Is it time to get rid of the Christmas tree? Instead of dragging it to the recycling center, why not blow it up? Bad Robot Interactive, a division of J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot, makes it possible with Action Movie FX, its first iOS app.

Just in time to ruin New Year’s diet resolutions, integrated ad and marketing agency Barkley has released apps and widgets to promote Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. Sending alerts that doughnuts have just come out of the oven is a small but real-world example of the Web of Things, Barkley said.

The proliferation of political talking heads is only going to get worse as the 2012 election heats up. Helping to deal with it, MadHumans.com offers profiles of national political characters, along with relevant satirical commentary, games, news feeds and social engagement.

Football fans are being given additional options for indulging their interest. Super Bowl XLVI, 2012 Pro Bowl and NBC’s "Wild Card Saturday" doubleheader will be available on television, online and on select mobile phones, the NFL announced today.

Older gamers may spend less time on mobile social games than their younger counterparts, but they definitely spend more money on virtual goods. That’s the key takeaway from new research from mobile gaming community MocoSpace.

NBCUniversal’s NBC Owned Stations are encouraging viewers to send in photos taken with Instagram, as part of the company’s ongoing efforts to engage with their viewers by embracing social media and user-generated content, and are incorporating the app into production systems for use online or in local news broadcasts.

TriPlay today announced an app that synchs its MyMusicCloud personal music player with Dropbox so users can enjoy their music and video collection from any computer, tablet or phone with Internet access.

PayPal, the online payments arm of eBay, plans to challenge Groupon and DC-based LivingSocial with a new deals service expected to launch in early 2012, Bloomberg reported.

Indie pop band Honor Society has signed up to use Flowd, the music lover’s social network, to make the most of its current Rock the Red Kettle Tour and to support the Salvation Army, which is a partner for the tour.