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Digg’s January saw an increase in page views by 35 percent and was its highest traffic month since October 2010. When it dug into why, it found we’re proud to look smart, hip, or funny by sharing tech news and offbeat content, but we keep our guilty pleasure entertainment and divisive political reading to ourselves.

Specifically, Digg analyzed what people read vs what they shared to their Facebook Timeline in part through the new Digg Social Reader Open Graph which has helped boost Facebook referral traffic by 67 percent. It discovered telling psychological trends in how people want to portray idealized versions of themselves.

According to Digg’s data, ”Entertainment stories were 14 percent of all stories read but less than 4 percent of those added to the Timeline. Likewise, political stories comprise less than 2 percent of those added to a user’s Timeline but close to 10 percent of what people read”. Gaming was another content type rarely shared.

It seems that while many of us are addicted to celebrity gossip and war games, we don’t want everyone to know. We might geek out privately with fellow enthusiasts about Kim Kardashian’s latest romance or a new Call Of Duty map pack, but there’s a stigma about allowing those interests to define our identities. Meanwhile, our social graphs often span across party lines, so we’d rather not share polarizing political content. Better to stay silent than offend someone, it seems. Out of top 100 stories most often published to Timeline, only 244 shares were political and 72 were gaming stories.

[Postscript: Yes, maybe people don’t share niche content because they think it will bore most of their friends. But what really bores me is the softball, middle of the road content I can find anywhere. Expose me to your niche, show me why you love it, and I might just geek out with you.]

Instead we try to put our best foot forward, showing off our sense of humor and how in the know we are about developments in tech. Of the stories most shared to Timeline, tech stories got 5,086 shares, 2,060 for offbeat, 951 for world news, and 785 were of business related stories. The first data points are certainly biased by the irreverent tech-loving demographic Digg appeals to. However, the significant presence of world news and business show our desire to appear cultured and motivated. Diggers are gamers and many lean left, but you couldn’t tell from their Timelines.

Screw that. We shouldn’t be embarrassed. Sharing what we’re truly interested in attracts people who love us for who we really are. Why surround yourself with people who don’t get what excites you? No, you don’t need to be overtly confrontational by sharing every hate piece about the demopublican party, but be willing to say something controversial if you believe in it. You’ll spark discussion, and hear conflicting perspectives that help refine your views.

At their worst, social networks like Facebook let us compartmentalize our identity and show different sides to different people. At their best, they connect the different sides and encourage us to be mindful not of what we share, but of how we actually spend our time. That’s what really defines us. So BRB, I’m going to share my love of Marvel comic books, because that’s me.

Look, sometimes you just have to take a break and skim Etsy for cool iPad stuff. Are you thinking of picking up a new iPad 3 when they come out, or maybe just celebrating the release with a cool new case for your existing tablet? Check out this little round-up of cases collected by a felt-loving blogger on a Friday afternoon.

These are mostly iPad-sized, but many are made to order and could easily accommodate a smaller (Kindle Fire) or larger (Transformer) device if you ask nicely. And most are soft enough to accommodate a small change in size, like what’s expected for the iPad 3. Note that I have not tried these out! I just think they are all great.

Felt & Leather

Here are some lovely, sober grey wool items with leather accents. Perfect for someone who doesn’t need to express themselves through decals or color, yet loves good design. Like me. From top left, these are available from Charbonize (you can customize the tag), Feruto Bags, Freckle Cases, and England Caramel, who says theirs is the perfect Valentine’s Day gift. Yeah, if your girlfriend is an iPad.

Felten

For someone who wants something with a little more personality. From top left: the Soul Sleeve, which is just about as cute as possible; a dyed felt case from MaricFineGoods (also available in mustard yellow); a case from PinsnNeedles that is actually for e-readers but was too cool to pass up; another from PinsnNeedles that kind of looks like an elephant. Oh, and they make a cozy for your French press as well.

Herringbone

If you’re tired of herringbone, you’re tired of life. These two come from MariForsell — iPad bag, iPad case.

Hemp and Fluff

I love these soft, natural-fiber cases from ColcaSac. The natural hemp-colored one is the Uintah and the black one is the Zagora. They’re made with pesticide-free Chinese hemp, from China you understand. The blue one, Cusco, uses traditionally-grown cotton from Oaxaca.

