Did all the retailer promotions on Facebook and Twitter this holiday season convince you to visit those sites? A new study says, no, not so much: Only about 5 percent of online holiday shoppers said they were "primarily influenced" to visit the retail sites suggested by social media channels.

Despite that low percentage, research company ForeSee Results said retailers "put vast resources into this type of marketing" for the holiday season. In contrast, 19 percent of customers said they visited retail websites as a result of a promotional e-mail, and 8 percent because they found the site via a Web search engine, such as Google.

Of course, social media is still relatively new, although it's growing quickly. Facebook was the most searched-for term in 2010, according to Experian Hitwise, and Twitter experienced huge growth. From January 2010 through mid-August, 2010, new users accounted for nearly 44 percent of the total Twitter population, according to Sysomos social media research.

Findings in "The ForeSee Results E-Retail Satisfaction Index" carry some weight; its work is based on nearly 10,000 survey responses gathered from Nov. 29 through Dec. 15 from shoppers who visited the top 40 retail websites within the previous two weeks.

The research firm isn't saying retailers shouldn't use social media, but rather is "suggesting that tried-and-true online marketing tactics should not be abandoned or ignored in favor of newer media."

Cell phone users with apps on their phones for shopping information and price comparisons were more active, ForeSee found: 14 percent said they accessed a retail website or mobile app via phone.

Most were "primarily using their mobile or smart phone to look up prices, compare product specifications or do product research," ForeSee said.

And "while only 2 percent of all online shoppers actually report making a purchase from that particular retailer from their mobile phone, a total of 11 percent reported having made a purchase from their phones this holiday season, and this figure is trending upward over time."

It may trend even higher next year if the use of Near-Field Communications chips on phones, such as Google's Nexus S, becomes more common, letting buyers use their phones as digital wallets.

ForeSee also said "e-tailers at the top of their game in various categories" this season included Amazon, Netflix, QVC, Avon, L.L. Bean, Newegg and Apple.

"Satisfaction scores for the measured e-retailers span a 13-point range, from a high of 86 to a low of 73," with ratings mainly being based on customer satisfaction with the company and the website, website functionality, as well as prices offered.

Among the top scorers:

• Amazon (down one point to 86 and the only retailer in the top 10 to decline at all).
• Netflix (86, tied with Amazon for the top spot)
• QVC (up three points to 84)
• Avon (up two points to 83)
• L.L. Bean (up three points to 83)
• Newegg (82)
• Apple (82)
• eBay (80)
• Musician’s Friend (80)
• VistaPrint (80)
• Walmart (80)
• Williams-Sonoma (80)

Books that are eligible for lending will have a message on the product detail page. Scroll down to the "Product Details" section and look for "Lending: Enabled."

Want to share your latest favorite digital Kindle book with a friend? You can as of today, using Kindle software from Amazon.com. You don't need to have Amazon's e-reader to use the program, just the free Kindle reading app that's also available for computers and smart phones, including the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry.

The Kindle lending program is something customers have wanted, and is a service that's already available to users of Barnes & Noble's Nook e-reader. Amazon shares details about the program on its site. And it pays to study the rules for lending, because while it's all free, it's not all simple, and requires some mental bookkeeping on your part.

Here's a look at some of the rules:

• You can loan a Kindle book once for a 14-day period. Not all books are "lendable," says Amazon. It's up to the publisher or rights holder to decide which books are. Oh, and during that 14-day period, the person lending the book can't read it while it's in another's virtual hands.

• The person you loan a book to is notified about the loan through an e-mail address you will provide. The borrower has 7 days to accept the loan. If it's not accepted, the book becomes available again for lending through your "Archived Items."

• If by chance, your intended borrower already owns the book you're trying to loan them — "or the title is not available in the borrower's country due to copyright restrictions" — the borrower will not be able to accept the loan, Amazon says.

• Three days before the end of the 14-day loan period Amazon "will send borrowers a courtesy reminder e-mail about the loan expiration. Once the loan period has ended, an e-mail notification will be sent to both the book lender and borrower." So, when they say 14 days, they mean 14 days.

• Right now, Amazon says, only those in the United States can initiate lending; it's not available to those internationally yet. And, "If a loan is initiated to a customer outside the United States, the borrower may not be able to accept the loan if the title is not available in their country due to publisher geographical rights," the company says.

In those cases, it may be faster — and simpler — just to send the book via snail mail than by digital bits.

A report from Bloomberg Businessweek says that not only is the Verizon iPhone likely to appear by Valentine's Day, but that Apple will probably hold "one of its splashy product introductions" announcing the new product — and the end of AT&T iPhone exclusivity.

The report also does away with the notion that Verizon would announce its iPhone at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week, or that Steve Jobs would make Vegas-bound reporters add a Cupertino, Calif. leg to their journey on Monday or Tuesday, for a pre-CES launch.

