Planetaki Planet redundante

5 stories to read this weekend

2012-02-11T08:54:32Z

Don’t get mad at me for not finding seven stories for you to read this weekend. I have been busy with some other stuff and as a result I have not been able to spend as much time reading as I normally do. Regardless, here is an abbreviated recommendation list. Hope you enjoy them.

Silence versus communication: A productivity experiment from one of my favorite new companies, 6Wunderkinder, is a must read for those who want to get more from their day.
Publishers are flubbing the iPad. No doubt, for all they are doing is repurposing the old magazines onto the iPad instead of thinking about magical experiences that leverage the iPad and its sensors.
Allan Sloan, Fortune‘s editor at large, thinks that the Facebook IPO is all marketing, hypocrisy and arrogance.
Information cartels of today are like the computer hardware giants of the old, buying politics and mortgaging our future, writes Reginald Braithwaite, a veteran programmer. I love this piece.
The secret life of your personal data, animated. Enough said.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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How to use a third-party remote to control your Apple TV

2012-02-11T08:35:29Z

The Apple TV remote that comes with the latest Apple TV 2 is very small and can be very easily misplaced or lost completely. Luckily, Apple has included a very easy way for you to use a third-party remote control as an alternative. Sure you could use your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad and the Apple Remote app but if you don’t want your kids, friends, or spouses, bugging you every time they need to change something on the Apple TV, you’ll want something dedicated.

Here’s how to set it up, and you should do it now before you lose your current remote.

Power on your Apple TV
Go to Settings in the main menu
Click on General and then Remote
Choose Learn Remote

Select Start
Apple TV will display icons that represent the six buttons on the Apple Remote with the “Up” or “+” button highlighted first.
Using your third-party remote, press and hold the button you would like to use to control the “up” function until the blue progress bar is full as shown below.
Apple TV will then select the next button function. Repeat the above step using a different button
After you have programmed all six button functions, you can now use your third-party remote to control Apple TV. You can optionally setup specific playback buttons for Fast-forward, Rewind, Next chapter, and more.

If you see the “Button Already Learned” error message, this means one of the following:

A different, previously learned remote, has a learned button with the same IR code as the current button that you are trying to program.
A previously learned button of the current remote has the same IR code as the current button that you are trying to program.

Either use a different button or delete the previously learned remote if it is not being used.

That is all there is to it, a very easy way to use a third-party remote as a backup for your Apple TV remote!

Daily Tips range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@imore.com.

Source: Apple Support Article

Mail Enhancer for jailbreak review

2012-02-11T08:35:29Z

Get custom signatures, notifications, and highlights for iPhone Mail with Mail Enhancer for jailbreak

Mail Enhancer adds a great deal of extra functionality to your jailbroken iPhone, including the ability to set custom signatures for different accounts, tailored notifications, advanced mail sorting options, and account highlighting. If the stock version of iOS simply doesn’t meet your needs, and you’re looking for more and better functionality, give Mail Enhancer a try.

iOS lacks the inability to have more than one e-mail signature. (That’s why we all see “Sent from my iPhone so often.) If you have a different account for home and office, for example, you’re forced to include the contact information for both and delete the inappropriate one each time, or neither, and enter it in manually on a case by case basis. If you remember. Mail Enhancer allows you to add as many mail signatures as you’d like. Not only can you set them per account, but you can take it one step further and also have separate signatures for composing, replying, and forwarding.

Set quiet hours and account priority

Mail Enhancer also has advanced notification controls built-in. You can set mail accounts as high priority and low priority and adjust notifications accordingly. For example, you can set up high priority email to use popup notifications but have them turned off for low priority email.

Set different colors for mail accounts with message highlighting

If you’re the type of person that likes to view all of your e-mails in one thread, Mail Enhancer makes it easy to set highlight colors for each account. That way, even when you’re viewing the unified inbox, you can still easily identify which account each email was sent to, without having to tap into each one individually. You can also add a bar to the top of your Mail app that allows you to easily toggle between all your messages and just unread messages.

Mail Enhancer is already available in Cydia, the jailbreak app store.

$4.99 – Cydia Search Link

Additional jailbreak resources:

Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’ Turns 1 on a Friday: What’s Your Favorite Memory?

2012-02-11T09:45:33Z

A year ago, Rebecca Black’s unforgettable viral tune “Friday” first appeared on YouTube. Since then, the massively autotuned “Friday” music video has reached millions upon millions of eyes, spawned countless parodies and caught the attention of many celebrities.

To honor the jam, which eventually became Know Your Meme‘s top meme of 2011, we’re looking back at the high-profile musicians and famous tech personalities who have supported Black, covered the song or parodied it for its comedic glory (see list below).

Although released on Feb. 10, 2011, “Friday” exploded onto our radars in March as the song started attracting Justin Bieber-esque YouTube fame and much ridicule for its simple lyrics, low-budget music video and apparent autotuned vocals. Dust began to settle on the song as 2011 came to a close. However, in November, it returned for a reprieve in Kohl’s Black Friday ad.

Black acknowledged the 1-year anniversary Friday night in this tweet:

i just can’t believe how different life can be in just a year. #thankyou #humbled

— Rebecca Black (@MsRebeccaBlack) February 11, 2012

SEE ALSO: Rebecca Black’s Second YouTube Single Gets 10 Million Views in 3 Days [VIDEO]

What has been your favorite “Friday” memory — whether that be an experience hearing it offline or a moment discovering a funny online spoof? I remember jamming out to it on a Saturday during a vacation in Phoenix and then again poolside the following day. Whomp.

