Open up your mind and say, ahh...

Who he is: Eduardo P. Saverin is a Brazil-born “internet entrepreneur and investor,” from a wealthy family that moved to Florida when it was discovered Eduardo’s name was on a kidnap-for-ransom hit list–he now lives in Singapore. A classmate of Mark Zuckerberg’s, Saverin actually finished his degree, earning a Bachelor of Economics. That didn’t fare him too well in Facebook business machinations, as an increasingly wide split with Zuckerberg over the years ended in a court case that was settled out of court. Since then he’s been putting his economic skills to use to take an active role in secondary market trading of Facebook stock. Now 29, he’s a little camera-shy (we nearly had to use his schoolboy photo here, from his Facebook page) but he’s reportedly enjoying his money, with the Daily Mail noting he is “living it up” and last year was “cavorting with a clutch of bronzed beauties” in France. But he’s also spending his money on investments: Social net Qwiki and mobile payment site Jumio being notable targets (the latter just landing $25.5 million in funding). He “didn’t learn anything from The Social Network.”

His connection to Facebook: He was in on it early, when it was still The Facebook, and worked closely with Zuckerberg to launch it in 2004, holding early titles of CFO and the (slightly more hazily defined) business manager. As that famous film tells us, it all went nasty, and now he simply retains a stake in the company.

What he’s worth already: Estimates are up to $2 billion, but of course the figure varies as the net worth of the companies he’s invested in changes, and dependent on how much secondary market trading he actually got up to before Facebook’s IPO began.

How much he could make in the IPO: His settlement with Facebook resulted in him keeping a 5% share, but he’s said to have sold it down to 2.5%. At an $85 billion IPO value, that equates to $2.1 billion.

What he might do with the cash: That Mail story notes he blew $50,000 on champagne in a party session, so maybe he’s taking a leaf out of Sean Parker’s book. We can probably expect to see a few more tabloid-pleasing antics (All that money! All those beaches and models!), and possibly more investments along the lines of Qwiki and ShopSavvy, and you could be forgiven for thinking he’s more likely to try to convert some of his stake into cash sooner than his peers given his earlier behavior.

Read about others in the Facebook IPO Players Club:

• Chris Hughes
• Sean Parker
• Peter Thiel 
• Dustin Moskovitz
• Jim Breyer
• Reid Hoffman

Chat about this news with Kit Eaton on Twitter, and Facebook if you like and Fast Company too.

Dallas Lawrence is the chief global digital strategist for Burson-Marsteller, one of the world’s leading public relations and communications firms. He is a Mashable contributor on emerging media trends, online reputation management and digital issue advocacy. You can connect with him on Twitter @dallaslawrence.

If an individual or activist group broke into an organization’s office, raided confidential materials and then burned the building to the ground, local, state and federal officials would have swarmed the crime scene in an all out effort to bring the perpetrators to justice for an act of terrorism. Meanwhile, savvy online audiences and members of the media almost dismissively refer to the online versions of these raiders as “hacktivists,” conjuring up images of harmless school kids having fun pushing the boundaries of online security.

As we saw this morning with the Susan G. Komen Foundation website hack -– and again as “Anonymous Brazil” signaled they had successfully “taken down” the website of Brazil’s largest state bank — these groups are anything but harmless. One study from 2011 identified the average financial impact of these types of breaches to be just north of $7 million per incident.

Is Apple going on an overseas talent shopping spree? The company’s just hired Robin Burrowes to head up marketing for the iTunes App Store in Europe. Executive-level hiring happens all the time, but Burrowes is different: Until now he’s been leading Xbox Live marketing for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In other words: He’s a Microsoftee. Along with Apple’s brand new SVP of Retail John Browett–a British marketing expert, previously chief exec of European tech retail chain Dixons–it looks like Apple’s breaking with its long-held tradition of hiring executives from inside its number.

Burrowes’ expertise could be a great asset to Apple. Burrowes was at Xbox Live during its recent rapid growth (signing up a new user every two seconds has to be a win) and Europe is a core market. The App Store is populated with tens of thousands of games, and these styles of apps are key to Apple’s future revenues, meaning Burrowes is an ideal fit.

