Valentine's LoveCam is a slightly more sophisticated Valentine's Day app. Select your photo, and then either pick a picture from your phone or take one with your phone camera. Select from a variety of frames - you and your sweetie inside of a paint splatter, a Polaroid picture frame or a rectangle garnished by a background of neon colors. Then add a few elements such as flowers, candy or angels, which you can make bigger or smaller depending on how prominent you think it should be. Drop in an "I love you!" or "I'm in like with you!", publish the photo and share it via email, Facebook or RenRen.

Holiday Picture It is not just limited to Valentine's Day. Plus, there are strange goodies like eyeballs, Rocky Horror lips and random wigs. For those who want to go beyond the hearts, flowers and lovey-dovey imagery into something less Valentine's Day appropriate, try this app. Besides, cupids are way overrated, right?

Tom Letters is an app for the cat-lovers among us. The app serves up cute scenarios of two cats in love, coupled with sing-songy music and digital quotes. Like a pinball machine that's been fed an infinite amount of quarters, the digital LUV does not end. After one lovey-dovey message arrives, hit the checkmark and move on to the next digital pair of cats and quotes. Meowsers!

Cartolina is a beautiful alternative to these other, more pixelated alternatives. In the age of social networking and electronic interactions, it strikes that old-fashioned aesthetic that we love and try not to associate with the word "hipster." It is the only app on this list that isn't free (cost is $1.99). Cartolina works for any occasion, including Valentine's Day. To create your own cartogram, choose from a variety of designs, then customize the message and email or text it to a friend. Or, you can choose to post it on a friend's Facebook wall. It's like real paper. Almost. What's neat about this app, even moreso than the cards you can send, is the calendar. Instead of passively relying on Facebook to tell you when your friends' birthdays are, you can enter them into the Cartolina calendar.

Lead image courtesy of Shutterstock.

Gone are the days where a husband and wife would go off to work and maybe talk once a day on the phone or when they arrive at home for dinner. Text messaging has change the very nature of relationships. A survey by mobile marketing app CheckPoints shows that 58% of people texted their significant other at least three times a day, while 25% texted 10 or more times a day. Talk about constant contact. Check out the infographic of CheckPoints' survey results below.

Nearly 17% of CheckPoints' users had said, "I love you" for the first time via text message. About 20% have broken up with a significant other over SMS and 40% have deleted a text that they did not want their significant other to see. 42% had checked their partner's phone for inappropriate messages, perhaps from an ex-boyfriend.

Many people, especially those past 30 years old or so, might find these numbers to be outrageous. How do you break up with somebody via text message? What kind of heartless bastard are you, anyway? Nearly one in six people have said "I love you" for the first time via text? How can such a connected and emotional thing be tied to anything as impersonal as a text message?

We can argue the demerits all day for days on end. This is not a new conversation. The fact of the matter is that social mores change on a year-by-year basis as technology gives people new ways to communicate. What we might think absurd or impersonal today might be completely commonplace and accepted 10 years from now. Are the one in five people that have broken up via text the fringe case or the future?

Take a look at your own behavior and think about how it has changed since the first time you held a cellphone. Do you correspond mostly via text these days? Twitter, Facebook, email? Or do you punch in the seemingly random digits that is a person's phone number and make a call? Does that call lead to an in person meeting or a series of text messages? How have you changed your communications methods in the last five to 10 years? Let us know in the comments.

Top image courtesy of Shutterstock

The rest of the regulatory chips should fall in line for Google and Motorola after E.U. approval. The merger still needs to be approved in the U.S., China, Israel and Taiwan, but the logic of the European Commission is sound. Motorola only took 2% of profits from the entire mobile industry last year. From an anti-trust perspective, Google could buy Sony Ericsson and LG and still not come anywhere near the combined market share of Samsung and Apple.

Update: The U.S. Department of Justice has also approved the acquisition. See below for details.

The Department of Justice's Antitrust Division issued the following statement today after announcing the closing of its investigations into Google Inc.'s acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., the acquisitions by Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Research in Motion Ltd. (RIM) of certain Nortel Networks Corporation patents, and the acquisition by Apple of certain Novell Inc. patents:

"After a thorough review of the proposed transactions, the Antitrust Division has determined that each acquisition is unlikely to substantially lessen competition and has closed these three investigations. In all of the transactions, the division conducted an in-depth analysis into the potential ability and incentives of the acquiring firms to use the patents they proposed acquiring to foreclose competitors. In particular, the division focused on standard essential patents (SEPs) that Motorola Mobility and Nortel had committed to license to industry participants through their participation in standard-setting organizations (SSOs). The division's investigations focused on whether the acquiring firms could use these patents to raise rivals' costs or foreclose competition.

"The division concluded that the specific transactions at issue are not likely to significantly change existing market dynamics."

Ostensibly, Google is buying Motorola Mobility for its 17,000 patents. Unlike Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC, Motorola has faired well in the patent wars, winning battles against Apple in courts around the world in recent weeks. Motorola lost the most recent battle over "3G" technology in Germany but overall has faired better than other Android device makers like Samsung.

"We have approved the acquisition of Motorola Mobility by Google because, upon careful examination, this transaction does not itself raise competition issues. Of course, the Commission will continue to keep a close eye on the behaviour of all market players in the sector, particularly the increasingly strategic use of patents," said Joaquin Almunia, VP in charge of competition policy at the European Commission in a release.

