More than a third (35%) of Android smartphone owners are using mobile payment applications, up 8% since August, according to new data from market research firm NPD Group. A growing proportion of consumers are engaged in using their smartphones to move money, buy products, comparison shop, redeem coupons, and start to pay for things through the phone itself. The top payment apps used in March include PayPal, mobile bill pay apps (My Verizon and My AT&T), payments acceptance apps Pay Anywhere and Square, and Starbucks and Fandango Movies.

Mobile advertising firm Amobee has acquired AdJitsu, a unit of multimedia software developer Cooliris that specializes in creating 3D mobile display ads. Amobee said the step would allow ad networks, publishers and brands it works with to incoporate 3D units into mobile campaigns. The move follows a partnership formed last year between Amobee and Cooliris around the rich media ad technology. Amobee itself was recently acquired by Asian mobile phone and services provider SingTel for $321 million. Read more here.

  The major Yahoo investor who exposed an inaccuracy in Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson’s academic credentials called for the company Monday to turn over its books and records relating to Thompon’s hiring in January. The step comes only days after activist hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb demanded the Yahoo CEO’s ouster for misrepresenting his educational background in his bio for more than a decade. In a Friday letter to the company’s board of directors, Loeb had threatened legal action if Thompson wasn't fired by noon ET today. After confirming Thompson had not received the computer science degree from Stone …

The major Yahoo investor who exposed an inaccuracy in Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson’s academic credentials called for his ouster Friday in a letter to the company’s board of directors. Activist hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb rejected Yahoo’s explanation of the misrepresentation as an “inadvertent error,” demanding the board fire Thompson by noon ET Monday or face possible legal action. "Mr. Thompson and the board should make no mistake: this is a big deal. CEOs have been terminated for less at other companies,” stated Loeb, who holds a 5.8% stake in Yahoo through Third Point LLC, in his letter to the …

Just received the best Cinco de Mayo eCard from the creative self-promoters at Minneapolis-based Carmichael Lynch. Click to see what's inside the agency's "pinata."

Citing the "need for greater transparency and accountability with digital offerings" among magazine brands including tablets, the 4A's Print Media Committee has called on the MPA (Association of Magazine Media) to consider new recommendations on metrics and procedures for reporting the audiences of digital editions.

Long-time Starcom communications executive Graham Eason Nolan has joined McCann Worldgroup's Momentum Worldwide unit as head of communications. He most recently was vice president-marketing communications director at Starcom Worldwide.

MSG Network says its 2011-2012 regular season New York Knick ratings almost doubled versus the year before – the highest ever regular season ratings ever going back  23 years to when the network started airing Knick games in 1988. Ratings averaged a Nielsen 3.3 household number, up 81% from the 1.82 household rating average for the 2010-2011 season. All this was due -- in part in large part -- to the mid-season, out-of-nowhere stellar performance of New York Knick guard Jeremy Lin. All key viewer group demographics also were up -- adults 25-54 viewers climbed 65% to a 1.62 rating; …

Ahead of the release of its first quarter earnings today, LinkedIn announced its acquisiton of content-sharing service SlideShare for about $119 million in cash and stock. In the six years since SlideShare was founded, users have uploaded more than 9 million presentations to the online service, according to comScore. Last month, it had nearly 29 million unique visitors. LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner said in a statement that the presentation-sharing SlideShare enables dovetailed with the company’s mission of connecting professionals. "These presentations also enable professionals to discover new connections and gain the insights they need to become more productive and successful …

Facebook has set the price range for its initial public offering at $28 to $35 a share, according to a new regulatory filing. That would mean the social network could raise up to $13.6 billion through the IPO slated for May 18. Based on the 337.4 million shares it plans to sell in the offering, the preliminary price would value Facebook at $77 billion to $96 billion. Prior to the pricing Thursday, the company had been expected to go public at a valuation of up to $100 billion. A quarter-over-quarter decline in revenue and profit in the first quarter, …