Leather

Here are two leather options, comprising the two reasons leather exists: to look old, and to look fancy. The one on the left is made to order, hand-tooled, and antiqued. Perfect for watching Game of Thrones on the go. The one on the right is strictly for having in your hand when you step of your private jet. Is my car here yet? No?

Wood

The wooden smart covers are Narra and Cherry respectively, but don’t worry, there’s nice brown leather underneath. The flip-top case is made of Black Walnut and Baltic Birch, and fastens with a magnet. Just looks cool as hell. The newsprint one is not, in fact, wood, I have deceived you. It’s cotton, and closes with Velcro. I just like the way it looks and had an extra spot in the “wood” image. And cotton is a plant, so it’s kind of true.

The Los Angeles Times reports that The Los Angeles Times will be adopting a paywall (they prefer the term “membership program”) starting March 5th, joining the ranks of other large newspapers hoping to replace plummeting subscription revenues. Readers, naturally, are incensed, though the change was inevitable for such a large newspaper.

Although the move to a paid or at least somehow powerfully monetized online model is going to be critical for the L.A. Times and other major print establishments, it appears that everyone in the industry is still in the “flailing” stage, and hoping that a model rejected and circumvented by readers will somehow work for them as it has (in a way) worked for others.

Because the fact is that, in fact, paywalls can work, and do. But something like the New York Times’ paywall has worked in strange ways and also because of a huge emphasis on publishing online via apps and mobile. Is the L.A. times giving an opportunity to readers to pay to get content in a new and better way, or is it just installing a ticket booth?

Their model is very similar to the New York Times: 99 cents for the first four weeks, then $3.99 per week, or, bizarrely, $1.99 per week if you want the the Sunday paper in addition to your digital copy. The reasoning for this is that the Sunday paper is chock full of advertisements, so much so that the L.A. Times will essentially pay you $2/week to receive it.

So the model isn’t new, and it’s not unreasonable. Many will choose to go around the paywall (mobile and tablet browsers will automatically skip it, it seems) but many, as others have shown, will pay rather than go through the rigamarole of adding referrers to their URL or installing a browser extension to do it for them.

The article announcing this change is a treat to read. It is written as though it is a normal news story and not an internally produced announcement, and has the air of people trying unsuccessfully to convince themselves that this is going to turn out great. It may end up fine in the end, but the tone of the article is unrelentingly self-deceiving to a degree even consumer electronics press releases fail to reach.

[via PaidContent]

A single blogger recently relayed comments made by a single Tesla service tech who reportedly knew of five Teslas that were “bricked” by owners who left them off the charger too long. This single unverified report spread like wildfire across the blogosphere. Tesla came out and acknowledged that it was possible to destroy the Roadster’s battery pack by keeping it unplugged but Tesla has employed numerous counter-measures to prevent that from happening. The company responded further today in a lengthy blog post titled “Plug It In.

Here’s a key excerpt from the blog post,

A plugged-in Tesla is not only charging its battery, it is also keeping key systems within the car functioning properly. Tesla owners around the world keep their cars charged on a daily basis without any issues at all. If ever the battery in your Tesla runs low, the car is designed to let you know with repeated visual and audible warnings. If you continue to ignore the warnings, they will persist and increase. The vehicle also protects the battery itself by communicating with other systems in the car to conserve energy when the state of charge gets too low. Starting with Roadster 2.0, owners can also elect for their car to contact Tesla headquarters once the state of charge falls below a specified level, and we can then contact the owner.

For what it’s worth Autoblog, our sister site in our Aol Huffington Post Media Group, did a little Googling and discovered that the random blogger and apparent Tesla owner are long-time business partners and not random acquaintances as the original blog post would have you believe.

Tesla’s service is legendary. I’ve spent a lot of time following the company over the last four years and have only heard extraordinary reports. I’m not saying the company is perfect, and it is totally possible to brick a Tesla, but the company has taken reasonable steps to prevent that from happening. But sometimes morons slip through the cracks.

It’s hard to believe that Mobile World Congress is right around the corner, but here we are with just under two days to go until the festivities begin.

