Photo Courtesy of cbsnews.com

Get your checkbooks ready because tomorrow Facebook goes public. This event, which is the biggest Internet IPO ever, is all the rave in the media.  And, if you’re sick of hearing about it, you’re not alone. For those that invested in Facebook like Bono, tomorrow is pay day. Facebook and it’s CEO Mark Zuckerburg have quite the history, and this big move will determine if their future is paved in gold or rust.

Whether the IPO will be a good or bad move for Facebook and social media as a whole still remains unknown. While there is statistical proof it will be a success, many are skeptical due to the negative hits Facebook has received in the past couple of weeks. Either way, for those that invested in Facebook like Bono, tomorrow should be quite the pay day.

Do you think Facebook’s IPO is a good move for the company?

Image courtesy of Gothamist.com

It’s about time! New York City’s Bike Share, CitiBike, is slated to hit the streets this July with 600 stations and 10,000 bikes in Manhattan and Brooklyn making it the largest bike share in the country. Hence the name, Citigroup, Inc. paid $41 million to sponsor the bike share program making it the only network in our country to operate entirely without government subsidies. CitiBike gives New Yorkers a low-cost, sustainable transportation option in a city where half the workforce lives within five miles of its place of work. For just $95 per year, New Yorkers can have unlimited use of the bikes for short rides (up to 30 minutes.) However, it’s probably not the most economical way to get to New Jersey as longer rides are quite expensive. Check out the proposed CitiBike station map and start planning your route.

Wanna try out the bikes? CitiBike is holding various Bike Share demonstrations throughout the city prior to its launch where people can test out the new bikes and provide feedback.

As of late, the term “pin” has taken on a whole new meaning thanks to Pinterest. Now that Pinterest is the third most visited social media network in the US, it is impossible to ignore the power of the “pin.” Pinterest is changing the way businesses engage with their customers. And, if used right, Pinterest can generate brand awareness and customer acquisition leads for your business brand’s social commerce strategy.

Learn how to effectively implement and optimize social commerce on Pinterest by joining Brandhackers NYC Monday, May 14 for their latest Happy Hour Speaker Series on Pinterest and Social Commerce Strategy. For more information on Brandhackers, visit their blog at www.brandhackers.com or their Facebook Page and link to their Pinterest Digital Infographic Social Planning Resource.

And, for goodness sakes, start “pinning”!

Are you tired? Thirsty? Hungry? Stressed? Don’t worry, there’s an app for that. These days it seems like there is an app for pretty much everything. Here are some of our recent favorites:

KitKat: This app gives social media users a break from posting to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn by posting for them. Once users enter their account details, the app will respond to items where the user has been tagged with one of eight random messages alleviating the stress of keeping up with various social media outlets.

Instead: This app encourages users to spend less and give more to charity by encouraging cheaper purchase options and then allowing users to donate what they save to charities of their choice.

WeTap: You will never go thirsty again with this app that allows users to bookmark drinking fountains using GPS and Google Maps, rate the quality of the faucets, and share their opinions with other users.

Klout: The official iPhone app for Klout was launched just a couple of weeks ago. Users can use the app to check their influential topics, +Ks received, a list of people they influence, a list of people who influence them and other people’s profiles.

Fragile Earth: This app shows how our planet is changing over time by showing dramatic before-and-after shots of places in the world that have been affected by changes in the climate, urbanization or just the power of nature.

With the arrival of spring, also comes the arrival of fresh seasonal produce and other local goodies signaling the start of the farmers’ market season! Whether you are a seasoned farmers’ market goer, or just getting started, check out this guide to farmers’ markets to help you be more productive at the markets.

