Here’s our rundown of the week’s tech and business news. First, the most popular stories VentureBeat published in the last seven days:
Should you be able to "abhor" Facebook posts? Threadsy says yes
Virtual goods sales to hit $1 billion as social games pay off big -- "Thanks to the astonishing growth of games on social networks such as Facebook and MySpace, the U.S. virtual goods market is poised to clear $1 billion in revenues in 2009, more than doubling from a year earlier."
Web technology is about to change how we learn -- "The education industry is on the cusp of being massively disrupted by innovation in Web technology."
The making of Zynga's Cafe World, the fastest growing social game in history -- "These numbers are unheard of and they raise a lot of questions. While other game makers toil for naught, Zynga makes it look so easy."
HP brings touch to the mass market with new laptops and desktops -- "The highlight of today’s 10 product introductions are laptops with multi-touch touchscreens that work with Microsoft’s new Windows 7 operating system."
And here are five more stories we thought were important, thought-provoking, or just fun:
YouTube now serves more than 1 billion money-losing pageviews per dayCSI on Thursday night, making it the most-popular show on television. On that same day, YouTube served over a billion video clips — 66 times the number of views CSI got."
Only 17 venture capital firms raise money in Q3 -- fewest in 15 years -- "Venture capitalists are a breed in decline."
Arnold Schwarzenegger: Technology, not policy, will save the world -- "'I love technology,' Schwarzenegger said."
Siemens closer to dominance with $900M in turbine contracts -- "Engineering giant Siemens has made its presence felt in the wind business, winning six contracts to build 565-megawatts worth of wind turbines, valued at more than $900 million."
Aardvark opens to the public, becomes a destination for questions -- "The company, which started in 2007 and has grown to about 30 employees, offers a way to tap your social network for answers."