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There are now over 100,000 native iPad apps available in the Apple App Store, an impressive milestone for the tablet whose first generation model launched just 14 months ago.

By comparison, it took 16 months for the App Store to reach 100,000 apps after the launch of the iPhone.

Additionally, the figure is at least 100 times higher than Android's tablet-optimized Honeycomb which is said to have near 1000 native apps.

Apple announced earlier this year that 10 billion apps had been downloaded since July 2008, and the store now has over 350,000 apps.

The Android Market has 250,000 apps while RIM has 17,000. The quickly expanding Windows Marketplace has over 20,000 since its launch last November.

(Pic via MSNBC)

According to BI, the FTC is investigating into Twitter and how it deals with the many companies that build clients, services and apps for the platform.

The company began rolling out "official" services for its platform last year, getting into an area that was dominated by third-party apps like TweetDeck, TwitPic and bit.ly.

Nowadays, the official Twitter client is dominant, and the company has purchased up rival clients like TweetDeck, while shutting down others for various "offenses." The company also banned third-part ad services and fully redesigned the desktop version of Twitter so that video and photo sharing links did not re-direct away from the site.

The investigation may be a relief to entrepreneur Bill Gross, the founder of TweetUp. TweetUp was supposed to be a Twitter ad network, and Gross started buying up Twitter apps and services and even raised money to make a bid for TweetDeck, before Twitter outbid them. The company then shut down a few of Gross' apps for good measure.

TDL-4 rootkit is another major upgrade to notorious TDSS family.

The TDSS rootkit family (also known as Alureon or TDL) is something of an admired worst enemy of security researchers and vendors of anti-virus products. They hide deep in the Windows operating system, using and manipulating low-level instructions to avoid detection by anti-virus suites, and using encryption to protect their communications with command and control servers.

The latest TDL-4 version of the family is used (like the others) as a stealth backdoor installer of malware, and it has some huge advantages over its predecessors. It can infect 64-bit versions of Windows now by bypassing the Windows kernel mode code signing policy, and it creates ad-hoc DHCP servers on networks giving it new propagation powers.

Another major step forward for the malware is the ability to use the Kademlia P2P network for communications. This helps to keep the rootkit stay alive if legal action in the real-world takes down command and control servers.

TDL-4 is also protective of its control over an infected PC, and does not want to share power. It has its own built in anti-malware abilities, finding and killing ZeuS, Gbot and Optima malware infestations on systems it compromises. It even blacklists addresses of command and control servers used by rival malware.

Cisco has announced the price for its Cius tablet with the ambiguous "under $750" price point.

Adding to the confusion, the company says added options can bring the price to "below $700 for some customers."

The company will release the tablet on July 31st, coinciding with the end of their fiscal year. The device is aimed at corporate customers.

Cisco's 7-inch Cius will runs on Android 2.2 and weighs 1.5 lbs. Under the hood, the device has a very power-efficient Intel Atom Z615 chip at 1.2GHz.

The company has confirmed the device will be upgraded to Honeycomb but no timetable was provided.

Finally, the company has created "AppHQ" applications native for the Cius and says enterprise customers have shown interest. AppHQ will help "companies create private app storefronts where their employees will be able to find, publish and buy applications for business use," says CW. The store will also let IT managers have control over which Android Market applications can be installed on the device.

Research firm highlights rise of mobile and digital purchases.

Consumers in the United States will dish out over $21.6 billion on gaming software this year, according to research firm Newzoo. In its report, Newzoo also says that half of the tally will be made up of games purchased on mobile phones and through digital distribution.

The overall figure will be slightly lower than 2010's take for the industry, but Newzoo predicts a 3 percent increase in 2012. "We expect console game spending to seriously recover in 2012 pushing the overall market back to growth. But that year will also witness App Stores and Cloud Gaming making a serious attempt to conquer the living room TV screen," said Peter Warman, Newzoo CEO.

"A new battle for the biggest screen is about to begin and will involve all big names from the digital space as well as exciting newcomers."

More info: Newzoo

Action-packed games pushing up against console performance ceiling.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 console will have been on the market for six years this November, and the PlayStation 3 (PS3) has been around just one year less. That's a very long time in the world of consumer technology, and resource demands for games are only increasing.

Bodycount game director Andy Wilson spoke about how the limits of the current generation of games consoles are being reached. He spoke to CVG about the complications of developing Bodycount for the console platforms.