All you Colorado folks, get excited, because some of the best Denver farmers’ markets are starting this weekend (May 5-6). Keep reading for a complete guide to Colorado’s freshest farmers’ markets:

Metro Denver Farmers’ Markets

Southwest Plaza Farmers’ Market

Saturdays, starting May 5, 8 am-2 pm or Sellout

Location: Southwest Plaza SE parking lot, Wadsworth & Bowles

Highlands Ranch Farmers’ Market 

Sundays, starting May 6, 10 am-2 pm or Sellout

Location: Highlands Ranch Town Center Square, 9288 Dorchester St., Highlands Ranch, CO 80129

Havana Exchange Farmers’ Market

Mondays, starting June 18, 10 am-3 pm or Sellout

Location: 2712-2892 S Havana St (Havana & Yale)

Littleton Farmers’ Market

Wednesdays, starting June 13, 10 am-3 pm or Sellout

Location: Aspen Grove Lifestyle Center, 7301 S. Santa Fe Dr.

Wheat Ridge Farmers’ Market

Thursdays, starting June 14, 10 am -3 pm or Sellout

Location: 4252 Wadsworth Blvd.

Colorado Fresh Markets

Cherry Creek Fresh Market

Saturdays, May 5 – Oct 27, 8 am – 1 pm

& Wednesdays, Jun 20 – Sep 26, 9 am – 1 pm

Location: 1st Ave. & University Blvd.

City Park Esplande Fresh Market

Sundays, May 13 – Oct 28, 9 am – 1 pm

Location: E. Colfax Ave. & Columbine St.

Stapleton Farmers’ Market

Sundays, Jun 17 – Oct 14, 8:30 am – 12:30 pm

Location: E. 29th Ave. & Roslyn St.

Highland United Neighbors Farmer’s Market

Saturdays, June-October, 9 am-1 pm

Location: Boulder Street (in front of Lola)

Old South Pearl Street Farmers Market

Sundays, May 20 – November 4, 9 am-1 pm

Location: 1500 South Pearl Street

Golden Farmer’s Market

Saturdays, June 2- October 6 (except for July 28-29), 8 am-1 pm

Boulder County Farmer’s Markets

Boulder Farmers’ Market

Saturdays, April 7 – November 17, 8 am-2 pm

Wednesdays, May 2 – October 3, 4 pm – 8 pm

Location: 13th Street between Arapahoe and Canyon

Longmont Farmers’ Market

Saturdays, April 7- November 3, 8 am-1 pm

Location: Boulder County Fairgrounds, 9595 Nelson Road

Vail Farmers’ Market

Sunday, June 17-September 6, 10 am-3:30pm

Location: Meadow Drive

With 69% of avid online shoppers visiting social networking sites, it’s no surprise that social commerce is predicted to grow and flourish in 2012. Social networks are no longer just outlets for social interaction, but also a place to share your favorite products and services, shop and socially gift. More and more brands are looking to turn their fans into customers through social commerce particularly with Facebook’s version, F-Commerce. The new launch of the Facebook shopping app, Glimpse, and the emersion of Facebook “taste graphs”, will only further fuel product discovery and social commerce. Interested in getting started on F-Commerce? Check out these F-Commerce success stories.

Another site that is fueling social commerce is Pinterest which allows users to to share and discover new products. Pinterest doesn’t provide commerce itself, but paves the path for other social commerce companies such as Copius, which is a service that enables customers to buy many of the products they discover on Pinterest, to develop and succeed.

However, social commerce does not come without challenges. The majority of consumers are still uncomfortable with the security of shopping on social networks.

Regardless, social commerce is here to stay so you might as well start socially shopping!

Let’s be honest, blind dates are awkward. Grouper, an online social club that arranges drinks between 2 groups of friends, helps to eleviate this awkwardness. The free, invite-only service, which is currently only available in New York City, uses Facebook connect to match three boys with three girls based on interests, ages and more. To further aid in the connection process, users are also prompted to answer three questions with the same 140-character restriction as tweets.

Grouper charges $20 per person and picks the location of the meeting place, as well as providing the first round of drinks for free. Users pay online beforehand and list the times they’d be available to meet. My friend in NYC recently tried out Grouper and loved it. Here is her personal account of  her Grouper experience.

