http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Vb2uojqKvFM

Google glasses could potentially be the iPhone, or iPad creation for themselves. It could have the ability to completely change the face of technology but also wipe the smirk off Apples face.
I say this because it basically puts everything into one, into your mind and eyes the world is accessible, and with augmented reality it really becomes limitless to what you can see. Now
with the recent integration of the Google system i.e. search, g-mail, Google+ etc I began to think of the bigger picture beyond the 'is Google taping into my accounts'.

Google+ is basically a market research tool for the company, by combining all of their systems and functions it allows for Google to monitor literally anything and everything to do with individuals.
All of this could be a lead up to the glasses release, allowing for a smooth transaction with all details available without having to fiddle with anything. I signed up to Google+ the other day, it's not bad considering its pretty late to the social media party. I just found it to be a bit of everything, bit of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and all the others which basically makes it a product for Google to show they are involved with everything still and that their technology isn't behind others. It made me think that surely the powerhouse Google won't just settle for this pretty average service, they must have something bigger in the works especially with all these rumors regarding Google branded products. I'm convinced that Google will use the integrated services together to construct a new architecture for an algo that will make the Glasses project something truly incredible.

Another situation that triggered these thoughts was the advert on television for Google+, now it could be an ignorant mindset that social media shouldn't even consider marketing, the power of trend is undeniable, so it really should hope that the masses will arrive sooner or later. It really shocked me seeing the advert as I began to think they are seriously struggling or trying to be super aggressive, either way Google+ won't become "indie" or a fashion statement for some time. It just got that bit to mainstream for the cool cats out there. Think of Twitter and Facebook these two websites don't have to pay for advertising people willingly advertise for them through various media it could be music videos or adverts Facebook and Twitter have a pretty easy path of marketing for themselves. So why on Earth would Google advertise?

Not sure about anyone else but Facebook is getting boring and slow, Twitter has now made it incredibly hard for me to not get carried away and bombard my friends with various updates. Google+ is pretty confusing right now, lots of different options to choose and just a lot of buttons to press, which really makes it that slight bit too much effort. But these little button presses and extra details make it seem like it's there as a type of questionnaire or a general way to gather information. I found without any knowledge what so ever that my Android Instagram photos were automatically being uploaded to my Google+ account, literally every single picture luckily nothing embarrassing was taken but none the less it's as if Google is attempting to build a mirror image of your life into a virtual world, for possibly augmented reality?

I probably do sound like a person with too many cats and someone who has been abducted by aliens but the way Google is marketing G+ and the fact they ARE marketing it makes me wonder that there is more than just social media services that will be available soon. The way the G+ service works and the whole integrated service works makes me think about what Google is actually doing. Apple releases products by being super secretive and causing a real commotion in the tech world, I think Google is definitely due for a product of that same nature. Google Glass could be it.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

Growth & Competition
2006 net sales were $9.1m, 2011 net sales were $232.5m, that's a 91% annual growth rate right there. So even through the economic crisis, the worst part of it, they still manage to gain more and more traction in the market place. Its simple, you may not be able to afford the latest mp3 player but you can sure enough buy a set of earphones/headphones that look like a piece of modern "chic" art. I love the headphones personally, but I wouldn't get attached to the brand name due to the obvious trading reasons. They started the main trend of bright colourful and artistic headphones and have held a strong market share. The new dominance of Dre Beats headphones can't be denied as being a threat, along with the SMSby50cent headphones which will no doubt put a dent in the market for the time being. The difference is the 2 headphone makers are 'right' now, they are a fashion symbol, the people that Skullcandy advertise to and aim at are mostly extreme sports lovers and participators. I did motocross for a couple of years, along with bmx, downhill and anything in general that gave me an adrenaline buzz, one thing I know for sure is that this market place dislikes the mass market, the fashion set by divas and pop stars. So the current trend doesn't really matter as this audience pay little attention to it. If the product is advertised in say a motocross or surfing magazine it is then certified to be a respectable item to purchase and own within your prefered sport.

Mass Sponsorship
This brings me to the sponsorship program they have at Skullcandy, I mean they are approaching the same level as Redbull for extreme sports sponsors. Skullcandy now sponsor many shows such as the Maloof money cup, they sponser motocross teams, bmx riders and skateboarders, heaps more! The new face of the model crew at Skullcandy being Kate Upton just further backs up the idea behind trying to branch out and get a bigger audience. This is all for the US as well, Europe still needs to be tackled fully, which is in the works now going by their 10-K Form. So alongside mass sponsorship and news of 10 new premium headphones being in the pipeline (25 models in total currently), patents galore for their popular models and the ownership of 2XL and Astro gaming headphones means that they are taking the headphone/earphone market by storm, not setting a season of trends or fashion. They are considering ways to grow with the products they offer but also incorporate themselves into different areas such as having apps for iOS (800,000 downloads) and Android (70,000 downloads).