But Browett is a slightly more controversial hire. The struggling British tech retail store chains he led are not at all famous for the classy, minimalist, and customer-forward style of the Apple Stores. They are better known for garish colors and a pile ‘em high, sell ‘em cheap showroom philosophy. Undoubtedly this means Browett has a different perspective, but Tim Cook has allegedly stepped up to defend the decision.

Apple’s executive team is typically made up of long-timers who have been grown inside the company before landing a top job. For example, former SVP of retail Ron Johnson, who is largely responsible for the global retail success of the Apple Store, was with the firm for 10 years. Now, assisted by a talent search firm, the company has made two high-level hires from outside its ranks, and with overseas expertise. This is Tim Cook stamping his mark on Apple, of course, perhaps because he has a vision for a future where external expertise helps take Apple in new and interesting directions.

There’s also a ghost of Steve Jobs in these decisions, because he was responsible for bringing the executive talent scouts aboard (Jobs wanted to “consider executives who are based abroad”). Perhaps Jobs himself was sensitive to change, Apple’s growing global importance, and the idea that newer thinking may be needed in the future of a company he knew he wouldn’t be managing.

So this isn’t the changing of the guard, nor is it particularly dramatic. But Apple watchers, both amateur and on Wall Street, may be keeping a close eye on these developments because they could signal Apple gently steering itself in a new direction. Perhaps the next iPhone may even get a Paris launch event, rather than a U.S. one. No, who are we kidding? Apple’s still as American as apple pie (except when it comes to jobs creation, of course). The launch will be in San Francisco, and may even come in June…but that’s another story.

Image: Flickr user Incase.

The 150-plus page Facebook IPO S1 filing could turn out to be one of the most extensively read documents since Walter Isaacson’s Steve Job’s biography. Everyone is poring over it, examining the details like tea leaf sediment at the bottom of a soothsayer’s cup. There’s hard evidence in there of Facebook’s business, growth, competitions and plans for the future. Still, there’s another, somewhat more subtle story here, woven throughout the passages and you can only see it by stepping back and looking at the words or, more precisely, the frequency of those words.

When a phrase is repeated until it spreads over your conversation (or S1) like a fine mist, you really mean it. In Facebook’s S1 there are hundreds of thousands of words and some are said more than others. A standard word cloud is pretty much a mess that’s impossible to decipher. Instead, we can look at some key words and the frequency with which they appear. I did a similar exercise with President Obama’s State of the Union Address.

For Facebook, I looked at almost two dozen critical words or phrases, each with a special meaning to Facebook and the social space, and each, with one exception, mentioned at least once in this massive document. I have some ideas about why, for example, “Privacy” was mentioned 35 times, yet “Twitter” received just two mentions.

Let’s take a look at the tale of the text in the gallery above.

This week’s Facebook IPO generated a deep trove of wealth for a new generation of young entrepreneurs. The question for them now is, what are you going to do with your billions?

If you’re curious by nature, perhaps you’d like a new adventure. Since you have money to play with, maybe you’d like to play at something you’ve never played before. Maybe you’d like to get to know yourself a bit better. Or maybe you’d like to change many, many lives for the better, for generations to come?

I’ll make you a bet. Follow my advice here, and I promise you that your life will never be the same again. You’ll have newfound energy and meaning in your life. You’ll meet extraordinary people from very diverse backgrounds. And you’ll learn more about yourself than you could ever imagine. If you follow my advice and I’m wrong, you can tell me and everyone else so in my blog post. (If I’m right, you can also say so.)

Here are the first steps to putting some of your newfound wealth to work, for good.

PHASE ONE: INTROSPECTION

1. Think about what makes you curious.

Consider global, national, and/or regional issues that have captured your attention in the media and discussions with your friends. Environment, such as energy renewal; social justice and human rights, perhaps related to LGBT, women, fair trade, employment; education and technology; cultural arts; politics; and so on. Developing countries or domestic. Regional. Neighborhood and grassroots.

2. Think about what touches your heart.

Consider people for whom you’d like to help provide greater opportunities: children, youth, seniors, immigrants, vulnerable populations such as children with disabilities, people in underserved countries or communities, women who are abused, people who are incarcerated, and so on.

