Criminals have a long history of targeting what people like most, and judging from the new 2011 Threat Predictions Report from McAfee, cybercriminals will continue to be no different. McAfee predicted that many of the technologies that gained popularity in the past 12 months may be exploited or attacked by online crooks next year. The security firm said in a statement, "The list comprises 2010's most buzzed about platforms and services, including Google's Android,

Three days ago, some of you no doubt opened a present and were surprised )or not, depending on how many hints you dropped( to find an Android phone inside. Now, while we're sure you're capable of reading the manual and experimenting, here's a collection of Android tips straight from Google. Interestingly, these pointers come from Jonathan Rosenberg, Senior Vice President of Product Management and one of only nine executive officers, rather than some Android engineer.

A lot has been said in the past few weeks about Facebook entering China, and this morning, another expert expressed his opinion that the social network will at some point make an entrance. Gady Epstein, the Beijing bureau chief for Forbes, even used a form of the word "inevitable" to describe the move. A little background information: Mark Zuckerberg has been visiting China this month, supposedly on vacation,

Better products often offer consumers more choices. Compare the original Model T )which Henry Ford supposedly approved in "any color so long as it's black"( to a modern Rolls Royce )available in thousands of paint, leather, and trim combinations(, for example. And now a rumor claims three versions of the iPad 2 will be produced. Joseph Tsai reported this morning, "Apple is expected to release three versions of iPad 2, supporting either or a combination of Wi-Fi,

This week, tens of millions of people are resuming their normal work/school habits, perhaps packing up holiday decorations and definitely returning to less-than-merry states of mind. But Google's not quite through being cheery, as the company announced this morning that it's donating $20 million to charity. This may or may not sound familiar, as Google's actually making a habit of giving away $20 million. The same time last year,

Many retail sites that cater to people in the UK had a great time of things yesterday. In keeping with tradition )and barring some strange New Year's Eve surge(, new UK-specific Experian Hitwise data shows that Boxing Day turned out to be the busiest day of the year for online retailers. Robin Goad wrote earlier today,

Earlier today, we reported that Facebook beat Google in terms of UK traffic over Christmas. We also reported that Apple upped its sales forecasts for iPhones. Now, to perhaps link the two stories together, it turns out that the Facebook for iPhone app gained around 1.6 million users in the past three days. Considering how long Facebook, the iPhone, and the Facebook for iPhone app have all been around, growth of this sort is fairly astonishing.

Popular products are almost always difficult to get around Christmas, with high demand causing stores to run out of bestsellers. Unfortunately for a certain search giant, it's starting to sound like a lot of items incorporating Google TV tech were allowed to collect dust. Rumors indicate Logitech even asked a supplier to stop shipping Revue units. Fair warning: that may or may not be the case.

Two days ago, lots of people no doubt woke up to discover iPhones under their Christmas trees, and it looks like Apple expects many more iPhones to find new homes in the first quarter of 2011. Rumors indicate the company's upped its targets by between 5.3 and 10.5 percent. As always, Apple's not been quick to confirm or deny anything, much less make a full statement explaining the situation. But Yenting Chen and Adam Hwang reported this morning,

Last week, reports began to circulate that the Nexus S had been rooted. Concerns about Android's )lack of( security ensued. Android fans shouldn't worry, however, as this appears to be an authentic "it's a feature, not a bug" situation. Non-news along these lines may be a little anticlimactic, but Google has been pretty firm on the matter. The company explained its stance last week and hasn't tried to go back on that position since. Nick Kralevich,

If any Facebook employees were still manning their stations two days ago, you can be sure they sent up a cheer as traffic data rolled in. A report from Hitwise has indicated that, at least in the UK, Facebook received more visits than Google for the first time ever. Credit goes to Robin Goad for monitoring the situation, and he wrote, "As the chart below illustrates, on Christmas Day )December 25th( facebook.com accounted for 10.50% of all UK Internet visits,

The first Amazon Kindle was released more than three years ago, and for whatever reason, Amazon still won't share exact sales figures concerning the device. But this morning, the company did see fit to disclose one important fact: the third-generation Kindle has become the bestselling product in Amazon's history. To put that in perspective: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" previously held the title, and that franchise has had national reading programs,

A whole lot of smartphones - and in particular, Android phones - are going to find their way into new owners' hands next year, according to one expert. Seth Weintraub recently predicted that 500 million smartphones might sell, with Google's mobile operating system accounting for a lot of the purchases. Weintraub wrote, "[I]f you thought Android going from 30,000 activations a day to 300,000 activations/day was impressive, 2011 might be an even bigger growth year . . . .

New features, celebrity endorsements, and a redesign can only get a site so far. More than ever, users want to know their private information is safe. So this week, MySpace issued a clear statement to the effect that the social network is protecting users' data. Remember the big third-party-apps-are-leaking-data-to-advertisers scare in October? MySpace responded to it by making some promises, and a post on the MSC Page's Blog stated yesterday, "Today,

Unless you live somewhere east of New York, there's still at least several hours left before December 23rd comes to an end. But Google is eager to help everyone with kids get Christmas Eve off to a good start, and so the company's put together lists of all the Santa-related treats its engineers have concocted or come across this year. First, we'll mention the Google Doodle you can already see. Then there's the option to send someone a personalized call from Santa,

An apples-to-apples comparison may not be possible here, given that Twitter used to keep its stats private, time's passed, and Twitter and a service called Baidu Talk operate in different markets. But Baidu Talk, Baidu's Twitter-esque product, is doing quite well, apparently racking up a million users in a rather short period of time. Michael Kan wrote today,

Out of a desire to say "hi" to old friends, reconnect with family members, or perhaps get a moment away from visiting relatives, it looks like lots of people are signing into social networks this month. Indeed, Hitwise relayed some UK-specific stats today, and the increase has been sharp enough that Facebook might top Google in traffic on Christmas. We'll head straight into the data so that you can head straight back to poking acquaintances. Robin Goad reported,

Facebook defines itself as something that "helps you connect and share with the people in your life," and now more than ever, it looks like folks are sharing videos. Brightcove and TubeMogul determined yesterday that Facebook passed Yahoo in terms of video streams referred during the third quarter. To be clear: the difference wasn't large, and Google's still in the lead by a huge margin. Bing and Twitter aren't entirely out of the running, either.

Android users who are also AT&T customers should no longer have to worry about pulling out a credit card and typing a long sequence of numbers every time they want to buy an app. Late yesterday, Google introduced an AT&T Direct Carrier Billing option for this audience. A post on the Android Developers Blog explained, "AT&T Android users can now easily charge their Android Market purchases to their monthly accounts with only a few clicks.

YouTube videos that look like and sound like they were shot with $40 cell phones and tin cans on strings are about to become much more rare. YouTube announced this afternoon that it's going to let 500 YouTube partners conduct shopping sprees on its dime, only the actual total should be closer to $500,000. A post on the YouTube Blog explained, "[W]e're giving a $1,000 credit at B&H Photo to 500 partners around the world,