The Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android Market is full of applications, but the purchase rates just aren’t that good compared to the Apple App Store. To keep developers happy, Google believes that a way to get people to spend more money on apps is through an in-app virtual goods system. Google is also negotiating with the telecom companies to allow direct carrier billing.

Social network company Facebook is launching a new feature called “Buy With Friends.” Facebook head of commerce product marketing Deb Liu said that Buy With Friends would allow users to share their purchases in their news feed. Buy With Friends lets users “unlock” a deal and share it with their friends. This feature was discussed by Liu in the context of social gaming companies and virtual goods. Facebook users can buy virtual goods with Facebook Credits. Facebook found that about 50% of their test users wanted to share a purchase they made on a social network with their friends.

Flight search engine company Hipmunk has raised $5.9 million in funding according to an SEC filing. Hipmunk was co-founded by Adam Goldstein and Steve Huffman this past August. Huffman is a co-founder in Reddit. Hipmunk is known for laying out flight information in a customizable grid after conducting a search. Hipmunk has raised a total of $4.7 million in funding. The company was incubated by Y Combinator and they have raised a $1 million angel round from Ashton Kutcher, Paul Buchheit, Matt Mullenweg, Ron Conway, etc. The investors in this round was undisclosed.

Celtra is a mobile self-service rich-media and analytics company that has raised $5 million in series A funding from GrandBanks Capital and Fairhaven Capital. Celtra plans on using the funding to build expand their business and self-service technology. Celtra’s clients include NBA, Kmart, Marriott, and Evian. Celtra helps their clients create rich-media advertisements on multiple operating system platforms like iOS, Android, BlackBerry, etc. Some of the ad networks that use Celtra’s ads include AdMob, Jumptap, and Mojiva. Tim Wright of GrandBanks and Mark Hatfield of Fairhaven will be joining Celtra’s board of directors.

MyPublisher is a website that focuses on photography and printing. MyPublisher has acquired digital scrapbooking company How Fast Time Flies. How Fast Time Flies was founded in 2007 by Cathy Bennett. How Fast Time Flies lets people print 12×12 pages using a digital scrapbook application. The deal terms were undisclosed. Bennett will be joining MyPublisher full-time as part of the acquisition.

The Panasonic Lumix TS3 rugged camera has a GPS, compass, altimeter, and barometer built in. The GPS is used for geotagging photos and videos. The TS3 is waterproof approximately 40 feet underwater and is freeze-proof at 14 degrees Fahrenheit. It is also dust-proof and crush-proof. The Lumix TS3 has a 28mm equivalent wide-angle lens with a 4.6x internal zoom, 2.7-inch LCD, and 12-megapixel high-speed CCD sensor. Panasonic’s Venus Engine FHD processor is built in and it shoots in full resolution at 3.7 frames per second. It also has full HD movie capture in AVCHD format. The Lumix TS3 has high-speed shooting for 3D photos. The TS3 takes 20 shoots with a press of the shutter release and it picks the two best for creating a 3D MPO file for 3D-enabled TVs and computers. The TS3 will be available in March in red, orange, silver, and blue. Pricing is not yet known.

Pegatron has received orders for the iPhone 5 and they are expecting the first batch to hit 10 million units. The new iPhone is expected to be announced in June or July of this year. Supposedly the 5th generation of the iPhone is expected to have near-field communications capabilities built in. Pegatron is currently busy building iPhones with CDMA support for Verizon.

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