Did you know it today was Squirrel Appreciation Day? If not, you must not be on Twitter. If you were, you’d surely have noticed some tweets around this trending topic. That is if you could draw yourself away from the #mustybutthole tweets (a trending topic from earlier).

You may not find a whole lot about what people are searching for (today, the top search trend has been Elizabeth Smart’s engagement), but you’ll find plenty on squirrel appreciation and musty rectums. I can’t believe Google would give Google+ better treatment than Twitter in search results.

There were actually 10 separate days that surpassed $1 billion in spending. Cyber Monday, at the top of the list, ranked at the top (for the second year in a row) at $1.25 billion.

Here’s a look at growth from last year:

And the sales pattern through the season for the last five years:

“The 2011 online holiday shopping finished with slightly more than $37 billion in spending, up about 15 percent versus year ago,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “With brick-and-mortar holiday retail estimated to have grown about 4 percent this year, it’s clear that e-commerce continues to gain market share from traditional retail due to the attractiveness of the Internet’s convenience and lower prices.”

“Consumers were especially attracted to the deals and discounts available through digital channels – particularly free shipping, which occurred on well over half of transactions this season,” he added. “Despite their continuing price sensitivity, consumers felt a bit more comfortable opening up their wallets this year, although this appears to have occurred as a result of a decline in the savings rate. Nonetheless, it’s clear that, at least on the basis of top line growth, this was a Merry Christmas for many online retailers. What will remain unknown until retailers report their financial year end results is whether the aggressive pricing and free shipping offers came at the cost of lower margins.”

In case you missed it, this should give you a good idea of the things people have been buying.

According to Yahoo, its top searched diets of the past week are:

1. Atkins diet
2. HCG diet
3. Paleo diet
4. Low Carb diet
5. Pink Method diet
6. 17 day diet
7. Dukan diet
8. Cabbage Soup diet
9. Vegan diet
10. Dr. Oz diet

Other popular diet search trends Yahoo lists include:

Of course, losing weight isn’t the only popular resolution. Searches for “funny new year’s resolutions” are up 3188% this week on Yahoo, the company says. “New Year’s resolution humor” searches are also up 1626%. I’m not sure why everyone is looking for hilarity in their life goals, but it is what it is. Also, “stop smoking herbs” are up 53%.

Meanwhile, there have been some spikes in certain “how to” queries that are likely related to New Year’s resolutions. “How to save money” is up 491%. “How to lose 10 pounds” is up 339%. “How to start a blog” is up 288%. “How to lower blood pressure” is up 114%. Finally, “how to lower cholesterol” is up 109%.

What’s your new year’s resolution. Do you plan on actually sticking to it?

While it doesn’t include info from every year, it has a nice assortment of facts for various years. For example, in 1904, the first celebration took place with 200,000 people.

via

Happy New Year!

Skype is providing the service in the city from noon on 12/31 until noon on 01/01.

“New Year’s Eve revelers celebrating within the areas covered by Skype WiFi partner Towerstream’s network can say Happy New Year to loved ones via a Skype video call or voice call with free Skype WiFi,” says Skype’s Linda Summers.

Neighborhoods within the network include:

- Times Square
- West Village
- East Village
- South Village
- Greenwich Village
- NoHo
- SoHo
- Lower East Side
- Clinton
- Chelsea
- Union Square
- Midtown
- Midtown South
- Murray Hill
- Stuyvesant Park
- Turtle Bay

“Just connect to the ‘Skype WiFi’ hotspot on your device WiFi settings,” says Summers. “Make sure you have the latest version of Skype installed on your Windows or Mac device, or the Skype WiFi app on iOS and follow the prompts. Once connected with Skype WiFi, you can make a Skype video or voice call, surf the web, send an email, check your friend’s updates or hang out online. Enjoy.”

Again, Skype is encouraging users to tweet with the hashtag #freeskypewifi while they’re using it.

As previously reported, it was the top-seling book of the holiday season on Amazon.com. To put that into persepctive, though, Amazon also shared the following fact:

Amazon customers purchased enough copies of Walter Isaacson’s “Steve Jobs” book to create a stack taller than Mt. Everest.

Mt. Everest peaks at 29,029 feet above sea level. It’s a fairly thick book, but it’s not that thick. It’s 630 pages.

