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4. ThingLink

It's that time of year when you start finding e-cards in your inbox. Generic e-cards are less than appealing and, nine times out of ten, are liable to end up in your trash (or worse spam) folder – unless they're from someone really special. But, if these e-cards were to be interactive; with embedded media like audio from Soundcloud or video from Youtube, would you open them more? Or at least pay them a bit more attention?

That's (in part) the logic behind Finnish startup ThingLink's product offering.

A thinglink is an interactive hotspot you define inside an image, from a thing (an object, a person, or a place) to a link (a shop, a blog post, or anywhere you like).

The ability to embed rich media with an image is somewhat of a novel concept but, as ThingLink say in their recent blogpost, definitely comes in handy if a situation ever arises where you need to send a personalised e-card with embedded audio or video streams.

The 8-strong team, based in Helsinki with an office in California, have so far raised €700,000. Whilst ThingLink are still a relatively young service, both Mashable and the Canada's National Post have shown how innovative thinglinks are – and we're inclined to agree!

5. Rovio

Continuing with the Finnish theme, it's hard to think of a startup who's had a more successful 2011 than Espoo's Rovio. Maybe better known for the success of their mind-blowingly succesful 'Angry Birds' app (and subsequent merchandise spin-offs), the world's best-selling paid app on iTunes; Rovio have had a long and bumpy road to the movie franchises, sequels and the multi-billion dollar attempted acquisitions of today.

Rovio produced 51 titles and flirted with bankruptcy before hitting the jackpot with Angry Birds. Some were successful, some were flops – but none prepared the company for the popularity of a story that revolves around pigs stealing birds' eggs.

In November, Rovio announced the game had been download half a billion times, making it one of the most successful (if not the most successful) app in history. The rumoured attempted $2.25 billion buyout from games maker Zynga followed a few weeks later.

After raising $42m in funding this year, Rovio's CMO (or 'Mighty Eagle') Peter Vesterbacka recently revealed that revenue figures for 2011 ($100m) had seen a pretty huge increase on 2010 ($10m). It'll be hard for Rovio to improve on such a fantastic year, but we're betting 2012 will see the startup continue to build on their successes!

1. We all knew it was popular, but this popular?!

We're all huge fans of Angry Birds here at Hoop – you'd be hard pushed finding someone with a smartphone who isn't. And it seems that 500 million other people agree with us. Rovio, the company behind Angry Birds, announced this week that the app had been downloaded by half a billion people. A truly astounding feat!

2. Going fishing (on Facebook, with a botnet)

Facebook are well known for having an odd view on their users' privacy. Google's results for the query 'Facebook Privacy' make for some interesting reading.

But when we read that researchers from a Canadian university used a botnet to steal 250GB worth of Facebook users' data, it looked like the boot was on the other foot. Facebook's security and privacy teams have some explaining to do! TechCrunch has the details.

3. Telling tales with Twitter

There's something wonderfully succinct about a tweet; it's amazing what you can get into 140 characters. But sometimes, the character limit means a tweet just isn't enough. For those occasions, you could use Shortmail, standard email or simply pick up the phone.

But when a tweet is enough, it's pretty awesome what a message on Twitter can achieve. Which is where Twitter Stories comes in. Well worth a look – another example of the power (for good) of social media.

4. Bob

It wouldn't be a true 5 top finds if we don't include at least one video. Lovely hamster Bob and his global travels gets this week's honour, just don't forget to watch the end credits. Watch Bob on Vimeo.

5. #gomobile

As it says on the site, "mobile isn't going to be a medium. It's going to be the medium". Good to see Google trying to get everyone up to speed on what is set to be (one hugely important aspect of) the future of the internet. Go mobile!

1. Don't you wish you had one of these?

Quite possibly the best (and maybe geekiest) birthday cake a 6 year old could ask for.

And yes, that's a fully interactive Angry Birds cake.

See more at Electric Pig.

2. Social Media Strategy in 60 Seconds

Nice post on NextWeb on how to get out of the blocks with social media. It's more execution than strategy but it's got some useful tips nevertheless.

Read Social Media Strategy in 60 Seconds.

3. Screen printing - remember that?

Kate draws your attention to these fab, old school, screen prints from 2 sources. First from Thomas Boswell.

The second from Sroop Sunar Illustration. Lovely stuff.

4. Fancy advising the White House?

Keeping up his reputation for digital know-how, Obama goes all crowd sourcey.

Read more at Fast Company.

5. Mobile network on the Underground?

Don't you wish you could pick up mobile signal on the London Underground - like they can in cities like Copenhagen? Chinese telecoms giant Huawei are offering to change that.

Read more at Wired.co.uk.