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Google just announced its Q4 earnings, and CEO Larry Page is "super excited." Revenue for the full year was up 29%. The quarter missed Wall Street's expectations, but Page has no reservations. It was a big quarter for Google+, and Page says that's a key to the company's strategy. "By building a meaningful relationship with our users through Google+," he says, "we will create amazing experiences across our services."

Page says Google+ "now has 90 million users globally," which is more than double what he announced three months ago. This quarter, Google integrated Google+ into search, so now it's a part of life for anyone who uses Google (unless they opt out). Page says that 60% of Google+ users "engage daily," and 80% are active weekly. That either means Google+ has 54 million daily active users, or, as Forbes points out, it might be sleight of hand, saying only that 54 Google+ users use Google services daily. But since Google+ is built into most of Google now, including search, that distinction is pretty moot.

The SOPA/PIPA blackout today by Wikipedia, Mozilla, WordPress.com and many other sites is (I hope) drawing attention to proposed legislation that is considered a threat to "Internet freedom." That's fine, admirable, and (with any luck) will be effective at curbing SOPA/PIPA for at least another legislative season. The backgrounders I've read so far by Wikipedia and others explain pretty well why SOPA/PIPA shouldn't pass. What they don't say is that SOPA/PIPA are business as usual, and the protest is a last-ditch effort necessary because the legislative system and mainstream media are fundamentally broken.

Google+ has added two new features to the mobile Web version that will be coming to the native apps soon. The What's Hot section, which highlights trending and popular posts, now has its own stream. Swipe to the right of the Circles tab to find it. The update also enables users to see who +1'd a post by clicking on the +1 count.

Google+ added What's Hot last October. It's one of several ways to discover new content on Google+. On the desktop, it appears periodically in the main news stream as well as on the left sidebar, under the user's circles.

U.S. Representative Lamar Smith would like to remind you that the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) he helped architect is not dead yet. The House will continue marking up the proposed legislation in February, according to a press release. By the beginning of this week, the bill was considered by many to be as good as dead, given recent political developments, including a statement from the Obama Administration that condemned the more restrictive and controversial aspects of SOPA and related legislation.

The news comes a matter of hours before the start of what is expected to be a widespread, Web-based protest against the anti-piracy legislation. Yesterday, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales made headlines by announcing that the enormous, user-generated encyclopedia will go dark tomorrow in protest of SOPA, joining Reddit, Mozilla, BoingBoing, all of the Cheezburger sites and others.

National Geographic Maps has partnered with AllTrails, an online network for outdoor enthusiasts, to launch a co-branded service at alltrails.com. The site aims to be a comprehensive destination for people planning hikes or other backcountry outings. Its 200,000 users can browse nearby or search for trails, post reviews and photos and share trails with friends. Users who have completed a trail are listed on its page.

Trail profiles give time and distance measurements, weather forecasts and routes overlaid on topographic maps. AllTrails initially used Google Maps data but found it to be too inaccurate for safe planning of wilderness trips. After Google began to charge for access to the Google Maps SDK, AllTrails began to explore other partnerships. Today's announcement with National Geographic is the beginning of an integration that will move AllTrails away from Google.

Google has launched a consumer education campaign called Good to Know, which is designed to teach new users of high tech about safety, security and data management online. It's a walk-through with four sections: Stay safe online, Your data on the web, Your data on Google and Manage your data. Each section contains an organized brochure of topics with some instructional diagrams and videos.

Google calls Good to Know its "biggest-ever consumer education campaign." It began with ad campaigns in the U.K. and Germany last fall. The ads highlight security tips like using Google's 2-step verification and checking websites for secure HTTPS connections. The campaign will now be extended to the U.S. with print and Web ads, as well as display ads in New York and Washington D.C. subway stations.

Google+ now has a meme text generator for images, allowing the Internet to parody itself until it's no longer funny. The Google+ stream, already jammed with animated GIFs, full-width images and videos, Google Music players (theoretically) and 1,000-word rants, is now a full-fledged competitor to I Can Has Cheezburger.

Google engineer Colin McMillen announced the feature this morning. The Google+ Creative Kit for editing images already had a text tool with lots of fonts to choose from, but this "funny text" tool is more brutal. Just drag an image into the share box, click 'Add Text,' and then there are boxes for top, middle and bottom text. The default font is white Impact, perfect for LOLcats.

Google has released a new way to securely log into Google accounts on public computers. Using a smartphone, scan the QR code generated at accounts.google.com/sesame. The Google login prompt will appear on your phone, and logging in there will log you into a session on the desktop.

This prevents the user from having to type sensitive login credentials into a public machine, which could be compromised with keylogging software. The new QR code feature is an alternative to Google's 2-step verification. This generates a unique short code on your mobile, which you must input for each desktop login, using the presence of your phone as a form of identification.

Google has resorted to gamification to drive interest in its location services. It posted a YouTube video last week promoting a Google Maps-powered game coming to Google+ Games in February. It involves rolling a ball around a cube covered with 3D Google maps. Players apparently get extra points for hitting Zagat-rated businesses, promoting Google's acquisition of the review publisher last year.

"Play your world, like never before," is the promotion's slogan. It ends with a link to Google's new Start Here page for Google Maps, which offers a detailed walkthrough of the service. This gives Google a chance to show off all the new features of Maps, such as interior mapping and crowd-sourced map-making. If Facebook's history is any indication, one surefire way to drive social network eyeballs to something is to turn it into a game.

Google announced a partnership with the World Bank today to make Google Map Maker data more accessible to government organizations in disaster scenarios. Google Map Maker is the tool for crowd-sourcing the editing and maintenance of Google's world map. Its user-generated data include locations of hospitals, schools, settlements, water sources and minor roads.

Access to these data will help governments, NGOs, researchers and individuals plan without waiting for the changes to be approved and added to the official maps. World Bank partner organizations, such as government and U.N. agencies, can contact World Bank offices to request access to the data. Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Zambia, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Moldova, Mozambique, Nepal and Haiti will pilot the project.