Expansion
Now the expansion into the Global market will obviously put a dent into a quarter earnings but the fact is the growth is possible and the net sales will increase. Their presence online, in print and media means they aren't coasting and relying on their sponsored DJs, Athletes and models to sell the product, they are still going to work in the exec meetings. The cost of contracts, production and expansion will take a toll on the company but the risk of growth being hurt due to unforseen circumstances is minimal. It's hard to get bad press on headphones, besides with the current market they are aiming at they wouldn't care anyway.

Now Skullcandy has a good selling strategy, it's order how many you need with no contracts. With 10% of sales coming from Best Buy and Target on a no contract basis it limits the problems of shops shutting down or losing customers and the many other problems that are fast arising with the box shop strategies. With the news on Best Buy shutting stores and going more mobile last week its clear that the idea is a brilliant move. Get contracts for the names to represent the company and just allow orders to be on a requirement basis, granted the security of the contracts will be missing but it will also then allow to offer exclusivity to other various companies instead of focusing on one which may or may not have poor overall quarters. Granted the CFO resigned and as of tomorrow will no longer be there, but the bigger picture is that he didn't leave on bad terms or that something was not right, he left to pursue other opportunities, yet still remain with the company until April 1st (today) and retain his 10,000 shares in Skullcandy now to me that's a sign of positivity and the 7% drop on the CFO resignation news was over the top. As of Friday close Skullcandy was sitting at a pretty strong resistance of $16.00 the volume was average but the RSI and MACD were bullish. It will be interesting to see tomorrow if any effects will take place on the price as Mitch Edwards will officially be no longer part of the Skullcandy team. It's a long way to go before it hits the IPO price of $20 but I have no doubt it will reach that price again. Theres too much growth potential left and also a lot of work still taking place within the company to consider it deadmeat.

Overall I think the company is doing a lot for the long run, they don't consider themselves as a trend of fashion setter but a fully fledged company who are trying to branch out into different areas and markets, also looking into aggressive expansion into the Global market. They acknowledge the factors that will be associated with all of the above but continually go about it the right way. Sure Kate Upton is nice on the eyes and we probably wouldn't even notice the headphones she has but it's the out of the box mentality they have had from day one that makes me bullish for the long-term about this company.

I currently do not have a position in $SKUL Skullcandy but will be monitoring for the best opportunity to place a position.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, but may initiate a long position in SKUL over the next 72 hours.

Tech, food, books, anything, can be a start up and will be one, we are all brainwashed by the Facebook IPO that is coming up in May. Now that 2nd market trading has been stopped for a second running that means its nearly upon us. The life changing start up that is estimated at $100bn is mind blowing. But we are all thinking about that valuation when we set out to start a new business. I personally set out all guns blazing with a friend to start work on a new tech start up, its such a huge project that we have had to put it on hold until further notice. That's the problem though we are evolving in the way we find employment, and I personally believe that it will stay this way for a long time, we are thinking of smart ways to produce a personal wealth and change the world and our goals in life and beginning to become much larger than any 9 to 5 can offer. It's an incredible thing we will see, but we have to bare in mind the number of start ups and business's that begin. We will in the future reach a level of business's that all work together and end up having no customers, markets will be saturated with products and the whole recession loop will start over.

This brings me to the recent IPOs that have appeared. For anyone to say that IPOs are dead and no longer considered a worthwhile consideration are oh so very wrong. ($BNNY) Annie's traded at an incredible 80% on its first day, ($MM) Millennial Media Inc reached 100% today on first day of trading, ($PRSS) CafePress Inc up a mere 14%. We also had ($ZNGA) Zynga at the end of 2011 and ($GRPN) Groupon too, the anticipated IPO of ($FB) Facebook in May will be the cream of the crop. Numbers like these show that start ups right now are the companies to be getting involved with. I even read an article that said how many graduates are no longer chasing the Wall St dream but in-fact going to start ups, with the relaxed mentality and ability to be at the helm of a new game changing company who wouldn't. But it show's that anyone can achieve these goals and companies, it takes the ideas that you have and using the motivation of finding yourself employment or getting a better opportunity and finally working on them.

Tech start ups are still very popular but they are now falling into the background, they are no longer the thing to be or have but in-fact its Healthy foods and snacks, they are fast becoming the new start up to somehow get involved in. With governments putting extra money into battling obesity and bio-techs looking into finding cure's for this "pandemic" it will be the new company to own. Annie's is a prime example of the demand for it, when I saw the ticker flying to the moon today I thought of one thing only, ($WFM) Whole Food Market is going to feel this, with a downgrade today it backed up my thoughts. Healthy foods and snacks now even offer the chance to go crazy with art and design, funky marketing and new ways of being "indie" about the products. Even new job titles have been made from the likes of Facebook and Google such as Marketing Ninja, again it shows how the employment mentality and world is fast changing.