What Almunia is really saying is, "everybody is suing the hell out of everybody else and we will keep track of Google to make sure it does not abuse these patents."

One snag that Google could face outside of the E.U. is the fact that Motorola has a small presence in Europe. The commission notes that in its statement saying, "Google would restrict the use of Android solely to Motorola, a minor player in the European Economic Area, as compared to operators such as Samsung and HTC."

When Google announced the acquisition, CEO Larry Page said it was intended to defend and "supercharge" Android. Many Android OEMs pay patent licensing fees to Microsoft and are hounded by Apple in courts. Google's primary mission with Android is to drive mobile advertising and adoption of Google apps (like Gmail, YouTube, Maps, Music etc.) on smartphones. The commission said that Google's acquisition of Motorola would not enhance or inhibit the search giant's ability to push users toward those services.

"The Commission also examined whether Google would be in a position to use Motorola's standard essential patents to obtain preferential treatment for its services, including search and advertising. The Commission found that Google already had many ways in which to incentivise customers to take up its services and that the acquisition of Motorola would not materially change this," the report stated.

The commission also stated that it "cooperated with a number of competition authorities and in particular with the U.S. Department of Justice."

That last line could be very telling in how the U.S. treats the proposed merger. If the U.S. DOJ consulted the European Commission then it is more likely that the two entities share the same ideas on the merger.

Google's $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola should not affect the ecosystem at large, considering that Apple and Samsung own 95% of mobile phone profits worldwide. Page may see Apple's profits and want to get in on the device game but the idea is to use Motorola to protect Android.

While the idea of the smart TV is intriguing, consumers are still warming up to adoption. We expect that to change this year as more avenues for Internet-connected televisions become available and prices begin to fall. Google TV is just a small segment of the ecosystem with Apple TV, Roku, Boxee and Samsung all coming with solutions to connecting your living room to the Web.

Google TV works on an app-centric approach, with native Android apps designed specifically for the large screen form factor. The Android apps, which include staples like Flixster, Google Music, IMDb, Plex and Twitter, are not well rated on the Android Market. Xyologic points out users find most Google TV Android apps underwhelming with only two apps with higher than a 4.0 (our of five) rating in the top 10 most downloaded apps.

The surprise winner for all Google TV apps is Napster. That may be the only list that the once-powerful music service tops these days. It comes pre-installed on Google TV devices and is likely a product of the fact that most devices are sold through Best Buy, which bought Napster several years ago.

For comparison, the Roku set-top box had 15 million channel downloads as of May 2011, ahead of the release of the Roku 2. Roku's channels are not like Android apps and are not designed from a mobile platform perspective. Most Roku channel downloads are done manually (not pre-loaded) and there is a robust selection. Roku acts more as an intermediary, allowing Google to make partnerships with a variety of players from Hulu Plus, Amazon On Demand to Netflix, HBO Go and others.

While apps designed specifically for Google TV may not fare well, companies like Myriad are working to lower the barrier for all Android apps to appear on TV sets. Myriad Alien Vue brings any Android app (not just Google TV) to the living room and may be a more attractive option to service providers looking to gain traction in the smart TV market. As opposed to funneling content through the over-the-top market that Apple TV, Roku and Google TV represent, service providers can just create a dedicated Android app and connect to the TV through Myriad.

This may be another case of the open Android ecosystem coming back to bite Google. Instead of pushing dedicated Google TV apps, Myriad and others can cut Google TV out of the mix and go straight to the service providers with Android apps for Internet connected televisions.

Are you planning on purchasing a smart TV this year? Will it be a set top box like a Roku or an integrated system like something offered by Samsung? Let us know in the comments.

The app update section returns for the its fifth month and we found that fewer of our existing apps issued updates for new features or bug fixes than in months past. We also have a new treat in the Apps of the Month: a limited Staff Picks section where some of ReadWriteWeb's writers picked the apps they found most interesting during the month.

The list, as always, is a bit subjective so please let us know in the comments if we missed an app or you have found one that you cannot live without.

Vimeo (Free - iOS, Android)

As a video platform, Vimeo has always played second fiddle to YouTube. Yet, Vimeo does attract a more professional grade of videographer and often the contents of Vimeo are much more polished than the much uploaded to YouTube from millions of would-be Internet stars. Vimeo finally has a new app for iOS and Android and it is everything you would expect from the platform in terms of quality video and performance. Users can view videos, manage their accounts and upload all from one app. The Android version of Vimeo requires 2.3 Gingerbread or above.

Producteev (Free - iOS, Android)

Talk about cross-platform. Producteev is a task manager available for Macs and Windows PCs, iOS and Android, IM and email. It is basically everywhere. As a task manager, one of its best features is the ability to work offline so you can access your tasks and projects from everywhere. Imagine being an intern working on Capitol Hill in D.C. and stuck on the Metro Orange Line between Roslyn and Foggy Bottom (if you have never worked in D.C., that is where the train goes under the river and there is absolutely no cell reception) then the ability to access your tasks offline on your phone is tantamount. You can also invite other users into the projects within the app with its workspace feature. Business is going mobile.

