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In their nine months of existence, more than 1bn iphone applications, commonly known as 'apps', have been downloaded from Apple's online store. Many are useful tools to enhance everyday activities such as socialising, shopping, travelling and pretending you're a spy; software that does smart things you never thought possible. But among Apple's list of the 20 bestselling apps 'of all time' the biggest success story is iFart Mobile, which allows users to broadcast a flatulent parp in a variety of hilarious styles. Childish, yes, but it continues to earn the company behind it $10,000 a day. And iFart's business triumph has not only led to a plague of trumpeting copycats but also a craze for increasingly controversial apps that are more morally questionable than a Conservative MP with a moat. Here are some of the worst offenders:Girlfriend Tracker Polygamists and cheating boyfriends are presumably the market for this 'handy' tool that allows men to calculate the menstruation cycle of their

Right around the time Charter Communications filed for bankruptcy protection in late March, one of its satellite television competitors launched an aggressive advertising campaign aimed at undermining customer confidence in the Town and Country-based cable provider.

Paul Otellini tells investors that in the second half of the year, the company is expecting the market to return to normalcy.

As the second mini-projector we've seen marketed towards iPod users over the last month, BenQ's Joybee GP1 Mini Projector ($499) takes a completely different approach from the Aaxa P1 Pico. Whereas P1 Pico was literally pocket-sized, battery-powered, and frankly lacking in the brightness, color fidelity, and speaker quality we'd hoped for, Joybee GP1 takes advantage of a slightly smaller than Mac mini-sized housing to deliver a powerful, 858x600-resolution,.

Google took the opportunity at its Searchology event to announce several new products, including Google Search Options, Google Squared, and a new Google Android application. Google has been expanding its search applications and associated tools in a bid to maintain its strong market-share lead over arch-rivals Yahoo and microsoft. - Google used its annual Searchology event to announce a handful of new search products, many under the umbrella of the new Google Search Options, which allows users to hunt for information online in a more granular manner. Launched on May 12, Google Search Options can be accessed via Google's ...

mjasay writes 'Mozilla's Asa Dotzler points to some interesting long-term trends in browser market share, noting that 'browser releases aren't having any major impact on the macro trends,' which suggests that a better IE will likely have little impact on its sliding market share. The most intriguing conclusion from the data, however, is that Firefox could surpass IE market share as early as January 2013 if Firefox continues to gain 5 percent every year, even as IE drops 5 percent each year. In the past, microsoft might have fought back by tying IE to other products to block competition, but with the EU keeping a close antitrust eye on Microsoft and the US Obama administration keen to make an example of an antitrust bully, Microsoft may have few good options beyond good old fashioned competition, which doesn't seem to be working very well for the Redmond giant, as the market share data suggests. microsoft's loss of IE market power, in turn, could have serious consequences for the compan

Vodafone is making a bid for the mobile applications market, by trying to attract developers with the promise of access to its large customer base.

Mobile-phone games are becoming a big industry for programmers from gaming companies both large and small. With smart phones like the iphone and BlackBerry leading the pack, a range of free and for-purchase games are transforming the devices from simple telephones to interactive experiences.

Cable TV shows earn less from advertising than their broadcast brethren, even if the shows have the same ratings. But the gap may be slowly shrinking, and cable providers are looking to the weakening ad market — and new technologies — to make it happen even faster.

Market-leader Intel lost share while rival Advanced Micro Devices gained by nearly an equal amount in the first quarter, said IDC.