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Google continues the slow rollout of Google Plus to iOS with its new update, version 1.0.2.1966, which adds settings for Huddle, better notifications when you're added to circles, iPod touch and iPad support, as well as performance and stability improvements. To be clear, there is no iPad app for Google Plus. The iPhone app was restricted from running on the iPad before, unlike most other apps. Today's update allows the iPhone app to run on an iPad, as well as on the iPod Touch, which was not supported before.

Apple has made changes to the way it ranks its top mobile applications in its iTunes App Store. The new rankings appear to take in consideration additional data points beyond raw download numbers, it appears. The changes should lead to more accurate lists of the top free and paid apps across the app store because, as every good developer knows, installs alone don't paint the best picture of an app's true popularity.

So what exactly has Apple changed to improve the app rankings and why?

Over the weekend, the group of iPhone hackers known as the Dev Team released two new tools to jailbreak the latest version of Apple's mobile operating system, iOS 4.3.1. Both the PwnageTool and the tool called redsn0w allow users to perform an "untethered" jailbreak, which means that when rebooting your mobile device, it doesn't have to be connected ("tethered") to your computer in order to keep the jailbreak in place.

These jailbreaking tools were made possible by an exploit found by German security researcher Stefan Esser, who provided details regarding the exploit to the team.

Evernote is releasing a completely redesigned app for iPhone and iPod Touch today (iTunes link). Noting that its iPhone app was first released the same day as Apple launched the iTunes App Store, Evernote says it's learned a lot about what it takes to make a great app. And equipped with two years worth of feedback, the notetaking and storage platform says it's gone "back to the drawing board and reconsidered every single aspect of Evernote for iPhone.

The changes are pretty impressive, and if you're reliant on Evernote for your mobile device you'll find the app faster and the interface more intuitive - all making the app a lot easier for not just note-taking but for note retrieval.

Looking for hard data detailing the explosion of the app economy? Helsinki-based mobile analyst Horace Dediu of asymco released yet another series of charts this week where he explains how he came to the conclusion that more than 60 apps have been downloaded for every iOS device sold.

In the fall of 2008, there were only around 10 apps downloaded for every iPhone/iPod Touch, Dedui says. Only two years later, the rate is five times higher.

On the 50th anniversary of his taking office, MultiEducator has debuted JFK Historymaker 1.0.

The iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch app contains 36 chapters, 250 high-res photographs, the full text of over 200 speeches, 60-plus pages of bio, and 35 video clips.

On Monday, Apple shipped its long-awaited iOS 4.2.1 update for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, which was the first major upgrade for the iPad since its launch earlier this year. Finally, iPad users have access to features like multitasking, app folders, threaded messaging and a Unified Inbox, thanks to this update. It also delivered new features called AirPrint and AirPlay to all iOS devices, the former for printing from mobile devices and the latter for streaming between mobile devices and Apple TV or other AirPlay-enabled hardware.

But for iPhone jailbreakers, there's only one question that comes to mind when a new upgrade is released: can you jailbreak it?

Apple just launched iTunes 10.1. This new version brings support for playing videos over AirPlay and "stability and performance improvements." The new version of iTunes is also required for syncing devices that run the forthcoming iOS 4.2. Given that the iOS 4.2 update can only be installed with iTunes 10.1, chances are that the next version of Apple's operating system will be released in the next few days as well.

It's been just over two months since Skyfire submitted its mobile browser to the App Store and today the app has been approved. The big to-do, of course, is that Skyfire brings Flash video to the iPhone and iPad by translating it into HTML5 video in real time.

When the company submitted the app in early September, they called it a "test of whether Jobs' 'thoughts on Flash' ban is actually political rather than technical". Today, it looks like the ban has fallen on the side of reason.

VLC has made its way fully onto iOS with this week's release for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The open-source, multi-platform video player will allow Apple's mobile device users to play a number of different video formats, from DiVX to AVI and more.