While Bloomberg reports all of this citing only "a person familiar with Apple's plans who is not authorized to discuss them publicly," it makes sense — especially since reporters haven't received any such calls to Apple headquarters, and it's the Thursday before a holiday weekend.

It does present a bit of a problem for Verizon, however. They will be at CES in full force to talk about their 4G LTE network, and they will even be introducing LTE-compatible phones, including the rumored HTC Thunderbolt, that will ship in the first half of next year. Executives will be on hand giving interviews about future phones, but will not also be able to discuss the iPhone, which will likely be offered to consumers a lot sooner than any LTE phones.

By all accounts, the iPhone will not be an LTE phone — like its AT&T counterpart, it will run on a 3G network — but it will be by far the most alluring, and probably most popular, phone sold by Verizon in 2011. It's just a shame that Verizon will come all that way to Las Vegas, and spend all that money on fanfare, yet be gagged from talking about its flagship device.

FarmVille, one of the most popular online games, is among the "intangibles" that Americans are as likely to spend on as "tangibles" -- like real coveralls.

Listen up, FarmVille fans and iTunes users: You're as likely to spend your dough on "goods" made up of digital bits on the Internet as you are to go to the Internet to buy a real-life pitchfork or a CD. And, you're in good company.

Two-thirds of Internet users go online to buy "tangible" products like books or clothing, and nearly the same percentage — 65 percent — now are also turning to the Web to buy "intangibles" like software, games and digital music, ringtones, books and newspaper subscriptions.

The finding is from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, which recently looked at the types of online content Internet users are buying and the demographics of who's doing the buying.

"The issue of people’s willingness to pay for online material has enormous implications for media companies, artistic creators and others who are hoping to sustain themselves — or grow new businesses — by raising revenues through online purchases," said Jim Jansen, Pew senior fellow, in a statement.

Pew classified "intangible" digital products — such as software, articles and music — as those "that need not have a physical form. This is in contrast to something we have measured in previous surveys but were not trying to capture here: the use of the Internet to purchase 'tangible' products such as clothes, CDs, books or computers or tangible services such as hotel reservations or airline tickets."

Doing the most buying of such intangibles are those in the 30 to 49 age group, Pew says. And that makes sense, as that's an age group that's both somewhat Internet savvy and likely to be earning more disposable income than older or younger folks.

Twenty-three percent of Internet users who pay for online content are using subscription services for products and services like The Wall Street Journal, Rhapsody or Netflix, said Lee Rainie, director of Pew's Research Center.

That's compared to 16 percent who say they have paid to download an individual file, or 8 percent who have bought streaming content, such as movies or music.

"The average expense for those who have paid for content was approximately $47 per month for material they have downloaded or accessed, including both subscription (an average of $12 per month) and individual file access (an average of $22 per month). However, some extremely high‐end users pull the average higher, with most purchasers spending about $10 per month."

Here's Pew's breakdown of the answers it received from 755 Internet users (polled Oct. 28 to Nov. 1) to the question: "Please tell me if you have ever paid to access or to download any of the following types of online content?"

• 33 percent of Internet users have paid for digital music online and for software
• 21 percent have paid for apps for their cell phones or tablet computers
• 19 percent have paid for digital games
• 18 percent have paid for digital newspaper, magazine or journal articles or reports
• 16 percent have paid for videos, movies or TV shows
• 15 percent have paid for ringtones
• 12 percent have paid for digital photos
• 11 percent have paid for members‐only premium content from a website that has other free material
on it
• 10 percent have paid for e‐books
• 7 percent have paid for podcasts
• 5 percent have paid for tools or materials to use in video or computer games
• 5 percent have paid for "cheats or codes" to help them in video games (In this group, Pew noted, "a higher percentage of Internet users in 30‐49 age paid for this type of content than those in any other age groupings. Internet users with a high school education or less also purchased this online content in significantly higher numbers.")

• 5 percent have paid to access particular websites such as online dating sites or services
• 2 percent have paid for adult content.

On that last one, it would be hard to swear to the veracity of that percentage. Many folks in every age group might not want to admit to doing so. But that's fodder for another survey.

Nintendo

As Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime demonstrates in this commercial, a scary monster found in Nintendo's 3DS game machine will eat your kid's eyeballs! Ok, not really. But Nintendo is warning that young children should not play 3-D games on the device.

Nintendo is warning parents that its forthcoming 3-D portable game machine may not be appropriate for the youngest gamers. More specifically, that no one under 6 years old should play 3-D games on it.

Earlier this year, Nintendo announced that it was working on a successor to its massively successful Nintendo DS handheld game machine. At the Electronic Entertainment Expo, they showed off the 3DS, a device that lets gamers play games in 3-D but without the use of special glasses.

The gadget is scheduled to go on sale in Japan on Feb. 26 for about $300 and will launch in North America and other areas in March. Nintendo is in the midst of preparing to show the 3DS to the Japanese public for the first time at next month's at the Nintendo World event. In advance of the event, the company issued the warning about children and 3-D via this web site.

