In the next seven months, the number of people using personal computers will pass one billion (compared to the nearly two billion who own TVs). Over half the global population owns a mobile phone, and there are over 5.5 billion external power devices for electronic devices.

Electronic devices account for 15 percent of household electricity consumption. From 1990-2008, electricity consumption from electronics grew 7 percent every year.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that, if energy use continues as it is today, the energy consumed by electronic devices will double by 2022, tripling by 2030 to 1,700 Terawatt Hours (TWh).

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Investment in cleantech companies is down 63 percent in Q1 2009, after a record year for funding in 2008.

$277 million in cleantech investments was raised in the first quarter of 2009, according to Ernst & Young. In addition to the decline in revenue dollars, there has been a 48 percent decline in deals compared to Q1 2008.

“This economic climate demands that cleantech companies think more creatively about resources and partnerships,” said Joseph A. Muscat, Americas Director of Cleantech at Ernst & Young.

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Piracy is always in the news, but, in the wake of the Pirate Bay ruling and France’s approval of a “Three Strikes” law for copyright infringers, international governmental measures against piracy are getting tougher.

Not so in the U.S., where anti-piracy efforts are lagging, according to a study by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and IDC.

“Governments and software companies are making progress in slowing the illegal use of personal computer (PC) software products, but progress has stalled in the United States, posing serious challenges to the high tech sector and cyber security,” according to the report’s U.S. press release.

One-fifth of software used in the U.S. is pirated.

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Web-to-TV streaming will be be worth $2.9 billion by 2013, according to a new report released by the mobile internet and digital entertainment analyst In-Stat.

“Once Web-to-TV video becomes simple and convenient, mass consumer adoption will follow quite rapidly,” said Keith Nissen, In-Stat analyst. “Our primary research shows that users want a variety of their consumer devices to enable a web-to-TV video experience.”

40 percent of young-adult households in the U.S. already view video streamed to their TV at least once a month, according to the report.

Other highlights include:

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This week there have been a couple of discussion-provoking Twitter studies by Nielsen making the rounds.

The first, and loudest, was Nielsen’s report that 60 percent of Twitter users abandon the service in the first month, predicting that the figure augured a slim 10 percent growth rate for the microblogging site.

“Twitter has enjoyed a nice ride over the last few months, but it will not be able to sustain its meteoric rise without establishing a higher level of user loyalty,” wrote David Martin, Vice President of Primary Research for Nielsen Online.

“Frankly, if Oprah can’t accomplish that, I’m not sure who can,” wrote Martin, as the flames he fanned continued to rise.

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Since the opening of the Apple Store last year, Apple has proven that mobile applications can not only be immensely saleable, but that the best can become folk phenomenon.

A niche thing until Apple exploded it less than a year ago, the mobile app market will be worth $25 billion in five years, according to Juniper research.

Right now, most mobile application revenue is made at the time of purchase, but Juniper expects that in-app billing will increase in use, enabling incremental revenues.

The future of the mobile app market is in data revenues, not purchase price, according to Juniper, which urges mobile providers to reject walled gardens.

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Last week we wrote about VC confidence in the valley, and now we have the other side of the story: the numbers.

Venture capital funding fell almost 40 percent in Q1 2009 compared to 2008’s first quarter, according to figures published by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA).

Only $4.3 billion was raised in Q1, by 40 venture capital funds, the lowest number of funds in over five years. Almost twice as many venture capital funds were raised in Q1 a year ago, totaling $7.1 billion.

The most staggering difference in Q1 2009 venture capital is that, unlike in past quarters, new funding was almost non-existent. VC firms contributed to 37 follow-on funds, but only three new ones, “a ratio of over 12-to-1 of follow-on to new funds, compared to 6-to-1 in the first quarter of 2008,” according to the report.

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Online retail sales rose 11 percent in the first three months of 2009, according to a flash survey conducted by Forrester for Shop.org.

This is a nice rebound from the holiday retail season, which suffered its worst year in 40 years to close out 2008.

“It seems that consumer confidence is getting better,” Forrester analyst Sucharita Mulpuru told Bloomberg. “There is so much price competition out there that you can find great deals. Hopefully the worst is behind us.”

58 percent of the survey’s 80 respondents reported an increase in Q1 Internet sales over last year. 13 percent reported that sales remained flat.

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Venture capital confidence in Silicon Valley may be returning, according to a newly published study.

The Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Confidence Index, created by University of San Francisco Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship Mark V. Cannice, is based on a survey of venture capitalists on their projections for the Silicon Valley high-growth entrepreneurial environment in the next 6 to 18 months.

In the current index, venture capital confidence measured 3.03 on a scale of one-to-five, one being the lowest and five being the highest level of confidence.

Last quarter’s rating of 2.77 was a five-year low. Q1 2009 “ended a five-quarter trend of new lows in confidence,” wrote Cannice.

The economy has curtailed VC activity. Because of the recession, deals are more difficult to finance, raising funds take more time, and IPOs are becoming less frequent and more distant.

Cannice notes that no venture-backed firm has had an IPO in the last two quarters, “the first time on record that this has occurred.”

But investors are beginning to see something that’s been in short supply for quite a while. Hope.

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The majority of the most popular Apple apps, according to comScore’s tracking of February 2009 downloads, are Games or Entertainment.

The most popular Apple app according to the number of downloads is Tap Tap Revenge, which has been downloaded by 32 percent of Apple App users.

“Tap Tap’s success demonstrates that there is ample opportunity in the app space for any publisher to obtain significant distribution with a product that engages users,” according to the press release accompanying the report.

“Since the number of app users is growing nearly ten percent each month, that opportunity will only continue to grow for both existing and emerging app developers,” according to the press release.

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