Based on the findings of a new survey from digital marketing firm Digitas, a majority of online shoppers reveal that they still lack adequate confidence to use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter for purchases.

Not surprisingly, the survey showed that the older a shopper is, the less likely he or she is to trust social networking sites with their personal and financial information.

To see the findings of the survey in full, check out the infographic below.

If the report’s sources are accurate, the platform would stream music wirelessly throughout the home and would be marketed under the company’s own brand.

Such a venture, however, would represent a dynamic shift in product focus for the Internet search giant, which has never before released and marketed a consumer electronic devices under the Google name.

The new Android device, along with Google’s pending purchase of device maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., also ups the ante in its ongoing tussle with rival Apple Inc., which also controls both the software and hardware process.

This so-called entertainment home system has reportedly been in development for years, although it is expected to finally see market introduction before the close of 2012.

Do you believe the rumor? And, more importantly, would you buy the product?

Apple says anyone who engages in deceptive marketing practices can be permanently banned from doing business with the Cupertino, California-based tech giant.

In response to the announcement, which has made a tremendous splash across the mobile landscape, Apple is receiving no shortge of support from leading app developers.

The ComboApp Marketing Agency, a long-time leader in mobile app promotion services, said Friday that its joining Apple in solidarity behind the move.

While Apple’s statements have inspired dread amongst black hat mobile marketing providers – and rightfully so – ComboApp sees the tech giant’s decision as a big step forward for the industry as a whole rather than as a threat, eagerly speaking out in Apple’s defense.

“Apple’s announcement signals the start of a new era in the mobile marketplace,” says Vadim Chernega, Co-Founder & CEO of ComboApp. “As we see it, their mindset brings the ideal of a fairly regulated App Store Marketplace that much closer to becoming a reality. Furthermore, it vindicates ComboApp and other ethically operating Mobile Marketing Agencies, who no longer have to face competition from dishonest marketers whose unethical ranking and review manipulation tactics have given them an unfair advantage within the marketplace.”

But while major indices like the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and NASDAQ are all deep in red territory, there are a few stocks that continue to climb. And AAPL is one of them.

Shares of Apple, presently trading around $496, are rapidly approaching the psychologically satisfying $500 level.

Even at $500, however, AAPL could still climb dramatically according to leading market watchers who continue to maintain price targets of between $600 and $650 for AAPL.

As a result of Apple’s surge on Wall Street during the last six months, some believe the company will soon pay a dividend to investors. Analyst Shaw Wu with Sterne Agee believes a yield in the 2 percent to 3 percent range would be ideal to satisfy and further entice shareholders and employees. “The reason is that the company’s strong cash flow should be able to fund this (which we estimate could be $75-$80 billion in the next four quarters vs. the $45.3 billion we estimate the company generated in the last four quarters).”

In Apple’s quarterly earnings report last month, executives admitted that they are “actively discussing” options for the $96.7 billion in cash Apple is sitting on.

“We’re actively discussing uses of our cash balance, and have no specifics to share,” Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said. “In the meantime, we continue to be disciplined with cash, and are not letting it burn a hole in our pockets.”

On Friday, toy giant Hasbro and the digital gaming gurus at Zynga announced a comprehensive partnership that grants Hasbro the rights to develop a wide range of toy and gaming experiences based across Zynga’s popular social games and brands.

The relationship is a perfect fit for both partners, but particularly for Zynga, which is now the world’s largest social game developer with more than 227 million monthly active users.

In other words, there’s a whole lot of potential buyers out there for toys based on Zynga Games.

“It’s exciting to partner with Hasbro as we share a common vision for play and a mission to connect the world through games,” said Mark Pincus, founder, CEO and chief product officer of Zynga.

“This partnership is so special because it represents an exciting leap forward in enabling people to connect their virtual and real worlds,” he adds. “Hasbro has inspired play through their famous toys, games and action figures and we look forward to working with a company that continually creates meaningful and fun brands.”

Are you looking forward a new collection of Farmville action figures?

On Thursday, the big story for LinkedIn was that the company’s fourth-quarter revenue rose 105 percent thanks to an income spike born of the platform’s new job recruiting services.