Game site Kotaku.com translated the page and reports that it warns that 3-D viewing causes quicker eye fatigue than standard screen viewing, and says that since the vision of young children is still in developmental stages, the company recommends children under six not use the 3DS's 3-D screen effect.

This warning follows comments made by Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime, who told gaming site Kotaku.com, "We will recommend that very young children not look at 3-D images," he said. "That's because, [in] young children, the muscles for the eyes are not fully formed."

He pointed out that this is the same message that's being passed on by the movie industry as well.

Meanwhile, earlier this year, Sony issued very similar warnings about playing 3-D games (with the glasses) on the PlayStation 3 console.

Sony Computer Entertainment of America recommends that you "consult your doctor (such as a pediatrician or eye doctor) before allowing young children to watch 3-D video images or play stereoscopic 3-D games."

But there's good news for young Nintendo fans: The 3DS will come with a slider that lets players adjust the amount of 3-D they see in a game. The 3-D effects can be completely turned off for youngest players, and Nintendo executives have said the device will include parental controls for keeping the 3-D turned off.

Really, this is good news for parents of young gamers: The good ol' non-3-D Nintendo DS or DSi will do your kids just fine until they're old enough for the third dimension ... and will cost you a whole lot less to buy.

(Thanks to Kotaku for the heads up.)

For more on this topic:
Nintendo introduces 3-D game machine
Nintendo 3DS launching spring 2011 ... prepare your wallet

Winda Benedetti writes about games for msnbc.com. You can follow her tweets about games and other things right here on Twitter.

Users of Android phones might feel like unleashing some "Angry Birds" on Peter Vesterbacka, the Finnish head of business development in North America for Rovio Mobile, which makes the popular game.

While there's a free version of "Angry Birds" for Android users available, a 99-cent version for the iPhone is a huge success (Apple recently said Angry Birds was the best-selling iPhone app of 2010). And the iPhone will continue to be "the No. 1 platform for a long time from a developer perspective."

Why? Apple has "gotten so many things right. And they know what they are doing and they call the shots."

Android, too, is growing, he said, "But it's also growing complexity at the same time."

While there are many devices and carriers that use Android, "device fragmentation (is) not the issue," Vesterbacka said, "but rather the fragmentation of the ecosystem. So many different shops, so many different models. The carriers messing with the experience again. Open but not really open, a very Google-centric ecosystem. And paid content just doesn’t work on Android."

Vesterbacka's remarks were made in a Q&A with Tech N’ Marketing, and reflect some other recent concerns about multiple carriers, handsets and how Android is deployed on them.

In November, "one of Netflix's product managers confirmed what many have suspected for a long time: Android isn't secure enough for the movie studios," reported msnbc.com's own Wilson Rothman. "Instead, Netflix will work directly with individual hardware makers to build Netflix apps for certain devices, a move that would rupture the already shaky notion that Android is a single platform."

The "real message," Rothman wrote, is that "anyone looking at an Android tablet or phone should take into account: Because of the way Android is set up, its handsets will be increasingly fragmented, in a way that won't happen with Apple's iOS or Microsoft's Windows Phone 7, or even RIM's BlackBerry, for that matter."

In the one year since "Angry Birds" has been out, Rovio has earned more than $8 million in revenue from the paid iPhone app, and the free Android version is expected to earn "$1 million a month in advertising revenue by the end of the year, Rovio says," according to a recent story in the New York Times.

Asked why Rovio decided to make the Android version free, and whether that would change, Vesterbacka told Tech N' Marketing that "Free is the way to go with Android. Nobody has been successful selling content on Android. We will offer a way to remove the ads by paying for the app, but we don’t expect that to be a huge revenue stream."

And in response to a question about the difficulties of developing for Android, he said that Apple CEO Steve Jobs is "absolutely right when he says that there are more challenges for developers when working with Android. But that’s fine, developers will figure out how to work any given ecosystem."

Still, he said: "Nobody else will be able to build what Apple has built, there just isn’t that kind of market power out there ... That doesn’t mean that model is superior, it’s just important to understand that Apple is Apple and Google is Google. Different. And developers need to understand that. Different business models for different ecosystems."

When it comes to its new tablet OS, Android 3.0, Google appears to be playing favorites: Smart phone companies including  Motorola, HTC and Samsung are getting the R&D assistance they need to launch their tablets soon, while the big PC brands are getting left in the cold, says a report by the Taiwanese tech biz gossip rag DigiTimes. What this means for you is that PC brands like Dell and Acer may lose luster as more and more of your "personal computing" is done on devices coming from the smart phone industry.

What's on the table is Google's ability to give "priority support" to companies developing larger, more powerful tablets that can compete with Apple's iPad. Sources from unnamed notebook "vendors" (that is, the big familiarly named companies who design and sell millions of computers per year) have "expressed concerns" with the favoritism, says DigiTimes, suggesting that they are "now under significant pressure."