TechCrunch’s MWC delegation is ready to bring you the latest and greatest in mobile tech straight from the heart of Barcelona from the moment MWC kicks off, but there’s going to be gobs upon gobs of nifty stuff on the show floor. Just for your reference, here’s a quick recap of some of the things you should see once we touch down and head into the breach.

LG

LG’s handset business has seen better days, which is why the company seems so intent on making a splash at MWC. In addition to the (peculiar) Galaxy Note LG Optimus Vu the company has announced something like seven new Android smartphones to be released this year — here’s a quick rundown:

Optimus 4X HD: This Ice Cream Sandwich-powered handset sports a 4.7-inch 720p display and 1.5GHz quad-core Tegra 3 processor. Expect this bad boy to be LG’s flagship going forward.

Optimus 3D MAX and 3D Cube: Remember the LG Optimus 3D/Thrill? Meet its new brothers, which both happen to pack a 4.3-inch 3D display, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, and NFC support into a 9.6mm thick body. The big difference between the two? Well, the MAX ironically only has 8GB internal memory while the Cube has 16GB; the Cube also sports a NOVA IPS display panel while no mention of the MAX’s screen tech has been made.

L-Style Series: Despite some recent twists and turns, LG is fully capable of designing and producing some striking phones (the Chocolate series, anyone?). This new line of Android phones consists of three devices meant to strike at premium, mid-range, and low-end niches, and aspire to five lofty “aesthetic elements.”

While these are all interesting in their own right, I’m personally looking forward to the possibility of an LG phone running on Mozilla’s Boot-To-Gecko mobile OS.

Nokia

The success of Nokia’s first Windows Phones already propelled them to the top of the vendor heap, and the folks at Espoo are looking to keep it that way with the introduction of two new devices.

Well, maybe just one new devices. The Lumia 900 already got a bit of spotlight when it debuted at this year’s CES, and Nokia is expected to unveil a Europe-bound version (sans LTE support) at the show. Nothing new here.

Meanwhile, the Lumia 610 is reportedly a new budget-conscious offering that’s expected have the specs to match the price tag. It always seemed to me as though the 710 was meant to plug that particular hole in the market, but with the Windows Phone Tango update poised to target developing markets, more low-cost hardware certainly couldn’t hurt.

Nokia also took to teasing us with a video hyping their Pure View camera technology, which only begs a new question – which phone will it end up in first?

Samsung

Samsung surprised many of us when they announced that they wouldn’t hold a keynote at the show that previously saw the announcement of their flagship Galaxy S II. Don’t count Samsung out just because they’re not packing a new Galaxy successor though — they’ve got more than a few gadgets that will probably enjoy their turn in the spotlight.

The new 7-inch Galaxy Tab 2 (pictured right) is likely to be one of them, as well as Samsung’s speedy new spate of quad-core Exynos processors. And who could forget handsets like the Galaxy Ace 2 and the Galaxy Mini 2? (I just did, honestly.) If nothing else, it’ll tide us over until the separate event scheduled later this year where the Galaxy S III is expected to be unveiled.

HTC

We’ve already taken a look at what HTC will be bringing to the Barcelonian table, but here’s a quick recap in case you don’t much feel like clicking. The Taiwanese company is expected to unveil three new handsets, all sporting the One-series moniker.

The slim One X (previously known as the HTC Edge/Endeavor) looks to be the flagship model in the line, while the even-slimmer One S (aka the HTC Ville) shoots for the mid-range. Meanwhile, the music-oriented One V (which is expected to be a twist on the HTC Rhyme) is expected to round out the trio.

Those three handsets could be joined by the HTC One XL tablet, which previously made the rounds under the guise of the HTC Whatever. If the tablet does indeed materialize on the show floor, don’t expect a follow-up anytime soon — HTC has said they will be reducing their presence in the tablet market at least for a while.

Microsoft:

Windows 8. Windows 8. Windows 8.

Yep, if you haven’t heard, the Windows 8 Consumer Preview will be launched and demoed on the 29th.

Oh, and expect Microsoft to spend some time talking up their forthcoming Windows Phone updates – Windows Phone Tango is meant to run on less-robust hardware making it an ideal fit for low-end, high-volume devices, while Apollo should pack support for LTE, multiple screens, and considerable integration with Windows 8.

