Apple breaks the top ten in Fortune 500 list for the first time ever

Some more good news for Apple this week, with Fortune Magazine releasing its annual Fortune 500 list. And guess what? This year for the first time ever, Apple has made it into the top ten.

The Fortune 500 is a list of companies in the US with the highest revenue and this year, Apple made it all the way from it’s former rank of seventeen to number six with a posted revenue of $156.2 Billion.

When looking specifically at profits, Apple came second only to ExxonMobil among the Fortune 500 companies with $41.7 Billion.

The top 5 Fortune 500 Companies 2013 are, in order, Walmart, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Phillips 66 and Berkshire Hathaway. Check out the whole list at cnn.com

Photo courtesy of cnn.com

Future App of the Day- Smart Food Scale

A kickstarter project that looks amazing is the Smart Food Scale with accompanying iOS App. This kitchen tool and health and nutrition tracker could be revolutionary in the industry in its ability to track what you are eating and cooking, and helping you out along the way.

The device, created by ‘Chef Sleeve’ of San Francisco, will connect via Bluetooth and when a food item is placed on it, it will be able to tell you all the information about that item.

For example, it will tell you the weight (eliminating the need for measuring spoons and cups) and it will tell you all the nutritional information about the food down to calories,  fats, sugars, protein etc.

The target for money pledged is $30,000 before May 31^st and currently they at $19,868 with  246 backers.  Go to Kickstarter to check it out.

Image Courtesy of Kickstarter

App of the Day – Unicorn Robot Attack 2

Robot Unicorn Attack 2.

Originally released in 2010 as an Internet based game by Adult Swim, the sequel was released 25^th April this year.

The game is an ‘endless running’ side scrolling platform game, where you basically control a robot unicorn to collect fairy’s, crash through stars, and stay on the cliff-spotted path, whilst the game gets faster and faster. So, basically it’s really, really cool.

With the sequel, although the core gameplay remains the same, almost everything is fully fleshed out and/or improved.

Included in the sequel is added maneuvers, the ability to fly, the addition of enemies to combat and missions which once completed allow you to unlock further content or receive additional abilities.  The visuals have also been improved, and overall this sequel is pretty magic to play.

So, wait, what’s better than really, really, cool?

Free from the app store.

Image courtesy of ign.com

Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2013

For Apple Fans,users, and developers, apart from product release days, the most important and exciting time of year usually occurs in June.

June is when product announcements are made. June is when new and future products are described in fair detail by the people who make them, June is when we get to listen to people like Tim Cook and Jonathon Ive and hear  their ideas and what they really think.

June is when the surprises and secrets of Apple… some secrets of Apple… are released into the world. June is, of course, the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco ( June 10-14).

Tickets for this event went on sale on April 25^th at 1:00pm- and sold out in ninety second. NINETY SECONDS!

For those counting, or for those who think that Apple is somehow losing their place in the world to other smartphones, this is by far the fastest tickets have ever sold out.

In 2008 they sold out in 61…days.  Proof that people are still excited about Apple and their products, still loyal, and I’m glad, because, well, they should be. D’uh.

Now, what exactly will be happening at the WWDC 2013?

Only time will tell, but until then, we can countdown every day with a rumor- will they announce the iWatch? iPhone 5S? iPhone 6? Will iOS 7 be ready to be previewed? Will it have surprises? Will it be hard to use or even better? What will be the highlight? The surprises, the secrets of Apple released?

We’ll be talking about the likelihood of all of these possibilities and more in the coming weeks, so, if you’re a betting human, get ready to start placing your bets!

Have a coffee with Tim Cook

Wanna kick it with the dude who knows all about Apple? (assuming Steve didn’t take any secrets to the grave). Well, the man you’re going to want to see is Tim Cook, current CEO and man-in-the-know.

But how do I do that iPhone Antidote?

Well, right now, you can bid to have a coffee with the man himself, at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino. What’s the catch you ask?

Well… at the moment the bid is $605,000. And the bidding ends 14th May, so it will more than likely go up. But, it is for charity! For the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights, to be precise.

Run by the awesome Charity website https://www.charitybuzz.com, which auctions off celebrity and other once in a life time experiences for charity, the Tim Cook auction was slightly marred when the highest bidder was found out to be fraudulent, but we hope that’s the only slight hiccough in the process, and that whoever wins the auction- use your time well, buddy!

Image courtesy of Mashable

Twitter app update for iOS

As of yesterday, Twitter has updated its app for both Android and iPhone.

There were a few improvements in this latest update of the app, the most flashy being the ability to change the location of trending tweets to anywhere in the world. Now, Twitter users have the ability to view what is trending on Twitter outside their home location using the Discover tab.

Added improvements include improved playback of videos from Vine, the changing of retweet handling which shows the tags of both author and retweeter, the ability for users to send out invites from within the Twitter app, and the usual bug fixes.

