Worldwide, the number of apps is going through the roof, thanks to the number of mobile devices. The proliferation of apps is also being driven by use; people are using them all day. Flurry, a company that provides app developers with tools to measure how much people are using their apps, released data on "the state of the apposphere" at MobileBeat 2013, VentureBeat's mobile industry conference. At the jump, Flurry's slides showing the data.

Toyota has revealed a "secret collection of secrets," with SpongeBob Squarepants as a theme. The maker's special, one-of-a-kind SpongeBob 2014 Toyota Highlander made its debut during Nickelodeon's SpongeBob Day at the Padres vs. Giants baseball game in San Diego over the weekend. The cross-promotion venture has a website, www.nick.com/highlander, online games, a behind-the-scenes video showing the making of the SpongeBob Highlander, and a sweepstakes offering someone a chance to win the vehicle.

Japanese retailer Uniqlo is expanding its U.S. footprint with 10 more stores this fall, in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and California. The expansion will bring store count to 17 sites. The expansion comprises new stores in New Jersey: Bridgewater Commons Mall in Bridgewater, and Menlo Park Mall in Edison. There will be three new stores in New York.

There's a business model for cheese. Boston-based chain Cheeseboy, which has nine locations, recently surpassed the one-million mark in grilled cheese sandwich sales since its launch in 2009. To celebrate, the company is asking people to submit essays that address the question, "What would you do for one million grilled cheese sandwiches?"

It's in India now, but will the idea expand to other markets? India-based Dreamers Media and Advertising has a program in India where it will offer discounts to car owners who will allow brands to display their ads on their new cars. Commenting on choosing this mode of transit media for the initiative, Sunis Mohamed, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Dreamers Media and Advertising said, "In India, the transit mode is not explored to the fullest when it comes to advertising."

Einstein Noah Restaurant Group Inc. chief restaurant officer Brian Unger said Friday that he will retire, effective July 18. Manny Hilario, Einstein's chief financial officer, will replace Unger in what the company described as a planned executive succession. Hilario will hold the title of chief operations officer. The company said a search is underway to fill the CFO position.

Microsoft's Chief Evangelist Steven Guggenheimer tells TechCrunch writer Frederic Lardinois that the desktop is going away any time soon. Lardinois says that in Guggenheimer's view, Microsoft de-emphasized the desktop a bit too much when it first started talking about Windows 8. "We tried to dial it up again a bit at Build," he said. Today, 700,000 apps run in the Windows desktop mode and "some of the fidelity of mouse and keyboard will never go away."

Companies in the Middle East can now promote their products/services on Twitter thanks to the micro blogging site's new range of promoted products. Promoted Tweets. There has been a growth in Twitter's fan base in the Middle East over the past year, to Facebook's disadvantage. Users prefer Twitter and Instagram to share their content and reach out to likeminded people versus creating a detailed profile on Facebook.

AB Inbev has outlined plans to establish an ecommerce offering in an attempt to drive more measurability from its online marketing. The brewer will pilot several direct selling initiatives worldwide in the coming months. It plans to sell beer and merchandise from social networks such as Facebook in partnership with supermarkets, alongside developing dedicated commercial hubs for brands such as Budweiser and Beck's.

Eleven Inc. is the new global creative agency for TaylorMade Golf Co. after a review that included 12 agencies, including incumbent Solana Beach, Calif.-based NYCA. The unit of TaylorMade-Adidas Golf Co. spent $55 million on media last year, according to Nielsen.