5 Memorable Celebrity-Infused ‘Friday’ Moments

1. Lady Gaga Calls YouTube Star Rebecca Black a Genius: “I say Rebecca Black is a genius and that anybody telling her she’s cheesy is full of sh*t,” said Lady Gaga during the Q&A portion of “Google Goes Gaga” in March. Even after Gaga called then-13-year-old Black a “genius,” the ridicule toward the song still hit a fever pitch, causing Black to leave middle school.
2. Conan Takes on Rebecca Black With “Thursday”:
3. Startups and VCs Parody Rebecca Black’s “Friday”: Startup founders and employees have just put their spin on the Internet’s biggest hit of 2011. We spotted these startups (let us know if you spy any others): 33Across, AppNexus, Birchbox, Bitcasa, Cabana, FanBridge, Get Satisfaction, GroupMe, Hotel Tonight, Jelli, Kiwi Crate, Mashery, MemSQL, ModCloth, Monetate, Path, RockMelt, SinglePlatform, TaskRabbit, Turntable.fm, Warby Parker and Xobni.
4a. Katy Perry Video Features Rebecca Black Cameo:
4b. Katy Perry Covers “Friday” in Concert:
5. Glee Covers “Friday” on TV:

More About: celebrities, conan o'brien, Entertainment, Friday, katy-perry, Lady Gaga, memes, Music, parody, Rebecca Black, spoofs, Startups, viral videos

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A Google-a-Day Puzzle for Feb. 11

2012-02-11T08:14:30Z

Google's daily brainteaser helps hone your search skills.

7 Marketing Lessons From RIM’s Failures

2012-02-11T09:45:33Z

Alex Goldfayn is CEO of the Evangelist Marketing Institute. His new book is called Evangelist Marketing: What Apple, Amazon and Netflix Understand About Their Customers (That Your Company Probably Doesn’t).

You remember, don’t you? The emails magically appeared while you weren’t looking. That blinking light turned us into addicts. And that keyboard — copied often, but never matched.

It was the BlackBerry, the glorious, beloved, and life-changing BlackBerry. It made us feel good, and it never let us down.

Long before the iPhone the took the world by storm, and before Google even dreamed about getting into the phone business, Research in Motion was on top of the consumer electronics mountain.

Today, sadly, it is buried under it, and industry insiders everywhere wonder whether RIM will survive.

What happened? Harmful strategy. Unforced errors. And, mostly, really bad marketing. On this, RIM is in good company in the consumer electronics industry, where so many manufacturers market poorly. But few have made so many marketing mistakes so quickly.

Here are seven marketing lessons from RIM’s dark and difficult journey.

1. Make Great Products

Consumer electronics success begins with excellent products. The BlackBerry was once perceived as the very best smartphone — or, at least, “emailing phone” — available. It was exciting, emotional and it made people feel good. RIM sold BlackBerries on the strength of word-of-mouth recommendations. BlackBerries were aspirational, and people wanted to own one because friends and colleagues were so passionate about them.

Now, fast-forward to today.

Consider the excitement and energy around the iPhone and all those Android handsets. RIM enjoys none of that today. Not one percent of it. In part, it’s because it stopped making good smartphones in favor of a poorly received tablet called the PlayBook.

Successful marketing begins with having a tremendous product or service to market. Nothing happens without this.

2. Build on Strengths Instead of Improving on Weaknesses

I’m constantly telling clients that they should build on strengths instead of trying to improve their weak areas. For RIM, the BlackBerry was a great strength, and they all but abandoned its development and marketing for a year or longer to create the tablet. RIM did this to try to prevent the world from passing it by in the tablet space — which it did anyway. Tragically, as a result of diverting talent, attention, resources, investment and innovation from the BlackBerry to the Playbook, the consumer smartphone world has also passed RIM by.

It doesn’t matter what business you’re in. If you focus on developing weaknesses, your strengths will atrophy due to neglect. If you want to market well, identify your strengths — products, services, techniques, approaches, relationships — and exploit them relentlessly. This technique overcomes nearly all weaknesses.

3. Gravity Pushes Backwards

If you’ve attained a measure of success, you must continue innovating your products, services and your marketing just to maintain your position. Because you can bet the competition is innovating aggressively, and they’ll pass you by in three seconds if you stop doing the things that brought you success. RIM not only stopped releasing new BlackBerries while focusing on its PlayBook, it basically stopped talking to its customers about them for an extended period. We’ve seen this story before with Palm and many others. Gravity pushes backwards in business. Consistent and aggressive innovation is required not only to attain success, but to maintain it.

4. Know Precisely Who Your Customer Is

RIM’s management famously disagreed on who their customer was. Then co-CEO Mike Lazaridis felt the customer was the corporation. Others, probably including his counterpart Jim Balsillie, wanted to aim BlackBerry products at consumers. If you don’t know exactly who your customer is, it is impossible to market. Language, messaging, platforms, branding and public relations change completely depending on the customers you target. So identify your customers as precisely as possible, and aim all of your marketing efforts at them.

5. Executives Set the Marketing Tone

Consider the most successful companies in consumer electronics (and two of the most successful companies in all of business): Apple and Amazon. Their chief executives set their marketing tone, and everyone follows. If you haven’t seen it yet, watch this YouTube video of Steve Jobs introducing the iPad, and listen to how everybody who followed him on stage used exactly the same words.

This is no accident. The next day, thousands of articles used the same words to describe the amazing, remarkable and awesome iPad. Amazon’s Bezos is the same way. The best marketers have high-level executives setting the tone. They not only teach the rest of the company how to talk about their products and services, but the customers, the media, and the market itself. Obviously, RIM’s co-CEOs did not set this tone. They couldn’t even agree on who the customer was.

6. Avoid Unforced Errors

Most marketing problems are self-made and entirely avoidable. Consider the major developments from RIM’s recent past:

It voluntarily stopped focusing on the BlackBerry to make a product it had no experience with.
It could not identify its customer.
It stopped marketing to consumers, allowing competition to roar past.

Not convinced? Consider Netflix’s recently concluded horrible-terrible-no-good-very-bad year:

A dramatic price increase.
An extended period with no action to placate angry consumers.
Spinning off something called Qwikster and then spinning it back in.
A remarkably poor response to it all by the CEO, Reed Hastings.

None of these things happened to these companies. They did it to themselves. Don’t try to outsmart yourself. Avoid unforced errors.

7. Keep Talking to Your Customers

My work with clients often involves conducting qualitative conversations with their customers to deeply understand how they feel about what the company is doing and what the company is thinking about doing. If RIM had talked to its customers like this, it would have quickly learned that they probably weren’t particularly interested in a BlackBerry tablet without built-in email, messaging or contacts!

If you’re not talking to your customers, you’re just guessing from a conference room.

I believe RIM has enough of a corporate and government customer base to sustain it through this most difficult period. To recover, the company must precisely identify its customer, make terrific products for it, and orient all of its marketing and messaging toward it. In the meantime, we can all learn from the mistakes that brought the BlackBerry maker to this point.

You remember the Blackberry, don’t you?

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, franckreporter

More About: blackberry, Business, contributor, features, Marketing, Mobile, RIM, Tech

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Cut the Buttons review

2012-02-11T08:35:29Z

“All the thrill of running with scissors without any of the danger or mess, Cut the Buttons for iPhone and iPad is unique, challenging, and most importantly, fun.”

Now here’s a game that takes advantage of the iPhone and iPad’s multitouch screens to create something truly unique. In Cut the Buttons, your goal is to control a pair of scissors with two fingers, like you would in real life, and cut the buttons off pieces of fabric that come flying by. I swear it’s not as easy as it sounds!

Removing the buttons is not your only goal in Cut the Buttons for iPhone or Cut the Buttons HD for iPad; you must also collect them in the the cup at the bottom of the screen by controlling it with your other hand while simultaneously cutting as many buttons as you can. Once you miss 3 buttons, the game is over.

But that’s not all! Some buttons are bolted down and must be avoided. You wouldn’t want to dull your scissors, would you? Accidentally attempting to cut the bolts results in loss of points.

I was instantly drawn to Cut the Buttons because of it’s beautiful graphics and bright, vivid colors. But the creators at Open Name put more than just looks into the design of this game. For example, I quickly discovered that the best approach wasn’t to cut each button individually by fully closing the scissors. Just as with real scissors, if you have motion behind your scissors, you only need to slightly close them to make a successful cut. This is a great technique for cutting many buttons at once.

Cut the Buttons also has a multiplayer mode where you pair up with a friend to grab a second pair of scissors and hopefully double your button-cutting experience. It’s all the thrill of running with scissors without any of the danger or the mess, Cut the Buttons for iPhone and iPad is unique, challenging, and most importantly, fun.

Cut the Buttons HD is well worth the $1.99 sticker price. I have not played the iPhone version, yet, and can’t imagine it being as fun with the smaller screen, but it’s currently on sale for the price of free, so it’s definitely worth trying it out as well!

Free for iPhone – Download Now

$1.99 for iPad – Download Now

Saudi Journalist Arrested After Tweeting About Prophet Muhammad

2012-02-11T09:45:33Z

Twenty-three-year-old Saudi journalist Hamza Kashgari has been arrested in Malaysia after sending out a series of controversial tweets about the Prophet Muhammed Saturday that caused some religious conservatives to call for his execution. He was detained Thursday morning at Kuala Lumpr International Airport, the Wall Street Journal has confirmed.

“On your birthday, I will say that I have loved the rebel in you, that you’ve always been a source of inspiration to me, and that I do not like the halos of divinity around you. I shall not pray for you,” were among the tweets sent by Kashgari during the Muslim prophet’s birthday last week.

“On your birthday, I find you wherever I turn. I will say that I have loved aspects of you, hated others, and could not understand many more,” he wrote in a followup tweet.

“On your birthday, I shall not bow to you. I shall not kiss your hand. Rather, I shall shake it as equals do, and smile at you as you smile at me. I shall speak to you as a friend, no more,” he concluded. His Twitter profile has since been deactivated.

Kashgari’s tweets provoked charges of blasphemy, and some called for his death, disregarding his repeated public apologies. The address of the 23-year-old, who held a job as a columnist in his local newspaper, was posted on YouTube. Fearing for his safety, Kashgari fled Saudi Arabia “sometime Monday or Tuesday,” the Journal reports. A source close to Kashgari told The Daily Beast that Kashgari was on his way to seek asylum in New Zealand when he was arrested in Kuala Lumpr.

Kashgari was detained by request of the Saudi government, but his fate is not yet clear. According to the Journal, Kashgari’s statements could be considered capital offenses under Saudi Arabia’s Shariah law. The government did announce last week that Kashgari was subject to legal penalties and was banned from writing for publication.

In an interview with The Daily Beast before his arrest, Kashgari defended his actions, saying, “I was demanding my right to practice the most basic human rights — freedom of expression and thought — so nothing was done in vain.”

More About: Journalist, Media, Saudi Arabia, Twitter

‘This Message Will Self-Destruct’: One Shar.es Erases Data After Transmission

2012-02-11T09:45:33Z

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Name: OneShar.es

Quick Pitch: OneShar.es lets you send confidential data that automatically deletes after the recipient views it once.

Genius Idea: Allows your sensitive data from becoming one of the many “read” emails in a recipient’s inbox, which could potentially be accessed if his or her smartphone is lost or stolen.

Ever wonder if the private emails you send to trusted friends and acquaintances are deleted or if that information lingers in their inboxes? OneShar.es has a smart solution to safeguard sensitive information that’s very Mission Impossible.

The web tool allows people to easily share private information, whether its via your mobile device (apps for iOS and Android) or your browser window. The recipient has one chance to view the information and when he or she closes out, it self destructs.

“There’s a lot of trust placed with people with whom we share private information,” says Jerry Thompson, co-founder and CTO. “Over time, this information is collected in people’s inboxes and with the amount of free space offered by Gmail and other services, there’s little reason or incentive to actually delete these emails.”

Thompson give this example of how your email could easily be accessed: “On a desktop web browser, you’ll need to enter your email address and password to access your Gmail,” he says. “With the vast majority of people having smartphones, most email apps do not require authorization once it’s been configured. If you lose your phone, whomever finds it can now check your email without any logins at all. If a bad guy were to find your phone, they have your email and everything in it.”

The lesson here: No one deletes email, so protect your information.

Here’s how it works: “The data you enter is encrypted from your browser to our servers and stored encrypted. Your private URL holds part of the key to unlock the content. This URL is sent to whoever needs access to it. Once its viewed, its permanently deleted. So while you may have the OneShar.es URL in your outbox and the recipient may have it in their inbox, it can never be retrieved again after being viewed.”

Security concerns about the protection of private and personal data have propelled sites like Dropbox and other file encryption tools into popularity. In 2009, computer scientists were working on software called Vanish that would make sensitive files self-destruct, but the project has since gone kaput.