Lanyrd (Free - m.Lanyrd.com)

We eventually envision that the cross-platform Apps of the Month section will be dominated by HTML5 mobile Web-based apps as opposed to those that happen to be released for both iOS and Android within the same month. So, we introduce our first HTML5-based Web app ever in this column with Lanyrd, the social conference directory. It made a big splash when we wrote about it for ReadWriteMobile on the last day of January and the community at Hacker News had a fairly robust discussion about how it was made and what its benefits are. The greatest benefit of Lanyrd's mobile Web app is that it utilizes HTML5 offline caching so you can get around any conference even when the Wi-Fi or cellular connection has gone kaput. While Lanyrd is a fairly simple and the UI leaves a bit to be desired, this is a great first step towards open standards and cross-platform deployment through the mobile browser.

Plex ($4.99 -- iOS, Android)

Plex for iOS actually came out for iOS in December but the Android version was released in January so we will give it a cross-platform designation. It is a media platform that runs across Windows, Mac and Linux. Install the Plex Server on your computer then download the app and all of your media (music, video, pictures) will be converted to mobile form through your myPlex app. Plex serves over 200 channels including Vimeo, YouTube, Revision3 and others. When attaching it to a Mac it can run content from iTunes, Aperture and iPhoto. Truly a simple and powerful media streaming app.

Zynga Poker (Free - iOS, Android)

It is what it is, as they say. Poker from social gaming company Zynga. This poker game is a little cooler on the geek factor though since it was written in HTML5 and then wrapped for the native platforms (a hybrid app). If you have ever played Zynga's poker app on Facebook, this will be no different except it has now gone mobile. Connect with friends, get some free chips and get your Texas Hold 'em' on.

Staff Picks

So, when I mentioned a "limited" Staff Picks section, I was being literal. Trying to get the busy ReadWriteWeb staff to put together one measly selection for Apps of the Month is like trying to pull the back hairs off an angry baboon. I promised I would shame the staff for not getting in their Apps of the Month selections by the deadline and I will continue doing so in this column until more than five staffers actually send me selections. They have a variety of excuses from "I didn't like the app I chose" to "I learn about new apps when you write about them." Bah! For a staff that writes about new applications and gets thousands of pitches a month on a variety of topics, you would think that picking one measly app would be easy enough to figure out.

Well, here are the staff selections we did get.

Jon Mitchell - Writer

The Ying to my Yang here at RWW, Jon had his App of the Month lined up weeks ago. Kudos, Mr. Mitchell.

Day One (Journal/Diary) ($1.99 - iOS)

Day One is my new journal. It supports tweeting and whatnot, but it's the best app for keeping things to myself that I've ever used. You can set daily reminders to write in it, or you can just dash off entries whenever it suits you. If you want to keep it secret, you can lock it with a passcode. Day One supports MultiMarkdown formatting, so you can make text bold, italic, and add links, too. Day One has been around for a while, but version 1.5, which launched this month, adds iCloud syncing. Now your journal is seamlessly synced between your iDevices, as well as the Mac app if you swing that way. It also supports Dropbox, if you'd prefer to sync there.

Robyn Tippins - Community Manager

Our intrepid community manager is a big gamer. You would not think of it coming from a mother with a thick Southern accent but if we ever open a RWGaming channel, Robyn would be our go-to resource.

Shogun: Rise of the Renegade (First mission is free on iOS, $1.99 to unlock the full game and the other missions.)

I'm a big fan of the games where you dodge unbelievably complex patterns of bullets and bombs, like Geometry Wars, so when I saw the screen grabs from this game I knew I'd probably enjoy it. In Shogun: Rise of the Renegade, you are fighting a warlord, the winner of World War IV. The premise is silly, but you don't play these games for a story. The graphics are retro-90s, the soundtrack is annoying but appropriate for the game type, the price is great, and other than the minor annoyance in weapon changing, it's a cool game. If you enjoy Japanese arcade games filled with lasers and 'bullet hell' situations, you'll enjoy this fun little game. Best part? It fits right into the iCade!

Joe "Zonker" Brockmeier - Channels Writer

Joe came in with an app at the very last minute after I threatened a public shaming on the staff editorial call. I was ready to give him a pass since he has been traveling in Europe last week, but Zonker came through.

Wunderkit (Free - iPhone)

Wunderkit is a sort of social to-do manager. It's suitable for setting up a "Getting Things Done" type workflow for personal use, or you can invite friends and co-workers to join and share workspaces. It's a low-impact collaboration tool that might catch on, if a team is iPhone-equipped and heavily into social tools. For maximum features, like gettimg involved with other people's projects, you need to sign up for a $5 a month account. But that's far cheaper than a lot of other collaboration tools. Having just checked it out recently (it was released on January 31), I can't vouch for its effectiveness just yet, but it looks promising.

And back to our regularly scheduled program.

iPhone & iPad

Chasing Salander: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo ($0.99, iPhone)

I break my own rules (that Apps of the Month need to be published in the month being written about) every so often for apps that came the month before that rock. Chasing Salander certainly fits into that category. It is an enhanced e-book of the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo where you chase renegade Lisbeth Salander through 14 locations with a short reading and pictures. With over 100 new facts not found in the books or movies this is a great app for any fans of the Salander triology.

