The Google Web Server - custom-built server software used only by Google - now runs nearly 13 per cent of all active web sites, according to the latest survey data from the web-server-tracking UK research outfit Netcraft.

Netcraft data has the Google Web Server (GWS) running nearly 11 million active sites - i.e., sites with recently updated content. This total includes not only sites run solely by Google, but also sites the company operates on behalf of third parties via services like Blogger, Google Docs, and Google App Engine.

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Will Apple's new iPad support Adobe Flash when it ships in March? Not if you trust Steve Jobs' much-picked-over presentation in San Francisco on Wednesday - or the current EULA attached to the device's beta SDK. But for some reason, the marketing materials on the Apple website tell a different story.

If you watch Apple's promo video - available either here (Apple) or here (YouTube), depending on whether you want to register your precious click in Cupertino or Mountain View - you'll notice that the iPad is displaying Flash content in a New York Times story. (Kudos to 9to5Mac for bringing this to our attention).

Here's a Flash-enabled NYT image from Apple's promotional iPad video

 

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Mozilla spun out a near-ready version of Firefox 3.6 over the weekend, all of which suggests that the final build of the next iteration of the open source browser could be imminent.

The outfit said on Sunday that over 75 per cent of the thousands of Firefox Add-ons had now been upgraded by their authors to be compatible with the Release Candidate version of Firefox 3.6.

More than 100 bugs have been patched in the latest test version of the browser, which is built on the org’s Gecko 1.9.2 platform.

It comes loaded with Personas, allowing surfers to change Firefox’s appearance with a single click of the mouse.

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The idea of a "Google phone" percolated even before Android emerged in 2007. Back then, many wondered if Google would dive into the smart-phone market. As we now know, the search-engine giant waded in – releasing an operating system for others to play with – but didn't go too deep. Yesterday, Google prepared to cannonball.

The Nexus One not only runs Android, but is the first "Google phone" to grow up and remain in-house. While built by HTC, the Nexus One is available through google.com/phone, may be purchased without a carrier, reflects the company's design aesthetic, and sports the newest version of Android. The phone marks a surprising step for Google, even if reviewers aren't blown away by the device itself. Most agree the new phone is great, but so are many of its rivals. Here's what the early reviews say about the Nexus One.

Way, way, way too much is being made of the supposed impact Intel's new Atom N450 chip will have on the netbook and, by extension, laptop markets.

This chip, though 60 percent smaller and 20 percent lighter--like we'll notice--remains hampered by a slow 1.66 GHz. clock speed and all the other constraints implicit in the word "netbook."

Business users should wade carefully into the netbook marketplace, which I know is enticing this holiday season. The machines remain artificially constrained so as to avoid creating competition for pricier laptops.

If you need a computer with limited performance--as in basic applications running one or maybe two at a time, hampered by a lack of memory--then netbooks are an acceptable option.

Square Enix's roleplaying spectacle-spinner Final Fantasy XIII sold over 1.5 million units in its first four days on store shelves, reports Japanese tracker Enterbrain. Not bad at all, considering the game's only available for the PlayStation 3 in Japan (the English-language version for both PS3 and Xbox 360 doesn't ship until next March). Square Enix president Yoichi Wada revealed the company has already shipped 1.8 million copies, and expressed hope sales would reach the 2 million mark shortly.

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The Xbox 360 had quite a different year than rival PlayStation 3.

While Sony, knowing it was in underdog status, cranked up the juice and got several major exclusive games into stores throughout the year, Microsoft mostly hung back and relied on multi-platform content.

It released two quality Halo titles, but nothing that would be considered a true sequel to its flagship franchise. Episodes from Liberty City, made up of the two downloadable Grand Theft Auto games for which Microsoft paid a mint was practically the only major third-party exclusive. Even most of the major Xbox Live Arcade releases were multi-platform this year.

So while we had to fight over which PlayStation 3 games made the Top 5, Wired.com’s list of the best Xbox 360 games of 2009 didn’t need nearly as much debate.

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How on Earth do you review a game like Modern Warfare 2? A behemoth of a game set to be the biggest entertainment launch of 2009 (and possibly 2010) by a country mile. A 200lbs school bully whose intimidating bulk pushed a dozen weedier triple-A titles into 2010. The most-anticipated game of the year – the decade, even, if you believe the TV ad's breathless hyperbole. The sequel to the 13 million-plus-selling original with a Metacritic rating of 94% and an IGN score of 9.4. A media event with no less than 35 videos already sitting on IGN's servers and 102 features. Google takes 0.12 seconds to find 38 and a half million hits. And that's a long time for Google. And it's not even been released yet. How? You sit down. And you play it.

And around seven hours later, with campaign completed on regular difficulty, you'll feel like you've just burped and crossed the cutlery on one of the gaming meals of your life. This is the Gordon Ramsey of games: aggressive, confident, spectacular, sweary and garnished with essence of pure testosterone. And you'll need a similar long sit down and a nap afterwards. You'll have travelled a Bond-style tour around the world from the streets and caves of Afghanistan to the snowy wastes of Kazakhstan via the edge of Earth's atmosphere, the sweaty favelas of Rio and even stomped mud across that famous eagle rug in the Oval Office.

Spec Ops is great fun and works well in split-screen as well as online.

Facebook: said it had won the 'second largest award in history' for an anti-spam action. Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty

Facebook has been awarded $711.2m (£429.m) in damages after winning a case against Sanford Wallace, known as "Spamford", who sent mail and made posts without the permission of the social networking website's users.

The company has been pursuing legal action against Wallace, who last year was fined $230m for attacking MySpace users to send porn spam, in February.

In a statement Facebook said that the award, made at a court in California, was the "second largest in history" for an anti-spam action.

"While we don't expect to quickly collect the full amount, we'll work hard to get everything we can," said a Facebook spokesman. "We're confident that today's ruling will act as a powerful deterrent against those who would abuse Facebook and its users."