Most of Zynga's products come to mind. Mindless crap designed to be attractive and psychologically addictive without teaching the user anything or providing any intellectual stimulation.

I wouldn't expect many high profile examples though. By its nature junk tends to have a short shelf-life, last years junk just gets replaced with this year's junk.

I'm still not sure there's a real pattern here, beyond the always present 'make a quick buck' style of business, which has probably been around since business was discovered. Good discussion though. Thanks. You on twitter?