We’ve written on numerous occasions about Apple’s app approval policy, which has so far been inconsistent, often unfair and sometimes just plain strange.

If you need more proof that many developers are unhappy with the way Apple is treating them, check out a new site called Apple Rejected Me, where everyone can come and vent about their (unjustly) rejected iPhone app.

Of course, the entries on the site being anonymous doesn’t exactly make it a good source of reliable information; furthermore, most of the entries are jokes. From the site:

“I made a time machine app, but apparently Flux_Capacitor is a private API. ARM”

“I made an app that caused AT&T to drop a call randomly based on a 50/50 chance. Because of duplicate functionality, ARM.”

“I tried to “Think Different” but ARM.”

However, the sheer fact that such a site exists shows that something is wrong in Apple’s app approval policy, and that it needs to be fixed, fast.

Tags: apple, applications, iphone

While Twitter may have taken second place in Bing’s 10 most searched topics of 2009, we’ve now learned that it has become top dog in something far bigger: the entire English language.

The Global Language Monitor, which tracks language trends, has once again compiled and released its yearly list of the most popular words and phrases within the English language. In 2008, the #1 most popular word was “change” (referring to the mantra of the top name of 2008, Barack Obama). However, Obama has been supplanted this year by the 140 character sensation that is Twitter.

Yes, Twitter may very well be the most popular word in the English language this year.

GLM’s list of top words and phrases for 2009 isn’t surprising, once you factor out words like “the” out of the equation. Twitter’s constant media attention and mainstream ascent has vaulted it into the English lexicon, so much so that it beat out the words Obama (#2), H1N1 (#3), Stimulus (#4), and Vampire (#5). The top phrase of 2009 however was “King of Pop,” referring to the late Michael Jackson. This mirrors Bing’s top 10 searched topics. However, Barack Obama was once again the top name of 2009, just beating out Michael Jackson.

With Twitter declared English’s most popular word and unfriend taking the title of Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year, what else does social media have to conquer? Please tell us in the comments, because we’re stumped.

Tags: english, twitter

It isn’t even December yet, but Microsoft’s Bing search engine is already announcing its top ten most searched topics of 2009, as well as the two celebrities that were binged more than actress Megan Fox.

The new Microsoft “decision engine” has only been in service since June, but Bing has apparently analyzed billions of search queries in order to create a list of the ten most searched topics of the year, Bing’s version of “trending topics.” Six of the top ten searches referred to specific individuals while only one search term referred to a website or company.

As you’ve probably guessed, we’re talking about Twitter, whose rapid ascent into the mainstream garnered it the honor of being the #2 most searched topic on Bing.

So who or what was #1? Here are the top ten Bing searches of 2009, in reverse order:

The Top 10

10. Jaycee Dugard (kidnapped in 1991 and finally found in August of this year, the story was national news)

9. Billy Mays (famous pitchman who passed away in June)

8. Jon and Kate Gosselin (former stars of Jon and Kate Plus 8, the public destruction of their marriage was a big topic of interest)

7. Cash for Clunkers (a U.S. government program to replace less fuel efficient vehicles with newer, more fuel-economic cars)

6. Patrick Swayze (famous actor who passed away in September)

5. Farrah Fawcett (famous actress and pop culture icon who passed away in June)

4. Stock Market

3. Swine Flu

2. Twitter

And the number one searched term of 2009:

1. Michael Jackson

Social Media Has Captured the Public’s Attention

It’s not a shocker that any of these topics made the top ten Bing searches of 2009. There was an outpouring of interest in each and every one of these people or things. Still, Twitter being more searched than the stock market, Swine Flu, and every major public icon except Michael Jackson is an impressive feat that speaks to the mainstream reach Twitter now enjoys.

Bing also decided to release the top three most search living celebrities. While the inclusion of Transformers actress Megan Fox (#3) and Twilight actor Robert Pattinson (#2) didn’t surprise us, we were a bit shocked to find that celebrity blogger Perez Hilton was the most searched living celebrity on Bing in 2009. No matter what you think of Perez, he proves that blogs have acquired incredible reach and captured the attention of the world.

What do you think of Bing’s top ten searches of 2009? Does anything about this list surprise you? Are you shocked something didn’t make the list? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Tags: bing, microsoft, Search

The Open Web Awards: Social Media Edition, our annual contest where you pick the best of the social web, is in its final stages. Time for a quick update!

Mashable readers have cast 400,000+ votes for the top individuals, companies, websites and applications – that’s in addition to the 450,000+ nominations you made in the first round. At the current pace, it looks like more than 1 million total nominations and votes will have been cast by the end of the competition. In the final weeks, we’ll highlight your picks and explore the wider web trends of 2009.

