When it comes to handling money, citizens of the United Arab Emirates know what they're doing. This small federation )115th in terms of total area( actually counts as the world's 35th-largest economy, according to the International Monetary Fund. So UAE residents should appreciate the fact that a local version of Groupon has launched. The site - along with its first deal - went live this morning, just one day after a Chinese version was introduced .

More details of Google's plan to hire 6,000 new employees have come to light. It seems the search giant will focus an unusual amount of attention on Central and South America, making a special effort to step up operations in that area. Bill Faries reported earlier today, "Google Inc., the world's biggest Internet-search company, is opening new offices in Latin America and boosting staffing levels by 50 percent to capitalize on its fastest-growing region." Faries then added,

TED conferences are elite - and well-respected - events. People are so eager to attend them that tickets costing $6,000 each are snapped up in no time at all. Only now, videos of many TEDTalks will be available for free through Hulu and Hulu Plus. Admittedly, this isn't too huge a breakthrough in one sense; 886 video clips have already been posted at ted.com/talks , so anybody who knew what he )or she( was looking for was almost sure to find it.

Penny-pinching Google shareholders should perhaps look away. Your money isn't being used in the most responsible manner. But it's at least helping many of the rest of us smile, as Google's once again installed an unnecessarily large statue in commemoration of the latest version of the Android operating system. You can have a look at the Honeycomb sculpture for yourself below, courtesy of Justin Mattson, a developer advocate at Google. Mattson noted in a tweet ,

The use of the mobile Web will at some point become universal, and that point may arrive sooner than anybody expects, according to Google's CEO. Eric Schmidt indicated yesterday at the 2011 IAB Annual Leadership Meeting that even Google's supercomputers and brilliant employees haven't been able to make accurate forecasts so far. Schmidt relayed several interesting facts during his keynote. Consider that more than 200 million mobile YouTube playbacks occur every day,

Earlier this month, JPMorgan Chase raised $1.2 billion to establish a digital growth fund, and it looks the organization is wasting no time in putting that money to use. Reports now claim that JPMorgan intends to acquire a 10 percent stake in Twitter )assuming it hasn't done so already(. Here's the it-hasn't-happened-yet scenario, which surfaced first: David Gelles wrote late yesterday, "The fund hopes to acquire 10 per cent of the online messaging service for $450m,

When Groupon was said to have turned down a $6 billion acquisition offer from Google, many onlookers wondered what could possibly have motivated that decision. Now we know: the ability to earn $760 million in revenue in 2010, along with the goal of bringing in over a billion this year. Those figures were mentioned in an internal memo that leaked this afternoon, so unless CEO Andrew Mason is trying to teach everyone a lesson about respecting boundaries, they should be solid.

Pursuit, a small startup designed to connect employers with job candidates via social networks, has secured what some people )though not all - more on that in a minute( would consider the ultimate prize. A post on the company's homepage indicates that it attracted Facebook's attention in a big way. Now, as you see for yourself below, it looks like at least part of the Pursuit team will go to work for the social network.

Google TV got off to a rough start, but its fortunes may soon improve thanks to Samsung Electronics. A new rumor indicates that the organization, which is the largest electronics company in the world, could start to integrate Google TV software into its products. A Bloomberg article stated late yesterday, "Samsung Electronics Co., the largest television maker, may use Google TV software in home- entertainment devices based on its own chips, rather than those from Intel Corp.,

YouTube users in the UK may soon gain access to a bigger and better selection of movies through the site - if they're willing to fork over a fee. Rumor has it that Google intends to begin testing a Netflix-like subscription service in the region. Claire Atkinson reported late last night, "The search giant, which has been in talks with Hollywood studios for months, is looking to launch the streaming service first in Europe, in particular the UK, before expanding to the US,

Lots of companies have a strong presence on Facebook, with Chipotle, Ford, and NBC all making significant moves just this week. But when it comes to effective marketing in the UK, new data from Experian Hitwise indicates that fashion brands know how to use Facebook best. Robin Goad, who shared that finding in a corporate blog post earlier today, arrived at it by examining which sites people search for after leaving Facebook.

In fairness to MySpace: its brand recognition is off the charts, and it still receives traffic for which many sites' owners would kill. But just about everyone who doesn't work for the unit agrees that it's declining, and now it looks like the president of MySpace Music has joined that crowd. Peter Kafka reported this afternoon, "Myspace Music head Courtney Holt is stepping down. . . . Sources say Holt doesn't have another post lined up.

People who use both Facebook and Bing should soon become more familiar than ever with the concept of "social search." The integration of Facebook "Likes" into Bing's results is continuing so that searchers can see which sites have earned their friends' approval. A post on the Bing Search Blog explained this morning, "A few months ago, we announced an exciting partnership with Facebook to make search more social. As part of that work, we introduced Liked Results ,

Anyone who's unimpressed by the adoption rate Android's enjoyed since its launch should consider setting aside three minutes to watch a new video. The Android Developer Channel on YouTube has created a visualization of the mobile operating system's spread, and it's an interesting sight to see. Stylistically, the whole video's a little bit reminiscent of one of those water fountain light shows. Maps start off dark,

Investors who own shares of Google are sure to be thankful of that fact today; Google's stock rose 0.18 percent even while the Dow and Nasdaq sank 0.87 percent and 1.21 percent, respectively. But not all the news is good, as Zacks Investment Research also downgraded Google to "neutral." That doesn't mean it's time to panic, of course. Zacks is sticking with a price target of $662 )versus Google's current price of about $611,(,

If anyone's in a position to write )or rewrite( the rules of advertising, it's Google, the company that was founded in 1998 and now has a market cap of $197 billion. Marketers may want to pay attention, then, as the search giant outlined three "laws of display advertising physics" this afternoon. There's actually a lengthy blog post on the Agency Ad Solutions Blog explaining the laws and presenting additional information if you feel like making your way through around 1,

Thanks to PayPal, the unemployment rate in Chandler, Arizona should dive rather soon. PayPal announced today that it's opening a new customer service and operations center in the city, and the center is designed to accommodate as many as 2,000 employees. This move earned PayPal a warm reception from Chandler's mayor, Jay Tibshraeny. He stated, "PayPal is a very welcome addition to Chandler and the region on many levels.

The combined value of The Andy Griffith Show , Cheers , Frasier , every Star Trek series, The Twilight Zone , and Twin Peaks is in many ways incalculable. They're some of the greatest series ever made. But if anyone was wondering, the cost of yesterday's Netflix-CBS deal was probably in the neighborhood of $200 million, according to a new estimate. Peter Kafka wrote this morning,

MySpace, which has long enjoyed a reputation for being a good place for individuals to get familiar with different bands, may soon become even more useful to up-and-coming musicians. MySpace Music has partnered with Songtrust in an effort to introduce better music publishing management services. An official statement on the matter explained,

Prepare to take some pride in what your tax dollars achieve )or decide to disappear into the forests of Canada(. Google's throwing $5,000 and its PR machine behind a contest meant to show the public how American tax money is spent. A post on the Official Google Blog explained this afternoon, "Last year, Andrew Johnson and Louis Garcia, two developers from Minneapolis, Minn., created a website called whatwepayfor.