months have been strong ones for the company; it continues to ramp up production of the Model S sedan, which is good news for those who have deposits down, and plan to buy the car.

Tesla says it sold about 2,400 Model S sedans over the last three months. It also says it will likely sell more over the next three months. That's good news for the company, which has to make those who put down deposits happy. Faster car production equals more sales equals eventual profits.

Tesla revenues came in at $306 million, beating analysts predictions, but earnings missed at  a net loss of 65 cents.

But for now, profits remain elusive. The company is still losing money, and after a recent run up in the stock price, investors are starting to sell after the earning report. As I write this, shares of Tesla (TSLA) are dropping slightly after hours. They're probably feeling pretty good about Tesla's goal of profitabilty next quarter. 

The best news? Tesla now seems to have zoomed past the NYT controversy, and is back to talking about car sales.

Scott can be found on Twitter: @scottbudman

Banks, the military, the press, tech companies, even soft drinks - the accusations have never been sharper: The United States is at cyber war against China.

The latest claim comes from Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who calls out China as cyber enemy  No. 1 in an upcoming book, "The New Digital Age."

But he's not alone.

American intelligence officials say they can trace recent cyber attacks to the Chinese Army itself. A New York Times story published Tuesday details how a Chinese Army unit is believed to have hacked the United States.

Those attacks are being blamed for disrupting everything from the New York Times to Coca Cola, which blames hacking for disrupting a planned deal to buy a Chinese beverage company.

China, of course, denies engaging in any type of cyber-espionage.

In a statement, Sen. Diane Feinstein said: “Multiple American sources have raised the issue of cyber attacks with Chinese interlocutors—all to no avail. In fact, there has been complete denial among the Chinese that this is occurring. I have personally raised cyber attacks with Chinese officials as recently as last week. Again, complete denial."

Google, which says it traced a 2010 cyber attack against itself to Chinese hackers, says it's been busy working to keep its site (and therefore its users) secure. But its chairman - Schmidt - is throwing blows, saying China's cyber attacks are damaging to the U.S. economy.

We'll be talking to Silicon Valley cyber security experts about what's they're doing to try and keep our machines safe.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Government insists it does not engage in cyber hacking.

Also Tuesday, Google's stock price topped $800 for the first time amid renewed confidence in the company's ability to reap steadily higher profits from its dominance of Internet search and prominence in the increasingly important mobile device market.

Scott can be found on Twitter: @scottbudman

Monday was a big day for Nissan, and the auto giant came to Silicon Valley to celebrate.

On the same day the company announces its 50,000th Leaf sale, it also opened a new research and development facility in Sunnyvale.

Not a bad twofer: The best-selling electric car of all time (so far), and a new way to lure engineers and other tech types to work on the future.

Nissan becomes the latest international car company to establish some sort of a research center here in Silicon Valley - joining the likes of Audi, Volkswagen, and Mercedes Benz. The lure? Smart techies who want to take a shot at designing and improving cars.

This is, after all, the home of alternative fuel companies like Solazyme, and of course, electric car maker Tesla. It's also now where lots of research gets done to help car companies headquartered all over the world.

Scott cruises on Twitter: @scottbudman

Yeah, everyone is making a big deal about the gazillion dollar merger between US Airways and American Airlines, creating the world's biggest airline.

For my flying dollars, I'd perfer something a bit more intimate. And that's what's coming to the Bay Area, thanks to BlackJet.

BlackJet, headquartered in Florida, just announced plans to fly out of San Francisco. The Bay Area connections make sense for the airline, because there are so many of them. For example, Garrett Camp, co-founder of SF-based Uber, is on board as an investor. As is e-commerce stud Shervin Pishevar.

Oh, and look a little further, and you'll see help from the likes of Overbrook Entertainment, founded by Will Smith, and Roc Nation, an entertainment company started by Jay-Z.

You on board yet?

BlackJet is taking advantage of Valentine's Day, by blowing the Bay Area a nice kiss, via a launch party in San Francisco's Union Square. 

