Given that almost everyone I know is engulfed in holiday fever/spirit/terror/bliss (take your pick), I figure only the true tech aficionados are browsing the web for news stories right now. I want to reward this genuine devotion, which is why I’ve chosen today to blog about a truly great news item: Swedish citizens use the internet. A lot! No need to thank me, I’m in a generous mood.

But in all seriousness, this survey conducted by Statistics Sweden is interesting, especially if you are the type of person (like me) who tends to think about internet usage domestically and not always with a global mindset. Before you click on the link above, I have to warn you that most of the report is in Swedish. And based on the fact that my multilingual abilities peaked around the time I recognized Bono counting out of order in that iPod commercial, I’ll assume that you all need directing to the English translation of the survey as well. It begins on page 239 of the report (although it actually reads page 241 in the Adobe Reader tool bar). Either way, scroll towards the end of the linked document and you’ll see what I am talking about.

It appears that internet usage actually declined in Sweden between 2006 and 2007 (from 84 percent of the population to 80 percent). This statistic is surprising, mainly because the internet has only become more pervasive in the majority of places as time has gone on. (Insert doubts about the accuracy of this survey here.)

Nordic countries tend to dominate technologically in the EU. Iceland boasts an internet usage rate of over 80 percent, with citizens using the service at least once a week. Norway maintains its usage at an even 80 percent, while 75 percent of the citizens in Denmark, Finland, and Sweden report that they use the internet for various purposes. When you think of countries that are at the forefront of technology use, I am not sure that the Nordic region is the first area that comes to mind, so these figures are beneficial to know.

Despite Sweden’s recent dip in internet usage, citizens who already use the service have increased the frequency with which they access it. Almost all Swedish citizens own a mobile phone as well, while close to 90 percent have PCs in their homes. The internet is most popular among 16 to 44 year olds, with over 90 percent of this age group using the service. The subsection of the population aged 65 to 74 has the least usage (only 40 percent of this group use the internet).

The popularity of broadband usage has skyrocketed in Sweden over the past few years. In 2005, 44 percent of the country’s internet users opted for the faster connection method. In 2007, over 70 percent used broadband connections. The most common reasons that Swedish citizens used the internet were to: research information on goods and services, send and receive emails, complete banking transactions, make online purchases, obtain public information, and take advantage of peer-to-peer file sharing.

According to the survey, about one-third of the internet users in Sweden are involved with e-commerce. These people used the internet to make travel and hotel reservations and to purchase clothes, sporting goods, movies, music, books, and newspapers. Sweden places sixth among other European countries involved in the survey in terms of how many of their citizens order goods and services over the internet. Norway snagged the top spot in the survey, with 48 percent of their population choosing to shop online.

So what does this all mean? I’m not exactly sure, but I do find it interesting that countries such as Sweden, Iceland, and Norway are so technologically aware and active. I tend to assess the technological identity of a country by the strength of its tech community, even though that is such a small part of the population. Maybe it’s more about real people, in unrelated fields, coming together because of one common medium; maybe that equates to technological maturity.

And on that note, I think I’ve gone a little too deep for my own taste. I promise to veer away from less than insightful philosophies about the state of the internet in the future. That’s not why you come here anyways. It’s for my sarcastic wit and stellar jokes, isn’t it? Ahh yes, that’s what I thought.

Spam comes in all shapes and sizes, none of which are very well liked. I avoided original Spam like the plague as a child (it frightens me to this day), but electronic spam has created far more frustration and worry over the past few years than the mystery luncheon meat ever did. In a blog post taken from Read/WriteWeb today, Josh Catone writes:

“In 2001, spam accounted for an estimated 5% of our email. In 2007, it clogs our inboxes to the tune of 90-95% of all email sent…The year-over-year increase appears to indicate the failure of the US federal CAN-SPAM Act, which was passed in 2004 when spam only accounted for about 70% of all email sent.”

Catone is citing data from the spam filtering tech company Barracuda Networks. These figures are much more severe and telling than the tame statistics released by market researcher IDC recently, which were quoted in a USA Today article last month.

