One of Apple’s employees got picked to be a super government person under Obama.

How to tell when you’re doing your job properly? Good feedback, tick, people you work with like you, tick, pay-rise, tick, getting nominated to serve in the White House… uh, wha?

That’s what has just happened to this nice lady – Catherine Novelli.

Currently Apple’s Vice President of Worldwide Government Affairs, Ms Novelli has been nominated by The White House to serve as Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment.

EEP!  She’s been with Apple since 2007 and as of yet there is no news as to whether she will continue to work with the tech giant, or move entirely to the, well, world government giant.

Kudos Catherine Novelli! I think you can give yourself a great big tick on this one.

Image courtesy of Macrumors.

What to do if you water, wine or vodka damage your iPhone!

Hey guys. So we seem to have been referencing getting your beloved shiny iPhone wet recently. Tackling the hard to talk about stuff, as per usual…

We understand that it’s not funny when someone accidentally drops their phone into a pitcher of beer, or falls into a pool, or does something to a person that gets them so mad they revenge pee on their phone ( happened to a friend of a friend of ours…)

Well, no, scratch that. That stuff is really  funny, as long as it’s not your phone, and if it is your phone, you usually get your sense of humor back if, IF you can rescue your wet wet iPhone.

Here’s what you should do to try rescue that poor wet puppy!

1, Don’t freak out. Crying will just bring more wetness. Duh. Your phone needs you to be strong, just like your Grandfather when he used to, like, walk all day in the snow to get to work and stuff.

2,  If the phone is submerged, unsubmerge it. Dry the surfaces real quick.

3, If the phone is still on, turn it off ASAP. If it’s already off, don’t try and turn the phone on RESIST THE URGE! Trust us. If your iPhone refuses to respond to your touch and refuses to turn off, well… no you can probably cry a little bit.

4, From here, it kind of depends on what stores you have at your disposal. The easiest helpful drying ingredient most people can get their hands on is Rice.  Put some rice in a ziplock bag or tupperware container – anything airtight- and completely envelop the phone within.

5, Rice is a great option, but what’s better is Silica Gel. Silica Gel is the stuff that’s inside those little packets of stuff you get in Beef Jerkey bags.

You can buy these at craft stores ( It’s intended use here is for flower drying). Again, submerge your phone in an airtight container full of the sachet’s.

6, If you have a good hardware store nearby, you could try to get DampRid.Works the same as the Silica Gel. Again with the airtight container, submerge, etc.

7, Place the container/ziplock bag in a warm dry place.

8, DON’T TOUCH YOUR PHONE FOR 24 HOURS! Even if you think it might really be ok, and you’re expecting the most important text ever, leave it in there. We would actually recommend leaving the phone for a full 48 hours, but the minimum has to be 24 hours to give it the best chance of surviving.

Poor little fella.

If all of this fails, send him on over to us, we’ll give you some CASHMONEY and make a nice new home for him out here on the farm.  You can do this HERE. 

Image courtesy of gameconsoleworld.com, robotroom.com & countrylife.co.uk

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iPhone 5S Touch ID MANIA

So there’s been a bunch of stuff doing the rounds about Touch ID, the Apple iPhone 5S fingerprint sensor. We thought we’d clear a little bit of it up for you, because some of it sounds stupid and some of it sounds  a little bit scary.

Number 1. Yes, apparently you can use the fingerprint sensor with your toe, or other ( cough) appendages. We haven’t personally tried it, because we don’t really get the point. But it is apparently a thing, so that’s cool we guess. Not as cool as this picture of Bruce Willis though.

Number 2, Yes, some dudes called the Chaos computer club hacked the fingerprint sensor, which allowed them access to someone’s phone without them having to use the owners finger.

But it’s really ok, guys. We mean, we don’t know what kind of information you guys have stored in your iPhones, but unless you’re James Bond or the like, chances are people are not going to want to go through what these guys went through in order to get into your iPhone. Especially when they can just make you tell them your PIN if you have one.

The German Chaos computer club used the same method that people do to hack into other fingerprint authentication systems, except with a few minor improvements because Apple made their fingerprint sensor using a super unusually high resolution scanner.

