For the seventh straight month, the market share for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer declined, according to Net Applications.

In January 2009, Internet Explorer commanded a 67.6% market share down from 75.5% in January 2008 and down from over 90% in January 2005.

The biggest gainer over the last twelve months was Firefox, which commanded a 21.5% share in January 2009, up from 17.0% a year earlier.

During December, Firefox exceeded a 20% share for a full month, which was a first.  Mozilla’s CEO, John Lilly, gave credit to the Mozilla community:

“Reaching 20 per cent worldwide market share is a significant milestone for Firefox and Mozilla. It’s a huge achievement by the global Mozilla community, one that just a few years ago most would have considered impossible. The open web is more vibrant than ever, and the thousands of Mozilla contributors around the world have played a major role in making it that way.”

Rounding out the top five in market share was Apple’s Safari (8.3%), Google’s Chrome (1.1%) and Opera (0.7%). The top five browsers accounted for 99.2% of all web browsing.

New stats by Internet traffic measurement firm comScore indicate the total global number of Internet users surpassed one billion in December.

According to comScore, nearly 416 million people from Asia Pacific are plugged in, comprising an astonishing 41% of users worldwide. Europe ranked second with about 283 million users, and North America placed third with 185 million users.

comScore’s CEO, Magid Abraham, calls the millstone “a significant landmark.” The report counted only Internet users 15 years or older who logged on from home or work PCs. Exclusion of the growing population who access the web via personal devices could be an indication that Internet use is even greater than we suspect.

“The second billion will be online before we know it, and the third billion will arrive even faster than that,” suggested Magid.

Personalized Internet marketing equals profits. Online shoppers are drawn to ads that relate to them, according to a new study released by ChoiceStream.

Up to 58% of frequent web shoppers are more likely to click on a customer-centric ad, and the more they spend online—the more interested they are in personalization.

Results from a webinar panel survey released by ChoiceStream last year indicate approximately 90% of ecommerce professionals believe personalization can increase sales, This information gives business owners a compelling reason to rethink their online content.

Google is preparing to launch a service that could make desktop computers a thing of the past, reports The Guardian.

The Google Drive, or ‘GDrive’, slated to be launched later this year, will enable users to access their personal files and operating systems from Google’s servers via the internet.

“The PC would be a simpler, cheaper device acting as a portal to the web, perhaps via an adaptation of Google’s operating system for mobile phones, Android,” reported David Smith, The Guardian’s Technology Correspondent. “Users would think of their computer as software rather than hardware.”

Critics are concerned about Google’s increasing power, considering its reach and access to vast personal information. A hacker’s dream? Others worry about having all their eggs in one basket, in the event of server crashes or Internet downtime.

Call Google the best thing since sliced bread, or a monster to be feared, this appears to be the direction the Internet is headed. Clever? Definitely. Wise? Time will tell.

Read the full article here: Google plans to make PCs history.

I officially no longer know anyone without a social networking account. Even if the page has fallen into disuse, much to the chagrin of their virtual harem, it’s out there lurking in the bowels of cyberspace.

My Space and Facebook have taken the world by storm. What people don’t always realize is that social media can be used to drive traffic to your business website.

Post articles about your work, build a community around your project, and always remember to include plenty of links to your site.

Sign up to as many social networking sites as possible to push business to your site—after all, it’s free.

A team of researchers from China are predicting the Internet will double in size every 5.32 years. If this proves to be true, Microsoft and Google aren’t battling for the Internet – they’re battling for the world.

Read Internet Growth Follows Moore’s Law Too.

China’s population of Internet users grew 42% in 2008. The country now boasts nearly 300 million users. According to China’s Internet Network Information Center, the number has doubled since 2006.

China has overtaken the US as the number one user of the World Wide Web. Its national average for Internet penetration is 22.6% compared to a global average of 21.9%.

According to BDA, a Chinese research and consulting firm, the quality of content, advertising, and e-commerce is better in the US. However, E-commerce is expected to grow incrementally in China—the numbers represent tremendous marketing opportunities.

Whether you’re a small business owner, web designer or consumer, this is an opportunity Canadians should embrace.

Starting in 2009 any Canadian over the age of 18 can annually put up to $5,000 in a tax free saving account (TFSA). Income earned by the TFSA is non-taxable, but you won’t get a tax refund on the amount invested like an RRSP contribution.

Your TFSA can hold the same things as an RRSP: cash, guaranteed investment certificates (GICs), term deposits, mutual funds, government and corporate bonds, stocks traded on public exchanges, and shares of some small business corporations.

Conveniently coinciding with the economic downturn, most people feel the TFSA represents a great way to save money, particularly if filled with high tax investments. However, critics cite that with the marginal interest rates, not much money will be saved for the average household.

Reading from the web is different than reading hard materials. Heat maps used in eye tracking studies reveal people typically read web pages in an uppercase F-shaped patters: two horizontal stripes followed by a vertical stripe.

Since web pages are read differently, they must be written differently to optimize their use.

According to usability expert Jacob Nielsen, it’s important to remember a 3-S approach to web writing:

• Succinct – write no more than 50% of what you would write for hardcopy.
• Scannable – key information should be visible in the first two paragraphs.
• Short – people hate scrolling; use links to split information over multiple pages.

Crafting compelling prose that convey key messages can favorably influence visitors, affecting your bottom line.

Google increased its U.S. search engine market share last month when it handled 72.1% of all queries, up from 65.9% in December 2007, reported Hitwise.

The good fortune wasn’t shared by the other search engine leaders. Yahoo reported a 17.8% share, down from 20.9% in December 2007. Microsoft came in third with 5.6%, down from 7%.

Hitwise also reported that search engines continue to dominate the Internet in key industry categories, including business and finance, sports, online video and social networking.