"It takes a huge amount of effort to get all of that to even work on current consoles, because it takes sh*t-loads of memory, it sucks up performance out of the consoles like you wouldn't believe," he said. "It's been an unusually long console cycle and it's going to run on for some time yet,"

He continued: "You find the ceiling by building engines, tools and middleware which mean the next game you do on the current generation you've already done all of that stuff, so you can then push it even further."

Xbox 360 will join PS3 with morphological anti-aliasing features.

Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3) console can take advantage of morphological anti-aliasing (MLAA) operations when rendering HD graphics. By removing forms of "jagged edge" pixelation, this can help to make high-detailed graphics look as smooth and as realistic as possible (though it does have its problems too).

Modern PC graphics cards can also take advantage of MLAA, which can go far beyond multi-sample anti-aliasing (MSAA) found in games consoles too. Sony's utilization of MLAA can be seen in rendering of God of War III. While the effect it has on the graphics can be observed as positive, it is expensive from a computational perspective.

The MLAA used with the PS3 requires 3-4ms of rendering time spread across five SPUs. Still, the technology would benefit the Xbox 360 console greatly as the fight goes on to squeeze as much as possible out of the current generation of games console hardware.

Two developers, Jorge Jimenez and Jose I. Echevarria, are working on a GPU-based implementation that repoertly works very well on the Xbox 360 and the PC. "On the Xbox 360 we run at 2.47ms, with still a lot of possible optimisations to try," Jimenez told GamesIndustry.biz.

Web sales tax in California may force Amazon to dump affiliates.

The gigantic e-commerce entity has over 10,000 affiliates in the wealthiest state of the union, and it warned them on Wednesday that it may have to sever ties with them if the state forces Amazon to collect web sales taxes.

Amazon affiliates are paid a fee when they direct traffic to the Amazon.com website and generate sales. They are in the middle of a stand off between Amazon (and other e-commerce sites) and California legislators who say Amazon has a duty to collect sales taxes when affiliates operate within the state.

California's state legislature passed a bill on Tuesday that establishes such a tax, and Governor Jerry Brown signed it on Wednesday.

Traditional retailers such as Sears and Best Buy have voiced concerns in the past that online outlets have an advantage by avoiding sales taxes in states where they have no corporate presence. Amazon claims that such tax laws will kill jobs and lead to income losses for affiliates and the states.

"We oppose this bill because it is unconstitutional and counterproductive. It is supported by big-box retailers, most of which are based outside California, that seek to harm the affiliate advertising programs of their competitors," Amazon said in an email sent to Californian affiliates Wednesday.

Flaws could undermine Google's focus on security of Chrome-powered devices.

Since Google's Chrome operating system is built to be used connected to the web, users' files and work will mostly be saved in the cloud. Using Google Docs applications for example, automatically stores the work on Google's servers so you can access it from anywhere across a variety of devices.

Google believes this is the future of computing, and its Chrome OS is designed specifically for Cloud-based use. It also allows Google to talk up security, as your documents are stored and well protected in the Cloud, whereas if somebody were to steal your Chromebook, they won't find all of your files on your HDD like they will if they steal your notebook PC.

However, researchers at an independent security firm say that Chrome's reliance on web computing also makes it vulnerable in other ways. WhiteHat Security researcher Matt Johansen was paid $1,000 by Google for reporting a flaw in the Chrome OS note-taking application that he successfully exploited to hijack a Google Mail account.

Since then, Johansen has said he found the same basic flaw with many other applications (or extensions). "This is just the tip of the iceberg," he told Reuters. "This is just evolving around us. We can see this becoming a whole new field of malware."

Speculation about the upcoming iPhone 5, its specs and its release date has begun to go rampant this month, with multiple analysts fueling the rumor flames.

Last week, Chris Whitmore of Deutsche Bank said he believed Apple would release a "mid-range" iPhone 4S (with pre-paid calling and data option) alongside its new iPhone 5.

Keith Bachman of BMO Capital says there will be no iPhone 5, just an iPhone 4S, which will be Apple's updated new smartphone.

Toni Sacconaghi of Sanford Bernstein notes that Apple needs to offer a cheaper a iPhone, in general, and could possibly do so this year.

Finally, Mike Abramsky of RBC Capital added to the fun this morning saying he expects Apple will drop the price of the iPhone 3GS to $0 with contract and the iPhone 4 to $99 with contract, when it rolls out the iPhone 5, whenever that is.

"While a $49 iPhone is already available (AT&T), psychologically a $0 iPhone provides a compelling offer," adds the analyst (via Barrons).

Abramsky also believes that Apple will release a smaller, pre-paid iPhone, as well, but sometime later in 2012.

