Is Pinterest the next Facebook?  —  An exclusive look inside CEO Ben Silbermann's social media sensation.  —  FORTUNE — Ben Silbermann can't stop staring at the refrigerators.  The Pinterest co-founder and CEO and I are standing in the break room of his company's garage-size Palo Alto office.

TweetDeck Updated: Lists, Activity, Media and more  —  Today, we're releasing a new version of TweetDeck.  This update introduces some great new features as well as a host of smaller improvements and bug fixes.  Check out this video for a quick tour of the updates, and read on for more information.

Facebook Is Said to Buy 750 IBM Patents to Boost Defenses  —  Facebook Inc. (FB) acquired 750 patents from International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), adding intellectual property that may help it counter allegations of patent infringement, a person with knowledge of the transaction said.

Dotcom gets extra $60k, Mercedes  —  Megaupload millionaire Kim Dotcom and his family have been granted a $60,000 a month living allowance.  —  In a minute released today by Justice Judith Potter in the High Court at Auckland, she allowed $20,000 a month to be paid to Dotcom from interest on $10 million worth of Government Bonds.

Why is RIM Hiring iOS App Developers?  —  First, Research In Motion opened its highly secure Enterprise servers to Apple's iPhone.  Then it unveiled BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, a enterprise device-management software for it.  —  And now, it appears the company plans to build apps for the iPhone as well.

Apple Teases us with a Peek at an Advanced TV Remote  —  As rumors swirl and dance about in the blogosphere about Apple's coming HDTV, an Apple patent application pops up just in time to tease us about some of the possible new features that their TV remote may offer.

Senate Passes Crowdfunding Bill With Added Protections for Non-Accredited Investors  —  The U.S. Senate today approved 73-26 an amended version of legislation that will legalize “crowdfunding,” or equity investments in start-ups by the general public.  —  The CROWDFUND Act adds requirements …

T-Mobile USA eliminating 1,900 jobs, more to come  —  T-Mobile USA CEO Philipp Humm has sent a memo to his employees today announcing the net elimination of around 1,900 jobs nationwide, primarily resulting from the closure of seven call center facilities located in Allentown, Pennsylvania …

Study shows how much information Facebook can mine just from relationship status changes  —  Facebook's data team has released some information which gives a little bit of insight into how relationships change with the seasons.  —  Looking at the Facebook data of US users from 2010 and 2011 …

Address Bar Security Issue Found in iOS 5.1 Safari  —  A security firm has discovered a security issue in the iOS 5.1 version of MobileSafari, the most recent version of the operating system that runs on millions of Apple mobile devices.  The behavior was discovered and detailed by David Vieira-Kurz of MajorSecurity.net.

Facebook takes photos high-def and full screen  —  Today, Facebook is announcing a few big updates to its photo viewer: it will now display photos in high resolution by default, and will allow you to enter a full screen gallery mode by clicking arrows in the top right corner of a photo.

I can't stop reading this analysis of Gawker's editorial strategy  —  In January, newly minted Gawker editor A.J. Daulerio announced an experiment: Each day for two weeks, a single staff writer would be assigned “traffic-whoring duty.”  [Language alert.]

Lookout Predicts Americans Lose $30 Billion in Smartphones a Year  —  We've all done it.  You step out on the street after paying for your coffee at Starbucks or handing the cab driver a tip.  Your first natural inclination is to reach in to your pocket, dig out your cellphone and call somebody and say, “hey, I'm on my way.”

Apple loses AppleCare appeal in Italian court, must pay $1.2M fine and put notice on packages  —  Apple has lost an appeal in the Italian courts, must pay up on a $1.2M (€900,ooo) fine and add a notice to AppleCare packaging.  The issue at stake is that Apple was charging for its AppleCare warranty …

Sarkozy announces crackdown on Internet hate sites  —  (Reuters) - President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Thursday that France would make it a crime to consult Web sites that advocate terrorism or hate crimes and would toughen a crackdown on people who went abroad for ideological indoctrination.

Seesmic Lays Off Half Its Staff as It Pivots Back to Social Cross-Posting  —  San Francisco start-up Seesmic laid off 18 employees this week, bringing its staff down to 15 people.  —  The layoffs, which happened on Monday, came as part of a shift away from building enterprise social tools …

U.S. Congress grills 34 iOS developers on compliance with Apple's app privacy policies in official letter  —  The U.S. Congress has begun requesting more information about how iOS developers comply with Apple's privacy policies regarding apps, how they gather information from users and what they do with it afterwards.

Path's Round Is At A $250 Million Pre-Money Valuation Led By Redpoint Ventures  —  We've confirmed rumors from sources close to the company that Path's new round of financing will be at a $250 million pre-money valuation led by Redpoint Ventures.  We're hearing the actual funding amount is about $20 million.

Apple Antitrust Suit Would Aid Amazon Book Monopoly  —  Are Apple Inc. (AAPL) and the big trade publishers colluding to manipulate the market in electronic books?  —  The U.S. Justice Department seems to think so, and is said to be near filing an antitrust lawsuit.

Angry Birds Space rockets to the top of the App Store charts in over 28 countries  —  Only a few hours after its debut, Rovio's Angry Birds Space has hit the top of the App Store charts in more than 28 countries.  Released last night at 1:00 am PST, or 10:00 am Helsinki time …

Nokia takes Apple to task over nano-SIM proposal: ‘does not meet all of the pre-agreed requirements’  —  You might recall Financial Times' report that Apple is seeking to get its nano-SIM proposal approved by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) over a competing proposal from Nokia …

Firefox To Use Google Secure Search By Default; Expect More “Not Provided” Keywords To Follow  —  The popular Firefox browser is on track to use a secure method of searching Google by default, a change that will help prevent potential “eavesdropping” of what people are searching for.

ISPs commit to new cybersecurity measures  —  The recommendations from an FCC advisory committee target botnets, domain name fraud and Internet route hijacking  —  A group of U.S. Internet service providers, including the four largest, have committed to taking new steps …

Where is mobile gaming happening?  At home, in bed  —  Mobile gaming conjures up images of people playing on subways, waiting in line and walking down the street.  But you're much more likely to find mobile gaming happening at home and in bed, according to two new surveys.