Sweating bullets, more like it. If notebook companies can't get good tablets to market quick enough, they'll continue to lose ground that, according to multiple reports, they've already begun ceding.

The headaches must be nonstop in the largest PC businesses, because their historic software partner Microsoft has yet to come up with a suitable answer to iPad and Android for touch tablets. Microsoft is expected to show off a new version of Windows at next week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, a version built to run with phone- and tablet-friendly ARM chips. That said, it's apparently still Windows, an older platform designed around the mouse-and-keyboard interface, which has yet to prove its suitability in the touchscreen world. (Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)

HP is perhaps the only vendor not feeling Google's cold shoulder. The powerhouse PC maker bought Palm this past April, and has said it will show off its own tablets, based on the Palm WebOS platform, in 2011.

Despite this drama, the Android 3.0 timeframe is still fairly tight, according to the DigiTimes report. Smart phone brands will launch their Android 3.0 tablets as early as the middle of February, while the notebook brands will be stalled only until the end of March. But to the anxiety of internal competition is a very large gorilla indeed: Apple's much-rumored iPad 2, expected by April, if not sooner.

Is the novelty of reading magazines on the iPad wearing off, or is it still too soon to tell how they'll do on Apple's popular tablet?

High-profile magazines such as Wired, Vanity Fair, GQ, Glamour and Men's Health, which have invested heavily to create iPad versions of their publications, have all suffered readership losses on the iPad since first debuting between April and the summer.

"Digital sales dropped toward the end of 2010 for all the magazines that make those figures available to the Audit Bureau of Circulations," reports Women's Wear Daily. Among the drops, says WWD:

• Wired's iPad version debuted in June, and was downloaded more than 100,000 times. Between July and September, the magazine had an average of 31,000 "copies" in digital sales; in October and November, it dropped to between 22,000 and 23,000.

• Vanity Fair sold 8,700 digital editions of its November issue, "down from its average of about 10,500 for the August, September and October issues."

• GQ’s November edition "sold 11,000 times, which was its worst performance since April (when the iPad was released) and represents a slight decline from its average digital sales of 13,000 between May and October."

• Glamour sold 4,301 digital editions in September, "but sales dropped 20 percent in October and then another 20 percent, to 2,775, in November."

• Men’s Health, "which averaged digital sales of about 2,800 in the spring, sold 2,000 times in both September and October."

The slump isn't definitive; it's still early in the game for magazine publishers trying out digital editions. With the iPad being among the more popular tech gifts this season, there may be lots more eyeballs looking for magazines.

One thing Apple could do to help that would be to give magazines their own category in the App Store, similar to categories for "Reference" apps, "Healthcare & Fitness" apps and "Entertainment" apps. Right now, unless you search for a publication by name in the App Store, your best shots at seeing what's available is searching in the News category of the App Store. And as crowded as that category is getting, that's not good news for magazines. 

The company behind Blockbuster and Best Buy's video-on-demand services, Sonic Solutions, has teamed with Sears to launch Alphaline video on demand for Sears — and Kmart — shoppers. While the service, live now, only supports playback on Windows PCs, the partners hope to introduce it on mobile and set-top devices soon.

In the words of their joint press release:

Sonic and Sears are teaming to embed the services at a chip level on a growing network of devices including portable media players, Blu-ray Disc players, mobile phones, and high-definition television sets from leading manufacturers.

It's easiest to see this as a defensive measure against Amazon and Wal-Mart, which purchased the highly regarded Vudu streaming video service in early 2010. DVD sales are down from their record highs, and Blu-ray sales haven't taken their place. If the future of home video is in streaming — and that is looking quite likely — every company with business at home will want a piece. 

What it means for consumers is a little less clear. Presumably this would give Sears the ability to promise video on demand to customers walking out of the store with a TV or Blu-ray player, but most mid- to high-end TVs and Blu-ray players already offer the services.

Worse, the service is likely to be a near carbon copy of Sonic's other services, including RoxioNow (formerly CinemaNow), Blockbuster and Best Buy video on demand. (It is not clear how Sonic can be partners with competitors, but that's another matter.)

And finally, bear in mind, this is not the same as Netflix or Hulu Plus, which are subscription based, "all you can eat" video streaming services. It's pay-per-view, which means it not only competes with other services, but with every digital cable box in the land, and is subject to Hollywood's strict pricing regulation.

Related: Sears lets customers buy gift cards via Facebook

Prototype of PSP phone, code-named "Zeus."

The iPhone is seriously slaughtering other phones for game-playing, but PlayStation fans, don't give up: the long-rumored Sony PSP phone may be be out by spring.

Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun reports that the phone would go on sale first in the United States and Europe. While we've known that it would be an Android-based device, a few more details have emerged. Among them, the phone, made by Sony Ericsson, will supposedly be called the Xperia Play, with Xperia being the name of several of Sony Ericsson's current phones.

