LG has announced a "new" and improved LG Application Store, peddling apps for both feature phones and smartphones in around 20 countries.

Aside from usability changes (LG claims it's now cleanly designed and easy to use), the company has also beefed up its stock of apps, now offering around 3,000 applications - twice the volume of software in the old storefront.  The company aims to raise that further to a moderate 4,000 by the end of the year.

Both Windows Mobile and Java apps are currently on the roster, with Android apps coming later in the year.  The Java category constitutes half of all the apps in the store - clearly aiming at the mass of feature phone users in the countries the LG Application Store will be serving.  As of the moment, majority of the market is in Asia and the Middle East, with some European countries to be included during the course of the year.

We're not sure how successful LG's app store is going to turn out.  Given that WinMo users are dwindling and their Java app roster is no different than what you can find local carriers offering, it's probably going to be a difficult sell.  You can check out the service from the link below.

[LG Application Store]

As Apple taketh, Google giveth away.  While the former has decided to make app development on its platform stricter than ever (e.g. banning direct ports from Flash to iPhone), the latter is about to make it easier than ever to produce an endless supply of fart and spam apps.   How?  With the Google App Inventor for Android, a drag-and-drop creation tool that will allow even non-programmers to build their own roster of smartphone applications.

Doing away with SDKs and cryptic code, the new service takes away the building of mobile phone software from the hands of the tech-savvy, down to less-technical enthusiasts.  According to project leader Harold Abelson, the tool has been under development for around a year, with testing performed on a wide range of people that includes sixth-grade students, high school girls and nursing students.

From the write up, App Inventor doesn't appear to restrict itself to simple apps either.  Aside from displaying onscreen items interspersed with programming logic,  it can access the phone's motion sensors, GPS, messaging modules, text-to-speech capabilities and more.  Plus, there are modules to interface with third-party sites, including Amazon and Twitter.

The Google App Inventor is currently in closed beta.  That means you'll have to fill out a request if you want access, the same way Google's many other services started before rolling out to the general public.  Suffice to say, the Android Market is about to get a whole lot more confusing to navigate with the number of titles this will spawn.  This is going to be big - no, huge.

[App Inventor]

This is something that could turn out big. A new iphone app called Dreamwalk provides users with a geocaching game that raises the ante a little by getting local businesses involved. Users can use the software to seek out "treasures," just like any similar game. Except, in this case, participating companies get to hide their own prizes for players to pursue, allowing them to get new prospects through the door in the process.

When you launch the app, it shows you a map that details where prizes are hidden. There are three ways to collect bounty - Instant Prizes, Collector's Stamps and Treasure Hunts - all of which require going out into the real world. For Instant Prizes, you simply have to go to the marked location on the map to get the reward added to your onscreen prize bag. Tap that and get instructions on how to redeem. Do note that these are usually simple stuff, like free fries at a local restaurant or cheap tickets to a show.

Collector's Stamps, on the other hand, require you to travel to different locations, gaining letter stamps at each one that spell out the words to the final destination. Treasure Hunts work similarly, except you gain clues instead of stamps. Since they're harder, the prizes for these two are usually bigger (e.g. videocams and gaming consoles).

Because they've only just launched, there are only a few thousand hidden treasures across the US, most of them concentrated in large metro areas (think New York, LA and Washington DC). However, developers at Dreamwalk Pty Ltd are negotiating for new businesses to come in and, potentially, make the loot more lucrative for avid treasure hunters across the country. Participating merchants, by the way, can easily upload new prizes via Dreamwalk's website, which will then turn up on gamers' maps.

Dreamwalk's beauty is that it is a win-win for all parties involved. Businesses get very hip marketing and users get a chance to win loads of free stuff around their area. An excellent concept that's totally worth the free App Store download.

[Dreamwalk Mobile]

Aspiring guitar players can now get a new free Gibson app on their iPhone.  No, it won't turn your handset into a Les Paul as other apps are inclined to do.  Instead, it just bundles a number of free tools that six-string instrumentalists of all levels may find of value.

It comes with five different sections - tuner, metronome, chords, lessons and Gibson.com.  The tuner is a chromatic software that can track whatever note you're currently playing (which it receives via your iPhone's mic) and indicates whether you're flat, sharp or in tune.  It starts in "All Notes" mode, but gives options to allow for alternate tunings.  Very useful, especially if you've got a bad ear for sound.

The metronome is just a regular metronome app, which allows you to choose a specific BPM rate.   Tapping the screen three times will adjust the tempo according to your speed.   The chord area, on the other hand, gives you access to 30 chord charts, a great resource if you need help figuring out which finger goes where on the fretboard.

Need guitar lessons?  The app comes with very useful ones, drawn off the award-winning Learn and Master series from Legacy Learning Systems.  It comes with a variety of instructions for new licks, riffs and sequences - a definite value for new and struggling players.  Gibson also promises plenty of updates for this section, with more video lessons slated to come.  Finally, Gibson.com is the app's news area, where they list Gibson-related products and special events.

Overall, the free Gibson app is a definite download if you're at all planning to learn the guitar.  Even intermediate and slightly more advanced players might find it of value, too.

[Gibson App]

Think useful augmented reality is still a good few years away?  Think again.  Layar just announced availability of its augmented reality browser for Android handsets, which will use your phone's GPS, camera and compass to identify your surroundings and slap an informational layer over the screen, all in real time.

The app, which should work with the T-Mobile G1, HTC Magic and other future Android devices with the aforementioned hardware, will use information derived from those components to add layers onto your display.  Only available for the Netherlands at the moment, the demo shows layers that provide real estate information about homes and buildings in the frame of the camera, with direct links to realtors and agents in case you find anything you want to inquire about.

What's cool is if Layar's system of identifying points of interest around your location really works in real-time, it can pave the way to a ridiculous number of potential layers, which will change the way we use our phones yet again.  Imagine visiting a country, for instance, with your smart phone serving as a virtual tour guide, able to give you information about every landmark you visit, right while it's in your camera's shot.  Even better, imagine getting lost in the woods and receiving visual information about how to get back.

According to Layar, they're planning to make the app available for all smart phones that's packing all the three necessary hardware components, which means a version for the iPhone 3G S (with its onboard magnetometer) isn't too far away.  Seriously, this is the next bandwagon everyone's going to be jumping on and I can't wait what creative layers people come up with.

Photo Credit: Layar