Yamaha NoteStar Sheet Music (Free - iPad)

Play the piano? Want to rock with your favorite band but do not have the sheet music to do it? NoteStar is a hands-free sheet music where you can play along with the band or have the keyboard section isolated to study it on your own. You can preview and purchase new music from within the app and Yamaha's screen flow feature provides automatic page turning in time with the music. The performance can be slowed or sped up depending on your learning limits. If I knew absolutely anything about playing the piano, this would seem like a great place to learn new songs.

iTunes U 2.0 (Free, iPad/iPhone)

Apple called for a mysterious press conference in the middle of January in New York City. It was actually a cruel thing to do to the poor Apple Fan Boys of the world because they all got excited that a new iPad was coming down the pipeline. No such luck. What Apple did announce was its new textbook initiative that makes courses available online through the iPhone or iPad from universities across the world. As a general concept this is cool stuff, but there has been controversy over Apple iBooks End User License Agreement and if it is even legal to proceed in the fashion that Apple has. Our Marshall Kirkpatrick called iTunes U 2.0, "not perfect, just awesome."

SoulCalibur ($11.99 - iPhone/iPad)

I used to play the classic SoulCalibur game on the ill-fated DreamCast at my neighbors house in my early adult years. Outside of some golf pro and business apps, graphic intensive games are the most expensive on the iOS platform. Normally I will add the expensive games in Apps of the Month because they good examples of the capabilities of smartphones and tablets but not download the actual apps. I decided to bite the bullet and spend the $11.99 on SoulCalibur because it was the greatest fighting game ever.

Numberlys ($5.99 - iPhone/iPad)

One of the greatest things about the mobile revolution is that the nature of storytelling is fundamentally changing. It is dynamic, interactive and visually appealing like never before. Numberlys might be the greatest example yet. It is a game, a mystery, a story, a learning adventure. it is a depiction of the origins of the alphabet told through numbers. Our Jon Mitchell reviewed the app; " It's an interactive tale with a massive visual scope appropriate for people of all sizes. Its stark, soaring black-and-white aesthetic draws on Fritz Lang's Metropolis to tell the story of five characters' quest to create the alphabet in a world run by numbers."

Congressional Records App (Free - iPad)

This is an impressive app from the Library of Congress. Yes, I just wrote that sentence. This is the daily edition of The Congressional Record on your iPad using data from Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Office of the Secretary of the Senate, and the Government Printing Office. Browse by date (going back to 1995), share via email, read as a PDF and identify the latest bills put forth on the House and Senate floors. Great for politicos trying to catch up on activity, student researchers, interns, lawyers, pundits and lobbyists.

Android

Wikipedia (Free)

You would think that one of the largest Web services in the world would have already released an Android app. Wikipedia finally came to Android in January. It is fairly self-explanatory. Search, save for later reading, share with the Android share function. All the good encyclopedia knowledge that you need in the comfort of your pocket.

ViBe (Free)

ViBe is caller ID with vibration patterns. Choose a contact, set a vibration pattern for that person and know from the feel of the movement in your pocket who is calling you without looking at your phone. This is so weird that I think it might be one of the coolest things ever. If your phone is on silent at work, in a meeting, at a conference, while on a date, know who is contacting you based on the pattern. I am trying to figure out how the studio, Base2Apps, dreamed this up but it has become one of the more useful apps in my Android collection. One of the notable uses is for blind or deaf people that cannot see or hear their phones ring. "We're passionate about deaf advocacy," the Android Market page states.

Jotly (Free)

Rate everything. Like, really, everything. Go social, local and mobile (ack, dare I say it? mocial.) Jotly is actually a parody app of the often absurd world of apps and startups and their obsession with memes, rankings and just. being. social. It is not directly supposed to be a parody of Kevin Rose's Oink, but it kind of is anyway. It came to Android in January and just the Android Market page (linked above) is hilarious. "Move around freely. Jotly will automatically go where your phone does." Or better, "Find the best and worst things at any place. Like ducks? Jotly will show you big and little ducks." You know all those wonderfully sarcastic people you find on the InterWebs? They are kicking it on Jotly.

Dragon Go! (Free)

Dragon Go! from Nuance is new to Android in January. It came out for iOS in November. It is a voice-activated search app that gives Siri a run for its money and puts would-be Android contenders like Iris to shame. The tagline is " Just Say it, Get it and Go!" Search for local shopping, movie tickets and more. Connected to 200+ channels on the Web like ESPN, YouTube, Ask.com and more, it is a good search app from the developers at Nuance.

Decide (Free)

Last night a startup friend and I debated the merits of local shopping with an entrepreneur looking for seed funding for a mobile, social commerce app. It is a really tough space to get into. A good reason for that is apps like Decide. Decide is an app that helps you figure out if you want to buy the newest consumer electronics gadget on the market. At the store doing research on some fancy new tablet? Ask the Decide app if it is worth it or not and the app will give you a "Buy Now" or "Wait" instruction. Scan the barcode or a QR code and Decide will look up the gadget, give you price information and tell you if it is worth spending money on.

Embark (Free -- NYC, San Francisco and D.C.)

Embark is a series of public transportation apps that help you navigate a new city. Cannot figure out how to get from Manhattan to Brooklyn? (I never can, unless I am going to DUMBO.) Or maybe you performed the impossible and got lost on BART in San Francisco? What about conditions on the Orange Line in D.C? Embark provides train schedules, route planning and interactive maps for travelers who have lost their way.

