Giving up your passwords for a little gadgetiness

I came across a neat iPad app today that assembles aggregators' content into sets of print-style pages you can flip through, similar to a book reading app.  It's called Flipboard and it really cleans up some otherwise cluttery articles from their native homes.

Out of the box it comes with some preset feeds, including facebook, twitter and Google Reader modules, all setup and waiting for you to...login.  Yep, just supply usernames & passwords for your accounts and it'll take you for a spin around your social network.

But wait.  Where does that login information go?  On one hand, you have journalists telling you, "Never share your private information," and others extolling the virtue of this new whiz-bang newsreader.

That's a problem because this data mining operation, no matter how well trusted, could be compromised by hackers, same as credit card companies.  Recently dozens of institutions had egg on their faces when they were forced to reveal to their customers that the company to whom they supplied customer lists was hacked.

So, not only do you have to wonder if your account credentials at facebook or twitter or Google is well guarded, but all of the other trollers you give up your information to, like this whiz-bangy, gadgety thing called Flipboard.

For me, I like the app, but have pushed aside the pre-built social media modules that need my password to function properly.