What do you think about OneShar.es? Will you use it? Tell us in the comments.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Darwin Bell

Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

More About: bizspark, data, OneShar.es, privacy

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China syndrome redux: Why it really is about Apple

2012-02-11T08:35:29Z

Rene recently wrote an editorial about the current controversy surrounding Apple and the working conditions in the Chinese factories where Apple — and almost every other consumer electronics company — has their products made. It was a nice editorial, but I disagree with it completely. Well, almost completely. I do agree that it’s an important issue and that the discussion is good. He took a position and argued it well, that China was the story, and Apple merely link-bait. And it’s that position I disagree with.

First of all, just because almost every other consumer electronics company uses the same factories in no way lets Apple off the hook. If anything, it just means those hooks are awfully crowded.

Each and every one of those companies, including Apple, are accountable for their own actions, or lack of action, concerning the working conditions in the factories where their products are made.

If Apple were to pull out of these factories, it’s true that a lot of other companies would remain, but so what? Apple will have done something, and even more pressure could be exerted on the ones that remained, and they’d look even worse because they remained.

Change often comes from a single, courageous act that disrupts the status quo and sets into motion a new course of action that others simply must follow.

If staying engaged proves to be a better strategy, however, Apple could still be a greater agent for change. They could see to it workers were paid more, for example, or insist upon more reasonable working schedules.

Of course, Apple can’t just give the factories more money. It would likely disappear long before it reached the workers, as money often seems to. But Apple could make worker wages a condition of their contracts. It would take time, and require enormous oversight to make sure the factories followed through, but it would be worth it.

Apple makes incredible profits. That’s their job as a company. Using those profits to elevate the wages of Chinese workers isn’t a net loss, however. It’s an investment. Just like Henry Ford insisted on paying his workers enough so that, one day, they could become his customers, Apple would one day benefit from the more rapid establishment of greater customer base in China.

Yes, we in the Western world went through our own industrial revolution, and the working conditions were deplorable, but now we have labor laws and minimum wage, access to health insurance or health care. Unemployment and homelessness remain a huge problem, of course, and there’s suffering and abuse of the system to be sure. But in general we as a society face a far, far higher standard of living than that facing Chinese factory workers.

And it’s not okay to exploit that difference.

When the media reports on Apple’s role in the Chinese factory system, when organizations plan protests, rather than say it’s link-bait or opportunism, I see it as a call to action.

Apple is one of the wealthiest and most influential companies in the world. With that money and power comes responsibility. While having razor-thin profit margins certainly doesn’t excuse the Dells or HPs, having hefty profit margins absolutely puts the burden on Apple to lead the way. They can afford to pay more. Customers like me might even be proud to know that Apple is paying more.

I buy fair trade coffee. I’d certainly buy an iPad proudly produced by fair labor.

Things won’t change over night. They never do. The people who run the factories in China won’t wake up tomorrow and suddenly start paying their workers better, or start making their working conditions more palatable.

But demanding change will make it come faster.

The more the media reports on working conditions in China, the more people are informed about it, the more the outcry that follows, the more companies like Apple fear the bad press and public perception, the more their brand or reputation suffers, the more they’re motivated to take action, to speed up the change.

Apple gets the spotlight because of their size and their impact. They dent the universe. Instead of just denting it with better phones or newer tablets, why don’t they really wind up and dent it by making lives better?

Tim Cook purportedly said, in response to these stories, that Apple “cares about about every worker in their worldwide supply chain.”

Great. It’s time for them to prove it.

Google to Get Scary With Anne Rice

2012-02-11T09:45:33Z

Google has been known to celebrate authors and encourage educators to write books. It even made finding authors of articles easier by improving the quality of search results for authors.

Now the search giant is playing host to legendary horror novelist Anne Rice.

Even if you’re not a Google employee you can tune in to author Anne Rice’s presentation at the company’s Mountain View, Calif. headquarters on Feb. 24 via live broadcast. Rice will be discussing her latest novel, The Wolf Gift. You can check it out on the Authors@Google YouTube channel on Feb. 24 at 10 a.m. PST.

The recording will be posted on YouTube in its entirety after it’s over.

Knopf describes Rice’s new book thus: “A whole new world—modern, sleek, high-tech—and at its center, a story as old and compelling as history: the making of a werewolf, reimagined and reinvented as only Anne Rice, teller of mesmerizing tales, conjurer extraordinaire of other realms, could create.”

The Authors@Google series hosts famous and of-the-moment writers of all genres at Google for informal chats about their works and recently published books. The series take place at Google’s Mountain View headquarters or one of its other locations in New York, Cambridge, or Ann Arbor, as well as other offices. The series is under the umbrella of @GoogleTalks, which brings in famous people, politicians, innovators and significant figures from all around the world.

Past writers and journalists who’ve participated include novelist Salman Rushdie, journalist Bob Woodward, Noam Chomsky and Neil Gaiman. Google has also hosted President Barack Obama, David Beckham, Tom Brokaw, Lady Gaga, Ron Paul, Tina Fey and many others.

Will you tune in to watch Anne Rice at Google? Have you watched @GoogleTalks in the past? Tell us in the comments.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, RonBailey

More About: Anne Rice, authors, Google, YouTube

Where to Find Mashable at Social Media Week 2012

2012-02-11T09:45:33Z

Social Media Week 2012 begins on Monday, Feb. 13 and extends to 12 cities worldwide. Mashable staff members will once again be taking part in various panels across New York City.

Now in its fourth year, Social Media Week continues to grow, with 60,000 people attending events annually. Just like last year, we here at Mashable are excited to participate. You’ll find Mashable staff discussing a variety of topics throughout the week including nonprofits, startups, photography and marketing.

Below is a list of all the panels that Mashable staff will be a part of. A complete schedule of events worldwide can be found on the Social Media Week calendar.

