Holiday e-sales jump 26 percent over 2005 to $24.6B
The final tallies are in, and its no surprise: The just-passed holiday season was record-setting in terms of online spending. U.S. internet users spent $24.6 billion online during the holiday season, according to comScore Networks, which defines the holiday shopping season as all of November and December. That was a 26 percent jump versus $19.6 billion in 2005, creating a healthier boost than overall internet spending enjoyed over the course of the entire year. ComScore says non-travel online retail spending finished at $102.1 billion in 2006, up 24 percent from $82.3 billion in all of 2005. Exactly how popular was online shopping during these holidays? The internet tracking company says there were 12 days in November and December in which spending topped $600 million; just five days in 2005 topped $500 million, with the busiest day bringing in $556 million last year. Those 12 busy days during the holidays accounted for some $7.6 billion in online spending.

Brazilian judge bars YouTube's s#x on the beach clip
Online porn connoisseurs will have to find their fix somewhere other than the Brazilian YouTube. A Brazilian judge has ordered the video-sharing site, now owned by Google, to bar Brazilians from seeing clips of Brazilian supermodel Daniela Cicarelli and her boyfriend getting physical in a video posted on the site, court officials said yesterday. Brazil originally ordered the video, which shows Cicarelli and Brazilian banker Renato Malzoni on a beach near Cadiz in Spain, off YouTube in September, but the clip still shows up from time to time on the site. YouTube declined to comment on the decision. Links to the video appeared on YouTube yesterday, but if you tried watching it in Brazil or the U.S., you got this message: "This video has been removed due to terms of use violation." Cicarelli hosts a show on Brazilian MTV and was once engaged to soccer star Ronaldo.

Study: Mobile phone video game market will explode
Media people are always looking for new ways to reach large groups of people, and mobile phone video games may be a good place to look over the next few years. Mobile games attracted an average of 50 million users a month worldwide in 2006, and thats expected to jump 26 percent to 63 million this year, technology research company iSuppli said yesterday. Further, the firm expects that number to grow another 113 percent to 134 million by 2010. Mobile gaming in the U.S. produced $2.5 billion in revenue in 2006, and iSuppli forecasts that will grow 26 percent this year to about $3.1 billion, and then jump another 97.3 percent to $6.1 billion by 2010. The company does say that mobile gaming, in some respects, has taken a back seat to mobile video and music, and that mobile game developers need to keep expanding their role in the mobile-phone market to prevent a slow in growth.

Sisters organize web benefit for CNET editor's family
An online auction has been organized to help the family of late CNET editor James Kim, who died late last year after going for help when he and his family were stranded during a blizzard in the Oregon woods. His wife and two young daughters were rescued after several days missing. The benefit is an auction of fine art and crafts organized by Kati Kim's friend Lisa Congdon, her sister Stephanie Barnes, and their mother, Gerrie Congdon. The auction ends on Jan. 7 and will be conducted through eBay, and more information can be found at kimfamilyauction.typepad.com. On Nov. 25, Kim and his family missed an exit on their way from Portland to the southern Oregon coast. Looking for a detour, the family wandered onto a U.S. Forest Service route and then to a logging road that led to a dead end near the Rogue River. Out of gas and food, Kim left his family on foot to look for help, but died of hypothermia several days later.