Unsolicited email messages creep (or pour, depending on your level of misfortune) into our inboxes on a daily basis, dodging filters in the form of MP3 files, e-cards, and PDF attachments. USA Today references Bill Gates’ bold statement in 2004 that in two years, the spam crisis would be resolved. Yet in 2007, a year after this problem was expected to be obsolete, electronic and human spammers are managing to send out 60 to 150 billion spam messages over the internet each day.

Even though IDC’s data is a little more reserved than Barracuda’s, it still conveys the behemoth nature of the spam problem. According to IDC, this is the first year that the total number of spam messages sent worldwide (10.8 trillion) will exceed the number of person-to-person emails sent out (10.5 trillion). The effect is that email accounts are first and foremost serving as a vehicle for spammers, which is an idea that no internet user or email account holder welcomes.

Email services often come with built-in defenses that block spam now, and security software is being enhanced to better protect against this growing problem. This forces spammers to be a little more creative in the way that they send messages. The growth of bots and compromised PCs that spew out spam in bulk has also fueled an increase in messages.

If you want some more background on the subject, the USA Today article includes a lot of information on the progression of spam over the past few years, as well as some interesting statistics on the different types of spam and the filtering technologies that are emerging to combat the messages. Also, here is an overview of Symantec’s seasonal spam report, which highlights some of the spam trends from this month and 2007 in its entirety.

Even though over 800 people were packed into The Estate last Friday night for the TechCrunch Boston Meetup, I was able to navigate the club surprisingly well and speak with almost all of the event’s sponsors. I also endeavored to do a little research this weekend while I was still in recovery mode. So after combining what I have seen, heard, and read over the past couple of days, I am left feeling impressed by more than a few companies.

I’ll start with the seasoned veteran: TripAdvisor.com. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the site, it compiles user-generated content and recommendations on everything from trip locations and hotels to flights and vacation packages. Even though the site has been around for nearly eight years and nets more than 25 million unique visitors a month, the company continues to make it out to local events (its U.S. headquarters are in Needham, MA) and remain involved in the emerging tech community.

A representative from the company said that TripAdvisor.com was hiring aggressively in all departments, so their motivation for sponsoring the meetup was mostly to seek out new talent. Either way, they brought a ton of free t-shirts for everyone, so they receive a nod of approval from me for the effort that they continue to put in when it comes to customer, industry, and employee relations. Also, the accolades they received in a recent episode of The Office, and the fact that this entry is posted on their site means that the company will probably always hold a special place in my heart.

But I’ll move on to more pressing issues, or rather, companies that you most likely don’t already know about. In terms of sites directed towards the average consumer, my favorite of the night had to be MyPunchbowl.com. This site launched in January and currently has an undisclosed number of registered users, but judging from the way they were received at the event, their member base must be steadily rising. MyPunchbowl is the brain child of Punchbowl Software, and its goal is to improve the overall user experience by offering “end-to-end” party planning. In other words, the site helps members with everything from picking the date of their party to sharing pictures and stories with guests after the festivities are over.

After browsing the site and some of its features, I agree that its software is easy and fun to use. I also like how the site allows you to personalize your virtual invitations (as opposed to sending them out in bulk) and the fact that MyPunchbowl helps you out with checklists of all the minor details that you might otherwise overlook. All in all, I like the product and the design, and the fact that this site is only ten months old bodes well for the future of the company. The site is also run by four guys (as of now), which kind of disproves the notion that men can’t plan a good party.

I am awarding honorable mention awards to Mzinga, Moola, and Wine Library TV. Based on my interaction with the people at Mzinga, I am pretty sure that the company creates Facebook-like applications for businesses. So basically, they create social networking forums for a business’s customers and employees in order to gather and mine useful information from them. A cool concept, even though the social networking angle is starting to feel a little stale to me these days.

Moola is a site that gives you a penny, which you can then double every time you beat another contestant in a head-to-head game. So if for some reason you are able to win a string of 30 games in a row, you’ll be ten million dollars richer (or more like six million, if you consider the havoc that taxes could wreak on your prize money). The mediocre games on Moola.com don’t really interest me, but its business model does. The site will be ad supported, so in order to play a game, you need to watch an ad and correctly answer a question about it. It sounds annoying, but when money is on the line, I suspect that a lot of people will follow these prompts. This is great news for advertisers, who can ensure that people are at least looking at their internet ads.

