Happy Birthday Mac!

30 years and one day ago today, the Macintosh computer was introduced to the world by Steve Jobs at the Macworld computing conference in San Francisco.

To celebrate, Apple have added a new section in the App store, devoted to wishing their grand old computing dame a happy dirty thirty. Called  ‘Happy Birthday, Mac’, it features  apps and games from Apple and third party app designers aimed at capturing the spirit of what makes the Mac, and it’s thirty year existence, extraordinary.

Apple said the following about the celebration;

“When the Macintosh debuted on January 24, 1984, it fundamentally changed what a computer was – and what it could do. Software developers had an incredible new playground for their imaginations, allowing them to create groundbreaking apps and games unlike any seen before. And that’s just as true of the Mac today as it was then. Celebrate the Mac’s 30th anniversary with our specially chosen assortment of apps and games that capture the spirit of what makes this computer so extraordinary.”

Apple has also created a tribute to the Mac on their homepage with a visual timeline and a “Mac 30” video that looks at the Mac’s past and present.

The Mac was a revelation in computing, making the need to type in commands when using a computer unnecessary, instead recquiring point and click menu’s and a clear, graphical interface that is now used across the world today. It had a 9 inch screen, used floppy disks, cost $2495, and  had 128KB RAM. The current Mac Pro starts at 12BG of memory – more than 90,000 times as much as the 1984 model.

In traditional Apple form, the computer was first sneak peeked to the world in a infamous ad, directed by Ridley Scott and aired during the 1984 Superbowl.

The ad alluded to George Orwell’s novel ‘1984’ and was seen as a dig at Apple’s leading rival at the time, IBM. The Mac, apparently, was going to save people from a future dominated by IBM.

Happy Dirty Thirty Birthday Mac! We love you and everything you’ve brought into the world!

Images courtesy of  Computerhistory.org & Oldskull.net

iPhone Tip Of The Day

In iOS 7, swiping right to left will get rid of a notification without opening it!

Image courtesy of Quickmeme

App Store records broken

Apple recently announced that their App store made an astonishing $10 Billion last year, with $1 Billion in December. Their customers downloaded almost 3 billion apps.

That’s so many Apps.

Eddie Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services said this about the feat:

“We’d like to thank our customers for making 2013 the best year ever for the App Store,” said Eddy Cue, . “The lineup of apps for the holiday season was astonishing and we look forward to seeing what developers create in 2014.”

Ya, we are too Eddie. particularly the app where you can taste what you see on the internet, the app that uses time travel technology (obviously) and the make your own tiny dinosaur App. Those are the ones we’re really looking forward to.

Our tiny pet dinosaur will be named Sheldon. D’uh.

Images couresy of Android.appstorm.net & Pinterest.

Apple acquires small Australian tech company

What would you do if you were Apple; a super giant mobile tech company with millions of dollars and super smart employees and awesome products- stay with us- and some kid comes along with an App that makes your smartphone camera 100 times better? Well?

You buy it, dummies! Or, excuse us, you ‘acquire’ it.

And that’s what Apple has just done, although we may have slightly misspoken with all that ‘kid’ talk. Doctor John Papandriopoulos is the San Fransisco based Australian founder (and sole employee!) of Snappycam, an app which basically turns the iPhone camera super awesome by giving it the capability to take 20 photos per second, giving it burst shoot functionality.

He did this by rewriting the JPEG Algorithm. Obviously.

The acquisition has been rumored for some time after the App was taken out of the App store and all social media presence of Snappycam was taken down, but it was confirmed to the Wall Street Journal last Saturday.

Apple will most likely use the technology to improve their own camera capabilities and release them to us with future software updates.

Yay!  We like better camera stuff! We just can’t wait until you can take things out of photos, you know what we mean? Like cupcakes. And Beach holidays. And kittens. This guy should start working on that.

Images courtesy of Techradar & Petapixel

Google Glass becoming more accessible!

Want to try Google Glass? Haven’t been able to yet? You can either check out eBay for a couple thousand clams OR you can try checking out subscribing to Google’s All Access Music service.