Asus

After CEO Jonney Shih’s legendary unveiling of the company’s Padfone, I’ve long wondered when this magical (and more than a little ridiculous) thing would see the light of day. The answer, it would seem, is at MWC 2012.

Asus also teased us with their “Twice The Detail” video, which points pretty markedly at a high-resolution tablet of some sort. It’s very possible that the company’s high-res Transformer Prime TF700T tablet will be making an appearance on the show floor, but I’m hoping that Asus has something new and shiny for us to drool over.

The Rest Of The Pack

• Motorola: Reps from the company told PCMag specifically not to expect much this year, although some news related to their partnership with Intel on mobile processors wouldn’t come out of left field.
• Sony: This will be Sony’s first MWC after their public divorce from Sweden-based Ericsson, and they’ve managed to keep things buttoned up tight. The smaller Xperia U will likely be on display, and if we’re very very lucky, we may end up seeing a Sony-made Windows Phone. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for that one.
• ZTE: The other Asian hardware vendor with a three-letter name will be in attendance with a whopping eight smartphones in tow. ZTE is definitely trying to make a big push into the high-end smartphone market, so here’s hoping their eclectic mix of Android devices and Windows Phones does the trick.

If this seems like a lot of gear to keep tabs of, you don’t know the half of it. This is just a fraction of the stuff to be seen at MWC, and I have a feeling that some of the best stuff is yet to come. Stay tuned!

Even though Google recently introduced a malware-blocking system called Bouncer to keep the Android Market safe from malicious software, crafty spammers and fraudsters are still managing to find ways around the restrictions to get their software onto users’ phones. The latest example? A malware program disguised, innocuously, as an Android app called “any_name.apk.” And it appears the malware is using Facebook’s app on Android phones in order to spread.

The software was discovered by security firm Sophos, which came across the malware after receiving a Facebook friend request. When checking out the user’s profile, the researcher, Vanja Svajcer, found a link posted to the requester’s Facebook profile page that, when clicked, directed the browser to a webpage which started an automatic download of an unknown software application to the device.

The software installed and downloaded immediately, without any request for authorization or input from the end user. However, although Svajcer doesn’t mention this in his analysis, for software to automatically install from outside the Google Android Market, the phone’s default settings must have been changed. Typically, Android phones are shipped with a setting switched on that prevents mobile apps from installing from sources besides the official Android Market. Many savvy Android users switch this setting off, though, because they enjoy the freedom that Android provides in discovering apps from alternative app stores and download locations – like the treasure trove that is the XDA Developers forum, for example.

Unfortunately, malware like this is the nasty side effect. And there’s nothing Bouncer can do about it. The link the researcher clicked did not appear to be an APK file by nature of its URL, just a typical website. And it was placed into the user’s About Me section on Facebook, as if it was a link to that person’s homepage.

Of course, many folks would simply ignore a friend request from someone they didn’t know, but curiosity often gets the better of us. (Do I know them? Did we meet at some point, and I forgot?) One errant click, and oops, you’re infected.

In this particular case, the malware in question appears to be a program designed to earn money for fraudsters through premium rate phone services, a scam popular outside the U.S. for the most part, which involves having unsuspecting users send out text messages to premium rate numbers (those that charge). The scammers, who are operating the numbers, end up collecting the money from the victims’ accounts.

The app attempts to associate itself with the Opera browser, and an encrypted configuration file contains the dialing codes for all the supported countries where the premium rate numbers are hosted.

As a side note: a few days later, the researcher visited the same URL, but was directed to an all-new website where another APK file was automatically downloaded (hilariously called “allnew.apk”). This one was functionally similar, but different on the binary level, indicating it was a new variant of the same malware.

Maybe it’s time for Android’s Bouncer guy to get pre-installed on handsets, too?

UPDATE: We spoke to Google about this issue, and they’re telling us that the software installation process portrayed in the Sophos video could not have occurred as demonstrated. Even with an off-market, malware-ridden APK file, the app would have downloaded to the device, but additional user-initiated steps would need to have taken place before the software installed and ran as shown. We’re still awaiting a response from Sophos on that front.

To be clear, Bouncer is a good first step towards protecting Android users, but regardless of what methods are used to lock down the Android Market, spammers and scammers can always find another way in.

UPDATE #2: We reached out to the researcher, and here is his response.