In their own words:

“First, the fingerprint of the enrolled user is photographed with 2400 dpi resolution. The resulting image is then cleaned up, inverted and laser printed with 1200 dpi onto transparent sheet with a thick toner setting. Finally, pink latex milk or white woodglue is smeared into the pattern created by the toner onto the transparent sheet. After it cures, the thin latex sheet is lifted from the sheet, breathed on to make it a tiny bit moist and then placed onto the sensor to unlock the phone.”

Simple stuff right? Ummm… not really. We think we’ll be fine.

It is still something to know and understand, of course, because it could lead to issues down the line – these are only the first guys to have successfully done it, there are no doubt plenty more guys out there trying to prove they’re smarter than Apple.

Until then, enjoy Touch ID. Just… if you’re going to enjoy it in weird ways, with weird parts of your body, let people know before they touch your phone, yeah? Yeah. Cool.

New YouTube Mobile App feature!

Youtubers!

Good news! Very soon you will be able to download video using the mobile app on your phone or tablet AND watch said video later, when you’re offline for some weird reason.

Cool huh? Well, it’s like a 6 on coolness. Could definitely come in handy, definitely good for flights and camping and space flights.

But… some commercial partners, such as the music video service Vevo, have the option and are taking the option to not participate. Wah.

The service will still be free, still contain ads, won’t work for movies or TV episodes that it currently rents, and the downloaded video will work to watch offline for up to 48 hours.

Thanks, YouTube.

Image courtesy of YouTube.

Wait, how many new iPhones have been sold?!

Do you guys know how many polar bears there are in the world? C’mon we’re going somewhere with this, we promise.

It’s around 25 thousand. What about Penguins? You guys know much about penguins?

Well we got a few more of those cute bastards running around. Around 2 million.  Annnnd… how many pet birds in the United States?

That’s sitting at about 6 Million-ish.

Put all of that together, and now you have the number of iPhones Apple sold in the first three days of their release.

Yup, that’s NINE MILLION IPHONES.

That’s right, Kanye. NINE MILLION Sheesh.

That’s like almost half of all Australians bought an iPhone. OR like, everyone in Slovenia bought 4 and  a bit. Last year in the same 3 day period, the iPhone 5 only ( ha, ‘only’) sold 5 million units.

iOS 7 has also been updated by 200 million users- doubling the rate that iOS 7 was adopted.

Here we have Tim Cook:

“This is our best iPhone launch yet — more than 9 million new iPhones sold — a new record for first weekend sales. The demand for the new iPhones has been incredible. And while we’ve sold out of our initial supply of iPhone 5S’s, stores continue to receive new iPhone shipments regularly. We appreciate everyone’s patience and are working hard to build enough new iPhones for everyone.”

He later went back on Twitter to say:  “Thanks to all our amazing customers for the fantastic weekend!”

Not surprisingly, Apple stock has jumped back up around $490.

Although Apple has not broken down the sales between the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C, the general consensus is that the iPhone 5S has far outsold the iPhone 5C worldwide – but that the cheaper model will start to catch up in time.

SO, Yay apple! You guys did good.

p.s. it was depressingly hard to find enough cool animals to compare to the sale of the new iPhones in 3 days. Sorry to sad out on you guys, but like, give a lion a dollar or something next time you see one.

Images courtesy of imore.com, themetapicture.com, imfunny.net, cafemom.com

Check for iPhone 5S in store availability right now!

YAY! You can now go in store to pick up your long awaited iPhone 5S and/or iPhone 5C if you order online! You can also see availability  for each model on the online purchase page!

The iPhone 5C has much better availability than the 5S as Apple sold out of a lot of the iPhone 5S models super fast and had to ramp up of the Gold option specifically by a third.  The Gold option still seems to be limited, with no current in store pickup  availability that we could find.

Here is an example of availability for the iPhone 5S for pickup in store:

To check availability for in-store pickup, choose your specification options first, then click the Check Availability link beneath the green Continue button. You’ll need to enter your Zip code to see the availability in your area.

What to do if you water, wine or vodka damage your iPhone

Hey guys. So we seem to have been referencing getting your beloved shiny iPhone wet recently. Tackling the hard to talk about stuff, as per usual…

We understand that it’s not funny when someone accidentally drops their phone into a pitcher of beer, or falls into a pool, or does something to a person that gets them so mad they revenge pee on their phone ( happened to a friend of a friend of ours…)

Well, no, scratch that. That stuff is really  funny, as long as it’s not your phone, and if it is your phone, you usually get your sense of humor back if, IF you can rescue your wet wet iPhone.

