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Apple app store has reached 25M downloads

Apple customers have collectively downloaded 25 billion apps from the App Store, the company has announced on its webpage. That’s more than three apps per person in the world.

The milestone signals not only a vast appetite for apps, but also growing smartphone penetration and Apple profits (the company takes a 30% cut from every app or in-app purchase).

People with iOS devices are downloading an increasing number of apps. One 2011 study, for instance, concluded iOS owners download about 60 apps each, which is 50 more apps that the same researcher found each iOS owner downloaded in 2008.

And as the number of apps per device has grown, so has the number of devices. In a 2011 Pew Survey, 35% of the 2,277 U.S. adults questioned in English or Spanish said that they owned a smartphone. Pew released another study this week that found this percentage has since jumped to 46%. More Americans now own smartphones than feature phones, and the world bought 37 million of them from Apple last quarter alone.

Growing app downloads and growing device sales are a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation: Do people buy iPhones because they want to download apps or do they download apps because they have iPhones?

Combined net sales for the iTunes Store, App Store and iBookstore in 2011 was $5.4 billion — just 6% of Apple’s net sales, but a 33% increase compared to 2010.

Whether devices are driving app sales or the app store is driving device sales (or, more realistically, some combination of both), growing app demand and growing mobile device penetration have served Apple’s bottom line quite nicely.

The company reported its highest revenue and earnings ever last quarter. If you go by its market cap, it is now worth more than all the tea in China.

In this context, the $10,000 gift card Apple promised to give away when it hit the 25 billionth app from its App Store looks less over-the-top. Apple hasn’t yet announced the winner, but considering that to enter the contest, users were required to agree to publicly share some App Store picks with the Apple community if they won, we’ll likely be meeting the lucky winner soon.

Police Arrest 25 Anonymous Hackers In Four Countries

Police in Latin America and Europe have apprehended 25 people believed to be members of Anonymous, the international group of hackers and “hacktivists,” according to Interpol.

The arrests were made in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Spain, as reported by the BBC. Authorities in those countries also seized 250 pieces of computer equipment and cellphones.

The 25 arrested are suspected to have hacked Colombian and Chilean websites. Currently, Interpol’s own website appears to be under attack, perhaps in retribution for the arrests. The site loads, albiet very slowly.

The 25 suspects vary in age from 17 to 40 years old. According to Spanish authorities, one of the hackers arrested in Spain is believed to run Anonymous’ computer network in Spain and Latin America.

Two of those arrested in Spain remain in custody while another two, one a legal minor, were set free on bail.

On Monday, the secret-spilling organization WikiLeaks released a massive cache of emails from a private security firm. While WikiLeaks didn’t mention Anonymous in its release about the leak, Anonymous took credit for getting the emails and sending them on to WikiLeaks.

Interpol, which stands for the “International Criminal Police Organization,” works to coordinate international police activity. Given the widespread and global nature of hacker groups such as Anonymous, international communication is necessary in the identification and apprehension of those believed to have committed a crime.

[Original article can be found here- http://mashable.com/2012/02/28/anonymous-arrest]

Google's new privacy policy got in effect from March 1

The recent major changes in Google’s privacy policy go into effect today, March 1.

In January, Google announced a new master privacy policy that replaces more than 70 different documents and governs all of Google’s products.

Google promises the new document is easier to understand and follow, and that the essence of the company’s privacy controls isn’t changing.

“We aren’t collecting any new or additional information about users. We won’t be selling your personal data. And we will continue to employ industry-leading security to keep your information safe,” wrote Google’s Director of Privacy, Product and Engineering Alma Whitten in a blog post.

[Go to privacy policies page directly from here: http://www.google.com/policies]

Some things are changing, however: Google has removed some “inconsistencies” in its privacy policies that now allow the company to combine more of your data across various Google products – namely, YouTube and Search.

“So in the future, if you do frequent searches for Jamie Oliver, we could recommend Jamie Oliver videos when you’re looking for recipes on YouTube—or we might suggest ads for his cookbooks when you’re on other Google properties,” notes Whitten.

Check out Google’s video introduction to its new privacy policy below.

Dolphin gets Sonar. New voice control feature of android browser

Dolphin Browser, which launched on the Android Market in 2010 and came to iOS last summer, has been downloaded over 12 million times across both platforms.

Dolphin Browser for mobile devices received a voice-control feature on Wednesday for Android users, allowing them to search the Web with just their voices.

The new feature — called Dolphin Sonar — allows you to open new tabs by speaking to the browser, and it can even search within sites. For example, saying “Facebook Justin Bieber” will display his Facebook profile.

The speech recognition feature is available for free in the Android Market via the Dolphin for Android version 7.4 update. The update also includes an improvement in browser speeds.

To activate the feature, tap the microphone icon at the bottom of the screen or shake the device, and start talking.

“Our gesture-based browsing function was a game-changer in terms of the way people browse on their mobile devices, and Sonar is the logical next step,” said Yongzhi Yang, CEO of MoboTap, the makers of the Dolphin Browser. “Just as sonar is used by dolphins to navigate, Dolphin Sonar interprets sound to get you where you want to be online.

Titanic app for iPad coming this march

Commemorating the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the ship, the Titanic app is getting ready to set sail into the App Store. The iPad app, created by Britain’s The History Press, arrives on March 12.

Since her maiden voyage sinking on April 14, 1912, the story of the RMS Titanic has fascinated generations of fans and researchers alike. Now, as the world prepares for the centennial of the “ship of dreams,” a new app is arriving that looks back at its history and features.

The app (price to be announced) includes knowledge collected from many of the world’s leading Titanic experts. It includes rare archive footage, details and photographs of the ship’s construction, a sinking timeline and “Did You Know?” facts.

Other unique features include an interactive deck plan, detailed biographies of the ship’s key features, contemporary films, narrated survivor accounts and a wide range of photographs from every stage of the ship’s life.

The History Press’s sales and marketing director Tim Davies says:

”This year’s 100th anniversary of the sinking of the ship is already generating huge interest and is an opportunity to maximize the value of our extensive and definitive Titanic content and to deliver it in a new way. The Titanic App looks fantastic and we’re confident that both enthusiasts and general consumers alike will enjoy it enormously.”

Aviary's perfect FB cover photo crop tool

The panoramic photo that now graces the top of every Facebook profile is pretty, but it’s a far cry from practical. Most cameras don’t take photos that fit into it.

Photo startup Aviary announced on Thursday that it would address this problem with a crop tool designed specifically for the Facebook Timeline cover photo.

The tool is part of a new Facebook photo editing app the company launched in January. To use it, you’ll need to approve the app. “Cover photo” is now an option under the crop tool menu, and it automatically creates a movable and resizable frame that crops your photo at the correct size for Timeline.

When you’re finished, the photo should fit perfectly into your Timeline, like this: