Elsewhere in social land, Pinterest is broadening its attribution tools for sites -- including Etsy, 500px, Kickstarter, Slideshare, and SoundCloud -- by linking to source content, and giving full credit to publishers. The social-sharing site originally unveiled attribution features back in May, with rollouts to Flickr, YouTube, Behance, and Vimeo. As CNet notes, this week’s announcement expands the reach of the program -- and not a moment too soon. “A backlash by content creators not too appreciative of having their creations posted on the site without credit led photo-sharing site Flickr to add an ‘opt out’ code to all Flickr …

Finnish start-up Kiosked just secured $5.75 million in seed funding from a group of investors led by Finnish serial entrepreneur (and Chairman of Angry Birds creator Rovio) Kaj Hed. Kiosked, if you’re not familiar, helps publishers turn featured content into a storefront, or “kiosk.” Put another way, Kiosked lets advertisers link their products to relevant images and multimedia within publishers’ online content so that consumers can buy those items directly. While the model may sound “gimmicky,” TechCrunch expects it to get a boost from publishers, which “have become ravenous for better ways to monetize their audience without plastering banners all …

Likely insulting hardware partners -- and perhaps jeopardizing future relationships -- Microsoft reportedly kept them in the dark about its competing tablet computer, Surface. In fact, some long-time collaborators learned of the new gadget only days before its unveiling, earlier this week, sources tell Reuters. The sneaky move marks a departure from Microsoft's tradition of working closely with hardware companies to test and fine-tune every new product, according to Reuters. “It also underscores how Microsoft is starting to take pages from Apple Inc's playbook, keeping its cards close to the vest as it works to reinvent its Windows franchise and …

Twitter just announced that verified accounts -- i.e., those of brands, celebrities, sports stars, politicians, and the like -- are now available with or without replies. Verified accounts will be set to “No replies” by default, which means that everyone else won’t see any @ replies tweeted by the account. “This simplified profile, which we’re rolling out to verified accounts over the coming weeks, makes it easier to understand what kind of content the user shares on Twitter, and what Tweets you’ll see if you follow them,” explains Twitter’s company blog.  Unfortunately, “one of the most endearing qualities a … verified …

How big is Facebook’s footprint? Worldwide, nearly a quarter -- 24.3% -- of the Web’s top 10,000 sites now feature some form of official Facebook integration on their homepages. That’s according to a new study from site monitoring service Pingdom, which also finds that, when you also include basic links to Facebook, the number goes up to 49.3%. (The company’s official like button, in case you were wondering, is now featured on 7.3% of these sites.) Yes, Facebook is clearly becoming a “part of the Web’s DNA,” as Pingdom puts it, and, as TechCrunch notes, “it’s far ahead of its …

Likely streamlining the tagging progress, Facebook has agreed to buy Israeli facial-recognition company Face.com for an undisclosed sum, but reports put the buy at around $60 million.

Microsoft isn’t the only one with tablet news, this week. Google said it has partnered with Flipboard, and soon plans to add Google+ streams to the app. The Google+ integration will be part of Google’s new Google+ APIs, which have been extended to provide additional content from Google’s social network in Flipboard users’ streams, allowing them to access posts, photos, video and other data without visiting the social network directly. That’s all according to Bradley Horowitz, Google’s vice president of product management, who dished on the news at the Le Web conference, this week. Asked about the overall success of …

Raising online privacy issues, Google appears to be working closer than ever with government authorities. In the second half of 2011, U.S. government agencies, including law enforcement, put in 6,321 requests with Google for consumers’ private data, according to the latest update to the search giant’s bi-annual Transparency Report. What’s more, Google said it complied at least partially with requests in 93% of the cases. “That’s up from 5,950 requests in the first half of 2011, and marks a 37% increase in the number of requests over the second half of 2010, when Google received only 4,601 government requests and …

Facebook this weekend debuted a dedicated page for Olympic athletes to communicate with fans, and provide their own personalized updates around the event, including metal wins, their own photographs, and status updates. “Alongside that, Facebook is adding other data to pad out the story,” TechCrunch reports. As such, expect tons of historical photographs and other information about notable events -- all part of Facebook’s larger effort to claim the 2012 Games as the first “Social Olympics.” Officials from the International Olympics Committee tell TechCrunch they started to work with Facebook on the effort at least 18 months ago. “So far …

Putting other mobile Web browsers on notice, Mozilla Firefox is preparing to leave its mark on the tablet market. "We wanted to make something entirely new,” Firefox product designer Alex Limi said late last week regarding Mozilla’s prototype iPad browser, Junior. “We wanted to look into how we could reinvent the browser for a new form factor.” What’s wrong with Apple’s Safari browser for the iPad? It’s a "a miserable experience" -- even though it remains the best option available in terms of tablet-based browsing -- according to Limi. As The Verge reminds us, “When it comes to browsing the …