Konami on Tuesday led a slew of new games at the App Store with Frogger Inferno (US$0.99), an update to the arcade classic in which the main character leaves a trail of fire behind him as he tries to cross busy freeways; the flames keep him from doubling back. Facebook Connect integration lets players post their high scores to the Frogger Leader Board.

Research firm Flurry on Tuesday reported its estimate of sales of the Google Nexus One smartphone through its first 74 days of availability, finding that it has lagged far behind the iPhone and the Motorola Droid with 135,000 units in circulation, compared to one million iPhones and 1.05 million Droids. However, Google brought the Nexus One to AT&T the same day; availability on another carrier (it launched on T-Mobile) could help boost those sales.

Rap recording artist Sean “P. Diddy” Combs’ diamond-studded iPod (of the HP variety) may soon have a new companion: Mervis is offering on its web site a diamond-bordered iPad. The price is a cool US$19,999, and orders will ship on June 1.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs emphasized the iPad’s capabilities as an e-book reader when he unveiled the device in late January, but its usefulness for carrying around electronic textbooks remains debatable, according to analysts interviewed by Computerworld.

Software developer Tim Bray, who co-edited the XML specifications in the late 90s and was most recently the Director of Web Technologies at Sun, on Monday published a lengthy blog post explaining he accepted a job at Google and why he hates Apple’s handling of the iPhone and the App Store.

Nancy Carroll Gravley tested a unique mouse specifically designed to reduce complaints of, and the risk of, Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI): The HandShoeMouse. She thinks it is worth both the unusual look and the price.

During a recent Twitter chat, a Blizzard representative revealed that the Mac version of the Starcraft II Beta “will be available in April, when it’s ready.” The publisher is also planning a major content patch for the game in mid-April “to enable some basic achievements and improved voice chat, 3x3 and 4x4 maps, among other unidentified features.”

Research firm Flurry, which provides analytics to mobile software developers, this week said that new iPhone OS application starts jumped 185 percent in January and February, compared to last August through December. “The January spike represented the single largest spike in Flurry history,” Peter Farago wrote in a blog post.

PayPal released a new version of its iPhone and iPod touch payment app on Tuesday that adds the ability to transfer payments by “bumping” the devices together. 

Apple’s crop of recent hires includes Richard DeVaul, founder and president of AWare Technologies. Mr. DeVaul is known for his work in wearable technology, and will be taking on the title of Senior Prototype Engineer at Apple. 

Selznick Scientific Software announced the immediate availability of PasswordWallet 4.5 on Tuesday. The update for the password management application added the ability to sync data between your Mac, iPhone, and MobileMe. 

Apple’s iPad is available for pre-order now, and will ship on April 3. Today TMO readers are talking about where they see the iPad fitting in, and which markets it will chip away at.

Current broadband speeds in the U.S. average about 4Mbps, but that isn’t fast enough for the Federal Communications Commission. The agency wants to see 100Mbps speeds, and it wants broadband in every U.S. home by 2020, according to the BBC. 

Apple’s iPad is set to ship on April 3, but some of its accessories won’t make it in time for the launch party. Only the iPad Dock and VGA adapter will be available on the 3rd, and some accessories have been delayed into May. 

Xeric Design announced the immediate availability of EarthDesk 5.3 on Tuesday. The update for the real-time Earth Desktop image application improved Mac OS X 10.6 screen saver compatibility.

The latest retail sales data from the NPD Group show that Mac sales in February jumped 43 percent year-over-year, coming on the heels of a 36 percent increase in January. Those results led Piper Jaffray anlyst Gene Munster to estimate sales of 2.8 to 2.9 million Macs this quarter, according to AppleInsider.

Almost 10,000 Microsoft employees used iPhones to access the company’s email system last year, according to two people who told the Wall Street Journal that they heard the estimate from senior executives. That’s approximately 10 percent of Microsoft’s global workforce, and it doesn’t take into account employees who have iPhones but don’t access their Microsoft email with their devices.