Mashable at New York Social Media Week 2012

Monday, Feb. 13

9:00 AM – 9:30 AM Fireside Chat: The Creative Social Revolution – What in the world is going on? - Hosted by Saatchi Wellness (Sharon Feder, Mashable Chief Operating Officer)
4:30 PM – 5:30 PM Social Sharing and The Art of Doodling - Hosted by Doodle.ly (Lance Ulanoff Editor-in-Chief of Mashable)

Tuesday, Feb. 14

3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. The New Ghostwriter - Hosted by Hearst Magazines (Todd Wasserman, Mashable Business Editor)
5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.Communicating with Customers Beyond Facebook & Twitter: How Brands are Accessing Start-ups to Collaborate and Communicate – Hosted by Big Fuel Social Labs (Todd Olmstead, Mashable Community Assistant)

Wednesday, Feb. 15

9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Keynote: Ben Kaufman on Reinventing Product Development, followed by Panel: Marketing is Ruining the Internet - Hosted by JWT (Todd Wasserman, Mashable Business Editor)

Thursday, Feb. 16

4:00 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. Nonprofits and Social Media: A Perfect Solution - Hosted by New York Women in Communications (Zoe Fox, Mashable Reporter)
6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. The New Face of Social Good: How to Create Your Own Social Media Magic - Hosted by Shes the First (Emily Banks, Mashable Associate Managing Editor)

Friday, Feb. 17

9:00 a.m. – 9:45 a.m. Picture This: How Brands Are Using Image-Based Services - Hosted by Birchbox (Lauren Drell, Mashable Associate Editor)
9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Where Is Social Media Taking the Travel Industry in 2012? – Hosted by Hearst Magazine (Sarah Kessler, Mashable Startups Reporter)

Will you be attending Social Media Week? Which panels interest you the most?

More About: mashable, new york, Social Media, social media week

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Before you hit the ground there’s a moment of bliss

2012-02-11T03:34:44Z

I’ve just found this amazing bluesy hip hop track by George Watsky and the GetBand about having an epileptic seizure in front of a girl your trying to impress.

As well as being an astute observation of the experience of seizure it’s defiant, fast and funny and Watsky just rolls through the rhymes.

You don’t remember how the hell you ended up indoors
You don’t remember whether you were wetting your gym shorts
in front of Amanda, the girl you’re after
who already thought you were a fucking disaster
It’s not like a last will, it’s making me laugh
unless you get your next one while you’re taking a bath
I’m seizing the mic fast at middle school dances
I’m done being seized and I’m seizing my chances

Watsky notes on the video page that the track recounts the experience that led to him being diagnosed with juvenile epilepsy in 7th grade.

By the way, I found the video on the fantastic Art of Epilepsy blog that keeps track of epilepsy in music videos, film art and literature.

Link to video for Seizure Boy on YouTube.
Link to The Art of Epilepsy blog.

Zynga Marketing Master Padma Rao Joins Foundation Capital As An Entrepreneur In Residence

2012-02-11T08:01:50Z

Padma Rao’s analytical marketing skills have made a big impact at more than one company in the Bay Area, and now she’s bringing a decade of experiences to her new role as an entrepreneur in residence at Foundation Capital.

Her most recent efforts helped turn a gaming startup into a booming public company.

Few people realized it at the time, but in late 2008 and early 2009 social game developer Zynga had figured out how to get a great return on investment from Facebook advertising. The social network had developed its ad system over the previous few years to the point that it was able to deliver ads closely targeted to users’ interests — but most people hadn’t realized that yet, so prices were cheap.

Rao joined Zynga at the beginning of 2009 to help lead the development of its marketing platform. An engineer by training, she took a look at the few third-party ad bidding tools available for Facebook and decided the company needed to build its own. She did the same for its user email system. The market timing turned out to be perfect. Zynga had also just figured out how to monetize casual-style simulation games, and in quick succession over the course of the year, it launched hits like FarmVille, Café World, PetVille and FishVille. As I detailed in this December article, the inexpensive growth it got via ads and social communication features during this period brought it up to traffic levels that it has worked hard to pass even today.

“I like having the technical chops to understand what needs to happen and why — and to understand why something might take a long time,” she tells me. “It makes a big difference, especially in online marketing, which is actually a very technical business. Having that background has saved me more than once… my approach is, if a tool doesn’t exist, we’ll build it.”

Zynga wasn’t the first place she’s done this. During a three year stint at Gap earlier last decade, she discovered that getting results from direct marketing were taking up to two and a half weeks. So she created a tool that would deliver results in 30 minutes. “This didn’t just mean faster results, it meant iterating faster, it changed the business” she explains. “It’s all about getting the right tools for people.”

She’s becoming an EIR for the same reason a lot of other product people do, including her new Foundation EIR colleague and former Twitter product head Anamitra Banerji. “I’ve had my head down working at companies,” she says, “and I’ve never taken the opportunity to see everything that’s out there.”

So what is she working on at Foundation? She’s actually already been doing some consulting work with social browser Rockmelt and other startups already. But she’s far from deciding whether to join or found. “I want to stay on the consumer side of things, and obviously mobile is fascinating — there’s lots of functionality that’s not probably not leveraged like it could be…. My dream is to start something, but I don’t want to do it just for the sake of doing it. If I find something great that someone else has started, I’m not going to ignore that because ‘I want to be a founder.’”

Busta Rhymes Waxes Enthusiastic On Google Music

2012-02-11T08:01:52Z

When Google Music launched a couple months ago, there was some criticism regarding how the service was promoted. What many saw as just another music locker and streaming service (albeit a perfectly good and free one) others saw as a great new vector for music sales and distribution. But the music locker portion seemed to hog the spotlight, and the cool Band Camp-esque new artist hubs lurked in the gloom.

Busta Rhymes seems to be a fan of the latter, and not just because he’s in an official partnership. In an interview on MTV, he was positively effusive about Google’s new platform. Check out the short clip, from MTV’s Sucka Free:

I think he’s being truthful when he says that “with that power that they have, that it was almost blasphemous for them to not have their hands in music as well.” Google, via YouTube, is the world’s foremost player in video distribution on the web (though as far as purchased content goes, Netflix is king). One almost wonders why music didn’t come first.

In case you were wondering that, the reason is that the user-focused structure of YouTube makes it a platform for viral videos and self-expression, not studio-produced content. They’ve been trying to change that, but it hasn’t been very effective (people don’t think of YouTube that way, for good reaosn). Google Music lets them start fresh and try to build something that works both from the top down and the bottom up. So whether they “sign” guys like Busta or a dude recording on an 8-track in his living room, they can provide an end-to-end buying, listening, and sharing solution.

“Google ain’t really trying to just sell music” is about as capsule-sized a summary as you can get, and it’s true. Google hates selling things, in fact. And in the music world, it might be that in a few years, selling things like music tracks just won’t be something you do, and Google will have positioned itself well to be a non-purchase solution.