Lots of giveaways, including complimentary memberships to 1,000 people who come to the event. 

The tech industry loves small competitors, and, thanks to Tesla, the auto industry is also getting known for fiesty small companies.

With BlackJet, the airline industry, which just keeps getting bigger, has someone smaller to cheer for, too.

Scott flies on Twitter:

Follow @scottbudman

President Obama made it clear in his State of the Union address: Manufacturing needs to come back to America. By name-checking Apple CEO Tim Cook (conveniently in the First Lady's box seat at the time).

The President made his goal known:

"Our first priority is making America a magnet for new jobs and manufacturing. After shedding jobs for more than 10 years, our manufacturers have added about 500,000 jobs over the past three. Caterpillar is bringing jobs back from Japan. Ford is bringing jobs back from Mexico. And this year, Apple will start making Macs in America again."

Apple, other than Cook's hints at making at least part of the Mac here, isn't talking.

But IHS, which tracks manufacturing, says contract business (such as what Flextronics in Milpitas does) is set to grow by 4-5 percent this year.

Not sure if that equals 500,000 new jobs, but the trend is already here: Solar panel makers manufacturing in Silicon Valley, along with companies like Intuitive Surgical, which has an awesome facility in the Bay Area to make its robots.

Robots that help doctors perform surgery.

So, we already have the life saving, and the energy saving.

All made here. 

Macs, too? Why not? It will create new jobs, and make the President happy at the same time.

Scott can be found on Twitter: @scottbudman

Even after its buzzed-about Super Bowl ad, GoDaddy.com is still kissing up to geeks. It's latest move brings the web platform company to Silicon Valley itself, opening up a new office in Sunnyvale.

At an event on Monday, Go Daddy leaders showed off the new digs at 100 Mathilda Avenue; about 40 employees worked over computers, a foosball table nearby for creative breaks Silicon Valley techies are known for. The company hopes to double the number of employees by the end of this year.

Go Daddy's CEO Blake Irving wanted to highlight not only its new office, but that it had acquired M.dot Inc., a mobile app company for small business website creation.

 "M.dot's global vision of a mobile future for small businesses fits beautifully with what our customers need right now," Irving said. "Go Daddy wants to help businesses connect with their customers wherever they are in the world, and that means providing killer mobile technology. It also means helping our customers manage their business from anywhere, anytime with the simplicity of their smartphone or tablet. With M.dot, small businesses can compete on a big-time level without spending big-time money. We're completely stoked to have M.dot on board."

I can't help but notice a bit of irony here: As Texas Governor Rick Perry comes to Silicon Valley to try and lure tech companies to pack up and move to Texas (where, admittedly, it is cheaper to be), we still see a fairly steady stream of companies with headquarters elsewhere establishing a Valley beachhead.

GoDaddy, for instance, has its HQ in Scottsdale, Ariz. And, deliciously, Dell - famously headquartered in Texas, recently opened new buildings and hired new employees here in Silicon Valley.

If you've been a GoDaddy fan (and I'm not talking about its commercials anymore), head to the company website. You'll see, among other things, many job listings in Silicon Valley.  It's announcing its presence with authority, and plans to make friends with lots of techies along the way.

If you missed Go Daddy's Super Bowl ad, watch here.

Scott can be virtually kissed on Twitter: @scottbudman

By just about any metric, Silicon Valley business is on a roll. Stock prices at all-time highs, hiring extremely strong, VC funding boosting startups all over the place.

But could it be better? Yes, according to many small businesses. Says Deborah Perry Piscione, author of "Secrets of Silicon Valley," "We face new taxes, and it's going to be more challenging. With new technology, you can be anywhere and do business."

She has a point. But businesses tell us they come here, and stay here, because of more than just money - they cite talent, opportunity, and of course, lots of startup funding. Nonetheless, it can be frustrating to see other states offer lots of incentives.