If you haven’t voted yet – and you can vote once per category per day – now’s the time to do so. Voting closes December 15th.

Vote in the Finals of the Open Web Awards 2009>>

Thanks to our Partner: MOTOBLUR

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Tags: openwebawards

Tweetie 2.1, the latest version of the popular iPhone Twitter client, went live in the app store today.

As we mentioned in our preview earlier this week, new features include support for Twitter Lists, the new Twitter retweets feature and geolocation. The new version is free to existing Tweetie 2 users.

As we wrote in our complete review:

Lists support is a big deal and thus far, it looks like Tweetie 2 for the iPhone handles the process in a very robust and intuitive way. When you click on the “More” tab in Tweetie 2, you are now presented with a listing of every list you subscribe to (whether you created it or just subscribe to it), making it easy to view the contents of that list with one click…

Twitter’s native retweeting feature was implemented in many of the beta versions of Tweetie 2, but was disabled in the first shipping version because the feature hadn’t been rolled out extensively. Now that the new Retweet system is in full effect, it’s back in Tweetie 2. When you view your profile, you now have an option to view your retweets, retweets by others, and even your tweets, retweeted.

You can download Tweetie 2.1 here [iTunes link]

What do you think of the new Tweetie? What’s your iPhone Twitter client of choice? Let us know in the comments.

Advertisers are frustrated. You’re all having direct conversations with friends on Twitter, Facebook, blogs and the rest while totally bypassing the mass mediums they understand. Rather than consuming content all day on TV, in newspapers and on the radio, you’re engaging, one-to-one, with individuals you trust. They can’t get in the middle of that. They hate it.

So it’s perhaps predictable that we’re experiencing the rise of in-stream Twitter advertising. How do you get inside those conversations? “You pay to do it!”, they exclaim. Ah yes, so suddenly we have Sponsored Tweets, ad.ly and others offering to pay users to Tweet out their ad messages. Problem solved! Except it’s not. That’s the exact same outdated model of interruption-based advertising that we’ve been trying to block out with a TiVo or an internet ad blocker. We don’t want it. We’ll ignore it.

Paid Recommendations Destroy Trust

Some envision an in-between route in which we get paid for our recommendations. So if I buy a new phone and love it, I can pass on that recommendation and also get paid. Likes.com, which is yet to launch, aims to profit from this model. Sounds smart, huh? Except that my relationship with you is based on trust: if I’m suddenly getting paid to make recommendations to you rather than doing it in kind, do you put as much trust in me and my recommendations? Of course you don’t.

This week I posted on Facebook about my new MacBook Pro. I’m very pleased with it. Today a friend posted that he’s ordered a new MacBook Pro based on my purchase. Do I expect Apple to pay me? Heck no: my payment is knowing that people trust my recommendations. That builds more trust.

The Web Economy = Trust + Attention

The problem: people assume that money is the web’s primary currency. But the web trades in other currencies: trust and attention.

Trust is the confidence we place in individuals and brands. I’d suggest it’s the highest form of currency in human societies: extremely hard to build and remarkably easy to lose (see Chris Brogan’s Trust Agents).

Attention, meanwhile, is the currency of abundance. In a post-scarcity world where billions of web pages cry out for my attention every second of the day, paying attention to you is a gesture that says “you matter to me” (see Jeff Jarvis’ What Would Google Do, among others).

Twitter ads steal attention and destroy trust. That’s the exact opposite of what we need.

Advertisers: Add Value, Don’t Interrupt!

How do brands get their messages across if not by interrupting us? They need to become agents of trust, too.

Dell is making millions by posting special offers to its Twitter followers. Blendtec increased blender sales 5x by turning its ads into entertainment. Comcast joins the conversation simply by asking “how can I help?”. Those are just three examples from the hundreds we’ve posted in recent years.

Brands need to befriend us, build relationships, and offer so much value that we broadcast our positive experiences out to our own networks of trust. They might entertain us. They might help us. They might become enablers of our own personal goals. And when they do, we’ll return the favor. “Spend your attention on this”, we’ll say, “it’s important!”

Tags: twitter

A TV station in Alabama is learning that live Twitter billboards sometimes deliver unintended consequences.

While we can’t vouch for its authenticity, South Carolina-based blog The Palmetto Scoop claims a University of South Carolina graduate driving through Mobile, Alabama snapped the shot below and sent it in.

The WPMI-TV billboard displays Tweets from the LOCAL15NEWS Twitter account, with this Tweet resulting in the juxtaposition.

Update: The photo has been confirmed as real and WPMI-TV’s general manager and news director were suspended over the incident, reports Rob Holbert.

Tags: Billboard, trending, twitter