Other “holiday fun facts” from Amazon around customer purchases include:

• The cumulative weight of the Bowflex 552 Adjustable Dumbbells purchased by Amazon customers would outweigh more than 70 adult elephants.
• If you unfolded and stacked each pair of jeans purchased by Amazon customers this holiday, the height would be 2,500 times taller than the Statue of Liberty.
• Amazon customers purchased enough sweaters to outfit each of Santa’s reindeer during Christmas Eve deliveries for the next 14,000 years.
• Amazon customers purchased enough copies of Just Dance 3 to give 15 copies to each person who participated in setting the world record for simultaneous dancing.
• Amazon customers purchased enough HeatMax HotHands Handwarmers to give a pair to each resident of Iceland.
• Amazon customers purchased enough Rory’s Story Cubes to give a cube to each person watching the New Year’s Eve ball drop live at Times Square.

More on Amazon’s best-selling products of the holiday season here.

Third-party sellers experienced record holiday growth, the company says, with the number of sellers who exceeded $5,000 in sales during the holiday season increasing 44% year-over-year.

That’s pretty significant considering the small business-related controversy Amazon has been the subject of in recent months due to the Internet tax and its Price Check mobile app.

For the year, businesses on Amazon sold hundreds of millions of units worth billions of dollars worldwide, Amazon says.

The company points to Scharf Industries, as a leading example. This is an office supply/electronics vendor, which increased its sales on Amazon by over 500% during the holiday season compared to last year.

“We greatly value the cooperation that we have developed with Amazon,” said Andrew D. Scharf, CMO of Scharf Industries. “They have provided us with the tools necessary to grow our business in a rapid and efficient manner.”

Again, it’s worth noting that this is the example that Amazon chose to share in its announcement. I’m sure not all businesses selling on Amazon are so happy with their results, but you can’t ignore that 44% increase.

Amazon says its third-party sellers sold enough cameras for every fan at the next 10 Super Bowls, ,enough toys in 2011 to give a toy to every resident of Chicago, and as many Lalaloopsy Dolls alone as there are lights on the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in New York City.

Of course Amazon has been selling its own stuff pretty well too.

Here’s a look at Amazon’s top selling products across numerous categories.

We already reported on how great the holidays have been to Amazon’s Kindle, and this is again reflected by the top-selling electronics – all variations of the Kindle.

Here is the full list for each category:

Electronics

1. Kindle Fire
2. Kindle Touch
3. Kindle

Toys

1. Rory’s Story Cubes
2. Qwirkle Board Game
3. Perplexus Maze Game

Video Games

1. Just Dance 3
2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
3. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Sports & Outdoors

1. Zumba Fitness Total Body Transformation DVD Set
2. Emergency Fire Starter
3. Flexible Flyer Snowball Maker

Home & Kitchen

1. Cuisinart 5-in-1 Griddler
2. Fred M-Cups Measuring Matroyshkas
3. Pure Komachi 2 Series Hollow-Ground Santoku Knife

Books

1. “Steve Jobs” by Walter Isaacson
2. “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever” by Jeff Kinney
3. “11/22/63” byStephen King

Kindle Books

1. “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins
2. “Catching Fire” by Suzanne Collins
3. “The Litigators” by John Grisham

CD

1. “Christmas” by Michael Bublé
2. “21” by Adele
3. Duets II” by Tony Bennett

Amazon MP3

1. “100 Classic Christmas Songs” by Various Artists
2. “Mylo Xyloto” by Coldplay
3. “A Very She & Him Christmas” by She & Him

DVD

1. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2”
2. “Bridesmaids”
3. “The Help””

Amazon Instant Video

1. “Super 8”
2. “The Help”
3. “Crazy, Stupid, Love”

Watches

1. Timex 1440 Sports Digital Resin Strap Watc
2. LEGO Kids’ Star Wars Darth Vader Mini-Figure Alarm Clock
3. XOXO Rhinestone Accent Gold-Tone Bracelet Watch

Jewelry

1. 10k White Gold Round Diamond Stud Earrings
2. Sterling Silver Amethyst Butterfly Pendant
3. White Peacock and Pink Freshwater Cultured Pearl Button 3 Pair Stud Earrings Set