But as it turns out, Facebook isn’t going to be the only prominent social network that will soon monetize its mobile app via advertising. During Thursday’s fourth quarter earnings call, LinkedIn executives confirmed that the platform will soon introduce advertising to its popular mobile apps.

LinkedIn, however, has at least done what Facebook hasn’t. Facebook is yet to confirm the rumor of forthcoming mobile ads. LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, while not elaborating greatly, did acknowledge that his company is actively putting the mobile ad infrastructure in place and will soon “introduce advertising in our mobile solutions.”

“2011 was a landmark year for LinkedIn,” Weiner said during the conference call. And he expects 2012 to be even bigger.

Although the 191-page file doesn’t contain any Steve Jobs-related bombshells, there are some surprising revelations.

As it turns out, the iconic iPhone pioneer was once considered for a presidential appointment by the White House in 1991, during the administration of George H.W. Bush.

The appointment, which never ocurred, would have placed Jobs on President Bush’s Export Council. As a result of the consideration, however, Jobs still went through a massive background check and investigation per the request and standard operating procedure of the White House.

“Often the agents only interview employers and people who are suggested by the candidate,” the FBI file author John Cook observes. “It’s obviously unclear who these quoted folks are, but if they were among the people Jobs referred the agents to, then he didn’t know his friends very well.”

Cook is referring to the fact that the “friends” Jobs referred to the FBI for interviews didn’t necessarily have kind things to say of the Apple CEO.

Some called Jobs “deceptive” and questioned his moral character.

“Mr. Jobs has integrity,” another subject, whose identity remains concealed, was quoted as saying in the FBI interview, “as long as he gets his way.”

To read the full report, click here.

Thursday was no exception as tenthavenue and GroupM announced their new partnership to create a leading mobile marketing agency in China with the acquisition of Wisereach.

According to details presented in yesterday’s announcement, Wisereach was founded in 2009 and is still based in Beijing. It’s a full service mobile marketing agency offering strategy; creative services, application development, CRM and media buying.

Wisereach already boasts of such top clients as Audi, Michelin and Microsoft.

All told, the new union of mobile firms will be known as “MJoule,” and it will offer full-service mobile advertising and marketing capabilities.

“Mobile is fast becoming a dominant channel for brands to connect with consumers,” says Bessie Lee, CEO, GroupM China. “MJoule will ensure GroupM China maintains a leadership position in mobile and continue to provide our clients with a competitive advantage.”

Wisereach CEO Craig Zhang has been tapped to lead MJoule.

comScore’s 2012 US Digital Future In Focus report indicates that 105.1 million Americans watch videos online every day, which is substantially more than the 73.7 million online video watchers documented in 2010.

YouTube, not surprisingly, remains the driving force behind the popularity of online video consumption.

Other notable finds from the comScore study include:

• The average length of videos watched has increased from 5 minutes to 5.8 minutes.
• The average viewer consumes 239 videos on a monthly basis.
• A staggering 4.8 trillion display ad impressions were delivered across the U.S. web in 2011 as brand advertisers continued to shift dollars to the digital medium.

“2012 promises to be an exciting year for the digital media industry as the explosion of available content and proliferation of web-enabled devices drive the evolution of the digital consumer, creating new opportunities and challenges for the entire digital ecosystem,” said Linda Abraham, comScore CMO and EVP of Global Product Development. “In order to be successful in this new paradigm, digital marketers must understand the key trends shaping the current marketplace and what that means for the future of their businesses.”

According to a report this week from Bloomberg, Google is allegedly planning to launch a bricks-and-mortar retail presence beginning with a shop at the company’s European headquarters in Dublin, Ireland.

So concrete sounded the report that few chalked it up to the rumor mill. But on Thursday, a Google rep confirmed that the story is mostly bogus and Google has no plans of embracing retail the way tech rivals Apple and Microsoft have.

“We already have an online store selling things like Google T-shirts and pens,” one Google spokesperson was quoted as saying in various media outlets. “We have the option of a small space doing the same in our Dublin office, but we’ve not made any decisions. It’s simply a planning application.”

Whether this “planning application” develops into a full-blown retail strategy likely won’t become clear for quite some time.