The newspaper report said the PSP phone will be "based on the PSPgo and use slide-out PSPgo-style gaming controls. However, instead of analog thumb nubs, there is apparently a touch-sensitive tracking pad. UMD and Memory Sticks seem to be eliminated, too."

The phone also is reported to have a 1GHz Qualcomm CPU, 512MB of RAM, 1GB of ROM, and a screen "in the range of 3.7 to 4.1 inches," the newspaper report said.

The PSP phone has been talked about for years, and Sony recently did confirm one is in the works, but is keeping mum otherwise.

To say gamers are excited is an understatement.

"There is still a lot to learn about this device and recent benchmark tests were fairly unimpressive but as the software/hardware wasn't final, we can't take those test results too seriously," noted the DroidGamers website. "Hopefully Sony will drop some more information regarding the final specs of the device as well as game titles ready at release, how they will run and all that good stuff.

"Good news is though, the wait is almost over!"

— Hat tip to Kotaku

A man is suing Apple, saying that iPhones and iPads are being used to send personal information to advertisers without users' consent. The devices are equipped with unique identifying numbers. The suit claims that these numbers allow advertisers to track the details of what apps users download, and how long and often those programs are used — information that is being shared without permission.

"Some apps are also selling additional information to ad networks, including users’ location, age, gender, income, ethnicity, sexual orientation and political views,” according to the suit filed by Jonathan Lalo of Los Angeles, and as reported by Bloomberg. Lalo is also asking that the suit, filed in federal court in San Jose Dec. 23, be given class-action status.

Lalo is referring to Unique Device Identifiers, also known as UDIDs, which are a series of 40 letters and numbers specific to an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.

The UDID is "like a serial number but much harder to guess," says Inner Fence, a Seattle company that makes a credit card reader app for the iPhone. "It will look something like this: 2b6f0cc904d137be2e1730235f5664094b831186."

Users are not able to block their UDIDs from advertisers, Lalo contends, and says in the lawsuit that the transmission of that personal information violates federal computer fraud and privacy laws.

Apple, which does not respond to questions regarding lawsuits, has said that the apps in its App Store are not allowed to mine customer data without customer permission.

The Wall Street Journal, in a recent report on smart phone data mining, found the opposite to be true:

Many apps tested by the Journal appeared to violate that rule, by sending a user's location to ad networks, without informing users. Apple declines to discuss how it interprets or enforces the policy.

Also being named in the suit are several makers of apps, including popular programs such as Pandora, Dictionary.com and The Weather Channel. (NBC owns The Weather Channel, and msnbc.com is a joint venture of NBC Universal and Microsoft.)

The Journal's story wasn't only about Apple's devices; it also looked at Android-based phones, those using Google's operating system.

Reported the newspaper: "An examination of 101 popular smart phone apps ... showed that 56 transmitted the phone's unique device ID to other companies without users' awareness or consent. Forty-seven apps transmitted the phone's location in some way. Five sent age, gender and other personal details to outsiders."

"Flying icicles as I walk to work," said one New Yorker who posted this photo on Twitpic.

Planes are delayed, public transit slowed or non-existent, but Twitter is in full gear — and proving to be a key source of information for stranded travelers and commuters who can turn to their phones or computers for updates about the second snowpocalypse/snowmageddon of 2010 using the short-messaging blog.

Using identifying "hashtags,"or identifiers, such as "#snowmageddon," "#snowpocalypse" and the more recent "#snowOMG," government agencies, businesses and non-profit groups have been getting the word out about what is and isn't working, giving those who are stranded updates in 140 characters or less.

"Gusty winds & poor airport conditions have unfortunately caused us to reduce operations at Newark Airport today," tweeted Continental Airlines (@Continental) about 9:30 a.m. ET Tuesday, one of several airlines giving updates for its customers via Twitter.

"The travel waiver for the Northeast has been extended to 12/29," United Airlines (@UnitedAirlines) said on Twitter, referring flyers to a website with more details.

Even big-city mayors were taking to Twitter to let citizens know about the latest conditions in their cities.

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) — under fire for not moving quickly enough on several snow issues — encouraged people to check Twitter hashtags "@311NYC" and "@NotifyNYC" to report problems and learn the latest on what government services were working.

At @311NYC Tuesday morning, came this notice: "Garbage and recycling pick-up is suspended. If you've already put your items out, leave them out. If not, store them until further notice."

And from @MikeBloomberg: ""Alternate Side Parking & Parking Meter Regulations are suspended for Tuesday, December 28, 2010 to facilitate snow removal."

Meanwhile, a non-profit group that created the Snowmageddon Clean Up website last February during Snowmageddon 1 for D.C. residents, kicked into action to help New Yorkers and spread the word via Twitter for those who wanted to volunteer to help as well as those who need help.