Best handwriting notes app for iPad: Noteshelf review

2012-02-11T08:35:29Z

“Whether you’re a student or teacher, an intern or executive, if you have an iPad and you take notes, get Noteshelf.”

Noteshelf is currently the best way to take and share handwritten notes on the iPad. Why would you want to do that? Well, we live in a digital world and it’s become much, much easier to carry a single, multifunctional iPad around than a heavy stack of books, grocery lists, calendars, journals, notebooks, scrap papers, sketchbooks, and stickies. Sure, the iPad comes with a keyboard based Notes app built in, but there’s still something to said about writing by hand. Call it therapeutic. Call it efficient. Call it necessary. There are simply more things to take note of than are currently possible with a keyboard alone.

For example, asking a math instructor to quickly type out an equation on her iPad and mail it to a student is absurd. Asking an executive to rapidly brain storm a new workflow and share it with the team is cumbersome. But sketching them out with Noteshelf? Now that’s not only quick and easy, it’s enjoyable.

Noteshelf is a note-taking app for your iPad –- or shall I say: a beautiful note-taking app for your iPad — that’s based on freeform handwriting. You can write with your finger or, better still, a pen-like device called a stylus. It comes with 17 digital inks, 20 note templates, 15 covers, and much, much more.

If you’re new to the idea of a free-form notes app, it’s really simple to get started. Just treat your iPad like a blank piece of paper and start writing, drawing, and charting. Almost anything you can jot down with a piece of note paper, you can jot down with Noteshelf.

Simplicity does not necessarily imply feature-lacking, however; Noteshelf is jam-packed with an assortment of features that makes note taking not only easy, but exciting!

Noteshelf includes 17 pen colors and 21 different levels of thickness.

Color addicts rejoice! Noteshelf includes 17 different pen colors with 21 thickness choices, and 8 highlighter colors with 41 different sizes. The combinations are nearly limitless and allow you to really customize your notes to fit your purpose and style.

All Emoji symbols are accessible and can be added to your notes. You can also add pictures.

You can also annotate pictures. Noteshelf lets you import photos from your iPad’s library, or if you have an iPad 2, you can quickly snap a photo with its built-in camera to send directly into your notes.

If you love Emoji — the Japanese pictograms and emoticons — you’ll be happy to hear that Noteshelf is equipped with a button that lets you quickly add Emoji symbols to your notes. Unfortunately, the symbols are not sizable.

Noteshelf lets you get detailed with text, eight highlighters, and small writing.

One of the big challenges of handwriting apps is proper detection. While the iPad has a lot of multitouch sensors to handle finger input for regular apps, they were never designed for the precision needed for a really fine stylus line. To get around this, Noteshelf implements a zoom feature. This allows you to zoom into a specific area of your page and write on a new magnified section of the app. Since it’s magnified, you can write largely and comfortably, and it translates it to small writing on the on page. Because of the hardware limitations of the iPad, this is the only way to get down those fine details in your notes.

Now, the first time I saw this feature, I though it would be annoying to have to constantly move the rectangle to the area of page I wanted to write, but Noteshelf has implemented some smart, automatic actions into this feature. When you reach the far right side of the magnified area, the rectangle will automatically jump to the right so that you all you need to do is start from the beginning of the rectangle to continue your writing. When you reach the edge of the page, it will automatically skip to the next line for you.

I typically use Noteshelf to write solutions to math problems for my students and thus normally want to head down the page while zoomed in, not across. Instead of relying on Noteshelf to automatically move the rectangle, I just hit the tab/enter button that pushes it down for me. There are also arrow buttons for those who may want to manually move the magnified area, say, after finishing a sentence.

Noteshelf also offeres a “Wrist Protection” feature that allows you to rest your hand on the iPad without your wrist polluting your notes with a bunch of unwanted marks. You can specify which area of the screen needs to remain mark-free and Noteshelf will automatically adjust this location as you move down the screen.

Notes can be exported as images or PDFs directly to email, iTunes, Dropbox, Evernote, ot iPad albums, as well as shared to Facebook or Twitter. You have the option of exporting individual pages or entire notebooks.

Your notes are neatly placed on a wood noteshelf where you can edit titles, papers, and book covers.

Your notes are displayed as notebooks on a wooden shelf and can be arranged to your liking. You can also stack the notebooks on top of each other other to create folders — or more accurately, sub-bookshelves. You can also edit the title, paper type, and book cover for each notebook from this screen.

More covers and paper types are available as in-app purchases.

If you’re not happy with the paper and cover choices included in Noteshelf, more options are available as in-app purchases for $0.99 each. Personally, I have picked up the designer covers and plan to grab the striped ones next.

The good

Lots of colors and pen sizes
Zoom feature for smaller, more detailed notes
Ability to insert photos
Wrist protection works great

The bad

Extra paper and covers are in-app purchases and can add up quickly
Cannot import PDFs for annotation

The conclusion

Noteshelf is a phenomenal app for those looking to take handwritten notes with their iPad. Believe it or not, Noteshelf actually improves the look of your handwriting by smoothly interpretation of your annotations. Whether you’re a student or teacher, intern or executive, if you have an iPad and you take notes, get Noteshelf.

$4.99 – Download Now

Why Google Shouldn’t Bother With a Home Entertainment Gadget

2012-02-11T09:45:33Z

There’s a rumor going around that Google is planning some kind of home-entertainment device — possibly and answer to the (also rumored) Apple iTV. Apparently Google’s living-room product will be Google-branded, controlled via Android phone or tablet and may eventually expand to do things like control your room lights or kitchen gear. It really sounds like a wonder gadget.

It’s also not going to work. Google’s already tried playing this game and lost. Google TV, launched to much fanfare in 2010, ended up being a boondoggle for the company. Although it promised to properly bridge the web and the television, it hit the same roadblock that other devices, like Boxee, stumbled over much earlier: content providers.

After the first Google TV device, the Logitech Revue, was launched, sites belonging to NBCUniversal, Viacom and Fox quickly began blocking their content from the Revue’s special version of the Chrome web browser. As they see it, they’re the ones who get to decide which screens customers can watch their content on — not Google.

Reviews of the Revue were mixed, with many pointing out the inherent clunkiness of using a keyboard to “watch TV,” but even if the device were perfect, it wouldn’t have mattered. Without the right content there’s simply no compelling reason to own the device. No one buys the “hockey puck” Apple TV because of its design — the get it because they know iTunes has movies and TV shows they want on demand.

