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Once again, Apple is offering one lucky winner a $10,000 iTunes gift card for simply downloading an iOS app. Of course timing will determine who wins, with the 25 billionth app marking the winner and another milestone in the 3.5 year history of the App Store.

Apple ran a similar contest when the App Store hit 10 billion downloads in January of last year. As of this writing there are less than 700 million apps remaining to be downloaded according to the Apple contest page.

Screenshots of the next iOS version 5.1 pre-GM have leaked and show some minor changes in the works for Apple's next iPhone firmware update. One of the notable changes highlighted by Blog do iPhone is a lock screen camera button that never disappears. Instead of clicking the home button twice to bring up the camera button, the process is simplified.

When the iPhone is locked, to take a photo quickly with iOS 5.1 you can just swipe the camera button up. This saves the step of having to double click the home button then tap the camera button. Apple added the lock screen camera button to provide quick access to the photo and video app, while protecting photo albums and the camera roll until the device is fully unlocked with a passcode.

Apple has finally responded to several reports that apps are accessing and storing user contact data without permission. The problem started when blogger Arun Thampi uncovered that the iOS app Path was storing people's contact info without their knowledge. Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr told AllThingsD that this behavior is a violation of their guidelines.

“Apps that collect or transmit a user’s contact data without their prior permission are in violation of our guidelines. We’re working to make this even better for our customers, and as we have done with location services, any app wishing to access contact data will require explicit user approval in a future software release.”

We've seen other iPhone alarms before, but the ZOMM Wireless Leash offers much more protection than the normal mobile phone safety net. The ZOMM leash not only keeps your iPhone safe, but it allows you to find the GPS coordinates of anything you snap a picture of, and it also functions as a Bluetooth speakerphone.

The Wireless leash vibrates, flashes or sounds an alarm whenever you separate 20-40 feet from your mobile phone. Combined with the free app, the ZOMM leash will give you directions to anything you tag like your car or favorite restaurant. It also allows you to share tagged items with your friends and works as a panic button. The speakerphone option notifies you of incoming calls and features a noise-canceling microphone for safe chatting while driving.

Several reports about Apple altering its requirements for Siri are causing people to wonder if the company is trying to block non-iPhone 4S devices from using the voice assistant. A new token is causing a problem for owners who are trying to connect using jailbreak tools like Spire.

Originally to get Siri to work on an non-iPhone 4S device you only needed a sever host and iPhone 4S certificate. However, according to several forums and Twitter, Apple has added a SetActivationToken which is causing issues with 3rd party servers. Thankfully their seems to be a temporary workaround.