Clothing

1. Levi’s 501 Jean
2. Levi’s 505 Straight Fit Jean
3. Levi’s 550 Relaxed Fit Jean

Shoes

1. UGG Australia Classic Tall Boots
2. Crocs Classic Clog
3. BEARPAW Emma Short Boot

Beauty

1. Wonderstruck by Taylor Swift Eau de Parfum Spray
2. Olay Pro-X Advanced Cleansing System
3. NARS Orgasm Blush

Health & Personal Care

1. Philips Norelco SensoTouch Electric Shaver
2. Philips Norelco Shaving System
3. Philips Sonicare Essence Power Toothbrush

Tools & Home Improvement

1. Streamlight Nano Light Miniature Keychain LED Flashlight
2. Smith’s PP1 Pocket Pal Multifunction Sharpener
3. Black & Decker All-In-One SureGrip Laser Level

Automotive

1. Battery Tender Junior 12V Battery Charger
2. Wagan 12-Volt Heated Seat Cushion
3. Mystic Industries Reindeer Vehicle Costume

Baby

1. Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes
2. Vulli Sophie the Giraffe Teether
3. Cloud B Twilight Turtle Constellation Night Light

AmazonWireless

1. Motorola DROID RAZR 4G Android Phone (Verizon Wireless)
2. Samsung Galaxy S II Epic Touch 4G Android Phone (Sprint)
3. Samsung Galaxy S II 4G Android Phone (AT&T)

Amazon App store for Android

1. Angry Birds (Ad-Free)
2. TETRIS
3. Pandora Internet Radio

Some highlights Amazon points to:

• Throughout December, customers purchased well over 1 million Kindle devices per week.
• The new Kindle family held the top three spots on the Amazon.com best seller charts – #1: Kindle Fire, #2: Kindle Touch, #3: Kindle.
• Kindle Fire is the #1 best-selling, most gifted, and most wished for product across the millions of items available onAmazon.com since its introduction 13 weeks ago.
• Kindle is also the best-selling product on Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es and Amazon.it this holiday season.
• Gifting of Kindle books was up 175 percent between this Black Friday and Christmas Day compared to the same period in 2010.
• Christmas Day was the biggest day ever for Kindle book downloads.
• Kindle Fire is the best-selling product on Amazon.com’s mobile website and across all of Amazon.com’s mobile applications.

“We are grateful to our customers worldwide for making this the best holiday ever for Kindle,” said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. “And in a huge milestone for independent publishing, we’d also like to congratulate Darcie Chan, the author of ‘The Mill River Recluse,’ and Chris Culver, the author of ‘The Abbey,’ for writing two of the best-selling Kindle books of the year.”

Amazon also laid out some significant successes for Kindle Direct Publishing. For one, The month’s top selling direct-publishing book was “Wife by Wednesday,” which was also the number 5 overall best-selling Kindle book for the month. Author Catherin Bybee has been able to leave her day job to become a full-time writer.

Also this year, Kindle Direct Publishing author CJ Lyons reached number 2 on Amazon’s Best Seller list, as well as number 2 on the NY Times Best Seller list . She also was able to quit her day job.

Those numbers are for the first 56 daqys of the November – December holidays season, with the most recent week (ending Dec. 25) bringing in $2.8 billion on its own (up 16% from last year).

“Holiday e-commerce spending has remained strong throughout the season, and we have now reached a record $35 billion in U.S. online sales for the season-to-date,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “We can now say with certainty that the $1.25 billion spent on Cyber Monday will rank it as the heaviest online spending day of the season for the second consecutive year, but we should also note that it was accompanied by nine other billion dollar spending days this year.”

comScore points out a dramatic increase in Christmas Day purchases of digital content and subscriptions, including: music, TV, movie, ebook and app downloads, over the last few years. With smartphones and tablets rising in popularity, it’s not hard to see why this would be the case.

In fact, iOS and Android both had pretty good holidays. Android reported 3.7 million device activations over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

“On an average day during the 2011 holiday season-to-date (Nov. 1 – Dec. 26), Digital Content & Subscriptions accounted for 2.8 percent of retail e-commerce sales, but on Christmas Day the category accounted for more than 20 percent of sales,” comScore says. “Consistent with past years, comScore expects sales for this category of products to remain elevated throughout the entire week following Christmas Day.”

This week should be a pretty big week, as people spend their holiday gift money.