Apple's App Store, the iPhone 4 and a few iOS games, have been awarded Guinness world records,  including the iPhone 4 being named the fastest-selling portable gaming system.

"The release of the iPhone has not just changed the mobile industry, but the video game world too,"Gaz Deaves, Guinness World Records' gaming editor, said in a statement. "With the never-ending App Store selection and an intuitive device, Apple has created a gigantic new space for itself in the casual games genre that literally brings entertainment to users wherever they may be."

The iPhone 4 was named the fastest-selling portable gaming system by Guinness after selling an estimated 1.5 million handsets on the first day it was released on June 24, 2010.

"For comparison, the PSP shifted 200,000 units on its launch date in 2005, and the DS took a week to move 500,000 consoles in November 2004," Guinness said in a statement announcing the records.

The PSP, from Sony, and the DS, from Nintendo, are both portable video game systems, but neither is also a smart phone.

Guinness also said Apple's App Store is the most popular application marketplace.

"With over 6.5 billion downloads since its launch in July 2008, the Apple App Store is the most popular downloadable app service in the world," the world-record-tracking organization said.

About 259,470 apps were available for purchase or free download as of September 2010, while about 50,000 other apps that were once available in the App Store have been discontinued, Guinness said.

"Of the apps currently available, 61 are flatulence simulators, a genre that includes such masterpieces as Fart Machine, Fart Ocarina and iFart - Epic Rip Edition," the organization said.

The App Store is also the largest downloadable video game store, with about 37,362 games available for download as of last September, Guinness said.

"By comparison, PC games download service Steam offers around 1,110 titles, the Xbox Live Indie Arcade has slightly more at 1,300 and the Japanese Virtual Console store for Wii offers 576 titles covering a good chunk of the back catalogues of both Sega and Nintendo," the group said.

The App Store was also given a world record for the largest launch lineup of any gaming system with more than 145 games available on July 10, 2008.

Angry Birds was recognized at the top paid-for App Store game in most countries, having sold more than 6.5 million downloads of the iOS version of the game since it was first released in December 2009.

Plants vs. Zombies, "with more than 300,000 paid downloads in its first nine days on sale in February 2010" was noted as the world's fastest-selling iPhone/iPod strategy game. The game is also the world's highest-grossing strategy game launch in the history of Apple's App Store, Guinness said, generating about $1 million for developer PopCap in just over a week.

The Tap Tap Revenge game series, from game developer Tapulous, was cited as the most popular game series in App Store history, "having been downloaded more than 15 million times since the first game in the series was released in July 2008," Guinness said. "Market research firm ComScore reports that the games have been installed by 32% of all iPhone/iPad users."

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Gigwalk is looking to pay iPhone users to explore their cities, snap photos, verify locations and report back what they've found.

"There are millions of people out there in the world with smartphones in their pockets," said Ariel Seidman, Gigwalk's co-founder and chief executive. "They're consuming content, but we'd like to make people participants in a sort of mobile workforce. And that's what we do, we offer up small gigs that you can do on your way home from work, or before dinner with friends. And you can earn a little money in the process."

The whole process works by way of an iPhone app. Once a user downloads the Gigwalk app, fills out a short application to register themselves as a "gigwalker" and is approved, they are then able to view and choose odd jobs in their local area.

The listings all feature tasks that allow someone to user their phone to collect information and report it back to the company posting the gig within the Gigwalk app.

Once a task is completed, a gigwalker receives payment into a PayPal account.

Jobs range in pay from about $3 to as high at $90, depending on the complexity and time associated with a task -- such as snapping a photo on the low end, to testing out a mobile app for a developer on the higher end of the pay range, Seidman said.

Apple and Verizon could start updating the iPhone's operating system over the air this fall, after the release of iOS 5, according to a report from 9to5mac.

If the report is correct and Apple does move to wireless updates, iPhone owners might be able to update their handsets to new versions of iOS directly from their phone.