"After your report is approved by our team, you can use the link to your report to spread the word. We'll do the same on Twitter ... using the #snowcleanupnyc hashtag," team members of PICnet and Non-Profit Soapbox wrote on the website.

In Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) was tweeting (or at least someone in his office was, on his behalf), and was pulling no punches as his office was inundated with requests for help by snowed-in residents trying to get out of their houses and streets.

"I will get someone to your mom's street, tell her to stay put," Booker tweeted in response to a plea for help from "@sexylp40": "My mom stuck on 9th ave and 12th that whole block wasn't plowed."

Those who gave Booker lip got it back via a Twitter lashing.

"Wow u shud b ashamed of yourself. U tweet vulgarities & then I come out here to help & its ur mom & sis digging," the mayor tweeted to one resident who was apparently nasty about the situation.

Even those around the country who are not necessarily trying to get anywhere shared their frustration about being snowed in.

"Must get out of the house. Am going crazy," tweeted teacher Meredith Stewart of Durham, N.C.

And at least one person was being persnickety about the use of the hashtags #snowpocalypse and #snowmageddon:

"Sorry, folks. Snowpocalypse/Snowmageddon 2010 happened in February in the Mid-Atlantic states. Find another name for it," tweeted Tom Swanson.

The famed "Angry Birds" have flown onto the Android Market and should be the first stop on your game shopping spree.

There's a pretty good chance you (or someone you know) got an Android phone this holiday. After all, the Google phones are taking over the world ... or at least, threatening to do so. And, in case you didn't know, if you own a smart phone these days, you also happen to own a very competitive gaming machine.

Though Apple has a big jump on Android phones in terms of the sheer number of games on offer, the Android Marketplace is sprinting along nicely with hundreds upon hundreds of game apps ready and waiting.

That said, the Android Market is not especially easy to navigate. Which games are the good ones? How do you find them among the hundreds of mediocre (or downright terrible) offerings? With that in mind, I've tried to sift through the mess and to bring you the following list of games that really are worth both your time and your money.

Take a look and, if you have other suggestions, please chime in below.

Angry Birds

Angry Birds – free
Even if you haven't been a smart phone owner until now, surely you've heard about "Angry Birds"? This game of bird-flinging, pig-smashing and smart trajectory is a veritable phenomenon ... and for good reason. It's simple to jump into and yet nearly impossible to stop playing. This game first became a hit on the iPhone but recently made the flight to Android phones. And here's a little something to make all those iPhone owners jealous: The game is free for Android phones, while it costs 99 cents or $1.99 for iPhone/iPad owners. (You can read more about the "Angry Birds" phenomenon right here.)

Fruit Ninja – $0.99
I've said this before and I'll say it again: I love "Fruit Ninja" so much I just might marry it. This superb game of fruit slicing is quite simple to play (just slash your finger across the screen to cut all manner of flying fruit). But it is so well crafted you will want to play it over and over and over and over and over again. I'm serious, this game, which recently made the leap from iPhones to Android and Windows Phone 7, is incredibly, wonderfully addictive. When you check yourself into the "Fruit Ninja" detox program, just tell them I sent you.

Dungeon Scroll – $2
If you happen to like both word games and dungeon crawling games, then "Dungeon Scroll" is the game for you. This game took a few cues from PopCap hit "Bookworm Adventures" in its blend of moster battling and word making. As with that game, words are your weapons. And the bigger the words you create with the letters you’re given, the better you’ll do in an ongoing battle against all manner of nasty creatures — spiders, skeletons and snakes oh my.

Game Dev Story

Game Dev Story – $3.62
If you've ever wondered what it was like to run your own video game company, be sure to check out the simulation/management app "Game Dev Story" (also available for the iPhone). You will decide what kind of games to make, manage all kinds of employees — programmers, designers, sound engineers — and even develop the latest game platform and as you try to work your way up from a small company to the top of the game biz. This game is not only fun to play ... it might even teach you a little something about how real game making works.

Galcon – $2.99
Get ready to wage an interstellar war ... with the mere touch of a finger. This planet-conquering strategy game asks players to take over the stars by smartly deploying ships to as many nearby planets as possible before your enemy does. The game offers a compelling combination: fast moving but quite simple gameplay. You tap your finger on the planet you want to attack to send your ships there. But you must think fast and think smart if you want to outmaneuver the ever-advancing enemy.

Reckless Racing – $2.99
If you enjoy putting the pedal to the metal, then you must try out the superb racing game "Reckless Racing." This top-down game of high speeds and hairpin turns is a great-looking game and a zippy blast to play. It also boasts some top-notch multiplayer modes that let you pit your skills behind the wheel against those of your friends.

Pocket Legends

Pocket Legends – free
If you're away from your computer and hankering for a "World of Warcraft" fix, all you need to do is fire up this mobile massively multiplayer online role-playing game. "Pocket Legends" lets RPG lovers do what they love most — create a character, go on quests and explore a world populated with thousands of other gamers. The graphics look good and, best of all, you'll be able to play this game across platforms —   against other Android owners and iPhone owners as well. Though it is free to download and there is no monthly fee to play, you will have to pay for premium content.