Screenshot: Embark D.C. Metro

Notable Updates

It is always important to remember to go into your device and update apps on a regular basis. Updates provide new functionality, performance and security upgrades and make sure that the bugs from the last version have been taken care of.

Notable iOS Updates:

• Rage HD, Pandora Radio, Order & Chaos Online, Fishing Joy HD, HeyStaks, XFinity TV, Angry Birds Rio, IMDb, Powder Monkeys, Infinity Blade, Instagram, Zite, Netflix, Opera Mini, ShowYou, Path, Project Slice, Fanhattan for iPad, Kibits, Evernote, Square, Groupon HD, NBC Player, Epicurious, Urban Crime, Google Books, Hulu Plus, Rdio, Flixster, SoulCalibur, CNN for iPad, The Wall Street Journal, iBooks, Hipmunk, Slacker Radio.

Notable Android Updates:

• AirSync by DoubleTwist, Angry Birds, Angry Birds Rio, Barcode Scanner, ESPN ScoreCenter, Evernote, Facebook, Fandango, Firefox, Foursquare, Google Goggles, Google Maps, Google Music, LevelUp, LinkedIn, Lookout Security, Match.com, Norton Mobile Utilities, Flixster, News360, OpenTable, Opera Mobile, PewPew, Rdio, SketchBook Mobile, The Weather Channel, WordPress, Words With Friends, E*Trade Mobile, Google Voice, NPR News, Path.

Chrome for Android is a win for everybody. Except, of course, most users. As of Google's latest Android platform numbers, only 1% of devices are running Ice Cream Sandwich. That will change as 2012 moves along with adoption accelerating from new device purchases and updates. Chrome for Android immediately becomes one of the go-to browsers on the platform, which is good for HTML5 development, reliability and security.

The best thing that Chrome for Android brings to the table is robust HTML5 integration. The native Android browser is known to have mediocre HTML5 performance (pre-Ice Cream Sandwich) but Chrome for Android promises to make up what has been lacking.

That will include a hardware-accelerated canvas, overflow scroll support, HTML5 video specs support along with Indexed DB (for offline caching, presumably), WebWorkers and WebSockets.

The biggest advantage for mobile HTML5 though will be the ability to bring Chrome tools to the Android platform. If a developer knows how to work in Chromium, working in Chrome for Android will be a seamless transition. This is where the possible convergence of the Chrome and Android platforms will take place.

"Much of the code for Chrome for Android is already shared with Chromium and over the coming weeks, the Chromium team will be upstreaming many new components developed for Chrome for Android to Chromium, WebKit and other projects," Arnaud Weber, Google's engineering manager for Chrome, wrote in a blog post.

Chrome for Android has already been put through its initial HTML5 tests with a score of 343 (+10 bonus) on HTML5Test.com. The native ICS browser scored 256 (+3 bonus) which put it in the middle of the pack in terms of mobile browsers.

Enhancements For Users

Chrome for Android promises to be fast, simple and reliable. It pre-loads pages with the Chrome Omnibox (only when Wi-Fi is enabled) and predicts where and what you want to navigate to. It also brings a simple user interface to the Android browser environment, something that many users will be very grateful for after dealing with some of the more complicated UIs from third-party options like Opera, Dolphin HD and Skyfire.

The best aspect of Chrome for Android though will be the ability to sign in to your Chrome browser and have access to all of your bookmarks, tabs and browsing history from anywhere. If you leave your computer with open tabs, Chrome for Android will recognize those and open them for you. Chrome will also be able to track your browsing history to better provide search suggestions. Like many other mobile browsers with desktop presences, Chrome for Android will also be able to sync your bookmarks to your mobile device.

This 1% Problem

We are going to be perfectly honest. No writer at ReadWriteWeb has a device running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. So, we could not put the Chrome Beta through the paces (most RWWers use iPhones as well).

And there is the rub. Next to no one has Ice Cream Sandwich yet, outside a couple Galaxy Nexus users. This poses a problem, if a temporary one. Many existing Android devices are never going to get the ICS upgrade and the devices that have it pre-installed are still in early adopter/Android geek territory.

For many, the Chrome for Android is just an exciting announcement to shrug at since most will never see it on their current devices. Chrome for Android developers have plenty of time to roll out dynamic Web apps before the mass of Android users actually gets the browser. So, perhaps there is a positive side.

Excited for Chrome for Android? Will you develop for it? What about signing in to Chrome across all your devices? Let us know your reactions in the comments.

A Croatian startup named ShoutEm that provides a platform for iOS and Android app creation created a timeline infographic of the history of the mobile app store. Starting in 2008 with the advent of Apple's App Store, the game has fundamentally changed. Check it out below.

The Android Market launched a couple months later in October and had 50 apps to start.

Research In Motion was not far behind, announcing BlackBerry App World at its developers' conference in October 2008 and accepting submissions from developers in early 2009. Nokia's Ovi Store opened in 2009, starting its short-lived run as the No. 2 global app store behind Apple's trailblazer.

The Windows Phone Marketplace launched in late October 2010. By July 2011 it had nearly 30,000 apps. As of Jan. 2012, it has almost 50,000. The BlackBerry App World had about 37,000 at the end of July 2011.