Here’s what you should do to try rescue that poor wet puppy!

1, Don’t freak out. Crying will just bring more wetness. Duh. Your phone needs you to be strong, just like your Grandfather when he used to, like, walk all day in the snow to get to work and stuff.

2,  If the phone is submerged, unsubmerge it. Dry the surfaces real quick.

3, If the phone is still on, turn it off ASAP. If it’s already off, don’t try and turn the phone on RESIST THE URGE! Trust us. If your iPhone refuses to respond to your touch and refuses to turn off, well… no you can probably cry a little bit.

4, From here, it kind of depends on what stores you have at your disposal. The easiest helpful drying ingredient most people can get their hands on is Rice.  Put some rice in a ziplock bag or tupperware container – anything airtight- and completely envelop the phone within.

5, Rice is a great option, but what’s better is Silica Gel. Silica Gel is the stuff that’s inside those little packets of stuff you get in Beef Jerkey bags.

You can buy these at craft stores ( It’s intended use here is for flower drying). Again, submerge your phone in an airtight container full of the sachet’s.

6, If you have a good hardware store nearby, you could try to get DampRid.Works the same as the Silica Gel. Again with the airtight container, submerge, etc.

7, Place the container/ziplock bag in a warm dry place.

8, DON’T TOUCH YOUR PHONE FOR 24 HOURS! Even if you think it might really be ok, and you’re expecting the most important text ever, leave it in there. We would actually recommend leaving the phone for a full 48 hours, but the minimum has to be 24 hours to give it the best chance of surviving.

Poor little fella.

If all of this fails, send him on over to us, we’ll give you some CASHMONEY and make a nice new home for him out here on the farm.  You can do this HERE. 

Image courtesy of gameconsoleworld.com, robotroom.com & countrylife.co.uk

Guys! iOS 7 makes your phone waterproof!

NO. NO IT DOESN’T

But some people said it did, because some people are big jerks. Like the guys behind this fake out video.

It is possible to waterproof your iPhone, but not by updating the software. Apparently, some people believed the big jerks. If anyone knows these kids, pass them our number yeah? iPhone Antidote.

When will we get an iPhone 5S or iPhone 5C sent in?

Last year we had a cracked screen iPhone 5 sent in two weeks after the release…. How long until we see an iPhone 5S or iPhone 5c??

It’s definitely going to be water damaged or cracked, and it’s definitely going to break someone’s little heart. The pain of a favorite shiny new gadget turned old and stinky in one little instant is a first world pain so many of us share.

The only thing we can do is give you some cash to take it off your hands, and some sympathy. Probably a neat little magnet or pen too.

With San Francisco company Square trade releasing smartphone durability testing results yesterday, and the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C coming in at a slightly worse score than the iPhone 5, we’re going to place our bets, hope it isn’t you, and predict 8 days until we pay someone CASHMONEY for a sad little iPhone 5S or 5C.

These durability tests also placed Samsung’s Galaxy S4 in right bam blam last place of the 5 smart phones that were tested, with the phone not even functioning by the end of the testing, with it’s screen half falling off.

So, be happy you ain’t an android kid, try not to drop your shiny new iPhone, and try not to be the first person to send us in a broken iPhone 5S or iPhone 5C. Unless you want some kind of publicity. Like Kim Kardashian and her sex tape. Kind of. In that case – Here is where to start! 

And, we just decided. We’ll give an extra $10 payment to the person who sends in the first iPhone 5C or iPhone 5S. Deal?

Image courtesy of bgr.com

New iPhone 5C Ad screened during the Emmy’s

Apple released another iPhone 5C ad in the middle of the Emmy’s but we were too busy celebrating Breaking Bad FINALLY winning something and feeling weird about Claire Danes dress and wishing we were cool celebrities who get to dress up and be fancy with champagne and gold trophies and stuff.

Oh, you guys too? Yeah, we thought so. So here’s the ad again.

Now everyone go buy some cheap champagne and pretend you’re a witty fancy dressed up celebrity RIGHT NOW!

Image courtesy of www.studiosystemnews.com