The Sims 3 – $0.99
The epic life-simulation gaming found in your typical “Sims” game has been smartly streamlined for mobile phones with this application (a version of which has also appeared in Apple’s App Store and for Windows Phone 7 devices). “The Sims 3” for Android is easy to jump into and yet retains plenty of depth. Create your own little digital human complete with some seriously quirky personality traits. Tend to their needs and help them achieve their wishes both big and small. The game is, as always, delightfully engaging.

Slice It! – free
You don't have to be a "gamer" to enjoy this fun, free puzzle game that tasks players with slicing different shapes into multiple pieces with the same surface area. This one is simple to play — study the shapes you're given and use your finger on the touch screen to make your cuts. "Slice It!" will get your gray matter working in all the best ways.

Ancient Frog – $2.62
“Ancient Frog” is another game that has made the leap from App Store to the Android Market. In this puzzle game, you must help a frog catch a bug. You do that by moving your frog across a leaf, one leg at a time, toward its fly dinner. The problem is that the frog’s feet can only land in predetermined spots, which are limited, and only one foot can be on a spot at a time. Plus, the frog’s legs can only stretch so far — they’re not made of rubber! There’s no time limit to the game and you can take as many strides as you’d like, but getting the amphibian across the screen in the least amount of steps possible will take some serious strategizing. When your not marveling at the critter's contortions, you'll be marveling at this game's pretty looks.

For more on this topic, check out:
Holiday travel ahead? Calm your kids with smart apps
Festival celebrates experimental and unconventional games
Most anticipated games for 2011

Winda Benedetti writes about games  for msnbc.com. You can follow her tweets about games and other things right here on Twitter.

Skype might have unintentionally delivered a Christmas gift to those who have been wanting to see its free video calling service come to the iPhone. The Luxembourg-based company posted, then quickly pulled, an FAQ document over the weekend about just that, offering questions and answers about how to make Skype video calling work on the iPhone (and a Verizon iPhone at that; read related info).

If true, Skype would give Apple's FaceTime video calling program, which works only via Wi-Fi and not AT&T's cellular network, a run for its money (although FaceTime is free, as is Skype). It will do that by making video calling possible by either a cellular connection or by Wi-Fi — although, as Skype noted, "additional data charges may apply. Check with your operator for details."

Skype for iPhone will work for those who have more recent iPhones and iPod Touches or Macs using OS X, as well as for users of Windows PCs that have Skype version 4.2 or later (the most current Windows version of Skype is 5.0).

Hat tip to RedmondPie.com, which captured and posted the Skype FAQ, "How do I make video calls with Skype for iPhone?"

Among the information Skype posted, then pulled:

"If you have an iPhone or iPod touch with two cameras — front and rear — you will be able to switch between them during a Skype video call. If you have an iPhone 3GS it will always use the rear camera.

"If you turn your device into landscape mode, the camera picture will automatically rotate.

"In both portrait and landscape mode double tapping anywhere on your screen will zoom the picture to take up the full extent of the screen. Double tapping again will take the picture back to its normal size.

"While on a Skype video call the sound will always be played through the loudspeaker, unless a headset is plugged into the device.

"During a video call tap your screen to display the camera and microphone controls. Tap and hold down the microphone button to put the call on hold. To resume the call, simply tap the hold symbol on the screen.

"Yes, at any time during a Skype video call you can choose to turn off the video. Tap the Camera button and select the No Camera option. To turn the video back on tap the Camera button again and then tap the camera you want to switch on.

"When your iPhone is processing a lot of video its CPU (Central Processing Unit) has to work very hard and makes the iPhone become warm to the touch. You will experience the same thing if you stream videos through applications like Netflix or YouTube.

"Yes, you will be able to receive screen shares from people using Skype for Windows or Mac OSX. You cannot share what is on the screen of your iPhone with other people and you cannot receive a screen share from another iPhone user.

"No, you will be switched to audio only, as Skype for iPhone does not support group video calling.

"The quality of the video you send and receive from your iPhone will depend upon the quality and bandwidth available on the WiFi or 3G network you are connected to. For best results, make sure you have nothing else running that might use up your bandwidth."

Skype says the video call service will require an iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, third- or fourth-generation iPod Touch or an iPad (although iPad Skype service would not be immediately available), use of iOS 4.0 or later and Skype for iPhone 3.0 or higher.

To make video calls with your iPhone contacts, you will need an iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, 3rd generation iPod touch, 4th generation iPod touch or an iPad. Your contacts will only be able to see you if your device has a camera. Make sure your device is running iOS 4.0 or above and that you are using Skype for iPhone 3.0 or above. Mac users will need Skype for Mac OS X version 2.8 and above.

And no word — it wasn't posted mistakenly like the iPhone doc — when Skype video calling for Android phones is headed users' way.