Apple reached the 100,000 app mark first, a little more than a year after launch, in November 2009. Skipping ahead, the Android Market hit 200,000 in early 2011 and nearly doubled its developer output through the remainder of the year. As of now, the Market has about 400,000 apps available while iOS has nearly 550,000.

Check out the timeline below. It ends in Aug. 2011 but we know the history since. The Ovi Store is in decline as Nokia gradually phases out the Symbian series, BlackBerry is in flux and awaiting new devices and trying to spur developers in to creating apps for the platform again while iOS and Android maintain exponential growth.

See the timeline on ShoutEm's blog here.

"Mark has an evangelical approach to advertising," Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP Plc, the world's largest advertising agency told Reuters. "He sees Facebook as a vehicle to open up communication, not to monetize." Facebook's attitude toward advertising is finally changing. Users have started to notice, too. Today Facebook took that first step, claiming that sponsored stories for mobile will be coming "within weeks."

As soon as early March 2012, Facebook will soon start dropping "featured stories" into users' mobile news feeds. Currently Facebook has 425 million mobile users. HTML5 app buttons have started popping up on Facebook's mobile site. A Facebook spokesperson confirmed with Reuters that Facebook will not work with an agency to create paid ads on the mobile platform.

Facebook started integrating sponsored stories into the news ticker and the news feed. It was only a matter of time before Facebook decided to move forward with ads in the mobile space.

When it comes to Facebook ads that are built around a user's data, questions about privacy laws come up. In fact, in its S-1 filing, Facebook noted the "evolving nature" of privacy and data protection laws as two major risk factors - not to mention the fact that Facebook doesn't have a mobile advertising platform. At least, not yet.

How will Facebook's mobile ad strategy evolve? Take the poll on ReadWriteMobile.

StatCounter's analytics only include cellphones, excluding tablets from the mix. The global leader in mobile Web use is Nokia at nearly 40% of usage. The firm believes that Nokia's global dominance is due to high penetration in emerging markets like India. Apple is a strong No. 2 globally, while leading use in the United Kingdom and the United States.

While Nokia is the global leader, the strength of Apple is clear. With about 28.76% of use, Apple nearly doubles the next closest competitor, Samsung, by about 14%. If you take all the Android OEMs listed (Samsung, HTC, LG, Sony, Motorola and Sony Ericsson and "Google"), the Android OEMs make up about 24.72% of global mobile Internet usage.

Research In Motion fell about 10% from Jan. 2011 to Jan. 2012 from 18.15% to 8.3%. That is indicative of the global fall of BlackBerry sales and usage. In the U.K., BlackBerry remains the No. 2 device, behind Apple.

In North America, Apple has an astonishing lead in mobile Internet use, with 59.11%. No other OEM comes close, with Samsung holding the No. 2 spot at 11.43% and RIM third at 10.06%.

It is difficult to ascertain Apple's dominance of the mobile Internet access. For most of 2011, Android devices outsold Apple's iPhone globally and in the U.S. The end of the year rise is understandable as both of the U.S.'s largest carriers, AT&T and Verizon, boasted strong iPhone sales in comparison to Android, but after a year of eye-popping numbers, the Android ecosystem has not made a dent in iPhone sales in this metric. It could be attributed to user behavior or device/mobile browser performance or any of several sociological phenomena.

Outside of OEM share, one thing is clear: the mobile Internet is changing the way people access information. If history holds true, then more than one in every six Internet users in the world will be accessing the Web through cellphones by Jan. 2013.

Top photo courtesy of Shutterstock

Skype was acquired by Microsoft in 2011 and a Skype client for Windows Phone had been promised by the end of last year. So far, Microsoft and its Skype unit have been quiet about the integration, but the Verge is reporting that company employees can now download a test version of Skype from the Windows Phone Marketplace.

Meanwhile, an internal Microsoft video that had been intended for executives at Nokia, is fueling more speculation about what features will be added to Windows Phone 8. Known by the codename Apollo, Windows Phone 8 is expected to be released sometime after the release of the Tango operating system, which is also expected at the Mobile Phone Congress.

Windows Phone 8 is also being upgraded to work on a wider range of hardware, and will include support for NFC radios.

Microsoft also said it expects 100,000 apps to be available for Windows Phone by the time Apollo is launched, which is currently rumored to be sometime in the fourth quarter.

"Overall, we're looking at a lot of changes and additions here, all of which seem designed to either bring Windows Phone in line with other platforms, feature-wise, or make it more closely identical to the desktop version of Windows," Evan Blass wrote on PocketNow. "It's probably safe to say that the jump from Mango/Tango to Apollo will be nearly as significant as the transition from Windows Mobile to Windows Phone, and this preview certainly gives us a lot to look forward to."

Photo courtesy of ShutterStock.

Nokia, the world's largest manufacturers of mobile phones, today published its policy on conflict minerals.

Update after the jump.

In a post on Nokia's "Conversations" blog, Ian Delaney lays out the company's public policy (PDF), which augments their supplier requirements.

Delaney boils the policy down to these four elements.

• We prohibit human rights abuses associated with the extraction, transport or trade of minerals.
• We also prohibit any direct or indirect support to non-state armed groups or security forces that illegally control or tax mine sites, transport routes, trade points, or any upstream actors in the supply chain.
• We have no tolerance with regard to corruption, money-laundering and bribery.
• We require the parties in our supply chain to agree to follow the same principles.

