Speaking at Middem in Cannes today, Mikael Hed, Rovio's CEO, revealed that he doesn't spend much time worrying about piracy.

As reported by TheNextWeb, Hed told the crowd, "We can learn a lot from the terrible way the music industry dealt with piracy. It would be futile to tackle it all." He added, "If we have failed to make our legitimate products the easiest thing to buy, it’s almost our fault that we get pirated."

One of the reasons Hed isn't worried about piracy of his company's apps is that increasingly, they're channels for getting consumers interested in other products, such as Angry Birds merchandise.

Merchandise, of course, isn't immune to piracy, and Rovio does have issues with manufacturers who are producing unauthorized merchandise. But even then, Rovio thinks the pirates are helping promote its brand doesn't act -- "so long as the product is well made."

Smart move, or short-sighted? Time will tell. As TheNextWeb's Martin Bryant notes, companies paying for licenses so that they can legally manufacture Rovio-branded merchandise might not be so amused. After all, those high-quality knockoffs are a real threat to their businesses, and at some point, the pirates could make licensing from Rovio less attractive.

That, obviously, isn't the case yet, which highlights an important point: piracy is often perceived a lot less of a problem when your business or industry is young and growing. When it matures, however, and every cent matters, it becomes less amusing. Obviously, that doesn't excuse Hollywood's behavior, but we shouldn't be surprised to see companies that are taking a more relaxed stance today toughen their positions in a few years when new sources of growth are harder to find.

“Email has changed the way the world communicates. But many of the attributes that have made it great – it’s openness, it’s interoperability – have also made it vulnerable to malicious activity. The beauty of DMARC is that it attempts to address the security threats to the email ecosystem without impacting its utility as a communication channel,” said Matt Blumberg, CEO of Return Path, a leading email certification company. “Fast, widespread adoption of DMARC will make a significant dent in scammers ability to perpetuate crime through email.”

According to a report from the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), more than 300 brands are hijacked by phishers every month.

"Email phishing defrauds millions of people and companies every year, resulting in a loss of consumer confidence in email and the Internet as a whole," said Brett McDowell, Chair of DMARC.org and Senior Manager of Customer Security Initiatives at PayPal. "Industry cooperation - combined with technology and consumer education - is crucial to fight phishing."

DMARC is encouraging all Internet Server Providers (ISPs) to adopt these standards in order to clean up our inboxes. This will be good news to those using email in their integrated campaigns. With less spam and fears of phishing, customers should gain more trust in the emails they recieve.

Over the next 18 months, DMARC standards will be tested and further developed. For organizations interested in improving email authentication, there is still an opportunity to be a part of the conversation at www.dmarc.org.

Gigaom reports that Kayak CTO Paul English chose to redesign the desktop site as he found its iPhone app “aesthetically more beautiful.”

It used eye-tracking technology to find what users were looking at and if customers weren’t using a certain function it was removed from the site.

The main aim is to shed unnecessary details and simplify the design.

E-business consultant Dan Barker said that as mobile sites become more advanced features are starting to crossover to desktop more frequently.

You even see this at really large scales, for example the new Gmail design, albeit disliked by many, borrows a lot from mobile UI - the new YouTube layout too.”

Brands now realise that they are designing for two or three different mediums when creating their websites, so similar functions display and work differently depending on the device.

Barker said that while brands should try to offer some consistency across their desktop and mobile sites they should go for a 'Tesco Metro/Tesco Extra' approach rather than try to squeeze everything into both mediums.

One of the most appealing things about mobile sites is their simplicity and usability, since the number of functions as necessarily limited by the space on-screen.

For a site like Kayak which compares flight, hotel and car rental details from other providers, it makes sense to give users the most relevant details in an uncomplicated and uncluttered display.

Fashion retailers may benefit from offering more choices, such as upselling more expensive items or giving user recommendations, but with flights most consumers will make their decision based on basic price and scheduling information.

By running usability tests Kayak is making sure it is giving its customers what they want, which should lead to an increase in conversion rates.

