First adult apps, now Wi-Fi.

While augmented reality apps have been positioned as the "new hotness" on smartphones for a while now, there have been very few games that blend all of the requisite parts of the technology to make something fun. Shadowforce seems to be onto something with its new app Gunman, however.

Holy App Store! Apple is bragging that more than 3 billion apps for its iPhone and iPod Touch have been downloaded since the store opened on July 10, 2008. That's a lot of Super Monkey Balls, Facebook, and Google Earth Apple app downloads.

Let's give Tapulous props where they're due: US$1 million in monthly sales from the iPhone's App Store is a staggering feat, especially when the marketplace is filled with more than 100,000 other choices. But claims that business is booming and that mobile app development could breed the next great tech company are overblown.

It's a throwback to the old arcade games based on The Simpsons in the 1990s, but it's on a very new platform.

Those who want a little less Google on their iPhones will soon be able to put a lot more Bing on their handsets. Microsoft is prepping a Bing iPhone app for immediate release via Apple's App Store to give iPhone users a Google alternative.

The early e-reader is feeling pressure from Nook and other upcoming devices.

Bogus reviews have landed Chinese iPhone app developer Molinker in deep trouble, resulting in all 1000-plus of its apps being removed and banned from the App Store. This is great news for consumers who are tired of downloading subpar apps based on inflated reviews, and bad news for companies looking to shill their products with internal misdeeds.

Apple's App Store approval process has always been a bit controversial because of the level of control the company holds over what types of applications are allowed in. Initially, there were concerns that Apple rejected apps because they duplicated functionality the company already offered or was planning to build into the iPhone OS -- not because the submitted apps wouldn't run according to the company's specifications.

Research firm IDC says Apple's App Store could stock in excess of a quarter million iPhone and iPod Touch applications, tripling current levels by the end of 2010. That's some number. Contrast with an estimated 10,000 Windows 7-compatible apps, over 700 (released as well as announced) Xbox 360 games, nearly 600 PS3 games, over 1,000 Wii games, over 600 DS games (from September 2008), and over 700 PSP games.

Old friends, family gatherings, homeward-bound travel all go hand-in-hand with the holiday season--and, of course, so does taking photos of these special moments.

Much is being made of supposed improvements to Apple's App Store, but the approval of a music service called Spotify only raises more questions. And the recent approval of Loopt was a major step backward even Phil Schiller may be unable to fix.

TomTom's new GPS navigation application for the iPhone may sound appealing, but it's true cost and capabilities are still a mystery. The app costs $100 and allows the iPhone to function as a real-time navigation device that provides turn-by-turn directions.

The new TomTom app that turns an iPhone into a turn-by-turn GPS navigation system spells the beginning of the end for standalone GPS. Not everywhere, but at least on dashboards, where a smartphone can now do everything a GPS can do and cost less than purchasing both.

It's one of the world's most successful retail launches in recent history: the Apple App Store. In only a year since its debut, the App Store now offers some 65,000 different apps. Apple claims more than 1.5 billion apps have been downloaded from its virtual shelves.

Well, Apple's done it again. The company has censored yet another app from its precious App Store, this time because it contained "objectionable" words. The app in question: a dictionary.