SEE ALSO: 4 Big Moves Google Should Make in 2012

This has often been Google’s problem: too much focus on the product (whether hardware or software) and not enough on the ecosystem of the customer experience. Think back to the first Nexus phone: Google actually believed it could actually re-invent the way people buy phones, offering it up online, contract-free, for $529. It turned out that, as good as the product was, people loved getting cheap phones more than they hated the carriers.

For Google’s foray into the living room to succeed, it needs to offer up some compelling reason (read: content) that a customer simply can’t get from Apple, Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. Sure, there’s YouTube, but it barely counts since it has virtually no studio content and is only just starting original programming. And if Google offers better YouTube through Google devices, what happens to all the YouTube widgets and apps, which are on everything?

Some have pointed out Motorola, which Google owns and is rumored to be building the device, could leverage its clout as a cable-box manufacturer to give this new system a boost. It obviously depends on what this mystery device ends up being, but if it’s something people need to actually buy, this isn’t going to work. Google and Motorola, though powerful brands, don’t have the same credibility Apple has in consumer products. Tons of people will line up for an Apple TV even before it’s even on sale — that would never happen with the other two.

So it really doesn’t matter if this new Google gadget connects to all your devices, lets you seamlessly control it with your phone and transforms into a jet. It really even doesn’t matter if it integrates with Google’s Android ecosystem better than any device. Google needs to get credibility in content before it can make a big splash in your living room.

It may be 2012, but content is still king, and another high-tech device that doesn’t put it front and center will just make Google look like the court jester. Again.

More About: apple, Apple TV, Google, google tv, hulu, Motorola, netflix, trending

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Kleiner Perkins said to eye “cloud” fund

2012-02-11T08:54:32Z

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers may kick off a fund dedicated to cloud computing companies, according to a Bloomberg news report.

Depending on what numbers you believe, cloud is a big opportunity that nearly every VC, including Kleiner Perkins, is already attacking. Market Research Media expects the cloud computing category to grow at 30 percent CAGR and will hit $270 billion worldwide in 2020.

Bloomberg quoted Kleiner Perkins partner Matt Murphy saying the partners are “intrigued by the idea” of such a fund. Whether they actually follow through on the notion, the company has already backed a number of cloud startups. It most recently participated in a $20 million C Series round for AppDynamics , an application performance management company which Murphy said was well suited for cloud computing environments. The firm also staked big-time cloud-based game maker Zynga and Groupon

Given that most startups claim some sort of cloud computing angle, it’s hard to tell anymore what is not a cloud company but some try. Last month, researcher CB Insights estimated that cloud companies represented at least a quarter of all VC web investment deals.

At that time, CB Insights Co-Founder Jonathan Sherry there was “steady uptick of venture investment into cloud-based software and services [in 2011]. In Q4, cloud-based companies comprised 26.5% of internet deal volume and 34.5% of internet investment dollars. Dollar share skewed higher than deal share due to mega deals including Dropbox and Box.net.”

It probably helped Kleiner’s cloud appetite that Michael Abbott joined the company as senior partner in January. Abbott was formerly VP of engineering for Twitter. KPCB currently categorizes its investments in four focus areas: Greentech, China, digital and life sciences.

It doesn’t ease confusion that even traditional software companies are adding cloud capabilities to their existing on-premises software portfolios. Does a smattering of cloud added to an existing product line make it a cloud company? You tell me.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user 401K

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A Dollar For Your Thoughts: Silicon Valley's Famed Single-Digit Salaries

2012-02-11T08:14:30Z

Wireframes from existing websites?

2012-02-11T02:18:12Z

bevels posted a new topic:

Hey is there any software that creates wireframes of an entire existing website??

Thnx.

B.

Whale Hunting: Facebook Hooks 1st-Time Buyers With $5 Of Game Credits For $1

2012-02-11T08:01:53Z

Only about 5% Facebook gamers pay to play freemium games. If Facebook could up this percentage, it and its third-party app developers could make a lot more money. That’s the idea behind a new promotion Facebook announced today where those who’ve never bought Facebook Credits virtual currency before will be offered $4 in free Credits when they buy $1. This gets users to set up their credit card and experience the rush of paying for an enhanced gaming experience.

Years ago when Facebook first launched its Credits virtual currency, it offered free Credits to some users. While this might have got them hooked on spending virtual currency, it didn’t addict them to paying for it.

Facebook needs credit card numbers badly. Apple has amassed an enormous collection after 10 years of iTunes Mp3 sales, which is now helping it easily sell apps and in-app purchases. If Facebook wants to grow its revenue to satisfy outside investors and be a competitive mobile gaming platform, it needs to get users ready to pay.

But like the street corner pusher says, “this ain’t no charity”. Facebook is only surfacing the promotion in sidebar ads, and TrialPay in-game promotions and offer walls to those who haven’t already bought Credits. User than have to set up a credit card or connect a PayPal account and pay $1 to get the extra $4, or 40 Credits. And next time, they’ll have to pay full price. Facebook wisely does not provide any way to reach the promotion directly in order to deter users from trying to cheat their way to free currency.

If you want to claim your own free Credits, your best bet is to play games by clients of Facebook’s official offers partner TrialPay, such as those by Playfish, Playdom, Kabam, Crowdstar, and iWin. These include The Sims Social, Gardens of Time, It Girl, and Kingdoms of Camelot. Then visit the offer wall or click through Deal Spot signs within games.

With any luck, Facebook will be able to up the percentage of users who monetize, and thereby discover new whales — gamers who spend orders of magnitude more than the average payer and drive the bottom lines of both indie developers and giants like Zynga. Call him Ishmael…Zuckerberg.

[Image Credit: Screenrant]

Forums: Music Artwork, Music Creation, iPhone Music

2012-02-11T08:35:29Z

We’ve made our way through a lot of stuff this week. Plenty of reviews, rumors and tips & tricks. If you missed out on anything make sure you get yourself caught up either here on the blogs or in the iMore forums. You can register now to get started today and while you’re at it, check out some of the threads below:

If you’re not already a member of the iMore Forums, register now!