The move could provide an alternative to having to plug an iPhone into a computer via a USB cable and download an iOS update through Apple's iTunes software, as is done now.

Some of Apple's major smartphone competitors, such as those with Android, Microsoft Windows Phone and HP Palm smartphones, each feature the ability to update operating systems over the air.

"Multiple sources say the new feature will debut in iOS 5, meaning iOS 5 will not come over-the-air but following point updates to it will," 9to5Mac said in its report. "Apple and Verizon Wireless are said to have been in talks over these wireless software updates since early this year. Sources could not comment on whether Apple is negotiating similar deals with AT&T or international iPhone carriers."

The report did not name any sources, but did say Apple has the technology in place to perform wireless iOS updates now, but such a change has to be negotiated with carriers since the updates would be pushed via their respective wireless networks. IOS 5 is expected to be released this fall.

Officials at Apple and AT&T were unavailable for comment. Verizon, however, declined to comment on the report.

"Just as a standard practice, we don't address speculation out there, or rumors, and that would apply here as well," said Ken Muche, a Verizon spokesman.

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Photo: An Apple employee holds a Verizon iPhone 4 at Verizon's iPhone launch event in New York on Jan. 11. Credit: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Following a furor over its iPhone and iPad devices collecting up to a year's worth of data related to a user's whereabouts, Apple Inc. on Wednesday released a software update that reduces the amount of data stored on the devices and allows users to delete the log of recorded locations.

The updated software version, iOS 4.3.3, will reduce the size of the file storing locations from up to a year's worth of data down to about a week's worth, Apple said, and will give users the option of shutting  off the data collection altogether by turning off the "Location Services" setting.

The update came about a week after Apple offered a limited explanation of the reason for the location log, saying that rather than tracking user movements, the devices download information about nearby cellular towers and Wi-Fi networks in order to more efficiently offer geography-related services like mapping. Apple also cited bugs in the software that enabled it to collect far too much information.

The privacy and security implications of the location data quickly drew the attention of government officials in the U.S. and abroad, many of whom sent Apple requests to explain the purpose of the collection.

Next Tuesday, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) plans to question Google and Apple at a hearing about mobile privacy.

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Apple has rejected Smuggle Truck, an iPhone and iPad game in which players drive a truck packed with immigrants across a desert border and through underground tunnels.

In the game, immigrants can be hurled out of the truck and die as the vehicle navigates obstacles such as ramps, hills and explosives.

Although Apple rejected the Smuggle Truck game for its App Store, the Cupertino, Calif., tech giant did approve a less controversial version of the game called Snuggle Truck to be sold for iOS devices.

Snuggle Truck is essentially the same game, but with stuffed animals taking the place of immigrants. Also, rather than trying to move immigrants across a boarder, the objective of Snuggle Truck is to get the animals into a zoo where they'll be taken care of.

Both versions of the game were developed by Owlchemy Labs, a Boston start-up, that told the Associated Press its immigrant-themed game was rejected by Apple about three weeks ago for "content-related" reasons. The game makers are selling Smuggle Truck on their own as a computer game for both Macs and PCs.

In a statement on Owlchemy's website, the company said Smuggle Truck was built as an "interactive satire" to criticize an immigration system "largely avoided in popular media, especially video games."

The game's inspiration came from the developers' friends who have attempted to immigrate to the U.S., Owlchemy said.

"This idea originated as a result of learning that the process of legal immigration was not as straightforward as we had assumed," the company said. "As we lived through a painful 12 months of our friend struggling through the absurd legal minefield that surrounds U.S. immigration, we felt that we should create a game that touches on the issue. The comment was thrown around that "it's so tough to legally immigrate to the U.S., it's almost easier to smuggle yourself over the border," and thus Smuggle Truck was born."

A prototype of the game was built for the iPhone in two days by Owlchemy's founders, Alan Schwartz and Yilmaz Kiymaz, the statement said.

