Starting an online business in this economy is incredibly risky as many internet startups fail shortly after launching. Despite the odds, the advantages to starting an internet business, and therefore securing self employment and financial independence, are worth the incurred risk for many aspiring entrepreneurs. The key to success isn’t simple; it involves an incredible amount of hard work, creating an excellent team, developing a solid business plan, setting realistic goals, finding a business model that works, and utilizing the correct tools and startup resources to keep your entrepreneurial dream afloat. Read more »

Facebook Gift Shop allows you to purchase both virtual gifts and physical gifts for any of your Facebook friends this Christmas. Facebook gifts are priced by Facebook credits, which can be purchased for 10 cents each. For physical gifts, the recipient’s address can be requested directly from them, or you can provide the address yourself. The great thing about going through a social networking platform like Facebook to give gifts is the ability for you to send a gift to a friend without having to know their exact shipping address. Read more »

Today’s list of technology announcement for funding, acquisitions, and bankruptcies:

Sugar Inc. – A blog and media network, announced that it raised $16 million in funding from Sequoia Capital.

Cloudera – A company that provides enterprise-level support to users of Apache Hadoop, just raised $6 million in funding via Greylock Partners and Accel. Read more »

Today’s list of cool new web stuff:

Bing – Microsoft’s new search engine that replaces Microsoft Live.com

WatchDox – “WatchDox allows users to protect, control and track documents when sharing them with partners, customers and other parties.” Read more »

Today’s list of technology funding announcements:

Greenroad – GreenRoad raised $15 million from DAG Ventures, Amadeus Capital, Balderton Capital, Benchmark Capital, and Virgin Green Fund.

fbFund – Facebook announced 20 latest winners of fbFund, which was created to encourage applications on Facebook Platform and Facebook Connect. The winners are listed below with information about each provided by Facebook. Each one will receive ~$25,000. Read more »

Today’s list of cool new web stuff:

MobiQpons – “mobiQpons lets you reach out to local customers on their phones and when they are looking for deals.”

Twollars – A form of Twitter currency that is used to say thank you to people and maybe donated to charities on Twitter as well. Read more »

Today’s list of technology funding announcements:

HeyZap – Announced today it has raised somewhere between $500,000 to $1 million in seed funding from Union Square Ventures

Ultracell – A provider of fuel cells for mobile applications announced $3.8 million via BASF Venture Capital, OnPoint Technologies, Espirito Santo Ventures, and Miami Valley Venture Fund Read more »

Today’s list of cool new web stuff:

Transferr – “Transferr takes pictures of your favourite sites and presents them as icons on your home page, ready for easy access.”

TweetLister – “TweetLister is a free service that allows real estate brokers and owners to take full advantage of the vast, wide-reaching social network on Twitter.com.”

MashLogic – “MashLogic is a Firefox extension that works quietly under the hood to enrich web pages with the kind of information and media you care about. It’s respectful of your privacy, and super simple to use.” Read more »

Swoopo is an online discount auction (a.k.a. penny auction) where individuals purchase bids to place towards an item that’s up for sale. The cost of the bids are usually $0.75 and once placed they raise the price of the item by either $0.15 or $0.01 depending on the product. A 20-second countdown timer is reset by each time a new bid is placed and when the timer reaches zero, the last bidder wins. The winning bidder pays the final price of the auction which is usually at a great discount of the manufacturer’s retail price (MRP) for the item. Read more »

Today’s list of technology funding announcements:

Facebook – Facebook announced $200 million from Russia’s Digital Sky Technologies raises Facebook valuation to $10 billion

LogLogic – $8.8 million from Focus Ventures and others Read more »