Hitachi wants to be part of combined LCD panel producer.

According to the Nikkei business daily, Hitachi Ltd is interested in joining on-going talks between Sony Corporation and Toshiba Corp to combine units that produce small and mid-size LCD panels. Sony and Toshiba reportedly kicked off the talks earlier this month.

The combined unit would make small and mid-sized LCD panels for use with smartphones and tablet PCs. A combined entity made up of the manufacturing units of Hitachi, Toshiba and Sony could be launched as early as this year, according to the Nikkei report.

Reuters also reported earlier this month that a stake in the new combined entity could be sold to the Japanese government for about $1.2 billion.

South Korean firm brings case to U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

Samsung has asked the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to ban the import of Apple Inc.'s iPhone, iPad and iPod products. The filing alleges that Apple Inc.'s products infringe on five of Samsung's patents related to telecommunications standards and user interfaces.

Additionally, Samsung also filed a new patent lawsuit against Apple in Delaware on Wednesday.

Back in April, Apple sued Samsung in a California federal court for "slavishly" cloning the iPhone and iPad in its smartphone and tablet PC products. Samsung countersued Apple in California in response. Last week, Apple filed a lawsuit against Samsung in its home territory of South Korea.

If the ITC agrees to investigate Samsung's allegations against Apple, it could lead to a lengthy process to determine if import of the popular products should be banned.

While being a rival to Apple in smartphones and tablet PCs, Samsung also provides Apple with a large amount of microchips, including the A4 and A5 SoC's. Rumors this week suggest that Apple is looking to dump Samsung for the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) for the production of the A6 SoC to be used in the next generation of Apple devices.

Advertising Standards Authority rules in favor of BT and Sky.

A Virgin Media website setup to criticize broadband services offered by rivals in the UK has been targeted by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The website accused its competitors of "conning" customers in the claims they made about their broadband services.

The website contained a letter from Richard Branson that claims their rivals are not keeping their promises to customers. It also offered a speed test service and linked to material published by the UK communications regulator Ofcom. A video on the website also parodied Sky broadband advertisements.

BT and Sky complained to ASA over the campaign, and Virgin Media defended it, saying it is merely highlighting widespread dissatisfaction among consumers about the advertising of broadband speeds.

Ofcom has tackled the issue before. UK customers who had services advertised as "up to 20Mbit" were found to be generally receiving much lower speeds. In only 14 percent of cases, customers received over 12Mbit, while 58 percent averaged speeds of 6Mbit or less.

Virgin Media had encouraged users to share the information, and after it went viral, the complaints were made to the ASA, which sided with BT and Sky.

Mozilla blog goes into damage control.

After the release of the latest Firefox web browser last week, questions had been raised about the new rapid release schedule for the web browser, and the negative consequences it had for business users. In a blog comment, Mozilla executive Asa Dotzle surprised business users in the tone used to reply to concerns about the schedule.

"Enterprise has never been (and I'll argue, shouldn't be) a focus of ours. Until we run out of people who don't have sysadmins and enterprise deployment teams looking out for them, I can't imagine why we'd focus at all on the kinds of environments you care so much about," Dotzle stated.

Both Google and Microsoft picked up on the comment and posted their commitments to commercial customers and their concerns. Mozilla waited a few days and then finally decided to attempt to patch things up with business users.

"The Mozilla Community has focused our efforts on the needs of the individual user, and prioritized the product roadmap and features accordingly. However, as is the case with many technologies, loyal Firefox users and their IT departments have sought to bring Firefox into their places of work." the blog entry reads.

Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig) published Certification-ready Specification.

On Tuesday, WiGig announced the publication of the 1.1 specification addressing enhancements identified by member companies during the product development process. WiGig pushes the adoption and use of 60 GHz wireless technology.

The WiGig specification allows for communication between wireless devices at multi-gigabit speeds, with WiGig tri-band devices capable of data transfers at rates up to 7 Gbit/s. That is an improvement of more than ten-fold over the 802.11n standard.

Soon WiGig members will be able to test their WiGig-based products to ensure interoperability within the ecosystem and provide end users with reliable solutions at product launch. "We are marching toward enabling the fastest wireless technology for practical applications such as Wireless Docking, Wireless Display and Wireless Networking," said Dr. Ali Sadri, WiGig Alliance president and chairman.

"Our continued diligence in the MAC-PHY specification development process and collaboration with the Wi-Fi Alliance to build an interoperable multi-gigabit wireless solution based on our latest specification will soon provide an unprecedented user experience that changes people's lives."