Zynga’s  The Ville  comes in at the No. 1 spot on our list of top growing Facebook apps by monthly active users this week.

Sally Kristen Ride , Ph.D., an astronaut and physicist who in 1983 at the age of 32 became the first American woman (and at that time, the youngest person ever) to enter space, died today at age 61. The cause was pancreatic cancer, a disease which she had battled for the past 17 months, according to a statement on her official website .

VMware has acquired Nicira , a startup known for its software defined networking technology in a deal pegged at $1.26 billion. It’s an acquisition that has all sorts of ramifications for the ever disruptive enterprise sector of the market.

Wajam , one of the most promising players in social search besides Google and Microsoft, today announced that it is partnering with Shopping.com to add comparison shopping to its social search results. With this, the browser plugin now goes beyond just showing you relevant social media posts from your friends when you use one the major search engines and look at sites like Yelp, YouTube, Tripadvisor, Amazon and eBay. Once installed, this update will show alternative shopping destinations and their prices right next to your friends opinions about a product when you shop online

Search is going very strong in China, and leading player Baidu continues to reap the benefits. In its Q2 results, the company reported sales of 5.456 billion yuan ($858.8 million), up 59.8 percent compared to the same quarter in 2011. The company’s chairman and chief exec, Robin Li, said in a statement that Baidu will “maintain momentum” going forward by investing in new technology, new talent, and more products specifically geared to mobile and cloud services.

Earlier today, a Reuters report added more fuel to a particularly nitpicky fire — according to its typically unnamed sources, Apple’s new iPhone indeed sports a smaller, 19 pin dock connector instead of the 30 pin relic the company’s iDevices have clung to for years. The news itself isn’t particularly shocking — our own John Biggs locked down the 19-pin number last month — but now a new report from iMore points to an even less surprising development. The Cupertino company is allegedly working on a dock connector adapter to keep those iDevice accessories from becoming completely obsolete, or so the story from iMore’s supply chain sources go

Gather is a newly launched mobile application which allows you to create “disposable” micro-meetups which can be quickly broadcast to Facebook and Twitter.  It’s meant to serve as a lightweight tool that helps you share your intended plans ahead of your Facebook or Foursquare check-in, for example

With the removal of Facebook’s default landing tab feature in March , most page tab applications have seen a significant drop in users, and many people in the industry predict the end for what had been a big business. But now, two of the biggest tab app developers are experiencing a resurgence while others watch their monthly active users flatline well below their pre-Timeline peaks

Netflix announced that it has named former Warner Bros. executive Kelly Bennett as its chief marketing officer , six months after it lost its last longtime marketing head Leslie Kilgore.

BaubleBar , a startup that promises high-quality jewelry at affordable prices, has raised a $4.5 million Series A round of funding from Accel Partners and Greycroft Partners. The round was reported this morning in PandoDaily. Co-founder Daniella Yacobovsky confirmed the funding via email (and said the round actually closed in April).