I’ve been mulling this concept over for a long while and it took Josh Helfferich’s single image to bring the concept into sharp focus. My thesis (and you won’t like this) is that every major “flagship” phone in the Western market is now made in the same mold, with the same trade dress, with one goal in mind: to fool the casual observer into thinking that everything is an iPhone. While you can argue on the outliers, the truth is right there. Every major phone released in the past four years has cleaved to this design for dear life. The trend began, popularly, with the Nokia 5800 (some would argue that Meizu M8 was the first) and hasn’t stopped since.

The manufacturers’ fear is palpable and it’s time this parade of phones, designed to mimic one major phone, stopped. It’s bad for the consumer, it’s bad for the carrier, and it’s bad for the manufacturer.

Before iPhone (BI), manufacturers were fat and sassy, designing phones that came in odd cases and featured whimsical Java stacks. No phone looked like any other and every year designers would pick up cues from each other in terms of popularity. One year it was rugged, the next year it was piano black, the next year it was dark red. Phones came and went and they all looked different.

Except for a few lower-end exceptions, going into a phone store now is an exercise in futility. There is no differentiation nor is any phone better than any other. Just as every tablet looks strikingly like every other, every phone looks and works strikingly like every other. The results of this marketing nightmare are clear. You have advertisements that tout meaningless clock speed numbers – as if you’re going to play Angry Birds faster on your Nexus vs. a Samsung Fascinate. Programmers are forced by the vagaries of software to design for the lowest possible system specs. The result, then, is a marketplace cluttered with the same phone, over and over, with various bursts of nervous energy spent championing one identical handset over the rest… until the next model comes out.

This constant churn is what is stagnating the mobile industry. For two years after the iPhone the common refrain was “Why don’t manufacturers hire three (or thirty) really good guys, put them in a room for a year, and make them make the best cellphone ever.” This happened exactly once – at Palm – and never happened again. The closest to this vision, I would argue, is HTC, and they’re no great shakes.

Apple has done their thing. They’re going to keep doing their thing. They are, to continue the evolutionary metaphor, like a very specialized bird with a beak evolved to eat, say, termites. The rest of the birds saw that the termite bird was thriving so they developed a beak to eat ants – they aimed at exactly the wrong target and now each manufacturer is falling over itself – and starving – as it goes after the well-hunted ants in a non-diverse ecosystem.

Samsung, HTC, RIM, LG, Nokia: stop it. Play to your strengths. Reduce your lines to low, mid, and high-end phones. Streamline. The manufacturers took what matters least about the iPhone – the trade dress – and made that an obsession. Take what matters most – Apple’s consumer-focused clarity of vision – and see where that gets you.

Ever wish you could explore Paris on a Vespa? Or how about a tour of Santa Barbara wineries from a local? Vayable connects you with guides around the world who offer unique experiences in their city.

In the interview above, Jamie Wong, Co-Founder and CEO of Vayable, talks about why she started Vayable, who the guides are, how she built a community and some notable experiences listed on the site including the controversial homelessness tour.

While Jamie was living in New York, friends came to her for travel tips and occasionally she would show them around the city Her travel tips became a blog and that led her to realize there were others like her that would be willing to give tours around their cities. So, she created Vayable to be a platform that connects you with locals who offer some kind of experience you ?nd interesting. Categories include arts & culture, food & wine, adventure, and more.

There are plenty of interesting experiences listed on the site, but one stands out. A homelessness walking tour in San Francisco. You can even see what it’s like to go homeless for a day. Tim Ferriss said it gave him “a much needed perspective/ appreciation reset.”

Vayable has the opportunity to facilitate cultural learning in places you visit or even in your own city. Unlike most travel experiences or tours, you can see and leave reviews for your guide. And guides are passionate about the experiences they list. That beats signing up for a more lackluster experience you’d ?nd advertised on sites like Orbitz or local tour companies.

Like AirBnB, Vayable is helping its guides earn extra income. If you’re someone who has a passion like hiking or local art, you can take travelers on your adventure and charge a price you see ?t. As with similar marketplaces, Vayable takes a 15 percent cut of everything booked through the site.

So, now you too can explore the side of Los Angeles most usually never see or ?nd out what island life in Bocas really is like (hint: it apparently involves scuba gear and dancing shoes). The choice is yours.