"Throughout the creation of the game, we maintained a meticulous eye to avoid depicting a specific stereotype or location, instead opting to generalize smuggling to its most basic abstract form," Owlchemy said. "Through user testing and feedback from fellow developers and even random strangers, we worked to maintain a light and humorous representation of a subject that is normally avoided.

"With a satirical angle on a real issue, we want to create a game that is fun to play but also stirs up discussion on ways to improve the problematic immigration system in the United States."

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Image: A screenshot of the Smuggle Truck computer game. Credit: Owlchemy Labs

Breaking nearly a week of silence on why its iPhones and iPads stored up to a year of specific location data, Apple Inc. on Wednesday denied that the devices were tracking users but noted that it had "uncovered" bugs that resulted in too much location data being kept on the phones.

Apple said it stored the data, which first received wide attention last week, on the devices to enable them to quickly provide location-based services, such as map directions. It is not a precise log of users' whereabouts, the company said, but a database of nearby WiFi networks and cell towers that can help the phone calculate routes and nearby destinations.

"Providing mobile users with fast and accurate location information while preserving their security and privacy has raised some very complex technical issues which are hard to communicate in a soundbite," the company said in an emailed statement.  "Users are confused, partly because the creators of this new technology (including Apple) have not provided enough education about these issues to date."

In an explanation that was somewhat complex itself, the company said that the many thousands of location data points kept on the phone were "a subset (cache) of the crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower database which is downloaded from Apple into the iPhone."  In other words, Apple is sending location data about your surroundings to your phone, rather than your phone sending that data to Apple.

Apple's response followed a growing chorus of questions from U.S. and international officials about the nature of the location data file, reflecting increasing concern about digital privacy issues.

The company emphasized that the data were not a user's exact, real-time location, but an amalgam of WiFi access points and cell-tower data, "which can be more than one hundred miles away from the iPhone."

The company, however, did not highlight that many WiFi access points can be much closer, including in specific rooms in users' homes and offices.  And as cellular networks have become larger and more sophisticated, companies have built many more towers so that each one can cover a smaller area more effectively. 

Experts have said that WiFi and cell-tower location data may soon be as specific as the highly precise GPS satellite data.

Apple said it would fix two issues with the way the data was stored, each of which it called a "bug."  An upcoming version of its mobile software, iOS, would store only about seven days of location data on the phone, rather than a year's worth.  And the phones will not store the data after users have turned off "Location Services," as is now the case.

That software update would come sometime in the next few weeks, the company said.

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Image: a map that plots location data from an iPhone of someone who traveled around the Netherlands.  Credit: marketingfacts / Flickr

Google's Android operating system already runs on more smartphones than any other OS, and Android phones may also be the most desired.

According to a Nielsen Co. survey of U.S. cellphone consumers conducted from January to March of this year, 31% said they planned on buying a new smartphone and that Android was their preferred OS.

A close second was Apple's iOS, which runs on the iPhone, with 30% of those surveyed saying they wanted the smartphones from Steve Jobs & Co. above all other options, Nielsen said.

Research In Motion's BlackBerry smartphone were coveted by 11% of respondents, while about 20% said they didn't know for sure what they would choose, Nielsen said.

Not all that long ago Apple was edging out Google.

From July to September of 2010, a Nielsen survey found, Apple's iPhone was the most wanted smartphone.

About 33% of consumers surveyed in that period said they wanted an Apple iPhone, while 26% said they would choose Android phones and 13% said they planned on picking up a BlackBerry phone.

"Those dynamics are already translating into sales," Nielsen said in a blog post reporting the findings. "Half of those surveyed in March 2011 who indicated they had purchased a smartphone in the past six months said they had chosen an Android device. A quarter of recent acquirers said they bought an iPhone and 15% said they had picked a BlackBerry phone."

