If you've ever flung a perturbed-looking bird at a bright green pig, you're not alone: mobile game company Rovio has announced that their Angry Birds game has been downloaded 500 million times in less than two years.

And the company isn't stopping there. Rovio marketing chief Peter Vesterbacka says the company's next goal is to hit the one billion mark. Still, the company is thrilled to reach such a milestone.

"It's more than any game ever before," Vesterbacka said in a Globe and Mail story.

The numbers that go along with having 500 million downloads are pretty impressive, too. All those downloads mean users have played Angry Birds for a total of 200,000 years, and play it for 300 million minutes daily. A total of 400 billion birds have been shot from a slingshot in hopes of dislodging pigs since the game was first released for iPhone on Dec. 11, 2009.

Since its launch, the Angry Birds brand has exploded, being turned into everything from Halloween costumes to sushi. Angry Birds

It drains on you even when it's not being used.  It shuts down your smartphone when you need it the most. And its woeful endurance, far from what had been advertised, has amassed a digital army of disgruntled users.

It's the battery life of your brand new iPhone 4S, the latest bug tied to a successful iPhone launch that has many recalling 2010's 'Antennagate.'

Steve Jobs believed the controversy, coined with a tech tribute to the Watergate scandal, was a smear campaign from rivals at Motorola and Google.

Those who bought an iPhone 4 last July were enraged as the smartphone seemed to lose signal when held a certain way. This time it's the battery that has users churning out online complaints.

The iPhone 4S is said to provide up to eight hours of talk time and as much as six hours of Internet use on 3G, but the battery's tendency to run out of gas when not being used has infuriated users. And we're not entirely sure if the phone is to blame.

"I have an iPhone 4 and since putting iOS 5 on

IMG_0382SkinVaders - b

It's one thing to look in the mirror and see a couple of pimples on your face, but imagine popping alien eggs to prevent them from hatching on your cheeks, nose and chin.

This is the silly premise behind SkinVaders, a new game that takes advantage of the cameras on the iPad 2, iPhone (3GS/4G/4GS) or fourth-generation iPod touch.

The free app uses "augmented reality" technology, where a camera captures a live view of the real, physical world — in this case, your face -- but the scene will be augmented with virtual, onscreen objects (i.e. aliens).

iPad 2 gamers can play with a friend or family member by using the tablet's rear-facing camera -- or you can play by yourself using the front-facing camera. Before the game starts you'll first calibrate the playfield by lining up your face (or someone else's) against the onscreen cutout. This is only required once, unless the person on the screen moves their head too much while playing.

The first level has a blue alien who appears to be

There may not be a single smartphone user in the world that requires creative use of his device more than Trevor Prideaux.

Before fitting his prosthetic arm with a custom-made smartphone dock, the catering manager from Somerset, England had to lay the phone down or balance it on his prosthetic to perform the simplest of mobile tasks.

But with assistance from medical experts and the noble souls at Nokia, operating a smartphone is no longer a discouraging inconvenience.

"I can now take calls and make texts just by using my one hand, while the phone sits inside my arm," proclaims Prideaux in a Telegraph story. "The phone slots smoothly and securely within my limb and is easily removable, when required. I think this is the first time this has ever been done in the world - and it is brilliant."

Prideaux, 50, was born without a left forearm and has worn a prosthetic since he was three-years-old. His career requires frequent contact with clients and the developments of mobile technology

The mobile industry was filled with anticipation when Nokia and Microsoft announced their partnership back in February.

Having invested as much as a billion dollars into the partnership, the new Nokia Lumia 7.5 "Mango" had been pegged as Microsoft's meal ticket into the upper echelons of the competitive smartphone market. It's the first smartphone to debut the Windows 7 mobile operating system.

Apple's iPhone and Google Android products have already separated themselves from the herd, setting the benchmark for what makes a dominant product in today's era of smartphones.

Many had wondered if the new Mango would bring something fresh to the table; something that could leapfrog the BlackBerrys of yesteryear and crash Apple's party. But early reviews suggest the Mango has shown up empty handed.

"When you show up late to a party, you should at least bring a bottle of wine (or a case of beer depending on the party)," explains Tony Bradley in a PCWorld review. "Nokia's highly-anticipated

It looks like Apple is trying to take a bite out of a small German cafe. Apfelkind ("apple child"), a family run business in Bonn has been served a cease-and-desist letter in response to a trademark patent they filed.

Christin Römer tried to register her logo, a red apple with a white child's face in it (shown right), to print on products like bags, mugs and clothing. She was then met with a letter from Apple stating that the logos were too similar and people could become confused, thinking the cafe was somehow associated with the tech giant.

Gawker quotes the German newspaper, General-Anzeiger, that picked up Römer's story:

"The company probably thought I would back out immediately after I received the letter," says [Apfelkind owner Christin Römer]. But she hasn't done that. On the contrary. "My lawyer has now appealed the motion."

Apfelkind, which opened this past May, serves usual cafe fare like coffee, cake, and includes a children's playroom. The trademark application filed by

Dani Fadell couldn't believe it, and the chatter from the water coolers of Silicon Valley were sure to echo that sentiment.

"You're going to build a what?" she asked, begging for clarification in a Wired.com story.

Dani's husband Tony—former Senior VP of the iPod Division at Apple Inc., designer of the iPod software and quite possibly the most sought-after tech talent in the world of gadgets—was planning a comeback. The venture in mind steered far away from the portable music player that made him famous, far enough to assume Tony was telling a joke.

But Tony wasn't joking. Having channeled the desire inherited from the late Steve Jobs, Tony was planning to change the world by building a thermostat.

After stepping down from his VP post in 2008, Tony and Dani took their young children overseas for a picturesque year in Paris, where Tony shared his grand concept with his wife.

Billions of dollars are spent every year as we wastefully pump incalculable amounts of carbon into the air, Tony

With a little less than a week until Halloween, it's time to finish the costume, carve the pumpkin, and find new and weird ways to scare your socks off.

Social media and evolving technology is helping to create some very interesting ways to do just that. The latest offering is this website, Take This Lollipop, which uses your Facebook info to make you the target of a short online horror movie.

If you mind sharing your personal information online, however, this might prove downright terrifying.

When you arrive at the sites' home page, you're asked to take the blue lollipop and connect with your Facebook account.

You're then greeted with a pop-up that asks you to approve for the application, asking for access to your basic info, news feed posts, custom friends lists, profile information, family and relationships, photos, videos, info that others share with you, and permission to post on Facebook using your profile. There's no option for it to take you to dinner first.

If you decide