In Google’s most recent device expansion, users who are currently subscribed in the US would have recently received an invitation to try the infamous wearable tech. For only about $1500! Sweet right?

Um, by the way…

Um, yeah. Whats up with that Google? Opportunity MISSED! What suckers. …really rich powerful suckers. Are we right?

Anyway. Google Play Music was just launched on Google Glass, so it made sense for them to send out the invitations for Glass at the same time. Google Play Music All Access is a service available for $9.99 per month that lets users stream music from the internet on their devices.

According to AndroidCentral the invitations read: “Interested in rocking out while exploring with Glass? Sign up to receive your invitation below!”

If you live outside the US, can’t justify the cost, or just can’t fandangle an invite yet, Google Glass is expected to be released to the general public at some point this year, and possibly at less than the current $1500 price tag.

Images courtesy of TheVerge, Knowyourmeme & Lolshelf.

How cool is Amazon’s new Mayday button?

Kindles have always been pretty cool, but they just recently got a whole heck of a lot cooler.

They recently released new tablets which are awesome, BUT it is their massively increased customer service that is funneled directly from their understanding of their customers experience with the tablets that has us impressed.

We’re talking about the Mayday Button.

This is magic portal (other wise known as an icon you can press on screen) which connects you to a live Amazon representative through a video feed. Whoever you connect to can’t see you (hooray for Pajamas!) but they can talk to you, they can draw on the screen and they can take control of your device to fix any issues. These magical Amazon elves are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and they will respond within 15 seconds.

For free.

Very cool. See?

Uh, customer service win? Bye hold music!

Video courtesy of Kindle. Images courtesy of Geek.com & Fonolo.com

Beyonce’s new album is exclusively on iTunes and breaking records!

The Queen Bee has a new album! AND it’s breaking all sorts of records because, well, duh, she’s Queen B. Beyonce dropped her very unexpected self titled visual album late on Thursday night, exclusively on iTunes.

In a press release, Apple has proudly announced that the album is the fastest selling ever on the iTunes store, moving 828,773 united worldwide in the the first 3 days and going straight to number one  in 104 countries. Try naming 104 countries, and then think about being number 1 in all of them. It’s pretty mind blowing.

Here’s a slice of the press release for you:

“The self-titled, BEYONCÉ, is the fifth solo studio album from Beyoncé, which was made available exclusively worldwide on the iTunes Store on December 13 by Parkwood Entertainment/Columbia Records. The self-titled set is the artist’s first visual album. BEYONCÉ is infused with 14 new songs and 17 visually stunning, provocative videos shot around the world from Houston to New York City to Paris, and Sydney to Rio de Janeiro, all before the album’s release. The album represents Beyoncé’s biggest sales week ever.”

“Beyonce’ is being billed as a ‘visual’ album because each song has an accompanying music video. If you would like to check out some previews for the songs before buying, they’re loaded on her Youtube channel. You can buy the album on iTunes.

Here’s a taste!

“Self-Titled” is a mini art feature comprised of several parts that give a glimpse into the entire project. It details her mind-set and artistic vision throughout the making of BEYONCÉ.

Video courtesy of Beyonce Youtube Channel. Image courtesy of Vibe.

Walmart & Best Buy Holiday sales feature price drops on iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S!

So, this Friday is Friday the 13th.

The fastest growing iOS game in History?

Apple’s Twelve Days Of Christmas App!

You guys, you gotta do this.

For the first time ever, the US is included in Apple’s 12 Days of Gifts App! It should be pretty awesome, so big yay’s all around!

The app can be downloaded as of right now (although you do need to have iOS 7 installed) and is leading up to 12 days of free giveaways from Apple’s various digital stores starting December 26th.

That’s one free gift from Apple every day (think songs, books, apps, movies etc) for 12 days right up until January 6th!

This is a promotion that Apple has been running in other countries for years, but this is the first time we get to have some free gift fun too! Download the app today so you can be prepared when it comes to all the free stuff! Available now in the App store. 

High five!

Images courtesy of Mashable, Sonnyradio & Grandfather.com