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The iPhone App Store, as much of a game changer as the iPhone itself, is about to reach a new milestone.

Apple’s site features a page with a rapidly changing counter displaying the number of App Store downloads as it approaches one billion. As of midday Monday, the count was about 947 million and counting at about 100 downloads a second. In celebration, Apple is offering a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card, an iPod touch, a Time Capsule, and a MacBook Pro as prizes, with everyone downloading an application automatically entered.

20 Percent of Apps Pirated Copies?

The App Store is also posting the all-time Top Paid Apps and Top Free Apps. Included in the first category are Vivendi Games Mobile’s Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D, The Blimp Pilots’ Koi Pond, Pangea Software’s Enigmo, PopCap Games’ Bejeweled 2, and Freeverse’s Moto Chaser.

Top Free Apps include Facebook, Google Earth, Pandora Radio, Taplulous’ Tap Tap Revenge, and John Haney Software’s Flashlight.

But popularity breeds imitation, and as many as 20 percent of the applications in the App Store are available elsewhere on the Web as pirated software, according to market researcher Medialets.

Pirated versions are not unknown for successful software ventures, and Avi Greengart, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, noted that Apple’s App Store has not only been a success, but has played a defining role in the third and current stage of mobile devices.

In the first stage, he said, services such as voice calling were dominant, and users were simply asking themselves whether they needed a phone and related services. In the second phase, users wanted the services and, he said, “they wanted the device to be pretty.”

‘What Can I Do?’

This third stage, he said, is characterized by users asking themselves, “What else can I do with this device?” In this…

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In another attack against social networks, a malware author targeted Twitter over the weekend — and the worm was still spreading in mutated form on Monday. Security experts warn that Twitter may be battling variants of the worm throughout the week.

The micro-blogging service was struck with a computer virus that plagued tweeters with unwelcome messages on Saturday. Dubbed “Mickeyy,” the latest Twitter worm spreads when tweeters click on an affected page linked from a message posted by another infected user. That click sets off a chain reaction that automatically starts posting annoying tweets to other Twitter members. It’s a vicious cycle that has the ability to spread rapidly among users not aware of the worm.

Richard Wang, a U.S. manager for SophosLabs, isn’t surprised to see attacks against Twitter. Malware creators have a tendency to target popular software and services, he said, and the more people who use a site, the more attractive it is for those who want to spread their message — or worse, their criminal software.

“Currently this worm is an annoyance to Twitter users, sending bogus tweets and attempting to gather their username and browser cookie,” Wang said. “The worm will spread rapidly within the Twitter community until Twitter closes the cross-site scripting hole in their profile code. Of the three sites that have hosted versions of the worm’s code, one is still active.”

Ode to Samy

The first word of the Twitter worm emerged early Saturday morning, and two additional attacks arose over the weekend. Monday morning witnessed a fourth attack. Twitter reported that none of its members’ sensitive information has been compromised in the attacks.

“The worm introduced to Twitter this weekend was similar to the famous Samy worm, which spread across the popular MySpace social-networking site a while back,” said Twitter cofounder Biz Stone. “At that time, MySpace…

Indian telecommunications outsourcing firm Tech Mahindra won a bid to buy a controlling stake in Satyam Computer Services, the outsourcing giant nearly brought down in a $1 billion fraud.

Satyam board members and investment bankers from Goldman Sachs and Avendus Capital had planned to hole up all day in a room in Mumbai’s elegant Taj President hotel, poring over the offers.

But the exercise proved short.

Just three bidders came forward for what was once India’s fourth-largest outsourcing company, two Satyam spokespeople said Monday.

Shortly after noon — about three hours after the deadline for bids — Tech Mahindra emerged the clear winner.

“We hope this will infuse greater confidence and comfort amongst customers,” said Kiran Karnik, Satyam’s chairman.

Suitors faced the difficult task of valuing Satyam before its scrambled books had been untangled, and the wide range of bid prices — from 20 rupees a share to 58 rupees a share — underscored the uncertain valuation of the company.