I have a huge love for infographics, so here's one to suit the start up theme.

Also the link to the original website for the infographic www.coolinfographics.com/blog/2012/2/29/....

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Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

People keep saying that Research in Motion, Adobe or Barnes & Noble alongside many other company mentions should be bought by Apple. Now this would be great for those companies and the market but it would mean that Apple are no longer innovating, they are just buying up resources that lets be honest are of a pre school scale compared to the tech and ideas they store within the compounds of its HQ. It would mean that their future moves and projects would be constantly guessed on and people would try to work it out. We right now have very little if any idea of what will be the next few products passed the iPhone 5 and suspected iTV. Sure they probably do buy patents all the time, but that's logical in the sense that it keeps competitors away from possibly beating them to a new idea. They will keep buying companies from obscure places such as Israel, places that you wouldn't consider to have the ideas and tech needed to further push Apple ahead of everyone else. It will mean very little is known of the products these companies have and it will keep it all a mystery as to what actually happens within Apple.

The mystery and secrets that live within Apple powers our imagination and a lot of theories as to what goes on within the main compound. But this is what makes Apple that bit more special, it allows us to think of the greatest possible ideas we would want to one day have in the palm of our hands or in our homes. Apple will then give us that product which fulfils those needs or dreams. Siri for example can either be looked at as the end of human kind or the greatest tool/helper ever made.

It would be crazy for Apple to buy any company that the public and competitors have knowledge of or can gain access to. They will and need to stick with the little companies out in the hills or forests that innovate and produce outstanding ideas. Besides a lot of the large cap tech companies have at one point copied an Apple product or feature, so why go backwards when you can leave everyone guessing and left in the dust.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

Now I don't want to blow my own trumpet, but I've been a fan of Netflix right at the peak of its international hatred. Right when it was floating around 64.53 on 30th November I said Netflix would rise from the bottom, it would once again be considered one of the first go to companies for film and series streaming.

Why I said this was because of the leadership in the market and industry it has. Steaming of everything is fast becoming the must have thing, the new technology of the world insist's that everything you have created, produced or written is constantly accesible whilst you are mobile or where ever you are located within a building. Now granted the chart above looks bad, well frankly terrible for that colossal drop from $298 a share to $63.86 in a matter of months. But regardless it is now starting to see a rise back in share price, reaching $120.19 on Friday close. The numbers for the company are pretty grim as well, with very little profit if any being project next year, due to worldwide expansion, copyright paperwork etc. But it still has popularity, even though 800,000 subscribers left on news of company spliting into 2 services and a price hike, I would like to know how many have come back with a new alias.

It brings me to the seriously fast market growth for the on demand, streaming television. Netflix is one of the first to offer it wil such a large scale of popularity and content. The market is becoming filled with various companies trying to jump on board, so many its hard to list. The companies range from private small companies to large cable companies that are trying to get into that space. Trouble is their strategies involve trying to punk the subscribers into another package, or another service to get the streaming service. Netflix doesn't do that, it has it's simple monthly fee that everyone can see, they are not being told they need a new car or to have a mass conversion of solar panel systems, they just say you can subscribe and unsubscribe whenever you want. Its the peer pressure to buy other things or you buy this one package but you will always have the burning desire to buy the one up just to say you have it.

Netflix has seen a large number of people trying to put it back down in the market, either they are scared as momentum is growing and they have written some calls or they have shorted the stock and can see that it still remains a strong company. I mean year to date its up 73.46% and thats with having a relentless assualt from various companies and groups of people. It just shrugs it off, everyone said that when another new service is launched Netflix will suffer, it didn't and it won't due to the fact you had to be a paying customer of another service to get the streaming content for free.

I like the company, its growing fast and doing everything right to get the price back up. It may not hit the previous highs for some time but at least its going about it in the right way. Its going to see alot of technical resistance if there happens to be little news like there has been for the passed few months. The main resistance looks like it could be around $129.25 and once passed it will be the 200ma $151.39. The volume has been average for February and March but MACD and RSI are not ready for a sell off, keep watching it as there is alot of room for movement.

Sure Netflix will lose content and contracts but they will fight to get it all back, offering exclusive content is a incredible way to go but also they clearly show they listen to their customers, now that will always bring them back. Im very bullish on $NFLX and will remain to be, it remains quiet and very little is known of the background happenings, much like Apple so this itself makes me excited by the prospects of what the future may have.

I do not have a position in this stock and the ideas and numbers are just of my own opinion.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.