Tim Cook, Apple’s COO and temporary CEO for six months while Steve Jobs received a liver transplant, was awarded US$5 million and 75,000 share options last week. The total would be $22 million at Apple’s current stock price, noted The Register.

Investor Village’s AAPL Sanity board, which requires a subscription to view its content, on Monday noted that iPad pre-orders dropped from an estimated 25,000 per hour on Friday, the first day of availability, to around 1,000 per hour over the weekend. For the three-day period, the cumulative total was estimated at 152,000.

Apple was in the process of 1) crushing a 16 year old Canadian boy and his family over a Domain Name dispute, 2) hiding code in a recommended G3 ROM update that took control of the Mac away from the customer. Here’s how I called it at Macopinion.com in October, 1999.

As Apple’s relationship with Google has soured in recent months, the situation has become so acrimonious that one unnamed Silicon Valley investor, described as “well-connected,” has observed: “It’s World War III. Amazing animosity is motivating two of the most powerful people in the industry, [Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Google CEO Eric Schmidt]. This is emotional. This is the biggest ego battle in history. It’s incendiary.”

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been wound up in a multi-year battle to tear down a mansion in California, and a judge has finally given him the go ahead so he can apply for a demolition permit. Mr. Jobs has been trying to get a demolition permit since 2001 so he can build a new house on the property, but a historical preservation group has been fighting to save the structure.

John F. Braun check out Growl, a notification manager that lets you know what your applications are up to.

Today TMO readers are discussing network-based data backup strategies and issues in the Mac Geek Gab Squad Support forum. Hop in and share your ideas and problems.

PA Semi founder and CEO, Dan Dobberpuhl, has apparently left Apple to join a Silicon Valley startup company founded by other former PA Semi employees. PA Semi is a chip design company that Apple purchased in 2008.

Since the iPad ships with a battery that isn’t user replaceable, potential customers have been asking how Apple will deal with dead batteries. The answer: Apple will send you a replacement iPad.

Nicolas Seriot and Anton Anton announced the immediate availability of TweetyShow 1.0 for the iPhone and iPod touch on Monday. TweetyShow is an app that shows photos as they’re posted to Twitter in real time.

Vern peeps out EveryTrail, The Amateur Traveler Podcast, French 24/7 Tutor and much more this week in Free on iTunes.

Apple’s per-hour total for iPad pre-orders could be somewhere in the range of 15,000 to 25,000, according to bloggers who have been tracking order numbers. The initial efforts began at Investor Village’s AAPL Sanity Board and Silicon Alley Insider; the former came in at 25,000 per hour and the latter at 20,000. Later estimates, a few hours later, were 15,000 and 16,000 per hour.

The beginning of iPad pre-orders Friday morning led to a trading surge in Apple’s stock that briefly pushed its market capitalization ahead of Wal-Mart’s, thanks to a dip in the latter’s stock, noted Fortune’s Philip Elmer-DeWitt. Apple shares hit US$227.73 before retreating and ending the day at $226.60, up $1.10.

Microsoft has lost another appeal of an August 2009 court judgment that found the company in infringement of XML patents owned by i4i. Those patents cover the use of XML in Microsoft Word 2003 and 2007, and the US$240 million decision forced Microsoft to begin removing the functionality from those applications.

In this week’s heap of technical news debris, John looks at the effectiveness of Apple’s R&D expenditures, Objective-C code appearing on TV’s Numb3rs, a vintage 1984 Mac running Snow Leopard, Apple’s tough stance against HTC and others, a Steve Jobs phone call that backfired, iPad imitators, historical reactions to Apple products long before the iPad, whether the iPad will ever replace the Mac, and a straight talk smackdown for the iPad.

Nokia on Friday asked for a dismissal of Apple’s anti-trust claims against it, arguing that the allegations are “designed to divert attention away from free-riding off of Nokia’s intellectual property,” according to Wilmington, Del. court papers quoted by Bloomberg.

