This weekend, word spread that Facebook had raised $500 million in funding at a valuation of $50 billion, and following that, we imagine a few early employees and investors placed orders for Ferraris and the like. The company, meanwhile, has hired Sean Ryan, who previously helped oversee News Corp.'s gaming division. Of course, the timing may be coincidental, especially considering that neither development was either announced or confirmed through official channels. Still,

Most recollections of 2010 will cover both ups and downs, or at least acknowledge that bad stuff occurred while focusing on the good. But the Chrome Web browser enjoyed an overwhelmingly positive year, gaining market share 11 months out of 12 according to Net Applications, and the latest data indicates it ended 2010 with a share just shy of 10 percent. Indeed, according to new statistics from Net Applications, Chrome ended 2010 with a market share of 9.98 percent.

People who purchased smartphones in the past six months were more likely to buy an Android device than an Apple product by a ratio of about 1.5 to 1, according to a new report from Nielsen. This led the data research firm to give Android the enviable title "leading OS among recent acquirers" this morning. The graph below should make the basis for the title clear. More and more consumers decided to give Android a try during the second half of 2010,

Android users might soon be presented with a more convenient way of finding content from their favorite publications. Rumor has it that Google's trying to put together a "digital newsstand" through which people would be able to purchase magazine- or newspaper-specific apps. Russell Adams and Jessica E. Vascellaro reported, "The e-newsstand would include apps from media companies offering versions of their publications for smartphones or tablets running Android,

It's a happy new year indeed for Mark Zuckerberg and everyone with financial ties to Facebook. Goldman Sachs and Digital Sky Technologies have invested $500 million in the company, according to a new report, and in doing so, valued it at $50 billion. A couple points of reference: it was only 38 months ago that Microsoft drew laughter by paying $240 million for a 1.2 percent stake in Facebook, valuing it at $15 billion. And Yahoo and eBay just have market caps of about $21.

Heading into the holiday season, many economic experts seemed to fear that the average present would be a homemade scarf or coffee mug. Instead, the latest )and probably last( comScore data concerning the holiday shopping season shows that U.S. online spending hit a record $30.8 billion. That works out to an increase of 13 percent compared to the same period )November 2nd through December 27th( in 2009, which isn't at all bad.

Before diving in, we should perhaps remind everyone that trademarks don't mean a lot in China. Knockoffs of all sorts are produced in massive quantities. But not long after Mark Zuckerberg toured the country and met with business leaders, Facebook's name has been spotted in connection with a Chinese social network. Some info to orient you: Tencent Holdings Limited is a Chinese tech company that reported $1.8 billion in revenue in 2009.

Three days after Amazon declared the third-generation Kindle the best-selling product in its history, Barnes & Noble has responded with a similar claim. It seems the Nook line of devices now qualifies as Barnes & Noble's all-time bestseller. One small nuisance: like Amazon, Barnes & Noble chose not to share any specific sales figures, so don't think we failed to repeat the number of Nooks that have found their way into consumers' hands.

When it comes to paying for online content, there are lots of outlooks. Some people subscribe to multiple news sites and spend hours on iTunes every week. Others set the Pirate Bay as their homepage. Now, following a study, Pew's claimed that 65 percent of Internet users have paid for digital content at some point. Note that the past tense definitely applies here; Pew's question included the phrase "if you have ever paid,

People who shop for things online wind up happiest when they buy from companies including Amazon, Netflix, Newegg, Apple, and eBay, according to new research. ForeSee Results's E-Retail Satisfaction Index ranked these sites among the best online retailers in the U.S. Indeed, based on a survey of almost 10,000 people who had recently visited the top 40 retail sites, Amazon and Netflix actually tied for first place with scores of 86 for "shopper satisfaction.

Earlier this month, Time magazine named Mark Zuckerberg "Person of the Year," and now, although Experian Hitwise isn't in the business of handing out such titles, it looks like Zuckerberg's site has become the online equivalent. Experian Hitwise announced late yesterday that Facebook was both the most visited site and most searched-for term of 2010. The information services firm explained with respect to that second achievement,

Anyone who's looking to invest a little Christmas money might want to listen up. While we're neither backing nor attacking this advice, Hudson Square Research has initiated coverage on Google and Yahoo, labeling them both a "buy" and setting price targets significantly above the stocks' current prices. The firm's expectations are somewhat lower for Yahoo, as you might have guessed. Hudson Square Research established a price target of $19.00,

As we wrap up 2010, there's still more evidence online retailers came out of the holiday shopping season in good shape. Experian Hitwise shared data indicating that retail traffic has been up on a year-over-year basis for the better part of two months. The differences haven't always been huge; on both Christmas and the day after Christmas, Experian Hitwise recorded just a three percent change in the market share of visits to its "Retail 500" category between 2009 and 2010.

An upcoming election in Sudan is widely expected to be marked by violence, but thanks to the actions of Google, Harvard, the UN, and a group called Not On Our Watch, it's possible the situation won't get too bloody. In an effort to discourage hostilities, the organizations have banded together to support satellite surveillance of Sudan. It's possible the surveillance will act as a deterrent.

Different estimates put China's population in the neighborhood of 1.3 billion people, and soon enough, PayPal intends to start helping them do business worldwide. PayPal will open an ecommerce hub in Chongqing with the local government's blessing. This won't be a simple matter of encouraging people to use the online payment system when making purchases and accept it when making sales. Instead, it looks like the company means to interact with merchants in a number of ways,

Earlier this month, eBay released two separate statements saying that mobile sales rose over a very short period. Now, the company's opened up a third time on the subject, and it turns out mobile sales for the complete holiday shopping season )defined by eBay as November 25th through December 25th( grew by an impressive 166 percent. That 166 percent was measured on a worldwide basis year-over-year, and helped eBay record $230 million in gross merchandise volume.

Whatever his faults, Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen is at least persistent and ambitious. Allen proved this yesterday by refiling a patent infringement lawsuit against AOL, Apple, eBay, Facebook, Google, Netflix, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Staples, Yahoo, and YouTube. Allen first sued these companies in late August, claiming they'd violated four patents generated by another firm )Interval Licensing( he'd cofounded. A judge threw out the suit because it wasn't specific enough.

Don't look for employees at these companies to break out shredders - or even break a sweat - quite yet, but the Securities and Exchange Commission might be curious about certain details related to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Zynga. Unconfirmed rumors indicate the SEC is looking into their privately traded stock. Peter Lattman reported, "The agency has sent information requests to several participants in the buying and selling of stock in these four companies,

In the past month or so, Google, Yahoo, and Bing all released year-end lists detailing what's been on their users' minds. Now it's at last eBay's turn, as the company best known for its auction site has published what it calls the "Top Shopped" report. Before we paste in the main list, here's a quick )and perhaps unnecessary( word of explanation: no one's claiming a soccer event, a football team, or an athlete was sold thousands of times. Instead,

Five months ago, an organization called AndroLib indicated that 100,000 apps had been submitted to the Android Market. Now, although AndroLib's stats aren't official, it looks like a whole lot of growth has taken place, as the latest graph shows the number has topped 200,000. Have a look at the growth curve for yourself below. It seems Android's popularity with developers isn't exactly tailing )or even leveling( off, which is good news for Google.