LinkedIn Secures No. 2 Social Network Spot in U.S.; Google Stocks Up 13.5 Percent Today

Every week, Mountain View makes news with technology developments, discoveries and sometimes controversies.

Today, Mountain View Patch brings you “Bits and Bytes,” where we summarize the past week’s news highlights from our backyard giants, start-ups and small businesses alike.

Only a few years ago, not many people used LinkedIn. But now it has surged past MySpace to become the no. 2 social networking site in the U.S., behind Facebook. According to a report from comScore, Inc., 33.9 million people visited LinkedIn this year, up a full 66 percent from last year.

Google stocks have surged as much as 13.5 percent today. The tech giant’s shares shot up to $600.25, climbing to their highest levels since October 2008. The success can be contributed, in part, to Google’s Chrome browser, now utilized by more than 160 million users, Android search, and expectations for Google+, a new social networking tool that’s still in a testing phase.

Google also made its latest acquisition this week. The tech start-up Punchd, originally from San Luis Obispo, is now a part of the tech giant. The company makes it easy to print and provide customer marketing materials, and track customer statistics.

Systemec has finalized its acquisition of Clearwell systems, a company that specializes in archiving, backup and eDiscovery. The move, according to the company’s senior vice president, will help the company lower costs in the various phases of information management.

Evernote, a free online service which allows users to easily save notes and photos, received $50 million in funding from Sequoia Capital. The money will be applied towards expanding the company’s offerings.

Mark your calendars, cloud computing enthusiasts: Cloudcor and Bloomberg Businessweek have announced a a “Global Cloud Computing Conference” to be held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View on December 5 through 9. It will focus on the transition to the cloud, and protecting one’s digital assets in it.