As of March, 37% of smartphone owners in the U.S. had phones running Android, while 27% owned iPhones, the research firm said.

Both, however, are beating the BlackBerry, which accounted for a 22% share of the market, Nielsen said.

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Photo: A clay-art interpretation of "the raging battle between Apple's iPhone and Google's Android." Credit: Tsahi Levent-Levi via Flickr

The app can identify the TV show or movie that's playing down to the airing, episode and time of a program, for shows that are up to 5 years old. The app also produces recommendations for what to watch, based on what it identifies as a user's interests and what a user's friends have watched.

"Relying on social channels as a means for discovering content -- whether it's on a PC, mobile
device, or TV -- is rapidly on the rise," Bill Shaughnessy, Yahoo's senior vice president of product management, said in a statement. "IntoNow's technology combines the ability to check in to what a consumer is watching, engage in conversations and find related content.

"The IntoNow application the team has built clearly demonstrates the opportunities the technology presents across Yahoo's network, especially in regards to our video content, search, mobile and Connected TV experiences. We are excited to have the IntoNow team join Yahoo as we continue to build out these experiences."

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Image: Screen shots of the IntoNow app on an iPhone. Credit: Apple/IntoNow

Following widespread attention drawn by a file embedded on Apple iPhones and iPads that keeps a detailed log of the devices' location, Congressman Ed Markey (D-Mass.) has sent Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs a letter asking him to explain the purpose of the file.

"I am concerned about this report and the consequences of this feature for individuals' privacy," Markey wrote to Jobs in a letter released Thursday (see below).  Markey then listed a number of questions about the location file, Apple's uses for it, whether the company intentionally created it to track users and whether it's used for commercial purposes.

Markey, who has written to Apple over location privacy concerns before, requested an answer to his questions by May 12.

From Rep. Markey: Apple Ios Letter 04.21.11

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Image: The locations of an iPhone user's travels around the greater Los Angeles area over a 6-month period. Credit: Los Angeles Times

The Financial Times doesn't want to forfeit subscriber relationships to Apple in order to sell subscriptions through Apple's App Store subscription service.

"We don't want to lose our direct relationship with our subscribers," said Rob Grimshaw, managing director of the FT, in an interview with Reuters on Monday. "It's at the core of our business model."

The FT, an international business newspaper and website known for its pink pages, is in negotiations to come up with a compromise that would allow it to sell subscriptions through Apple devices, such as the iPad and iPhone, while maintaining full control over subscription information.

The iPad, of which Apple has sold more than 16 million units, has driven a large amount of new subscribers to FT.com, Grimshaw told Reuters. The FT has gone from a "peak of 440,000 reading the print publication" to about 590,000 subscribers in print and on FT.com, which has a website paywall similar to that of the Wall Street Journal, Reuters said.

A main point of contention between Apple and various publishers is that Apple gives subscribers options as to what private information they want to share with publishers, including name, e-mail address and ZIP Code.

By making all this information optional to share with publishers, publishers will likely see a drop in how much subscriber information they get through Apple -- valuable information they use to target ads and determine who makes up their readership.

Apple would process the payments and take a 30% cut of all subscription revenue for purchases made through the Apple App Store or within an iPad, iPhone or iPod app. Publishers can set their own subscription prices and the length of the subscription term, but Apple requires that the iOS prices meet the lowest digital prices available outside of the App Store.

Before Apple's subscription service, publishers had to sell their content one issue, video, song or album at a time.

Grimshaw told Reuters that the FT has a "great relationship with Apple" and that he hopes an agreement will be reached that works for both companies. But the news outlet also seems prepared to look to other platforms for digital subscriptions if need be.

"If it turns out that one or another channel doesn't mix with the way we want to do business, there's a large number of other channels available to us," he told Reuters.

Apple officials were unavailable for comment on the negotiations on Tuesday morning.

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Image: The Financial Times iPhone and iPad app iTunes preview listing. Credit: Apple