The policy delves at some length into Nokia's commitment to human rights "in accordance with accepted international conventions and practices, such as those of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ILO Core Conventions on Labor Standards, UN Global Compact, and OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises."

Under the sub-heading, "Implementation of the Policy with Regards to Conflict Minerals," the document reads:

"We prohibit human rights abuses associated with the extraction, transport or trade of minerals. We also prohibit any direct or indirect support to non-state armed groups or security forces that illegally control or tax mine sites, transport routes, trade points, or any upstream actors in the supply chain. Similarly, Nokia has a no tolerance policy with respect to corruption, money-laundering and bribery. We require the parties in our supply chain to agree to follow the same principles."

The document outlines some of the company's process for oversight of suppliers, including the EICC-GeSI Conflict Minerals Reporting Template. It would be interesting to know how the suppliers will be reviewed, how often and what will happen to errant suppliers who use conflict minerals. We have asked Mr. Delaney exactly that and will update should we receive a response.

Update: We received a note from Nokia's Anna Bask.

"Nokia follows up the effectiveness of corrective actions and conducts on-site assessments as necessary. However, as stated in the article, the reality is that problems often lie upstream and not with our first tier suppliers. So as well as demanding proper due diligence from our direct suppliers to ensure that the material flows are conflict-free, we ask them to set policies and supplier requirements of their own and pass those on into the supply chain. Continued non-conformance and refusal to address issues of concern will lead to termination of business relationship." (Our bold.)

Conflict Minerals

Although conflict minerals could theoretically crop up anywhere, practically, East Africa is ground zero. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is certainly the worst-affected by conflict mineral mining. There, the Congolese National Army vie against three different rebel groups to extract and refine the valuable ores.

Here is how the various minerals are used in our electronics, including mobile phones, computers and music players.

• Tantalum: stores electricity in cell phones
• Tungsten: creations vibrations in phones
• Tin: circuit boards
• Gold: used to coat wiring

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock

Scoble is often the mouthpiece for these developers. To be fair, Scoble and I have met and are friendly and I find him to be a fine individual but the classic argument against him is that he is the living personification of the edge case. He knows everybody, talks to everybody and does a respectable job of eating his own dog food. Companies and developers, with good reason, respect his opinion. But, the way he inundates himself with all the great innovations of the ecosystem, he sometimes misses the reality of development and utilization in the rest of the world.

With respect to Scoble, this HTML5 argument is hogwash.

Path won a Crunchie for best design. For those not in the know, a Crunchie is an award show for best startups, design and innovation in the tech community hosted by TechCrunch, VentureBeat and GigaOm. It is the yearly culmination of the San Francisco echo chamber and, while interesting, is not really followed by many outside of Silicon Valley. That is not to discount what Path has created. We have noted the splendid design of Path at ReadWriteWeb as well and it is truly a very well made app.

Path is an edge case scenario in the world of mobile app development. It integrates social messaging, location check-ins, photography and music recommendations into a sophisticated timeline (a "path") that is endlessly scrollable and visually appealing. Path is the quintessential native app.

It would also be impossible in HTML5.

The limitations of HTML5 at this point are that it does not allow device access (to objects like the camera and location services), scrolling is often limited and multi-layered sound is very difficult to implement. See our recent coverage of the "HTML5 Developers' Wish List" for a fuller understanding to the limitations of the spec. All developers agree that HTML5 is still a work in progress and there is great hope that the standard will be advanced to a degree in 2012 that many of the problems that inhibit mobile developers will be solved. The key concept to remember with HTML5 is that it takes the one true "killer" app, the browser, and enhances its functionality.

To say that the best mobile developers and designers are pushing back against HTML5 is outrageous. It is like saying that Web developers and designers (by far the most robust group of Internet coders) are turning their backs on the standard that is taking the browser to the next generation. This is simply not true.

Like Scoble, I also talk to top developers on a daily basis. Some of the most talented coders and designers I know are working on creating dynamic experiences in HTML5 for mobile devices. That includes developers from Sencha, appMobi, Zynga and other games makers, mobile cloud developers and third-party Facebook developers. All see HTML5 as a great opportunity and are fully embracing the challenge. Look at Facebook in particular. Nobody would suppose that its developers are not some of the tops in Silicon Valley. The company is working towards progressing HTML5 and the apps ecosystem around it with innovative approaches to what the mobile Web can do.

For me to believe that the "best mobile app designers" are pushing back against HTML5, I am going to need more examples than three edge case native apps that have very specific functions. There is so much more to the mobile Web than a pretty native app.

Its not the first video-editing app for the iPad, but Avid Studio, which was released earlier today, stands out as one of the more sophisticated offerings out there. Its interface will be familiar to anybody who uses Avid's desktop video-editing suite, or even products like iMovie or Final Cut Pro X.

At the end of the day, any professional-quality video editing is going to be done on a desktop suite like Avid Pro or Final Cut Pro X. Avid realizes this and, in addition to Facebook, email and YouTube exports, it lets you push projects to their desktop application to take things to the next level.

But if you have basic or even somewhat sophisticated editing needs, this app will do it. For second generation iPads that come equipped with a camera, it offers a great way to shoot a few basic angles of video, cut it up and patch it all together on the go.

