Beyond the sheer number of devices sold, one of the biggest ways to Apple and Google try to position themselves as having the top mobile platform is by comparing the number of third-party apps available for users to download. Apple usually takes the number of apps available one step further when comparing iOS to Android by pointing out how many apps take advantage of the iPad’s tablet features such as screen size.

This is one of the reasons that an active and developer community is crucial a mobile platform’s success. Although Android entered the app race after Apple had begun to establish a successful developer community, the platform began to catch up quickly. All that seems to have changed over the past year, with a new report showing iOS developers are now creating three apps for every single new Android app.

ZOMG! Never lose your iPhone again with the ZOMM Wireless Leash Plus, a hardware/software combo that wirelessly ties your iPhone to a needy dongle that cries whenever the two are separated. It can help you to remember your phone, your keys, or even where you parked Grandma.

With a quick thumbing of Command+Tab, the built-in OS X Application Switcher is a great way to navigate apps for when your hands are just too busy to leave the keyboard.

One annoyance, though, is that no matter what, Finder is always listed in the Application Swticher, which you may not want to constantly have to be navigating against to go from, say, your e-mail and iTunes. Luckily, for advanced users, removing it from the Application Switcher for good is only a terminal command away.

It’s taken a while, but it seems that the dried up tear-duct that was the supply of Thunderbolt accessories is about to turn into a torrent of high-speed, daisy-chainable tears of relief. Hard drive supremo LaCie will at last sell you a 2big Thunderbolt Series external drive.

Ever wondered how come iOS titles make it into the App Store’s top 25 list? Some iOS developers have been using download bots to purchase their own apps and manipulate the App Store’s top 25 list, according to a new report from Inside Mobile Apps. The software has been in use for over 12 months to fraudulently promote iOS titles, and some marketing firms charge up to $15,000 a time for the service.

Proview Technology, which is currently suing Apple for its use of the “iPad” trademark in China, revealed yesterday that it is seeking a ban on all iPad shipments into and out of China. If successful, the move could delay Apple’s iPad 3 launch with the device unable to leave the Chinese factories in which it is assembled.

However, according to Chinese customs, Proview has no chance of blocking iPad shipments because customers just love it too much.

While Apple’s trademark dispute with Proview Technology rages on, the iPad continues to feel the strain in China. Following its ban in one Chinese city, the device has now been pulled from Amazon China and the retailer has frozen all orders.

Makego is a cool new app that makes your kids’ real world creations come to life.

The two-dollar app comes with three virtual vehicles – a racing car, an ice cream truck, and a river boat. All you have to do is make one (out of Lego, paper, or anything else you can think of), plop your device inside, and run the app.

Rumors of added Siri language support have been swirling for a little while now. As it turns out, the digital assistant herself thinks she can already speak Japanese, despite the fact that the language isn’t officially supported yet.

Fingerprint smudges. You probably hate them just as much as we do, but the solution to avoiding them has eluded iPhone users for the past 5 years. Well if you can’t avoid them entirely, you can at least get rid of them in style with your own personalized screen cleaning cloth from Mobile Cloth.  Considering it only cost $6.99 for a pack of two, the Mobile Cloth is a very effective screen cleaner. A quick polish with the cloth removes all the gunk which is much more effective than wiping it on your jeans or tshirt — my previous preferred method of cleaning my iPhone. You don’t even need to use water (unless the grot is completely dried on).

The Mobile Cloth is made from a unique microfiber material, with the fibers split and woven into “nubs” that act like tiny “suction cups,” pulling grease and germs away from the screen, according to the company. What sets Mobile Cloth apart from competitors is the company’s ability to quickly print and ship personalized clothes with your image on them (ordering a pack of 200 personalized cloths retails for $359).

Today we’re giving away 10 packs of two Mobile Cloths to our Twitter followers.

Here’s how to enter:

It has taken me a couple of weeks to refresh and recharge from my first Macworld experience (now known as Macworld | iWorld, of course). But during that time of getting clear I had the opportunity to give the latest offering by RealMac Software (Rapidweaver, LittleSnapper) in collaboration with Milen and Impending, Inc. a thorough “beta” test drive. Coincidentally, the iOS app is called Clear, and it is one of the more compelling list-makers/task managers I’ve seen for the iPhone.

The innovative thing about Clear is that it is entirely gesture-based in execution. There are no visible buttons or sliders; you use a series of gestures to interact with it, and that is what makes it stand apart from other iPhone list apps and task managers.

AT&T has been sending out text messages to those they consider to be among the top 5 percent of heaviest data users. These messages seem to only pertain to those still on the “unlimited” plan and warn them that they may be subjected to “reduced data speeds.” This throttling of data speeds is a direct attack against the “unlimited” plans and the users grandfathered into them. The worst part about it is most “unlimited” users have not changed the way they use their phones, yet they are now finding themselves to be alienated and penalized as being a part of the 5%. The whole thing is outrageous, and while many customers have been ranting about it for a while, you’re going to want to see what happens when Fox News anchor Shep Smith receives one of these AT&T messages. Let’s just say someone’s not happy.

