Week in review: Google+ invites paused after “insane demand”

Here’s our roundup of the week’s tech business news. First, the most popular stories published by VentureBeat in the last seven days:

Google opens up, then closes Google+ invites due to “insane demand”: If you were desperate to get a Google+ invite, there’s a very good chance you could have landed one Tuesday night as Google gave existing Plus users the ability to invite anyone to test out the service. But the revelry didn’t last too long.

[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":306153,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"business,","session":"B"}']

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t put on a happy face in his Google+ profile: Apparently Zuckerberg is on Google+, but as you can see from his profile picture, he doesn’t look thrilled to be there.

Google+ could make Twitter the next Myspace: Google knows the social train has left the station and there is a very slim chance of catching up to Facebook. However, Twitter’s position as a broadcast platform is a much more achievable goal for Google to reach.

Appsterdam: A haven for indie app makers?: It’s hard to get the famously phlegmatic Dutch excited but Mike Lee had a room full of them (and other nationalities) clapping and whooping Saturday in the style of an old-school preacher. Why?Appsterdam.

‘Indestructible’ botnet has infected 4.5M PCs and counting: The “TDL-4″ botnet now has more than 4.5 million infected PCs running on it and is the “most sophisticated threat” to computer security today, according to Kaspersky Labs researcher Sergey Golovanov.

And here are five more posts we think are important, thought-provoking, or fun:

On strength of new social games, Zynga files for $1B IPO: Social games maker Zynga, the developer behind smash hits like FarmVille and CityVille, filed for an initial public offering on Friday, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Google goes social with Google+ — Will Facebook flinch?: After months of waiting, Google finally unveiled on Tuesday its new social project, Google+.

OMFG: Google wants to buy Hulu after all (sorry, Yahoo): Google has begun preliminary talks to acquire video-streaming service Hulu, according to unnamed sources  in contact with the Los Angeles Times.

[aditude-amp id="medium1" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":306153,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"business,","session":"B"}']

Compared to Zynga, Groupon is run by a bunch of clowns:  Zynga’s IPO is one of the largest expected this year, alongside group-buying site Groupon. But the way the companies are run, and how efficiently they generate money, couldn’t be any more different.

Why Star Wars Galaxies should go down, and why there’s nothing you can do about it: Sony Online Entertainment is completely in the right to shut down its own game. And if the game is no longer profitable, then it should be shut down.