YouTube has reported a 25% increase in the past eight months, bringing the number of online videos streamed to 4 billion a day. Around 60 hours of video are now uploaded to YouTube every minute. The site has attributed the boost to an increase in distribution avenues, with versions of the site working on smartphones, tablets, and televisions. 

Google has announced that it will be shutting down 'Picnik', its online photo-editing service. Google will be retiring the service, along with a number of other products that Google feels “replicate other features, haven’t achieved the promise we had hoped for, or can’t be properly integrated into the overall Google experience.” The other services include Google Message Continuity, Google Sky Map and Needlebase. 

According to multiple sources, Facebook has acquired the rights to the location-based social network Gowalla. Gowalla allows users to 'check in' at their locations. It is reported that the Austin- based company has been acquired to be used as part of Facebook's pending 'Timeline' feature. Facebook's 'Timeline' was scheduled to be released over a month ago, but its release has been postponed.