That’s what the app description says. I guess having idiot friends is a prerequisite.

The description continues:

This app is a full-screen working replica of the iPhone 4 home screen. It even replaces your phone’s status bar, so there’s no hint of Android underneath.
NEW: Swipe down for notifications! Now you can access notifications without having to leave the app.
NEW: Actual network operator shown in status bar – you’re no longer stuck with AT&T!
Most of the icons on the screen will open up the relevant Android app when clicked. If there’s no suitable app, or the app isn’t installed on your device, it’s replaced with a sponsored message. The advertising revenue helps support the future development of this app, so please bear this in mind

It’s apparently been available for a while, but this is the first we’ve heard it (hat tip: Redmond Pie). It looks like a few more obscure Android sites have noticed it before. Over 13,000 people have downloaded. I wonder how many people it’s fooled given that it does not physically change the design of your Android device.

Something tells me this app won’t be around very long as it gains more exposure. At least in the description, it says, “iPhone is a trademark of Apple Computer Inc. This app is not affiliated with or endorsed by Apple.”

A couple weeks ago, we saw a “Siri competitor” make its way to Android.

Here’s the full list:

iOS

Sonic CD – $2.99/£1.92 was $4.99/£3.20

Discounts can make a huge difference in app downloads, and there’s just something about the 99 cent price tag that is much more appealing than even $1.99.

Lovestagram is being billed as Trigger’s Valentine’s Day gift to Krieger. It allows Instagram users to create custom Valentines Day cards from their photos on Instagram.

It’s a sweet gift and potentially great new service for those who want to make something a little special for their significant others this Valentine’s Day.

Trigger built Lovestagram from scratch after learning Python, Django, Jinja, HTML, CSS, jQuery and Photoshop. It’s an impressive feat and makes the idea behind Lovestagram all the more sweet.

The only downside of course is that it requires an Instagram account to use and the service is only on the iPhone. Us Android users are just left out of the romance, but hey, at least we go straight for the lovemaking instead of wasting time on Valentine’s Day cards.

Here’s an example:

Say hello to PaperKarma, a new app for iPhone, Android and Windows Phone that is here to “get rid of junk mail and save the earth – all from your phone.”

The app claims to work by a user taking a picture of the junk mail that they’ve been sent. The team behind it will send a request on your behalf to the offending companies so that you’ll be added to their block list.

The app claims that it’s able to stop magazines, catalogs, coupon books, fliers, credit card offers and the white/yellow pages.

I’ve downloaded the app to see how it works myself. The app first asks you to sign up either via an account with them or through Facebook. If you go through Facebook, you can “share your environmental good deeds” through the social media service. From there, you enter your address so they know which address to tell companies to stop sending mail to.

Now you’re ready to start taking pictures. Just take a picture of the offending mail and upload it to their servers. From there, the team will search for the company and send a message on your behalf to them. From there, you should stop receiving junk mail from the companies in question.

They list more detailed information on their blog about how the app works. They also list proof from companies that have stopped sending users junk mail.

I don’t really get annoyed by junk mail, but PaperKarma is all about cutting down on the amount of paper companies use. It’s a good cause and worthy of checking out.

“So Foxconn thinks they got ‘em some swagger because they work with the Big Boys from Intel, Microsoft, IBM, and Apple? Fool, You don’t know what swagger is. They say you got your employees all worked up, committing suicide ‘n stuff. They say you hire chinese workers ’cause you think the taiwanese are elite. We got somethin’ served up good…real good. Your not gonna’ know what hit you by the time you finish this release. Your company gonna’ crumble, and you deserve it”.

Apparently the hackers are big fans of Apple products and take a “slight ” interest in Foxconn because of their affinity for the iPhone, but it is not their overarching purpose:

“…we are not hacking a corporation for such a reason and although we are slightly interested in the existence of an Iphone 5, we are not hacking for this reason”

What is the real reason for their mischief?:

“We hack for the cyberspace who share a few common viewpoints and philosophies. We enjoy exposing governments and corporations, but the more prominent reason, is the hilarity that ensues when compromising and destroying an infrastructure.”

So mainly, these guys are just in it for the thrill of the hunt. Their slogan is, “Hacking Today for an Entertaining Tomorrow”. They would like to viewed as entertainers. I like it! Anyhow, they do admit that their work, “..reveals an almost unknown feeling of a menacing satisfaction”. But also admit that, “Of course with funding ourselves we did have our limitations”.

Despite their limited funding, they imply that we can expect to see more works from them and they will persist and “encourage not to continue quelling such a natural emotion but to embrace it”. Good to hear from the guys at Swagg Security (and Hacking).

It was reported some time ago by WebProNews that Apple might throw their TV hat into the ring and as time has passed it seems to be more prevalent that the super-company may indeed introduce a groundbreaking smart-TV.

Reportedly, the new iTV will sport many of the same features as your iPad and iPhone sporting apps, games and even Siri voice control. According to the article a Canadian research team has been testing an iTV prototype in their labs and their findings about the device are fairly similar to the other iDevices Apple has.

It seems you will be able to do all your favorite TV activities from the comfort of your couch with Siri voice control. Much like the 4S, you’ll be able to give Siri vocal commands and then set back and relax while you enjoy your entertainment; movies, television and more.