Impending and Realmac Software have released Clear, the highly anticipated to-do app for the iPhone, in the App Store. For an introductory price of $0.99, you can get your hands one of the most innovate task manager applications around.

Another day, another Samsung employee throwing dirt on the rumored Apple television. If you recall, a certain Samsung suit called Steve Jobs’ dream for the iTV “nothing new,” indicating that Samsung is already playing the game and playing it to win.

This time, a Samsung product manager is back to let us all know why Apple’s unannounced TV won’t be able to compete with what the South Korean company already has on the market. How comforting.

Readability is a nice little app that turns virtually any web page into a clean, comfortable reading view, with syncing to allow for the reading of articles at a later date. While the web app has been available for some time now, the iOS app has been sitting in limbo for 4 month awaiting approval. In the meantime, Readability has managed to develop an Android app which is now almost ready for launch. As you can see from a tweet from a Readability developer, they’re simply waiting for Apple’s approval so they can go ahead and launch the apps:

Have you ever wanted to check the weather or look at stocks without unlocking your iPhone? A tweak called Bulletin lets you access the iOS 5 Notification Center from your jailbroken device’s lock screen.

Apple has always been notoriously tight-fisted when it comes to spending. As the world’s most valuable technology company by a long shot, there’s a ton of pressure on Apple to acquire competition and flaunt its $100 billion cash reserve.

At the Goldman Sachs Conference today, Cook noted that Apple has spent billions on acquisitions, in the supply chain, retail, and company infrastructure. “But yes, we still have a lot,” he said.

At the Goldman Sachs keynote today, Tim Cook was asked a question about the Apple TV that was extremely revealing in regards to why Apple keeps calling it a “hobby device”… and why it might soon lead to the so-called Apple iTV.

Asked about the unprecedented growth of iPad in its first seven full quarters, Apple CEO explained at today’s Goldman Sachs keynote why he thinks the iPad has proven so popular, and been such a breakway success.

Cook sarcastically called Apple’s 37 million iPhone sales last quarter a “decent” number to a room full of laughs at the Goldman Sachs Conference this afternoon. In Cook’s eyes, that number represented only 9% of the handset market, and Apple sees incredible opportunity to take the entire global handset market by storm. Cook said that Apple’s mission is to “make the world’s best product.”

Speaking at today’s Goldman Sachs keynote, Apple CEO Tim Cook began by bluntly addressing charges of worker abuse in Apple’s supply chain: Apple will not rest until every worker is guaranteed a fair, safe working environment without discrimination and at a competitive salary. Any suppliers who don’t take care of their workers will be fired.

Life hasn’t been good to RIM lately. The company is losing developers and major enterprise clients on a weekly basis. Its PlayBook tablet hasn’t made a dent in iPad sales (or even Android tablet sales, for that matter) and the company is practically begging Android developers to port their apps to the PlayBook. You’d expect the company to be frantic, particularly after the ousting of its co-CEOs last month… but that isn’t the case.

In one of the biggest delusions of grandeur that I’ve ever seen (which is saying something considering I was once the IT director for a mental health services agency), the company’s executives and board apparently think things are fine, that Apple is on the verge of death, and anyone outside the company is a moron. At least that’s the picture one RIM board member painted in an interview with Canada’s Globe and Mail recently.

Tweetbot is undoubtedly the hottest Twitter client available for iOS right now, and thanks to its arrival on the iPad last week, there are thousands of new users discovering the app for the first time. If you’re one of them, the first thing you’ll want to know is how to enable push notifications.

Push notifications aren’t setup when you first install the app, so you’ll need to do it manually. Here’s how!

Till January of this year, the Wahoo Key for iPhone ($80) dongle pwned fitness on the iPhone. Why? Because the tiny, ubiquitous dongle gives the iPhone access to dozens of ANT+ sensors, and more fitness apps than any other system — turning your iPhone into a fitness-tracking powerhouse.

Then in January, Wahoo one-upped itself and introduced the Wahoo Blue Bluetooth heart-rate strap, which completely bypasses ANT+ and instead communicates via low-energy Bluetooth v4.0. Does this mean the Key is obsolete? Not by a long shot.

Remote server management has long since been a way of life for IT professionals. While there are many tools that allow systems administrators to perform the majority of their job functions remotely, those tools are typically run on an administration PC – an approach that is effective but not always convenient. Today, HP announced that it planning to make the life of sysadmins a bit easier by shipping mobile server management tools for its Gen8 server line that can run on iOS and Android.

The new tools will provide monitoring and overall server health dashboard functionality. More importantly, they will offer systems administrators login, management, and even shut down capabilities. For organizations centered around HP’s server lineup, this will allow significantly more remote troubleshooting and problem resolution options.