WebProWorld

Apple said today developers have created over 100,000 apps for its App Store, making it the largest application store in the world.

iPhone and iPod touch users in 77 countries can choose from a range of apps in 20 categories, including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. App Store users have downloaded over two billion apps since the launch of the store 16 months ago.

Google has launched some new features for Google Friend Connect, aimed at letting site owners make their GFC experience more personalized and letting their visitors get to know each other.

A representative for Google tells Murdok that 9 million sites are using Google Friend Connect, and pages with GFC get over half a billion unique visitors a month. Two people join every second, she says.

Senior staff in the U.S. Congress and European Parliaments regularly access digital outlets and social media to research, influence and set policy, according to a new study by StrategyOne.

Nearly every staffer (96%) uses online resources for public policy research, more than half (54%) reported learning of policy issues for the first time online and (19%) actually changed policy positions based on information and opinions they found online.

Earlier this week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer hit a pessimistic note by saying that he expected to see IT spending growth, but not recovery.  Now, it seems that Microsoft is about to prove it’s still in recession mode, as rumors of imminent layoffs are circulating.

PayPal has opened its global payments platform called PayPal X, providing new APIs, a new developer portal, and some introductory services pricing to help developers take advantage of PayPal X to build businesses.

"The whole world is going digital, and the future of how we communicate, how we get information, and even how we transact, is in the hands of developers," said PayPal President Scott Thompson. "The network is the platform on which the potential of digital money will be fully realized."

eBay said Wednesday it is launching a new digital magazine called "The Inside Source" that will be focused on "insights and stories based on what more than 89 million active users are searching for, buying and selling" on the auction site.

The Inside Source content will be managed by an editorial team, led by Meredith Barnett, previously Director of Digital Media for Lifetime Digital. The content will focus on a variety of lifestyle topics, including fashion, technology, automotive, home and garden, pop culture and sustainability.

A company with a market cap of $51 billion has lent some weight to the idea that it’s possible to make money off Twitter.  Early this morning, Amazon launched a "Share on Twitter" feature designed to bring in buyers and reward the specific people responsible for doing so.

As you’re probably aware, many business owners and managers are hesitant to integrate social media into their business strategies. If you are one that does look for ways to use it, however, you may want to consider how you are using individual social networks.

It’s getting to be that time of year during which people grow much nicer and more family-oriented.  Or much more rude and antisocial.  Whatever.  Either way, Google’s making a special effort to ensure that it isn’t put out of mind over the next couple of months.

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum said today his office has sued online travel companies Expedia and Orbitz for failing to pay the right amount of taxes on hotel room rentals.

The lawsuit states that while the companies have been collecting these taxes from consumers all along, they have only been paying a portion of the taxes to the state and keeping the rest as profit.  Florida says the practice denies it of millions of dollars every year in tax revenue.