My last nod goes to Wine Library TV, or the personality behind WLTV, Gary Vaynerchuk. In an effort to overcome stereotypes about the wine industry and encourage more people (of all backgrounds) to enjoy the world of wine, Vaynerchuk records five episodes of his own personal wine tasting each week for the site. His approach may be a bit overwhelming, but you can never say that Vaynerchuk is boring. Honestly, I just love the fact that he reviewed Trader Joe’s famous Two Buck Chucks.

Even though this site isn’t as tech-oriented as the other sponsors from the Boston meetup, I think it shows how flexible of a tool that the internet really is. User-generated sites and blogs can help anyone push any sort of agenda, and in this case, Vaynerchuk wants to make wine fun for everyone.

That’s about all I have got to say for today. If I offended any companies by not posting about their product or offering them some type of meaningless honorable mention, just know that I have no authority to award anything to anyone. I just thought it would be fun. It’s a Monday, and I’ve got to do something to entertain myself.

We live in a society that loves customized items and gifts, so I’m not surprised that one company has been able to cash in on something truly unique: our genetic codes. DNA 11 was founded a few years back by two friends in Canada, and their intent was to create personalized artwork from the DNA of their customers. Although I just recently learned about this company, it has been gaining momentum over the past two years with media attention from The Washington Post, Wired Magazine, USA Today, and GQ. DNA 11’s artwork has also been featured on HGTV, The Discovery Channel, The Today Show, and most notably, in the plot of an episode of CSI: NY.

It sounds unorthodox, but the art world and consumers have embraced the idea of DNA portraits. I’m not certain if it’s because we’re vain, or maybe it’s just that we love owning something that no one else has, but DNA 11 has sold its artwork to customers in over 50 countries worldwide.

When you initially purchase a DNA portrait, the company sends you a DNA retrieval kit through the mail. A video appearing on the company’s website explains the DNA retrieval process and shows a model swabbing her own mouth for DNA. After you mail your DNA back to the company, it’s given a six-digit tracking number to protect your privacy and sent to a lab for processing. Software is eventually used to zero in on a partial picture of your code and transform it into a digital image. With various color schemes and framing options available, these portraits start at $390 a piece.

The company now offers fingerprint and lip print portraits as well. The latter product, known as a KISS portrait, is why the company has been in the news lately. This is DNA 11’s first obvious attempt at reeling in more female customers, and being that I am female, I feel it necessary to comment on these pieces of art. Honestly…the KISS portraits are tacky. CNET.com calls them “very Marilyn Monroe,” but I think that’s just taking the easy way out.

I understand the concept behind the portrait: it’s unique, and hanging it in your home will showcase your femininity, your sense of self, whatever. But in my opinion, any art project that’s sponsored by MAC’s Viva Glam Lipstick is difficult to defend as, well, art. DNA 11’s website even suggests that you give your KISS portrait to a “lover.” I can already imagine women everywhere handing their boyfriends and husbands gigantic pictures of their lips for Christmas. Congratulations DNA 11, you’ve given the deranged women of the world another chance to further tarnish our gender’s name.

In my own defense, I realize that art is subjective, so if this is the kind of thing you like, I encourage you to buy one. A portion of the sales from KISS portraits do go to charity, although explaining that “one KISS Portrait sale can help purchase 1000 condoms in India” may not be the best way to market your partnership with the MAC Aids Fund.

So whether you are looking for a unique piece of art or simply decorating a new living space, it might be worth your time to check out DNA 11’s full product line. I prefer the DNA and fingerprint portraits myself, but I am sure there are some lovers out there who will want an over-sized portrait of someone’s lips. Oh, and what’s even better is that you can get a DNA portrait of your pet. The DNA retrieval kit works best on cats, dogs, and horses…and no, I am not making this up. But given that I don’t have a pet of my own, and I am fully aware of what some people will do for their animals, I’ll keep my comments to myself on this one.