What does the world need? A phone-less Android handheld. Fortunately, Samsung is apparently bringing a Galaxy media player to market this year, after unveiling it at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week, according to the fan blog Samsung Hub.

Shown here, the Galaxy Player is nice and thin (9.9mm), runs Android 2.2, has front- and rear-facing cameras, and is powered by a 1GHz processor. The only thing sad about the spec rundown is that it apparently won't have the glorious Super AMOLED display that makes the Galaxy phones — as well as the Google Nexus S and the Samsung Focus Windows Phone 7 phones — a sheer joy to gaze at. Oh well, that hopefully means it's going to be cheap, or at least competitively priced. The key is that it will support the Android Market, with over 100,000 apps.

I'm not kidding about it being what the world needs — the iPod Touch has long been untouchable (ouch) as the only app-happy portable media player around, a friend to every kid whose parents won't buy him or her an iPhone — or a Droid — because of the costly data plan. Kids who have supplemented their QWERTY-equipped dumbphones (good for texting and calling and little else) with iPod Touches (iPods Touch?) will now have something else to choose from, and that's a good thing.

Stay tuned for our comprehensive coverage of CES 2011, starting next week.

Samsung Hub via Engadget

The other day I removed iBooks from my iPad, because, in a world where major book retailers including Amazon and Barnes & Noble have very nice e-book apps for iPad, it is utterly superfluous. To my surprise, I was greeted with the following warning:

The iBooks app is not installed on "Wilson's iPad", so you will not be able to read books on your iPad.

Look, maybe they meant something like:

The iBooks app is not installed on "Wilson's iPad", so you will not be able to read books purchased through iBooks, or PDFs and ePUB documents loaded through iTunes, on your iPad.

What they should say instead is:

The iBooks app is not installed on "Wilson's iPad", so you'll have to rely on the wealth of free and paid apps, available in the iTunes App Store, for enjoying e-books, PDFs and other rich book experiences. We're actually a little sorry we went into the book business, but hey, there is that iBooks-exclusive authorized bio of Steve Jobs being written by that famous Ben Franklin/Albert Einstein biographer, so there's at least one reason to own it.

New iPad owners, do yourselves a favor: Download the Kindle app, and remove iBooks. Pay no attention to the arrogant warning. Accidental or deliberate, it's just plain wrong. And while we're at it, what's with those quotes around "Wilson's iPad" — what, Apple, you don't believe it's mine? You don't think I'm good enough for your little magical device???

UPDATED: 11:30 am PT Logitech is apparently unhappy enough with the Google TV software on its Revue set-top box that it has suspended shipments of the system, according to the Taiwanese tech biz gossip rag DigiTimes.

When the Revue came out in October — along with Sony's Internet TV products, also powered by Google TV — we said flat out that the software was only half baked. Most other reviewers agreed, and Google TV made many "worst of 2010" lists. Google allegedly asked new hardware partners to hold off on releasing new Google TV products, so it makes sense that Logitech puts on the brakes, too, given a lack of confidence in the product coming from within Google itself.

So what's so bad about Google TV? There are two main issues, one that Google can solve in house, one that will require diplomacy. First, Google needs to fix the user interface, so that there is a clearer distinction between using "apps" and browsing the Web. Next, they need to smooth out their relationships with TV and movie content owners so that Google TV can actually play the "free" ad-supported content out on the Web. (It is currently blocked from doing so.) Moving forward, Google needs to encourage the development of unique Google TV apps, and integrate those apps into its video search feature.

If you want more details, read my review, but it should suffice to say that the platform is plenty flawed. We applaud Logitech for putting its foot down — better late than never. The only remaining mystery is why Samsung would unveil its Google TV product at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week, given all of the controversy. Let's hope that is one rumor that will be put to rest, at least until Google TV gets better.

Update: We just received the following statement from Nancy Morrison, VP of corporate communications at Logitech:

Contrary to recent speculation, Logitech has not been asked by Google to suspend production of its Google TV products.

Suggestions that production of the Logitech Revue companion box might need to be halted to address software issues are unfounded. As those familiar with the product know, it is not necessary for Logitech to make changes to the companion box to accommodate future enhancements to Google TV. Every Logitech Revue will receive free over-the-air updates whenever Google and Logitech release software enhancements.

Logitech is currently meeting the inventory needs of its retail customers, continuing to ship products on schedule to meet their holiday and post-holiday demand.

Logitech does not discuss the specific production plans for any of its products. As a high-volume manufacturer of electronic products, Logitech’s use of its own factories as well as those of its manufacturing partners, provides the company with flexibility in how and when it produces products to accommodate customer demand.

The point is a fair one, that the box can be updated anywhere so why halt production? Still, you will note from the statement, Logitech won't address the specific matter of whether or not it is dialing down or even halting additional production due to the public response to (and perhaps diminishing demand of) Google's flawed software platform.