Satyam, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, faces a spate of class action suits in the U.S. and a lawsuit on charges of fraud and forgery by Upaid Systems Ltd., a U.K. mobile payments company.

Tech Mahindra, which is owned by India’s Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd and British Telecommunications, agreed to purchase 31 percent of Satyam for $351 million through a new share issue, offering 58 rupees a share. It will also make an offer on the open market to buy an additional 20 percent of Satyam.

“This is a very major game changer for Tech Mahindra,” said Tech Mahindra chairman Anand Mahindra.

Tech Mahindra plans to finance the 28.9 billion rupee ($592.4 million) acquisition with 7 billion rupees ($143.5 million) in cash and the rest in debt.

Larsen & Toubro, one of India’s largest engineering conglomerates, which acquired a 12 percent stake in Satyam from late last…

Vevo. That’s the name of the new music and video entertainment service that will house Universal Music’s premium video content with a little help from YouTube.

Universal Music Group (UMG) and Google, which owns and operates YouTube, announced the deal on Thursday. Vevo will launch later this year as a video hub that aims to attract consumers, advertisers and content owners. It will rely on YouTube’s video technology to showcase Universal’s catalog of artists and content.

“Technology has allowed fans to discover music in endless ways while creating new business opportunities for artists and labels alike,” said Google CEO Eric Schmidt. “At Google, we are committed to promoting greater innovation and choice and are thrilled to be working with UMG in what will surely be an exciting new service for consumers, advertisers, content creators, and the music industry at large.”

Monetizing YouTube

YouTube will power Vevo and host Universal’s library of professionally created music videos on the new site. On YouTube, this content will be exclusively available through Vevo.com and a new Vevo channel through a special Vevo-branded embedded player.

Doug Morris, UMG’s chairman and CEO, expects Vevo to have more traffic than any other music video site in the world at its launch. This traffic, he added, represents the most sought-after demographic for advertisers, especially as advertising dollars continue to shift from old media to new.

He expects Vevo will be uniquely positioned to monetize this opportunity as it grows to become the destination for premium music video content online. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“For music lovers who want the best in music videos, the Vevo experience will be second to none. At the same time, Vevo will expand the premium video marketplace, generate new revenue streams for content creators, and provide brand advertisers an unprecedented opportunity to get in front…

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group said Friday that it will unveil version 3.0 of the Bluetooth wireless specification on April 21. The companies ready to roll out new Bluetooth 3.0 devices will be announced at that time, together with some of the technical details, the industry group said.

In a nutshell, the new high-speed Bluetooth spec will achieve faster link speeds by using the latest Wi-Fi (802.11n) technology. The goal is to enable very fast data transfers of large multimedia files while building on the very low-power idle modes of Bluetooth.

Users won’t have to connect to a Wi-Fi network to implement high-speed file transfers via Bluetooth. “Transferring an entire music library, a complete DVD, a vacation’s worth of photos, all within seconds at the touch of a button and wirelessly will now be possible,” the group said.

Two for One

The Bluetooth SIG has developed an innovative method of radio substitution that will allow current Bluetooth protocols, profiles, security and pairings to be used in consumer devices while simultaneously achieving substantially faster speeds through the use of a secondary radio already present in the device.

“On the technical side, I can tell you that it is a Generic Alternate MAC/PHY (AMP) that will enable Bluetooth profiles to take advantage of 802.11 speeds,” a Bluetooth SIG spokesperson said. “The 802.11 Protocol Adaption Layer (PAL) will enable the Generic AMP feature to be used with an 802.11 radio.”

The association’s two-pronged design neatly addresses the issue of backward compatibility by taking a classic Bluetooth connection “and allowing it to jump on top of the already present 802.11 radio, when necessary, to send bulky entertainment data faster,” Bluetooth SIG Executive Director Michael Foley said last year. “When the speed of 802.11 is overkill, the connection returns to normal operation on a Bluetooth radio for…