Lately, it seems like everyday we’re marking some app-related milestone. The latest feat comes from Apple and its Mac App Store, which just recorded its 100 millionth download less than a year after its inception. “Launched in January 2011, the Mac App Store was modeled after the iOS App Store, providing a single marketplace for all desktop applications for the Mac,” Mashable writes. “Nearly all of the most popular applications for the Mac are now distributed through the Mac App Store, including the latest version of the Mac operating system itself, OS X Lion.” Boasts Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice …

Watch out Pandora. Spotify has given its radio service a thorough makeover -- “making it bigger, smarter and an altogether cooler music discovery experience,” according to the streaming music service. The new radio will include unlimited stations; unlimited “skips” (or the ability to bypass songs); a new recommendation engine; and unlimited access to Spotify’s music library. The new Spotify radio will also be available to everyone, including subscribers and nonsubscribers. As The Next Web notes, Spotify’s rate of innovation shows just how competitive the online music space has become. “Spotify has already had a busy year, what with international roll-outs, …

Hoping to remain king of the tablets, Apple plans to roll out the iPad 3 in February, according to Citi analyst Richard Gardner. “Apple could head off competition from similarly priced Android tablets at the pass by getting its latest, greatest tablet technology out a bit sooner than expected,” Gartner writes in a research note out this week. “That would also have the effect of reducing prices for older versions of the iPad, which would encourage consumers attracted to the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet to instead climb aboard the iOS platform at a discount.” In the research note, Gardner …

The Wall Street Journal investigates what it calls “a new generation of controversial ad software,” which is apparently affecting the Web’s biggest platforms, including Facebook, Google, and Yahoo. “Inserting a layer of ads on Web sites or covering up other paying ads,” WSJ writes: “The software comes in the form of applications that allow people to customize their Facebook profiles with, say, special borders of snowflakes or colorful designs or turbo-charge Web searches.” What’s the harm in that? By downloading such software, “Computer users open up a door to ads that the big Internet companies complain are rogue.” App like …

Brands and retailers aren’t too happy about new services that easily compare product prices in store and online. The fact that Amazon is promoting its own such service with an attractive promotion has them fuming. Amazon announced this week that shoppers who perform a “price check” using its new bar-code scanning iPhone or Android app while considering in-store purchases will receive $5 discounts on Amazon. Shoppers can do up to three price checks for a total of $15, Geekwire notes. “We imagined retailers wouldn’t like the idea too much, given that it allows Amazon to poach shoppers at the point of sale. …

Want to game the system that Twitter’s trending algorithm uses to pick topics? Then shoot for bursts of activity rather than a gradual increase, Twitter spokesman Matt Graves tells NPR. Twitter's secret algorithm sorts through 250 million tweets a day, and is designed to search for the sudden appearance of a topic in large volume, according to Graves. "We look at trending topics as a reflection of what people are talking about more right now in this moment, than they were a minute ago, an hour ago or a day ago," he says. In some ways, Twitter's algorithms act like …

While light on details, AllThingsD is reporting that Facebook has enacted a “major corporate reorganization” in an effort to be more nimble. According to sources, “the new structure integrates design, product and engineering teams around key product areas such as privacy and communication,” AllThingsD’s Liz Gannes writes. An internal memo detailing the reorganization was apparently sent out, today, but Gannes doesn’t appear to have a copy of it. Bigger picture, “The young company, led by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, had many management shake-ups in its early years, but recently it has been fairly stable at the top,” Gannes writes. “However, Facebook …

One man’s mindless Twitter babble is another man’s historical footprint. Falling into the latter camp, the Library of Congress is pursuing an initiative with Twitter to record the communication “of our time,” through an archive of tweets from the service. Last year, the library revealed that an agreement with Twitter had given it access to every public tweet ever sent on the service, The Next Web reports. Yet, “News of the archive initially received a mix response, with many concerned that information on a social network would be placed on record,” TNW writes. Bill Lefurgy, digital initiatives program manager at the …

Seeking scale still not possible with tablets, Flipboard is finally making its debut on the iPhone. Free and fantastically designed, Flipboard’s news reading application has become a must-have for many iPad owners. “Over time, it has evolved to include magazine-quality advertising and the ability to include multiple accounts on a single device,” VentureBeat writes. “But the company has finally decided to evolve further and bring its news-and-photo experience to a second device with the iPhone.” Don’t expect a simple repurposing, however. On the contrary, “With the iPhone we redesigned Flipboard for a new use case, where people want to find …

Since its debut in late 2008, Google says its Android Market just surpassed 10 billion app downloads. For context, Apple’s App Store is approaching 20 billion downloads, but the Android Market is gaining steam. Indeed, as eWeek points out, the Android Market tallied 6.5 billion downloads through July compared to 4.5 billion through last May. “The Android app growth has accelerated considerably when one considers that it took Google from October 2008 to July 2010 to hit the 1 billion app download mark,” eWeek writes -- “clearly helped by the fact the more than 200 million Android devices have been …