Among the states - Texas. It's big, it's rich, and it has Governor Rick Perry, who is in Silicon Valley, wooing CEOs to come to the Lone Star State. For some reason, Governor Perry won't talk to the press about this, so we don't know what he's using as bait.

What we do know, is that he's likely to have only modest succcess. The above factors are growing in places like Texas - and Boston, New York, North Carolina, etc, etc. But they're strongest here, and companies know it.

Among the companies that know it? Dell. The computer giant recently opened a big office and hired dozens of Silicon Valley workers.  That's a bit far away from its home base .. in Texas.

Scott tweets from Silicon Valley here: @scottbudman

Yeah, we know, the Ravens won the Lombardi trophy.

But when it comes to what we watched over and over on TV, Beyonce and snack foods dominated Super Bowl XLVII.

According to TiVo's annual data crunching analysis, the Taco Bell "Viva Young" commercial was the most re-watched commercial of the entire game. I must admit, among the crowd I watched with, that got a ton of cheers. And it wasn't even that old of a crowd. Maybe they just like the band fun.

Other ads that scored: The Doritos "Goat" spot, Hyundai, M&Ms, and the icky GoDaddy.com kissing spot (a tough one to explain to the kids at the party). All, by the way, in the first half. TiVo says that's when we payed the closest attention to the ads.

Another TV spike? You guessed it: Beyonce. The halftime show, still ringing in our heads, was 12 minutes of TiVo gold. Lots of replays.

As for the game itself? The end was replayed over and over; before that, the hot play was the 108-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by the Ravens' Jacoby Jones.

Tivo admits, not all the ad action was on TV. "More Super Bowl commercials went to the web well before Super Bowl Sunday," says TiVo General Manager of Media Sales Tara Maitra. The VW "Get Happy" spot, in fact, was seen more than 8 million times before it aired on TV. That's the power of second screening.

Scott, with Beyonce keeping his head ringing, is on Twitter: @scottbudman

The following top ten commercials from Super Bowl XLVII according to TiVo:

1.     Taco Bell “Viva Young”

2.     Doritos “Goat For Sale”

3.     Hyundai Santa Fe “Pick Your Team”

4.      Doritos   “Fashionista Daddy”

5.    GoDaddy.com “Perfect Date”

6.     M&Ms “Anything for Love”

7.     Sketchers “Man Vs. Cheetah”

8.     Pepsi Next “Pepsi Next Drink it to Believe It”

9.     Audi “Prom”

10.  Volkswagen “Get In. Get Happy”

Facebook just released its earnings, and it's growing like crazy in the mobile spot.

The biggest spotlight was on mobile growth, and for the first time, Facebook grew faster and more than it did on the desktop. That's good news for the company, because that's where the money is these days.

As we look at the stock ticker, investors seem to be taking a wait-and-see pose with Facebook (FB) shares. The stock slumped immediately after the earning report was released, but is holding steady, and we're still waiting for the conference call with CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

For now, we know: Monthly active users up 25% from a year ago. $1.58 billion in revenues over the last quarter; both of those numbers are ahead of Wall Street estimates.

Keep in mind Facebook shares soared ahead of the earnings. It's coming back quickly after hours following the initial selloff.

Scott is on Facebook, and Twitter: @scottbudman

Think about all the times you hop on the web. You know, to check Facebook, send out a tweet, catch a quick video, send an email.

If the Office of The California State Controller is right, a quick web search is all it takes to actually find out that you have money (or property) coming to you. As in, right now.

GoBankingRates.com says one in ten of us is owed money by the US Government. This type of thing comes around every year, it seems, and every year some people are able to track money down.

Go Banking Rates, which is a business trying to pair users with interest rates, says its guide (seen here: Click here to see the full guide to claiming missing money) will make it easy to track down what might legally be yours.

In addition, the State Controller is also out this morning with a web-based way to track down unclaimed property. Controller John Chiang claims that it's also now easier, thanks to the web, to track down and find property that you may own.