It’s also been rumored that the new device may support an iPhone link that will allow you to possibly do many of your iPhone activities, such as stream Netflix, on the iTV. The TV is also said to support Skype and and an iSight camera, which would be an interesting feature.

With all this supported technology, it has to be able to support games and apps, right? Speculation says the new device will be able to support apps and games. With that technology, you’ll be able to enjoy your iTV much like your other iDevices. Apple is very quiet about their work, but it’s rumored that the TV could be released sometime in 2013, although not much is certain.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Several images are circulating this morning that appear to be components of the forthcoming iPad 3. While the various images show some interesting updates to some of the tablet’s internal components, they also suggest that the device will be almost identical to its predecessor, the iPad 2.

Cult of Mac has obtained images from iPatch, a British company specializing in the repair of iOS devices. The leaked images include the internal cable for the sleep/wake button, mute switch, and volume buttons. Despite slight internal differences, the arrangement of the buttons appears very much the same. Other images show the microphone, which is significantly different than the one found in the iPad 2. The internal Wi-Fi components also appear to be significantly different, as does the headphone jack.

Other images, both from Cult of Mac and Chinese tech blog Apple.Pro (Google Translation) purport to show the back panel of the iPad. Assuming they’re genuine, it looks like the iPad 3 is going to be basically identical to the iPad 2 from an external design standpoint.

These images confirm what the rumor mill has been saying for some time: the iPad 3 will get some fairly significant internal upgrades, but will be basically the same as the iPad 2 on the outside. A prototype of the iPad 3 was purportedly spotted in the wild at CES last month. Apart from being marginally thicker than the iPad 2, it was identical. Meanwhile, other rumors have suggested major internal upgrades to the tablet, including a quad-core processor, 4G LTE capability, a significant camera upgrade, and a retina display.

For more information you can find all our iPad 3 coverage here. We’re already over a quarter of the way through February, and the iPad is likely to launch some time in March. That being the case, you can expect more rumors – and more reliable rumors – to surface in the coming weeks. Check back here for more information as it becomes available.

CNN reports that due to the heavy discounts applied to the iPhone by carriers, sales of the device destroy their bottom lines. Take for instance Verizon, the wireless company that started selling the iPhone in February 2011. Their “EBITDA service margin,” which is a metric that carriers use to “measure their core profit as a percentage of their sales, has dropped dramatically since they began selling the iPhone.

Between 2009 and 2010, Verizon averaged a EBITDA service margin of 46.4 percent per quarter. That fell to 43.7 percent in the quarter that the iPhone went on sale. It plunged even further last quarter when they sold 4.2 million iPhones to 42.2 percent.

Funny enough, their margin bounced back up to 47.8 percent during the third quarter last year. Why is that? People stopped buying iPhones.

AT&T has always sold more iPhones than other carriers which hurts them in a big way. Their margin was at 28.7 percent last quarter, compared to 37.6 percent the year before. The main cause – they sold twice as many iPhones last quarter.

Sprint already had a low margin to begin with, but they really took a beating once they began selling the iPhone. Their margin fell to 9.5 percent from 16 percent a year earlier. Sprint placed the blame squarely on the iPhone for their poor figures.

Analysts agree that the iPhone is bad for wireless carriers. As sales of the iPhone grow beyond anybody’s expectations, the subsidies from the devices will keep on hurting the profits of their carriers.

Carriers pay around $450 per device they sell which is the highest in the industry. AT&T is hurting even more since they offer the iPhone 3GS for free.

Sprint agreed to pay $15.5 billion in up front costs to Apple over the next four years for the device. They don’t even expect to make money on it until 2015.

The cost of adding an iPhone customer is about 40 percent higher than a non-iPhone customer according to Sprint.

Why would these companies destroy themselves over the iPhone then? It’s a matter of keeping customers. Sprint’s CEO told CNN last year that they offered the iPhone because customers were leaving to other carriers that had the device.

The only way that carriers are going to make money off of the iPhone is to raise rates or force Apple to lower their subsidies. Since nobody wants to tell Apple what to do, that’s why carriers like AT&T have been coercing customers into getting more expensive plans.

That’s the only solution making any sense right now so expect to see higher monthly bills in exchange for having an iPhone.

When you launch the app you’re prompted to enter your mobile phone number and email address. The first so Vonage can use your mobile number for outgoing calls, and the second for account management purposes. Also, Vonage uploads your phone’s address book to their servers. Unlike some other apps I could mention, Vonage Mobile is kind enough to warn you that it’s doing so.

Vonage Mobile allows users to make app-to-app calls over 3G, 4G, and Wi-Fi. Calls to other Vonage Mobile app users are free, as are calls to any Vonage number. Interestingly, the app does not require you to be a Vonage customer to make calls. Credit for international calls can be added via in-app purchase.

Vonage Mobile is a free download from the Android App Market and the iOS App Store. The iOS app is compatible with the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. It is not, however, a universal app, which means it isn’t optimized for iPad, only compatible. Check it out and let us know what you think in the comments.

So how did it all get to be this way? App watchers and wizards at ShoutEm have put together a nice infographic to recount the brief albeit bustling history of the mobile app store. One interesting fact: I had no idea that Android Market launched only three months after iTunes App Store. Who knew!

Brought to you by ShoutEm – App Creator

For you of poorly sight, you can view a larger version here.