To think, it’s only been three months since we talked about Apple’s iTunes store crossing the 500 million download threshold, and now it looks like the gang in Cupertino are gearing up to celebrate their 1 billionth app . To celebrate, the company’s released two lists showcasing the...

Today’s New York Times has a timely trend piece about the rise of “hyperlocal” news sites–those that aim to create or aggregate news down to the neighborhood (or block). The angle: will these sites take over as an increasing number of local newspapers go under? If you read tech...

Online ad network Collective Media has secured $20 million in Series B funding led by Accel Partners and iNovia Capital. Collective Media offers publishers an ad network management platform to create their own branded, vertical ad networks. The company raised an undisclosed amount in Series A funding,...

Just as children love hunting for Easter eggs, we love finding virtual Easter eggs in software and Web apps—those intentional hidden messages, features or jokes built into the software that users in the know may stumble upon at some point during their experience with the application. We’ve compiled...

Now that it’s legal for George Takei to get married in Iowa, what better way to celebrate than by letting your ” Trek flag” fly in your home or office? The USS Enterprise-themed USB webcam features an adjustable focus, and the red engine lights (or whatever they are) actually, you...

Once again, Google is the favorite bogeyman responsible for the rapid deterioration in the health of the news industry. This time it is Nick Carr doing the finger-pointing , describing Google as the most powerful middleman in news: When a middleman controls a market, the supplier has no real choice...

A bad week for Twitter just got even worse. The service has apparently been infected by a worm originating from the owners of the website StalkDaily ( Note: Do not visit this website, as it may cause your computer to become infected ). At this point details are scant, but it appears that visiting the...

Remember Intel’s Anti-Theft Technology that debuted around this time last year? You know, that wicked cool invention that you’ve heard absolutely nothing about ever since? Evidently it’s still alive and kickin’, as ASUS has just announced that two of its lappies will come loaded...

Yesterday Apple announced that it was closing in on its whopping 1 Billionth application download from the App Store, which now features over 25,000 apps built by thousands of developers. In honor of the milestone, Apple has also posted an updated version of the store’s most popular apps ever...

As the New York Times reported, Skype’s founders, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, are in talks with several private equity firms and are amassing their own financial resources to make a bid for the internet phone business. eBay bought Skype from Zennstrom and Friis for around $3.1 billion in...

There's too much noise in Twitter Search. (Credit: Screenshot by Rafe Needleman/CNET) In the Webware 100 this year, both Twitter and Twitter Search are finalists, in separate categories. (Vote here and here .) I added the search feature of Twitter as a product because it’s a research tool...

Apple is really, really close to hitting 1 billion app downloads across the world, according to its new countdown page. If you download an app, you’ll be enrolled in a contest to win a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card, an iPod touch, a Time Capsule, and a MacBook Pro. TechCrunch is holding its own contest...