Very seldom is the raw video you shoot on an iOS or Android device ready for prime time once the record button stops. The ability to edit it directly on the iPad offers a nice middle ground between uploading junk and importing everything to the desktop for more extensive modifications.

At $4.99, Avid Studio for iPad is much more affordable than its desktop counterpart, although clearly Avid hopes you'll spring for that too if you like the tablet version. The company plans on raising the iOS app's price to $7.99 in a few weeks.

Google will institute Bouncer without disrupting the Android user experience or requiring an Apple-like approval process. The tactic that Google is using focuses on the cloud and identifying malware as opposed to checking each app's credentials at the door. Furthermore, Google said that Android malware is actually decreasing, contrary to prior reports.

"The service performs a set of analyses on new applications, applications already in Android Market, and developer accounts... (O)nce an application is uploaded, the service immediately starts analyzing it for known malware, spyware and trojans. It also looks for behaviors that indicate an application might be misbehaving, and compares it against previously analyzed apps to detect possible red flags. We actually run every application on Google's cloud infrastructure and simulate how it will run on an Android device to look for hidden, malicious behavior. We also analyze new developer accounts to help prevent malicious and repeat-offending developers from coming back."

Google claims that Bouncer has been searching for malicious apps "for a while now." The company claims that between the first and second halves of 2011, Android malware decreased 40%.

But, how can that be, you ask? We see reports of the exponential growth of Android malware almost every day. In late October and early November of 2011, there was supposed to have been a huge spike in Android malware.

Not so, says Google.

"This drop occurred at the same time that companies who market and sell anti-malware and security software have been reporting that malicious applications are on the rise," wrote Hiroshi Lockheimer, VP of engineering for Android. "While it's not possible to prevent bad people from building malware, the most important measurement is whether those bad applications are being installed from Android Market - and we know the rate is declining significantly."

Juniper reported that Android malware had increased 472% between July and November 2011. That would correlate with Google's proclaimed decrease in malware downloaded to user devices. Somebody is lying right?

Not quite. There is a distinct difference between malware that is created and exists in the wild and what actually makes it to users' phones. Google is focused internally on the Android Market. It is not scanning the globe for malware signatures and behaviors that could potentially make it to user devices.

Google's Bouncer is not actually all that different from what a lot of third party Android security apps do. Lookout has an API that scans the download point of the Android Market, effectively scanning the store itself before and app is actually put on a device. Almost all device-level security apps function through the cloud because there is not enough free computing space on smartphones to handle the type of computations needed to identify malware. What Google has in terms of an advantage over the third party security apps is unadulterated access to the Android Market as well as one of the largest cloud infrastructures in the world to run applications on.

What Google cannot control, however, is malware from third-party app stores. If you are a frequent user of third party app repositories, it is important to know what you are downloading and keep a third party security service on your device.

It is good to see Google taking these steps, even if it is a touch overdue. Hopefully Bouncer will be effective in wiping out malware from the Android Market. Will it work? Let us know in the comments.

In addition to lists, which will help highlight individual users more, today's update also adds @-mentions and redesigns the news feed to be more about the people. Trover has positioned itself as a "browser" for places, but when you talk to CEO Jason Karas, you hear Trover is learning that people are part of those places. The new version of Trover is still about discovering places, but it provides the authentic flavor that only the local folks can offer.

World-Browsers Feel Like the Future

Trover (available for iPhone and Android) is in a category of apps that matters to me. So-called "browsers for the world" represent the future I dreamed about as a kid, where our devices are not difficult or distracting, they're seamless extensions of and enhancements to our daily lives. Using a smartphone to find cool stuff to see and do is one of the most natural kinds of computing I can imagine. This is what drew me to Trover when it launched.

But since then, another iPhone world-browser has drawn me in. I've been using Localscope, which I think is much closer to a "browser," per se, than Trover is. It's a sleek user interface to aid in locating things.

Localscope searches across virtually all major Web services that share location data, so you can click from Facebook to Twitter to Foursquare to Google Maps (and much more) until you find something interesting. It's got two modes, browsing and searching. It is to the physical world what, say, Chrome is to the Web.

Is Trover a Browser or a Guide?

Discussing Localscope and Trover with Jason Karas the other day, the differences stood out so starkly that I - presumptuous blogger that I am - suggested that Trover might not be a browser after all. It's more like a guide, and today's new features further enhance that side of it.

First of all, Trover makes it easy to share discoveries as well as find things discovered by others. It's a two-way experience. But also, Localscope is designed around efficiency, finding what you're looking for and putting the phone away. Trover is an immersion. You follow people, you find the experts and tastemakers in your area, and you learn to trust their tastes.

Check out Trover and see what's happening in your area. If there isn't much, be a pioneer. That was Karas' word. If you love where you live, and you're proud of it, sharing it on Trover can help new people find those local gems. And if you're somewhere full of great guides, Trover will help you get to know the place.

Going to SXSW? Trover Is.

As a bit of a "coming out party," as Karas called it, Trover is hosting a Discover East Austin Mobile PhotoWalk on Saturday, Feb. 18 as part of South by Southwest. It's hosted by local explorers, and participants will get a sense of the city they're in outside the confines of the huge conference.

SXSWi nominated Trover for a Community Award, and this fun extension of an app into the real world is a great demonstration of why. If you're going to South By, be sure to join the Trover tour.

What kinds of location-based apps do you use, and how do you use them?