3. Think about the problems you want to help solve.

Most people have many interests. Another way to look at this is to think about global and regional challenges that you might want to play a part in solving. For example, you might be moved by children with cancer because of a personal family experience, but you might feel more suited to work on addressing global water issues or fostering invention and entrepreneurship.

4. Think about how to bring about change.

If you’ve seen the power of social media in changing how people interact, you might like NGOs that use mobile technologies to improve market opportunities for people in developing countries. This is one of Omidyar Network’s investment areas. If, however, your background is in human resources or public policy, you might particularly value leadership development programs to empower people who were previously disenfranchised.  The African Leadership Academy is an example.

PHASE II:  RESEARCH

5. List three areas of interest for your initial attention.

You can be broad: global development. You can be focused: job programs serving your local community.

6. Explore various approaches that people and organizations are taking to solve them.  Through twitter, blogs, books, lectures.  Begin to form some opinions.

For example, in global development, two distinctively different approaches are presented by Jeffrey Sachs vs. William Easterly. They both have seminal books presenting their approaches, and they are both lively bloggers and twitterers. Another thought leader in global development is David Bornstein.

In some cases, these individuals and their theories of change are tied to particular NGOs. Bill Easterly with GlobalGiving, where I serve on the NY Leadership Council. David Bornstein with BRAC, which I wrote about here. Then there is Hernando de Soto and The Mystery of Capital. DeSoto is the Founder and Chairman of the Institute of Liberty and Democracy.

7. Meet with people.  Visit some organizations.

Ultimately, you will learn the most by visiting a variety of nonprofits and seeing their work on the ground.  That can include visiting organizations in your community, as well as abroad. Meet and talk with the staff to learn about their approaches.

PHASE III:  ENGAGEMENT

8. Volunteer and contribute.

If you want to engage on a personal level, and you wish to really add value, the best way is to meet with the CEO or the development staff and have a conversation about that. For most nonprofits, there are many ways that you can be useful, from providing technical assistance, to serving on the board, being a spokesperson, serving as an advocate, fundraising among your friends, and so on. Without doubt, whatever you decide to do, you can help an organization to achieve its vision in making the world a better place. Matt Damon chose Charity: Water and has become a powerful advocate, spokesperson, donor, and fundraiser.

9. Create a private foundation.

Some of you will want to consider establishing a private foundation. You can make financial contributions from the foundation based on the priorities you determine according to my suggested approach.

10. Establish your own nonprofit.

If you don’t discover a nonprofit that addresses the issues that are meaningful to you in ways that you think are effective, you can establish your own nonprofit, or even an LC3. The downside is that you will be funding the infrastructure expenses of an entirely new social enterprise. The upside is that you can create something entirely of your own making. Julia Ormond established her own nonprofit and has been a highly effective advocate to stop slavery and end trafficking.

Choosing your issue, and where and how to become involved is an extraordinary journey. One of my corporate board candidates was deliberating over which of three nonprofit boards to join. He finally sighed and exclaimed, “Wow, this is like a process of self-discovery.”

Another high powered Wall Street executive whom I placed on a national board told me with great exhilaration that he is working with a Native American chief on solving what had previously seemed to be intractable issues of homelessness and poverty. This board member has been asked to chair the board–a unique leadership opportunity to impact hundreds of thousands of people in need.

Yet others are involved with organizations that range from global to grassroots, each contributing in their own way, engaging deeply with people from all walks of life and from around the world.

Finding your own unique way to give back can be one of the great adventures of your life. You will meet some of the most dedicated, exuberant, brilliant problem-solvers you’ve ever encountered. You will help improve lives and the world. And you will never be the same again.

Image: Flickr user Josh Libatique

Jet engines on airliners can swallow a fair amount of ice during a flight, and to make sure they’re up to the task, engine makers bombard them with all kinds of frozen water. This week General Electric pulled the cover off its newest engine testing facility in the appropriately cold location of Winnipeg, Manitoba. The testing ground is designed to take advantage of the cold Canadian winters for ice certification of new jet engines.