Yes, there's a link for that, too: http://www.sco.ca.gov/upd_msg.html

Does this work? We've always been a little skeptical, but if nothing else, tracking down a lost IRS refund or something that may have been left to you by a long lost relative can't hurt, right? And maybe your next web search will, as Google always teases, make you "feel lucky."

Scott can be tracked, without money, on Twitter: @scottbudman

Netflix shares have been on fire lately.

Yes, sure, the earning report that came out wednesday night blew Wall Street expectations out of the water, and sent investors streaming back into the stock.

But Rob Lowe knows the real reason for the nearly 60 percent pop in Netflix's share price (NFLX) since Thursday morning: It's because Netflix is now streaming The West Wing.

Lowe said as much in a tweet, reading "Hmmm, I wonder why Netflix just posted a surprise profit report? #WestWing ???"

It's been re-tweeted more than 500 times, favorited more than 300.

Now, improved profits, and a jump in subscribers is at least part of the reason for the stock's rocket ride. But West Wing started streaming on Netflix Jan. 7, when Netflix traded for $95 a share.

As of this writing? Netflix trades for $170 a share.

Rob, you have a point.

Scott, like Rob Lowe, is also on Twitter:

Follow @scottbudman

Apple made a ton of money over the last three months, sold a record number of products, but investors wanted even more. As the company's cash pile grows even larger, the Apple stock price is dipping.

As I write this, Apple shares (AAPL) are dropping by about 30 dollars a share.

Apple says nearly 48 million iPhones were sold over the last quarter - that's a record.

Twenty three million iPads we sold, also a new high. But only 4.1 million Macs sold, and that's a drop. Not good news for Apple which, although moving to mobile devices, counted on the Mac to anchor the Apple ecosystem.

We spoke to an Apple shopper and investor outside the Los Gatos Apple store a couple of minutes ago. Her take?  "I'm not happy with the stock right now, but I'm patient, and I'll be buying more Apple products in the future."

Good news if you're in the executive suite in Cupertino right now. And, despite strong sales, you're probably happy to hear something good.

Scott is on Twitter: @scottbudman


 

We hadn't seen the fail whale in a long time, but Barack Obama might have brought it back.

Well, to be fair, it seems that excitement surrounding the President's Inauguration has turned Twitter from a firehose to a trickle on this Inauguration Day. The San Francisco company says more than one million tweets were sent out during the ceremony - that compares to about 80,000 tweets during the swearing-in back in 2009.

But, with success comes the occasional engineering problem, and Twitter posted on its own blog about issues with the site slowing down. Engineers, they say, are working to bring the site back to full speed.

On a day where we saw even the First Family pulling out the smartphones, presumably to social network, Twitter likely had one of its biggest days in recent memory - one that left many of us unable to tweet.

When Twitter comes back, Scott will be there: @scottbudman

Who likes "Star Wars?"

Do my friends like Mexican food?

A lot?

We can now find more about our friends, by searching for things on Facebook. As many expected, Facebook is rolling out a new search tool.

Called "Graph Search," it even comes with a Silicon Valley nerdy title.

And what it does is fill a gap for Facebook users. Read Facebook press release here.

Now, you can find -specifically- what you're looking for on Facebook, kind of like how you search on Google.

What's interesting about Graph Search, though, is that "you're not searching the web," according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, you're searching your friends.

Read more about Zuckerberg's announcement here

It's a shot across the bow at Google, for sure (not enough to scare investors, though - Google shares moved a bit higher as the news was announced). But, and this is a good thing, it is a search that's more specific to what you do on Facebook. In fact, Zuckerberg even announced FB would be partnering with Micorsoft's Bing in its new beta roll out on Tuesday.

This is likely to be seen as good news not only for FB users, but also for advertisers, who can now track more specific information about what you what when you're on Facebook.

Below is Facebook's video release:

Scott can be tracked on Twitter: @scottbudman