How many iPhones, iPod touches, and iPads were opened on Christmas? Check out the Facebook for iPhone download spike above for one datapoint. A second datapoint comes from Tap Tap Revenge 4:

Tapulous tells us that peak Christmas downloads reached 45,000 per hour, and that holiday download traffic is twice the levels of last year.

Facebook is probably the most popular iPhone app of all time and TTR4 is among the most popular right now, but the mapping is probably still not be one-to-one. Either way, that’s a lot of iOS devices under the tree this year.

[allfacebook.com, Business Insider, via Daring Fireball x2]

Tap Tap Revenge 3 [$0.99 - iTunes link] is scorching up the charts, and so to thank their fans the fine folks at Tapulous are tripling up on the give-aways.

First, if you’ve already got the app, they want to give you the TTR3 version of #1 hit on iTunes, “Fireflies” by Owl City for FREE for the next 7 days! That’s right, just fire the game up and download away!

Second, for those who haven’t yet upgraded from Tap Tap Revenge 2, buy the game in the next 2 days (through midnight Friday, PST), gets a FREE credit for a premium two-pack bundle (by top artists like Foo Fighters, Fall Out Boy, Blink 182, Smashing Pumpkins, and more being added every day). To get your free tracks,just email your iTunes receipt or screenshot to freemusic[at]tapulous[dot]com with your Tap Tap Revenge 3 username (and nothing else) in the subject line. Clear?

Third, they’re giving away a chance to win the entire premium catalog of Tap Tap Revenge 3 for FREE (over 100+ sensational songs). Want that chance? Drop a comment below (through midnight Sunday, PST), telling us who you’d most like to challenge on TTR3. Anyone in history, any where, any when. Who do you most want to play off the TTR3 stage and leave begging for music mercy? (Me, I’m claiming Shatner! He tasks me and I will have at him!)

Note: You’ll need a copy of your TTR3 iTunes receipt to claim your winnings, so keep it handy. Also, be sure to leave a valid email address so we can contact you. Now get going!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb, bloggers and forum crew alike, will bring you our current favorite, funnest, most useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone (or iPod touch) related, they’re fair game.

So who’s on deck this week and what are our picks? Find out after the break!

Chad’s Pick: Doom Resurrection

I was a little apprehensive about this on-rails First Person Shooter (FPS) but id did a great job with it. It controls great, has a nice environment and all the weapons you love from the original. The ability to dodge adds an extra level of immersion as well. This is a fine hold-me-over until Doom Classic gets released soon…[$9.99 - iTunes link]

Chris’ Pick: iTunes Movie Rentals

I was just out in the field, and my hotel didn’t have a TV or anything. Luckilly I had planned in advance and rented some movies through iTunes, so I was able to watch them on my iPhone while in the hotel room. [Variable - iTunes link]

Jeremy’s Pick: Tap Tap Revenge 2.6

I scored 428,486 on Wrong by Depeche Mode, in Tap Tap Revenge 2, the hot music rhythm game for the iPhone and iPod touch. If you are on your iPhone or iPod touch and have Tap Tap Revenge 2 installed, click the link below: Open Tap Tap Revenge 2 and play the challenge! [free - iTunes link]

Leanna’s Pick: IM+

I’ve been hesitant to spend the money on an IM client, but IM+ won me over with the integration of Twitter push. Now, I’m not going to say that IM+ perfectly pushes Twitter, because it doesn’t, but it’s an impressive first attempt. Every direct message and @ mention gets pushed to me 1 to 4 minutes after it was sent. Every once in awhile some random tweet gets pushed through as well, but not often. What about normal IM? It’s works great! I will have a full review of IM+ soon, so stay tuned! {$9.99/month – iTunes link]

Matt’s Pick: Appshopper.com

Appshopper.com has recently updated their site so that you can now log in to your own account and add apps that you have bought. Appshopper.com will then notify you (optional) when updates come out for your apps. You can also create a wish list for apps that you want to purchase in the future (an also receive updates about price changes). The website also allows different sorting options and rankings of your apps in your collections. [Web link]

Rene’s Pick: Autostich

My photographic aspirations far exceed my talents, and while my experiments at iPhone 3GS HDR are still resulting in misaligned ghost worlds, my iPhone 3GS panoramas have taken a step towards… well, if not the better, at least the easier. Previously, I would take my shots and bring them into Photoshop to assemble a pano. Now, I just use Autostich right on the iPhone, and the results have been excellent. If they could add a cropping feature, my on-device workflow would be complete. [$1.99 - iTunes link]

Your Pick?

You’re part of team TiPb too, so what’s your pick? What app was your absolute fav last week? Let us — and everyone — know in the comments!

9to5Mac (via Gizmodo) shows Push Notification already working in the latest version of Tap Rap Revenge [Free - iTunes link] when run on the iPhone 3.0 GM developer seed. Gizmodo, of course, raises the pertinent question:

It certainly isn’t the most creative use of background notifications—the messages only pop up when you’re challenged by another player—and I’m already wondering how, when all kinds of apps have this capability, the iPhone’s exceedingly simple notification system will scale.

Since Text Alerts don’t tack, a new one obliterates the one before it. What happens when an urgent IM is replaced by “Hey, dooooooode, can haz rock out?!” Sure, badges remain, but then you have to go looking for them…

I am a big music lover and I hold a special place in my heart for Trent Reznor’s music. Nine Inch Nails has been one of my favorite bands since freshman year in high school (when nobody really knew who Trent Reznor was, let alone Nine Inch Nails). This is an iPhone dedicated web site so why am I telling you this? Well you will soon be able to rock out to Nine Inch Nails right on your iPhone… Tap Tap Revenge Style!. (iTunes link)

Tapulous, the developers who brought you the highly addictive Tap Tap Revenge, are hard at work getting 12 NIN songs into their highly successful app. This will be the first developer to bring licensed content to iPhone Apps. No release date or price has been given but I’d pay a few bucks for this for sure.

I have a feeling it will do very well and we can all hope that it could bring us Closer to more musician/application deals. That would be a pretty sweet deal!

(Via Gizmodo)

No, Tap Tap Revenge isn’t the more evil, Dark Side, Sith’ier version of the famed iPhone game that multi-touch tapped its way into jailbroken hearts everywhere, it’s just the new branding adopted by the new owners, Tapulous. Nate True, as famous for TTR as he was in the jailbreak community in general, stays on as developer, and has even added in double-tapper, two-player mode for good measure.

Coming soon to the App Store (we hope!)

Keep reading for Ngmoco and Rolando, after the break!

Speaking of developers, former EA Blueprint head Neil Young has left the uber-house after 11 years to start up his own joint, Ngmoco, which will focus on everyone’s favorite new revolutionary handset, the iPhone. Why the iPhone? In addition to shifting mobile focus beyond just making phone calls, and reinventing the business model with App Store, Young says:

The iPhone, from a performance standpoint, is pretty close to a PSP, but unlike the PSP, it’s got a touchscreen, accelerometers, a camera, it’s location-aware, it’s got all of your media on it, it’s awake with you, it’s always on, and it’s always connected to the network. So if you think about the types of games and entertainment experiences that you can build on a platform like that, it’s got to get pretty exciting pretty quickly.

Wow. He gets it…

… And so does Simon Oliver, who takes what’s unique about the iPhone’s control potential, mixes it up with a highly stylized look, and gives us the puzzling physics of Rolando: