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

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categories Apple, Apps, Cool Features, Tricks | | datetime December 20, 2013 11:52 am | comments Comments (0)

Apple’s Christmas ad might be one of the best Christmas ads ever.

 

Apple wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas by making us feel the big feels and pulling on our sparkly light entwined Christmas heart strings whilst (kinda) subliminally advertising their products.

 

 

It totally works.

 

 

 

 

We’re not crying, it’s just been raining on our faces!

 

 

 

 

categories Uncategorized | | datetime December 19, 2013 11:54 am | comments Comments (0)

Mac Pros on sale TOMORROW!

 

 

Wheeeee!! The redesigned Mac Pro will go on sale tomorrow!

 

Apple today announced that it’s new cylindrical baby will be available to order online and in store starting tomorrow, with Tim Cook tweeting a picture of it on the assembly line and saying

 

“We have begun manufacturing the Mac Pro in Austin.  It’s the most powerful Mac ever.  Orders start tomorrow.”

 

Redesigned from the inside out, the all-new Mac Pro features the latest Intel Xeon processors, dual workstation-class GPUs, PCIe-based flash storage and ultra-fast ECC memory.
Pricing for the Mac Pro begins at $2999!

 

Hands up who Wants one? We do! We do!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Images courtest of Macrumors & Grandfather.

categories Apple, Cool Features, New Releases | | datetime December 18, 2013 12:06 pm | comments Comments (0)

No more subsidies?

 

No more subsidies?! That makes us go:

 

 

 

 

 

Alright, crash course in subsidies!  A Subsidy is something you more than likely have used or been a part of. It’s a form of financial or in kind support extended to an economic sector, institution, business, or individual generally with the aim of promoting beneficial economic and social outcomes.

 

It’s also what happens when you buy a smartphone in this country, unless you buy it outright.

 

If you paid $199 for an iPhone 5S, or $99 for an iPhone 5C, your carrier subsidized the real cost of the smartphone. This means that you paid a certain amount, and because you signed a two year contract with them guaranteeing your continued business for a locked in period of time, they paid Apple the rest of the cost price of the iPhone.

 

 

All good, right?

 

Well, for now, yeah. Last week however AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson came out and dropped a little mini iPhone world bombshell on the future of subsidies in the smartphone industry.

 

His main point was that with smartphone saturation climbing rapidly towards 90% (!) carriers will need to move on to a different way of doing things, because the current model can’t be maintained at that rate.

 

Carriers like AT&T use the subsidies to drive demand, but with such a high percentage of the population of the country already owning a smartphone, demand moves to upgrades and the companies subsidy system was never meant to support a predominantly upgrading model.

 

So what now? & how will it affect you?

 

 

We’re heading towards a smartphone world with financing rather than subsidies. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said the company’s new AT&T Next program, which offers no-money down and 0-percent financing, “drives smartphone penetration in a way that is more sustainable over time.”

 

So if you buy an iPhone in the future, you’re still likely to sign a contract. That contract however will be broken up in a way where you can see that each payment period you are paying off a stated amount from the total cost of the smartphone. Separate to that amount would be what you are paying to use the carrier’s service- calls, texts, etc. You would of course also always have the option to buy the phone outright.

 

It’s the way that it’s done in a number of countries around the world and it will be interesting to see if and how the market here adapts and changes.

 

 

 

Images courtesy of 9to5Mac,  Macrumors, 

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categories Apple, Cell Phone Carriers, iPhone, Upgrades | | datetime December 17, 2013 12:22 pm | comments Comments (0)

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.

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categories Apple, Apps, Cool Features | | datetime December 16, 2013 2:11 pm | comments Comments (0)

What’s the top selling Smartphone of the last 3 months?

 

 

A dude named T. Michael Walkley, an analyst over at Canaccord Genuity did some counting, as analysts do, and figured out the top selling Smart phone at AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile for the months September, October and November of this year.

 

And the winner is?

 

 

The iPhone 5S!

 

 

 

Here’s the figures! (Via Appleinsider.)

 

 

Carrier Sales

 

 

The figures were following the same trend last year, with the iPhone 5 being the top selling smartphone of the last quarter of 2012, followed by the Samsung Galaxy S III, and then the iPhone 4 and 4S.

 

Yay iPhone 5S!

 

 

 

Images courtesy of  Youtube & Afuntab.

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categories Apple, Cell Phone Carriers, Cool Features, New Releases | | datetime December 14, 2013 11:09 am | comments Comments (0)

Deal of the Day! Friday the 13th Edition

 

Happy friday the 13th! Spoooooky.

 

 

Now grab this!

 

The FreedomPop Special Platinum Edition Photon 4G Hotspot (Refurbished) & 3GB Wireless Hotspot for first month only $24.99 with free shipping!

 

Whaaaaat!

 

Awesome.

 

Get it here.

 

 

 

 

 

Images courtesy of Themetapicture

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categories Apple, Cell Phone Carriers, Cool Features, New Releases, Savings, Tricks, Upgrades | | datetime December 13, 2013 1:07 pm | comments Comments (0)

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

So, this Friday is Friday the 13th.

 

 

But don’t worry! Why not? Well, because the only things  you need to worry about Friday the 13th is avoiding ladders, black cats and ridiculous superstitions.

 

AND checking out Walmart’s Holiday Sale!

 

Included in their holiday sale is the iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S! Whaaaa? Super awesome good luck! Take that unlucky Friday the 13th!

 

You can look forward to deals such as zeez:

 

 

The iPhone 5c will be offered at just $27 instead of the $99 price offered at Apple!

The iPhone 5S will be offered at $127 on a two year contract instead of the $199 price offered at Apple!

Also offered is a $50 gift card with the purchase of a $299 16 GB original iPad mini.

 

 

It all starts at 8AM on Friday, and runs through to December 24th!

 

AND THERE’S MORE!

 

Best Buy is now offering the iPhone 5S starting at $124.99 with 2 year activation! You can also get a $50 Best Buy gift card with the purchase of an iPad 2.

 

Did somebody say DEAL?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Images courtesy of  8track & Memecenter.

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categories Apple, Apps, Cell Phone Carriers, Cool Features, iPhone, New Releases, Savings, Upgrades | | datetime December 12, 2013 12:44 pm | comments Comments (0)

The fastest growing iOS game in History?

 

 

 

 

We don’t really know about this guys. We want to tell you about this game, but then we think about the consequences.

 

There will be lots of work not being done. Everywhere. Everywhere, everyone will be playing this game and not doing work. Society might break down.

 

 

But then we think of the positive’s, which are 1. It’s fun. 2. It’s not a solo player game and therefore can be enjoyed socially,  3. It can make you learn and 4. It’s CHRISTMAS! So we encourage playing!!

 

But here is your warning: It’s super, super addictive.

 

The game is called QuizUp. 

 

Despite only being a smidge over 3 weeks old, the game is the fastest growing mobile game. Ever. It’s made by some crazy Icelandic magicians and it already has 3.5 million registered users (and growing). The average player plays for 40 minutes a day. The average player. 40 minutes. It’s worth repeating that particular stat.

 

You can register using Facebook ( with the usual game access to basic information and friend list) or using your email address.

 

If you sign up using FaceBook, you’ll have your profile picture showing to your opponents, but just in case you don’t want your profile picture associated with the fact that you don’t know which movies Bollywood comedian Johnny Lever has NOT acted in, then you can change it to a cute logo of an octopus, or a sad panda.

 

 

Not really like that, but awwww.

 

The Gameplay itself is fast and clean. It’s your basic quizzy, general knowledge game, with a format that will be intuitive to you if you’ve ever watched Who Wants To Be A Millionaire or played Trivial Pursuit. Once you start playing you are given categories to choose from.

 

The categories are what you would expect and way, way more. They’re fluid with user submitted questions being added daily ( without the app needing to be updated!), and they are specialized, with categories ranging from Geography to European Countries to Fruits and Vegetables, to Biology. We could go on. So far there’s over 200,000 trivia questions.

 

If you sign in using Facebook, categories will be suggested to you using the basic information on your Facebook profile. For example, the category ‘The 49ers’ was suggested for iPhone Antidote. Because the 49ers rock, obviously.

 

Once you choose a category, you are set against another player and given multiple choice questions. You get points for answering correctly, and you get more points for answering correctly quickly. You have to beat the other person’s amount of points by the final question ( you get double points for getting the last question correct), and then you win.

 

 

Yay. And then you play again because you feel smart. And again because then you got too cocky and lost and you want to feel smart again.And so on. And on.

 

The more you play, the more XP you gain and you can then move up a leader board against both your Facebook friends and on global, local, country-by-country, and state-by-state lists.

 

For every category there is also a message board which so that those particularly passionate about the Herbs & Spices category can talk about it after a game if they feel the urge.

 

The game is free, but don’t worry, you won’t be annoyed by ads or be feeling the need to buy more lives or make any other in-app purchases. Plain Vanilla has partnered with brands who then create sponsored games, so you might end up playing a category sponsored by the Twilight Brand. And then you can show off everything that you know about Twilight. Like how Edward the Vampire is actually..something something.

 

 

Right now, QuizUp is only available for iOS. (An Android version is coming in January.) Get it in the App store!

 

Play away kids, but don’t say we didn’t warn you about the addiction!!

 

Oh, and try and find us on there, we’re a sad octopus and we’re really good at European countries.

 

 

 

 

 

Images courtesy of Pando, 8Tracks, Perezhilton & Bitcointalk.

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categories Apple, Apps, iPhone, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPhone Data, New Releases | | datetime December 11, 2013 3:05 pm | comments Comments (0)

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

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categories Apple, Apps, Cool Features, iPhone | | datetime December 10, 2013 2:32 pm | comments Comments (0)