15 Fascinating Twitter Employees You Should Follow

2012-02-11T01:43:24Z

1. Kris

We're intrigued by the tweets of someone that labels themselves as being "unnecessarily coy" and knows that they will someday live in Paris once their days of working with the "Twitter dudes" are through.

Click here to view this gallery.

You may follow lots of interesting people on Twitter, but do you follow any Twitter employees?

We’ve scanned the grid of Twitter’s current staff of 833 and pulled out a few that caught our eye. From the insightful to the ridiculous, these 15 are definitely follow-worthy.

SEE ALSO: 10 Must-Follow Spoof Tech & Social Media Twitter Accounts

Which Twitter minions keep your feed fresh? Share your favorites in the comments.

More About: features, List, Social Media, Twitter

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First Photos of Beyonce’s and Jay-Z’s Baby Emerge on Tumblr [PICS]

2012-02-11T01:43:24Z

Blue Ivy Carter on Tumblr

More than a month after Beyonce and Jay-Z welcomed their first child to the world, pictures of the newborn, Blue Ivy Carter, have emerged. A Tumblr blog titled "HelloBlueIvyCarter" popped up on Friday night, displaying five photos of the baby.

Blue Ivy was born sometime on Jan. 7. The text on the new Tumblr blog reads, "We welcome you to share in our joy. Thank you for respecting our privacy during this this beautiful time in our lives. The Carter Family."

She is reportedly named after two album titles: Jay-Z's The Blueprint and Beyonce's 4, which is IV in Roman numerals.

Click here to view this gallery.

More than a month after Beyonce and Jay-Z welcomed their first child to the world, pictures of the newborn, Blue Ivy Carter, have emerged. A Tumblr blog titled “HelloBlueIvyCarter” popped up on Friday night, displaying five photographs of the baby.

Blue Ivy was born sometime on Jan. 7. The text on the new Tumblr blog reads, “We welcome you to share in our joy. Thank you for respecting our privacy during this this beautiful time in our lives. The Carter Family.”

She is reportedly named after two album titles: Jay-Z’s The Blueprint and Beyonce’s 4, which is IV in Roman numerals. Tumblr could not be reached for comment by press time.

The photos likely will spark significant traffic on Tumblr, which after an explosive 2011 started this year by revealing impressive numbers that highlight the microblogging platform’s continue growth: 15 billion monthly pageviews and 120 million monthly unique visitors.

SEE ALSO: Tumblr Numbers — The Rapid Rise of Social Blogging [INFOGRAPHIC]

Tumblr launched in 2007 and wants to give a “much more deliberate international effort” in reaching the audience outside of the U.S. in 2012.

BONUS: Blue Ivy’s Brief History So Far

Two days after Blue Ivy was born, her parents revealed an audio recording of the infant for the first time. The Jay-Z song “Glory” (listen below) features Blue Ivy at the end of the track after the proud poppa raps, “Words can’t describe what I’m feeling for real. Baby, I paint the sky blue. My greatest creation was you.” Jay-Z announced the song Jan. 9 via a tweet, which includes a link to the track on his web site Life + Times.

Blue Ivy made a name for herself before she even had a name or was born. At the end of a performance at the MTV Video Music Awards, Beyonce confirmed her pregnancy by dropping her mic, unbuttoning her top and rubbing her baby bump. The “bump” moment broke Twitter’s tweets-per-second record at the time with 8,868 tweets per second. (Four unrelated events have since surpassed the “bump” in the record books.)

SEE ALSO: The Top 15 Tweets-Per-Second Records

While the weekend birth didn’t reach the buzz level the bump did at the VMAs, Twitter did experience a significant spike. Social analytics firm Simply Measured told Mashable in January that tweets per minute peaked at 2,379 tweets at 11:15 p.m. PT on Jan. 7, which is a “healthy number for a non-televised, rumor driven event.” The chart below shows the rise in the mentions of “baby,” “Blue” and “birth.”

Hip hop pioneer Russell Simmons was the first celebrity to congratulate Beyonce and Jay-Z via a tweet, according to Simply Measured. Other big-name Twitter users followed suit. Here is a list of some of the most-followed Twitter users who mentioned “Beyonce” during the time period measured above.

More About: beyonce, blogging, celebrities, Entertainment, jay-z, Music, photography, tumblr

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Revealed: Google Wallet Security Flaw on Android Phones [VIDEO]

2012-02-11T01:43:24Z

Don’t give up your wallet and plastic cards just yet — at least, not until Google Wallet gets a security update.

The Android-only service, which lets you pay with your smartphone, turns out to have a major security flaw. If someone gets hold of your phone, they can effectively hit the reset button on Google Wallet — and get themselves sent a new PIN number.

The flaw, uncovered by TheSmartphoneChamp.com, wasn’t the first vulnerability uncovered in Google Wallet this week. Zvelo, a malicious software detection service, found that Google Wallet could be hacked and the owner’s pin number obtained using an app. But that hack required a phone to be rooted.

The video below shows just how easy it is to access credit card information from Google Wallet. One major concern: Google Wallet is connected to your phone, not your Google account, so you can’t change your password online if your phone is lost or stolen.

Google said a fix would be available soon. ”We strongly encourage anyone who loses or wants to sell their phone to call Google Wallet support toll-free at 855-492-5538 to disable the prepaid card,” said a spokesperson.

“We are currently working on an automated fix as well that will be available soon. We also advise all Wallet users to set up a screen lock as an additional layer of protection for their phone.”

The Google Wallet app was introduced in May 2011 and went live in September. It’s marketed as a paper-free way to store credit cards and pay for items with a tap on a PayPass pad using NFC technology. Shortly after its release, security concerns prompted Verizon to block the app from its Galaxy Nexus smartphone.

AT&T didn’t allow Google Wallet until recently. As Zvelo pointed out, that could have been due to the fact that AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon had a network joint venture in ISIS — a direct competitor to Google Wallet.

By 2015, the value of all mobile money transactions is expected to reach $670 billion. Other companies, such as PayPal and Visa, have invested in their own mobile wallet technologies.

The Google Wallet website FAQ’s section says information stored on the app is protected by a chip called the Secure Element that operates separately from the phone’s main operating system.

Do you use Google Wallet? Are you concerned about someone stealing your information? Tell us in the comments.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, oonal

More About: Google, google wallet, hack, mobile security, Secure Element, security