Because a jet engine can encounter icing conditions as it flies through clouds, the Federal Aviation Administration requires several tests to ensure engines can operate in freezing conditions. Tests include blasting engines with tiny ice particles similar to those found in clouds, as well as coating engine parts in ice. That’s done to check the associated risk of those parts being iced over and the risk of ice breaking loose and going deeper into the engine.

General Electric says Winnipeg’s 50-plus days of sub-zero temperatures annually makes the new location ideal for cold weather testing. The company runs another test facility in Peebles, Ohio, but the weather there isn’t reliabily cold enough.

Seven fans push air through the 21-foot wind tunnel before 125 nozzles spray tiny water droplets that freeze before pelting the test engine, which normally would be mounted where the plastic is in the top photo. The facility also will perform other tests, including bird ingestion testing (typically performed with dead turkeys tossed into the engine.) and water/torrential rainstorm simulations.

The seven high powered fans that push the air through the wind tunnel at GE’s new engine test facility.

New jet engines are key to commercial aviation’s push for greater fuel efficiency. Airplane makers like Boeing and Airbus rarely miss the chance to tout how new airplanes such as the 787 Dreamliner or A350 XWB consume much less fuel than comparable airliners. Engines from General Electric, Rolls Royce, Pratt & Whitney and others account for a large part of those fuel savings.

The first version of the new GE engines on the 787 initially missed some key efficiency requirements. But the next generation GEnx-1B engines flew for the first time Wednesday on GE’s 747 test airplane over California’s Mojave desert. The new engines include small changes to the design that should recover most of the missing efficiency GE hoped for when the engines were designed. The engine is expected to receive certification this summer.

The Boeing 787 is offered with both General Electric and Rolls Royce jet engines. The only 787s currently flying, with All Nippon Airways of Japan, use Rolls Royce engines.

In other news, last week saw a few headaches for some early long-haul flights by ANA’s new 787, according to Flight Global. On two flights from Tokyo to Frankfurt, passengers ended up flying on Boeing 777s instead after a flap malfunction and software issue forced the new Dreamliner into the maintenance shop. The relatively minor issues were quickly repaired and the plane returned to service.

Photo: GE

The Center for Automotive Research (CAR) is launching a campaign to help cars lose weight in order to gain efficiency and performance.

By bringing together members of the aluminum and plastics/composites industries, CAR hopes that automakers will reap the benefits of new lightweight materials to meet stricter fuel economy standards without sacrificing acceleration or handling.

Obviously fans of descriptive acronyms, the folks at CAR have named the group Coalition of Automotive Lightweighting Materials, or CALM. Among its members, CALM will count over 200 automotive suppliers who will collaborate on weight-saving technologies in what they call “precompetitive” efforts. That way, the greatest number of automakers will be able to take advantage of lighter components.

“One of the first tasks for CALM will be to meet with engineering groups at the automakers to understand their mass reduction strategies and challenges so the supplier industries can develop and apply their technology solutions with each auto company,” said CAR president and CALM director Jay Baron.

Automakers can add hybrid powertrains, downsize engines and change up gearing ratios, but reducing a vehicle’s overall weight is still one of the most efficient ways of improving gas mileage. It’s an argument often made by fans of the late Geo Metro and Honda CRX HF — both of which achieved hybrid-worthy fuel economy at the expense of safety features, creature comforts and wheels larger than a lawn tractor’s.

While overall fuel economy has increased dramatically in the past few decades, so has the weight of passenger vehicles. MIT economist Christopher Knittel recently found that the average vehicle’s curb weight increased 26 percent between 1980 and 2006. If today’s powertrains were fitted to cars as light as the Chevettes and Civics of yore, the average fuel economy of cars sold in the US would be as high as 37 mpg in 2012.

Like most Americans this time of year, car manufacturers have started looking at the numbers on their scales and are vowing to do something about it. GM, for its part, has talked about using carbon fiber across their vehicle fleet, even on entry-level models.

The benefits won’t just be all about fuel economy. Lighter cars can be more nimble on the road, offering performance and handling benefits. For that reason, we suggest CAR change the coalition’s name to something like the Colin Chapman Center for Automotive Weight Loss, after the Lotus founder who famously said, “To go faster, just add lightness.”

Photo: Flickr/tibchris