The online social club was started by Jerry Guo and Michael Waxman in September 2011. Their intention was not to create a dating service but rather a club that facilitates social interaction and connections in a city where it is hard to meet new people. Check out an interview with Guo to learn more his vision for Grouper.

The real question is when is Grouper coming to Denver?!

After much anticipation, Google officially introduced their new cloud-storage service, Google Drive, today.  The new service will  integrate with Google Docs to allow users to access files from anywhere (including iPhone or Android devices) and collaborate on documents with colleagues.

One interesting feature of the service is smart tagging, which allows users to tag items stored on their drive. So, if you’ve uploaded a picture of Rocky Mountain National Park to your drive, the next time you perform a search for the park  your photo will show up along with other results. Google Drive also allows users to open up to 30 different files within your browser, regardless of whether or not you have the required software installed.

You’re probably wondering about storage. Google is offering all users 5GB of storage on the service gratis. If you need more than the 5GB, then it is offering several tiers of storage options at different price points.

What to expect out of Google Drive in the future? Users will soon be able to attach files from Drive directly to emails in Gmail. Even better, Google claims it is working with third-party developers to allow users to “send faxes, edit videos, and create website mockups directly from Drive.”

Google has a tough competition ahead since these capabilities are similar to those of existing cloud-storage services including Dropbox and Apple’s iCloud.

Google Drive is available now for PC, Mac, and Android, and will come soon to the iPhone and iPad. Check out the new Google Drive for yourself at drive.google.com/start. What do you think?

This Friday night, why not have fun for a cause? FosterSports and Mile High Sports and Rehabilitation invite you to join them tomorrow night, April 20, for a night of adult gaming at The Alley. No matter what your game of choice, they have you covered. Choose from bowling, pool, foosball and many more. Plus, food and drinks will be available to add to the fun. The best part is all proceeds will go to FosterSports, who’s mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of foster, homeless and displaced youth, by providing athletic programs, equipment and sports-related financial scholarships to assist in their healthy development.

So, invite your friends, game the night away and feel good doing it. For more information, check out the official event invitation.

It’s Tax Day! If you are a procrastinator and waited until today to file your taxes, check out these last minute tips and post office locations around Denver that will postmark your taxes up to midnight tonight. For those fortunate enough to get a refund, start planning how to use your newly acquired cash on fun and healthy activities around Denver.

And, if you really can’t make the Tax Day deadline, just file for an extension before the end of the day. Better late than never.

This year, companies are using Facebook more than ever to engage their customers by offering special Tax Days deals to their fans: 

Like Bruegger’s Bagels on Facebook and get a coupon for bundle of 13 bagels and 2 tubs of cream cheese for $10.40. Offer valid April 13 to April 17.

If you’re on Facebook, print this coupon for Panda Express and get a free serving of Shanghai Angus Steak when you buy an entree.

Also on Facebook, print this coupon and get a free value curly fry at Arby’s.

In addition, enjoy these Tax Day freebies and discounts from local businesses: 

At McDonald’s, buy one Big Mac or Quarter Pounder with Cheese and get the second one for a penny.

Boston Market is offering a free individual free meal when you buy one and a drink on Tuesday. You will need this coupon.

P.F. Chang’s is offering 15 percent off dine-in and takeout orders on Tuesday only.

McCormick & Schmick’s is offering an extended Happy Hour from 3:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. Get bar bites from $3.95-$5.95.

The Palm will be honoring its special Tax Day Relief certificate all day. Get a complimentary “PrimeBite” with the purchase of a beverage at the bar or on the patio (not in the dining room). Click here to download the certificate.

Visit Cinnabon on Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m. for two free classic Cinnabon bites. Valid at participating locations only.

Take this coupon to Chili’s for a free appetizer or desert with the purchase of an entree. Valid April 16-18.

Sonic is offering Happy Hour all day. That means all drinks and slushes are half price, all day.

Sign up to the Tokyo Joe’s Addict Club and get up to 2 beers for only a penny with the purchase of any bowl or big salad.