Like a Web portal without content, mobile platforms can’t thrive without a diverse array of applications. With that in mind, Microsoft is offering developers various incentives -- including cash -- to tailor apps for its Windows Phone app store. “Many developers are reluctant to funnel time and money into an app for what is still a small and unproved market,” writes The New York Times. “So Microsoft has come up with incentives, like plying developers with free phones and the promise of prime spots in its app store and in Windows Phone advertising.” What’s more, the software giant is reportedly …

Twitter’s mad as hell at spammers, and it’s not going to take it anymore! In a detailed blog post, the microblogging giant confirms filing a lawsuit against "five of the most aggressive tool providers and spammers" in a federal court in San Francisco. "With this suit, we're going straight to the source," Twitter explains. In other words, by shutting down tool providers, the company hopes to prevent other spammers from having the services at their disposal. In a complaint filed before the U.S District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco division, Twitter alleges that some …

The Associated Press is tapping Swedish live-streaming startup Bambuser to better access timely footage from citizen reporters. Going forward, Bambuser users can opt in to having their footage picked up by AP, along with its associated news organizations, while the wire service will plans use its network of correspondents to vet footage shot by citizen reporters. “Bambuser footage has been used extensively in recent months by major news organizations to report about the conflict in Syria,” according to GigaOm. At the moment, the startup is concentrating on mobile live streaming. The AP, meanwhile, plans to explore to use Bambuser’s platform …

Video apps are experiencing significant growth numbers as a result of launching Timeline-friendly features for Facebook. That’s according to the social network, which just issued new stats from various video companies, including Vevo and Viddy. “These apps are using Actions, a new way for apps to show up on your Timeline,” VentureBeat points out. “Actions turn structured data into a visually interesting and engaging experience for normal users, and these numbers show how well they work for video sites in particular.” Since rolling out Facebook Actions, Viddy has doubled its number of average daily signups, and has grown from 60,000 …

Thanks largely to the efforts of one company (its name rhymes with Glamazon), e-reading is officially big business. In fact, new research from Pew finds that about 21% of U.S. adults have read an e-book in the last year. “Overall, nearly 30 percent of those surveyed say they own a device,” The San Francisco Chronicle writes. “E-books received a notable bump from the holidays, when Nooks, Kindles and tablets were popular gifts.”  Not blown away by the percentage of e-reading consumers, TechCrunch admits: “That number appears to be on the rise, though, going up by 3% just between December …

As part of a larger effort to flesh out its premium content offerings, YouTube this week announced a new licensing agreement with Paramount Pictures. Per the partnership, Google’s video hub -- along with Google Play -- will add 500 new rentable movie titles. “With the addition of Paramount, we now have five of the six major studios and over ten independent movie studios offering nearly 9,000 movies for rent to millions of people around the world,” Malik Ducard, Director of Content Partnerships at YouTube, explained on the official YouTube blog. According to 9To5Google: “Google plans to continue adding new …

As if there was any doubt that Instagram would be a hit among Android users, the photo-sharing app was downloaded over a million times within 24-hours of its debut, this week. On Tuesday, Google Play -- the company’s new app market --- recorded over 2,000 sign-ups a minute, “ensuring that [Instagram] has become one of the biggest app releases on the [Android] platform in its history,” writes The Next Web. To date, Instagram had amassed over 30 million users on Apple’s iOS mobile operating system alone. Still, as many consumers and analysts have asked, what took the company so long …

The reviews are in on Nokia’s new Lumia 900 smartphone -- but none are more important than that of The New York Times’ David Pogue. What does Pogue think of the phone on which Nokia and Microsoft are said be resting their futures? “It’s beautiful, fast and powerful, and it’s only $100 (with a two-year AT&T contract),” writes America’s most influential tech critic. “That’s half the price of an iPhone or a comparable Android phone -- but you’re still getting a top-of-the-line machine.” What’s more, “Its design is striking and unusual,” Pogue says of the Lumia. “The screen is bright, …

The early adoption of new technology often comes at a cost -- something many companies learned after their hasty embrace of tablet computers. Take American Airlines, which, as The Wall Street Journal reports, quickly discovered that one tablet doesn’t fit all. “The pilots wanted high-end tablets, to replace paper charts and such, while … to its first- and business-class passengers, the airline lent models that played new movies without risk of illegal copying.” Other common pitfalls include failing to have a plan before rolling out the devices; not understanding what tablets are -- and are not -- good for; and misjudging …

In other mobile payment news, Square Inc. just swooped in and stole one of Google’s key engineers in the field. Ricardo Reyes, who actually co-founded Google Wallet, will be joining Square as vice president of communications and brand marketing. For Square, which makes credit-card readers for smartphones and tablets, the Reyes win is part of a bold effort to double its staff to 500 this year, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. Last month, Square hired PayPal veteran Alyssa Cutright to manage international business, while the company added former Apple executive Jesse Dorogusker to run its hardware division late last year. Along …