While it won't guarantee mass adoption, developing apps and Web services around the latest tablet technology is sure to turn a few heads. Take the latest idea from note-taking platform Evernote, which is trying to position itself as a tool for storage, as well as enhancing memory. "That couldn't be clearer with a newly release app ... Evernote Peek," writes ReadWriteWeb. "The app makes rather ingenious use of the new iPad Smart Cover, creating a new way to make and study flash cards." Evernote Peek lets users create quasi flashcards, which they can then scan through by physically lifting up …

Apps developed by LinkedIn, Netflix, Foursquare and payment platform Square, Inc. are all guilty of potentially exposing sensitive consumer information to computer criminals, security firm viaForensics finds. According to viaForensics, "The Android applications of LinkedIn, Netflix and Foursquare stored user names and passwords in unencrypted form on their Google-powered devices," The Wall Street Journal reports. "Storing that data in plain text violates a commonly accepted best practice in computer security." Criticized by some as overzealous and even naïve, The Journal has been on a crusade to expose -- some say inflate -- digital privacy issues. "You'd think the spate …

Fanhattan just hit the jackpot with a thousand-word review by All Things D's Walt Mossberg. Not only is the content navigation app being graced with the tech guru's attention, but also his adoration. The "beautiful, versatile new iPad app," as Mossberg calls it, aims to be a navigator of premium content. Beyond just finding TV shows and movies, and telling users which apps offer them, Fanhattan actually launches the apps where desired content resides -- and takes them right to the page inside that app from which they can stream, rent or buy the particular video they want. The …

As expected, Twitter has started automatically shortening URLs pasted into tweets by its users. "When users compose a tweet and paste a link of any length into the Tweet box, Twitter will automatically abbreviate the link to 19 characters when users hit send," CNet writes. In development for nearly a year, the service is being rolled out slowly, and will wrap and abbreviate all links shared on the site in the same way other URL-shortening services (think, Bitly) do. As CNet notes, Twitter said user security played a major role in implementing the new service. "Since we show a …

The industry is buzzing about a report in Taiwanese tech site DigiTimes about Microsoft considering its own branded tablet. According to DigiTimes, the tablet would feature Windows 8, debut by the end of 2012, and rely on Texas Instruments and Taiwan-based OEMs/ODMs. According to sources, Microsoft plans to "copy" its branding strategy from product lines, such as Xbox 360, Zune, Kin smartphone and TV, to compete in the tablet PC segment. If true, it would be a significant departure from Microsoft's strategy of building software and partnering with manufacturers who make PC and mobile phone hardware. …

Payment start-up Square is reportedly raising $50 million or more at a valuation that will likely exceed $1 billion. "It's still fairly early in the process, though, and the company is rumored to be meeting with additional venture and private equity firms to either fill out the round or encourage a higher valuation," TechCrunch writes, citing sources. "But at least one term sheet has been received by the company." Square is currently processing more than $3 million per day in mobile payments, which was announced prior to their new iPad payments service -- which can replace the entire cash …

Similar to the strategy used by LinkedIn, Zynga plans to sell a small number of shares in its IPO, Bloomberg reports, citing sources. The idea is that a company can retain more control, while raising money to expand. By selling little stock in the IPO, companies protect the value of existing investors' stakes," Bloomberg explains. As such, sources say Zynga may make less than 10% of its shares available to the public in its IPO. In the past year, according to Bloomberg data, U.S. technology IPOs offered up an average of 24% of company stock. LinkedIn is up …

Having trouble understanding -- or, at least, explaining -- the increasingly complex digital advertising landscape? Then thank Terence Kawaja, head of boutique investment firm LUMA Partners, who has assembled a half dozen graphics to show how 1,240 different ad companies fit into the following categories of online advertising: display, video, search engines, mobile, social, and commerce. The graphics, Kawaja tells The Wall Street Journal, help "large strategic acquirers," such as Google, Yahoo and Adobe, to identify possible targets of acquisition. Admits WSJ: "Online advertising is a remarkably complex field." And getting ever more complicated, we might add. Indeed, …

While the gravity of the suit is still unclear, Skype is facing another patent lawsuit, which was reportedly served on the same day that Microsoft agreed to buy the Web-calling company. In short, as TechCrunch reports, Luxembourg-based Via Vadis claims to have a patent on a "data access management system as well as a method for data access and data." As TechCrunch explains, "Both patents describe data management systems which break up files for redundancy and distribute them across different 'storage units.'" The lawsuit claims the patents cover the same technology Skype uses for its "supernodes" -- which …

Don't look now, but multiplatform note-taking platform Evernote claims to have surpassed 10 million registered users. "The 10 million mark is a significant bump from the company's reported 6 million users in January," notes MobileBeat. Perhaps more notable, the start-up also reported that over 400,000 of its customers currently pay $5 a month for a premium plan, which allows for bigger uploads and better collaborative tools. "Ten million users seemed like an inconceivable number when we were getting ready to launch the service into open beta less than three years ago," founder and CEO Phil Libin wrote on …