Native applications for the Apple iPad have reached their first milestone today, 10,000 apps available, with almost 1000 being added each week.

In the iPad library, there are 2100 games available, with the rest being a plethora of other categories.

A majority 78 percent of the native iPad apps are paid applications, slightly smaller than the 80 percent reported when the iPad store opened on April 3rd with 3000 choices.

The overall iPhone app store, which has 225,000 titles, has 75 percent paid applications.

In 2008, when the iPhone app store launched, it took five months to reach the 10,000 app milestone.

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Until this week, the answer to whether the upcoming Chrome OS could run Windows apps was "no."

The Chrome OS is completely in "the cloud," so all apps had to be accessed through the Chrome Web browser, and installed and "saved" to the Chrome OS.

This week, however, Google software engineer Gary Kačmarčík has announced "Chromoting", a feature that will give users a chance to access "legacy PC applications" through a remote desktop connection process.

Says the engineer: "We're adding new capabilities all the time. With this functionality (unofficially named "chromoting"), Chrome OS will not only be great platform for running modern web apps, but will also enable you to access legacy PC applications right within the browser. We'll have more details to share on chromoting in the coming month."

While that leaves details on Chromoting scant, most believe that the process will be a sharing function that will require a home/office computer to be kept on, while the Chrome OS computer uses remote access.

We will keep you updated.

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Boxee has announced that the D-Link Boxee Box will hit North America in November, finally putting a set timetable down on the much-anticipated set-top box.

Initially, the company had hoped to release the box by June, but production delays set shipments back.

The goal of the Boxee Box is to give users a way to play 1080p HD videos from the Web or their local network while using hardware acceleration.

Additionally, the box will "provide a TV browser experience that can handle almost everything you throw at it, including Flash 10.1."

Boxee also wants the box to be affordable and "not feel obsolete 12 months after you buy it."

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Earlier in the year, a Google Street View car caught two teenagers in Staffordshire, England in a provocative pose on their front lawn and the picture became the default for street view for Common Rd. in the town.

Today, Google has taken down the image, leaving the simple words: "This image is no longer available."

On Wednesday, The Daily Mail reported on the teens, Hayley Moss and Eddie Bateman, who admitted the picture shows their first kiss.

Says Moss of the event: "I couldn't believe it, I wouldn't admit to it being me at first, as I was worried it looked quite bad, as it looks more than it is, but it really was just a kiss. I think it's amazing that our first kiss has been in the paper."

Google has captured kidnappers, and other bizarre sightings through its Street View cars but the latest begs the question of how users feel about their personal privacy being invaded.

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The Food Network and YouTube have teamed up for a new challenge this week, asking YouTube users to submit video applications to be considered for a spot on the upcoming The Next Food Network Star.

You can enter the challenge now, and entries are accepted until July 16th.

The winner of the challenge will then be given a one-on-one audition with Food Network executives in New York City, with the chance to become a contestant on the show.

"The Next Food Network Star" is a reality series that pits contestants against each other in food-based challenges with the winner getting their own series on the channel.

In the past, other networks have tried similar challenges, with Fox starting a "Glee" casting call via MySpace and "America's Got Talent" doing auditions via YouTube.

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According to new measurements by Akamai and reported by ZDNet, World Cup fervor has translated to record Internet traffic levels.

The Akamai Web traffic meters have classified the action as "heavy" since yesterday, with traffic to news sites around the world reaching a peak of 12.1 million visitors per minute (vpm) yesterday at noon.

After dipping in the afternoon, traffic held at after 6 million vpn, 130 percent higher than average, with above average traffic coming from every continent but most notably from Europe and Africa.

The traffic numbers seem to imply that traffic to news sites was most active during the South Africa vs. Mexico game, but remained strong for the France vs. Uruguay game.

Previously, the record for vpm was 8.5 million, which was set on the day of President Obama's election.

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The international newspaper The New York Times has announced today that the word "Tweet," used to describe the action of writing a message on Twitter, has been banned from the paper, in print and online.

'Tweet' can of course, still be used to describe the sound a bird makes, notes Phil Corbett, the Times' standards editor, who announced the change. "Someday, 'tweet' may be as common as 'e-mail,'" says Corbett, but for now it is banned "outside of ornithological contexts."

The ban was made because the word tweet, outside of bird noises, isn't "standard English and standard English is what we should use in news articles," adds Corbett.

Additionally, Corbett says that not everyone uses or has even heard of Twitter and therefore may not be familiar with the new use of the word "tweet."

How will The NY Times describe tweets now? "Let's look for deft, English alternatives: use Twitter, post to or on Twitter, write on Twitter, a Twitter message, a Twitter update. Or, once you've established that Twitter is the medium, simply use 'say' or 'write.' "

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