Actor and comedian Richard Belzer, who is best known for the role of detective John Munch on the “Law & Order” TV series, on Thursday discussed an incident at a Manhattan Apple store the previous day that resulted in an employee calling the police. Officers reviewed the store’s security footage and declined to press charges against Mr. Belzer, who now thinks that he was targeted for a shakedown.

HDDs, SSDs or Flash drives connected to a Mac can have their ownership relaxed when the drive is intended to be removed and shared with others. Here’s how and why to change the setting.

The Game Developers Conference in San Francisco came to a conclusion this week with a flurry of news about games whose roots stretch back to LucasArts’ classic adventure games of the 1980s and 90s: Telltale Games announced that season three of Sam & Max, The Devil’s Playhouse, will kick off in April, and that the collector’s DVD of Tales of Monkey Island is available for pre-order; and Aspyr opened pre-orders for The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition.

iPad owners that want to lock the display’s orientation won’t have to rely on application developers to include the feature in their apps thanks to a screen rotation lock switch.

John and Dave come to you on this Friday morning for the first Premium show of March. This one’s full of great info, including how to manage login items, spotlight, and Safari’s default search engine. Then your geeks get into a good primer discussion for how to safely use the terminal to do some things that you simply can’t do anywhere else. Subscribe today, support your two favorite geeks, and learn even more!

Apple as a corporation faces a few semi-serious problems. Even as we want Apple to succeed, it’s good to be aware of the challenges Apple faces — with a fair, sober, and critical mindset.  Here’s John’s not-very-long list. The first four are a continuing thorn in Apple’s side, and the fifth has real danger potential.

iBooks is Apple’s ebook reader application for the iPad, and following the kick off of the tablet’s pre-order phase on Friday, the company offered up a few more details on what users can expect when they dive into the digital book world.

Apple began its iPad pre-order program Friday morning with options to have your new tablet delivered to your home, or waiting for you at your local Apple Store. Let us know in today’s forum poll if you plan to have your iPad delivered, or reserved at your Apple Store.

Following the launch of the iPad pre-order program on Friday, Apple updated its iPad product page with additional information about the tablet’s 3G wireless data service plan options.

Apple began offering online pre-orders for the Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi plus 3G iPad models on Friday morning. Customers can choose to have their new iPad delivered, or held at their local Apple Store for pick up,  on April 3.

The Mac Observer’s Mac Geek Gab co-host John F. Braun joined the Mac Roundtable crew to talk about Apple’s new iPad multimedia tablet device, the App Store, and Geotagging.

Apple’s online store was replaced with the familiar “We’ll be back soon” message Friday morning ahead 5:30AM EST pre-order launch. The company is scheduled to start pre-orders and reservations for its multimedia tablet device today, and will release it in the U.S. on April 3.

On Thursday afternoon, Apple posted Safari Security Update (APPLE-SA-2010-03-11-1) for Mac and Windows bringing Safari to version 4.0.5. 

Namco Networks on Thursday introduced UniteSDK, a software development kit that allows gamers to play against each other online, regardless of platform, even if, for example, one player is using an iPhone and another has a PC. Namco also debuted Pool Pro Online 3, an App Store game that’s the first to use the new technology.

The latest version of the software development kit (SDK) for Apple’s iPad eliminates icons for accepting and declining video chats that were found in a previous version. 9To5Mac uncovered the original reference to video chatting and posted the news on Wednesday about the change.

Smartphone shipments saw 37.2 percent worldwide growth on a year-over-year basis during the fourth quarter of 2009, with Apple leading the way at 97.9 percent, according to a research report issued by Needham’s Charlie Wolf and covered by AppleInsider.

Apple’s iPhone maintained its number two position in the US smartphone market during the three-month period ending January 31, 2010, according to market research firm comScore. Apple had a 25.1 percent share of subscribers, while RIM had 43 percent. Apple was up 0.3 points from the previous quarter, while RIM was up 1.7 points.