Click here to read how travel site Booking.com improved its conversion rate.

The new search tool allows users to identify a car's make, model and year by taking a photo of the back of the vehicle, these are then matched with listings on eBay Motors.

The auction site has long been an advocate of m-commerce and was on track to achieve $5bn of sales through mobile in 2011.

It also announced that more than 1m listings were made each week through its mobile platform.

eBay identified Motors as one of its core sales categories alongside homes and gardens, fashion and electronics, and it currently sells around 2,800 vehicles worldwide each week through its mobile platform.

eBay spokesman Clare Moore-Bridger said the popularity of buying and selling cars through mobile had been surprising. "People don't expect our customers to be willing to buy cars using their phones, but we have sold Bentleys and Porsches through mobile in the UK.”

She said eBay is the most popular site for online car sales in the UK, largely due to motor enthusiasts and those renovating cars searching for deals or spare parts.

The app's new video section reflects eBay’s assumption that a lot of mobile shopping is inspired by what shoppers see while they are out and about.

Live content was streamed from a Daytona race event last weekend to raise awareness of eBay Motors among racing enthusiasts.

Moore-Bridger said that the idea was to put the auction site front of mind with racing fans so if they saw an interesting item at the event they would use eBay to try and buy it.

Using this same logic, eBay opened a shop near London’s Oxford Street in December to promote the site as a destination for Christmas shopping.

When shoppers are inspired by an item or an event we want to make sure that they use their phone to shop for that item on eBay."

As well as video content, the Motors app includes a 'custom garage' feature that finds suitable parts for your vehicles.

eBay says that this provides a richer experience, encouraging them to come back regularly instead of simply focusing on the transactions.

The company has also launched an exclusive range with designer Derek Lam to promote a separate fashion app in the US.

The items included in the collection were decided by a vote among eBay customers, with the most popular item on sale exclusively on mobile.

Moore-Bridger said eBay is investigating the possibility of securing exclusive fashion lines in the UK in 2012.

Fashion is very important for us, it’s an area of growth and we are increasingly seeing returning customers. The aim of our Fashion Store is to highlight that you can buy new, designer items on eBay, it’s not just about second hand or discount goods.”

Not only are they the first UK qualifications to address the needs of specific digital disciplines at this level (as opposed to generalist courses) but more importantly, from the perspective of creating a professional development narrative for digital marketers, they fulfil an important role in the provision of flexible yet coherent education.

In short they're manageable and practical. 

Creating a new qualification comes with a mysteriously archaic process all its own, including an invitation to appear before the validation panel and ‘sell’ your proposed programme to a group of senior academics.

Gaining recognition for ground breaking subjects which are new to academia is always a nerve wracking process. There is nothing else to do but hope that they see as much value in accrediting your specific subject and structure as you see in gaining their validation.

Granted, at Econsultancy we’re becoming old hands at this but happily, as of Monday, our new Graduate Certificates have been given the seal of approval.

To date, we have offered digital education at opposite ends of the spectrum. Attend a one day short course or undertake a full MSc. At six months’ part time study, the Graduate Certificates occupy a more manageable middle round, offering a route to professionalization within your chosen field.

Think of them as an extended training session, but with time to reflect and implement what you’ve learnt whilst receiving support from the experts. They are an ideal fit for those looking to break into the industry, or wanting to formalise their skills in a particular area.

Qualifications within digital are still viewed with some skepticism but the industry is maturing and people like to have a frame of reference for their knowledge progression.

There is, of course, no substitute for experience, but accredited learning that allows you to highlight your professional areas of interest and benchmark your expertise against a recognized set of standards is powerful for both the individual and industry.

The new Graduate Certificates combine an external and globally recognized seal of approval, whilst having a direct and measureable impact on people’s day to day working lives. And if you can combine education and experience, so much the better.

The first Graduate Certificates beginning on 2nd May are on Web Analytics and SEO. Applications will be accepted through to March 31, but a £250 discount is available to everyone who returns their application forms before close of play on January 31.