The Twitter app can be downloaded for free from the App store.

Party Apps!

I was going to write about some Apple’s quarterly numbers and some statistics for you guys, but then I realized it’s Saturday. Saturday evening.

If people are at a computer screen, they’re more likely to want to read cool things that they can do later at a party right?

At some parties showing off your knowledge of quarterly numbers might cut it, but lets try for something a little cooler huh?

Try these apps out:

Mixology– This app never gets old. Thousands of drink and cocktail recipes right in the palm of your hand including heaps of solid usability options like searching using certain ingredients and finding the nearest liquor store. If you’ve never heard of it, well…uh, now you have. You can be the star of the party! Now go make me a drink.

Karaoke Anywhere- Now that everyone’s had a few superbly mixed drinks, it’s time for KARAOKE! Everyone loves singing in front of people whilst tipsy right? RIGHT! Plug your iPhone into the TV, and start singing along with about 200 popular songs. The lyrics appear on the screen along with the melody, just like real karaoke and you even have the ability to record the performances. eep.

If you’ve had enough of Karaoke, use Piki. Piki is a new app that is similar to Pandora, but it’s user based. You join, start by picking a song, and then you can follow other users who have similar songs in their radio streams. You can connect to friends using twitter, Facebook or Turntable and listen to all of their picks wherever you are. You can ‘re-pick’ songs from friends or others that you want on your own station. And no ads! So, start using Piki, add your friends, then by the time a party hits, you are only listening to music all of you have picked! Sweet! ( As long as your friends have good taste in music…if not, just make them listen to stations of  strangers that do)

Face Swap! Is basically exactly what it says. It takes a photo, from your photo library, Facebook or from a photo you take at that moment, and it swaps the faces of the people in the photo. Sounds so simple and yet is so hilarious.

Lastly, to take a photo of all the fun you’re having, whilst still being in the photo, you can either download TimerCam to make your iPhone camera have an auto timer on it, or download Cycloramic, which lets you take a panoramic photo with you in it. WHAT? Well, you stand your iPhone on a level surface and tell it to take a panoramic photo. And it does. WHAT? Well, so far it’s only for iPhone 5’s. You can still get the app V2.0 for iPhone 4 and 4s but you still have to hold it whilst it takes the panoramic photo.

All of these are FREE from the app store except for Cycloramic which is $1.00 You’re welcome.

Oh and btw, Happy Cinco De Mayo! Don’t do anything the iPhone Antidote wouldn’t do!

Photo courtesy of Wired

Silly, iPhone loving celebrities

Ever heard of David Ferrer? He’s a Tennis Player, a very good, Spanish Tennis player to be more accurate. He’s playing in a tournament at the moment – the Mutua Madrid Open Tournament- that is being sponsored by Samsung.

Last Tuesday, David Ferrer sent out a tweet telling the world just how much he loved the Samsung and in particular, their GalaxyS4 product.

It translated thus: “I’m so happy with my new #GalaxyS4, setting up S Health on my new #GalaxyS4 to help me with training.”

Sounds pretty normal right? Yeah, except it was sent via TWITTER FOR IPHONE! Ha, suck eggs, David Ferrer.

To be fair, the tweet was deleted soon after,but not before some of his followers caught on. D’oh.

Seems he’s not alone in this faux pas though- back in february Samsung Brand Ambassador  Alicia Keys made the same mistake- by saying she was “breaking up” with her iPhone, only to tweet from it after the event.

Oprah also, is a member of this group- last year she sent out tweets endorsing the new tablet from Microsoft. From her iPad.

Silly, Apple loving celebrities.

Photo courtesy of  Apple Insider.

iOS 7 is coming!

Apple are looking to introduce and preview their new iOS Software update- iOS 7 at WWDC 2013 ( Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, June 10-14), with a view of releasing it in September this year.

The tech world is abuzz with rumours that this iOS update ( code named Innsbruck) will be significantly different- and improved – under the direction of new Human Interface Software team director Jonathon Ive.

Ive is also the Senior Vice President of Industrial Design for Apple and has been primarily responsible for Hardware Design since 1997, but since Scott Forstall, the previous Software interface Director for Apple, was fired in October last year Jony Ive is in charge of both Hardware and Software design. Interesting.

Scott Forstall was a lover of what is called Skeuomorphic Design- basically icons and apps that replicate the look of real life items.

In relation to Apple, that means examples like the faux leather stitching on the Notepad App, grainy wood in the Newstand App, and the Casino resemblance of the Games App. Steve Jobs was said to be similarly smitten by this design choice.

Jony Ive is not.

See? So not smitten.

Sources are coming out of the woodwork almost every day now with leaked information on exactly what Jony Ive has planned, and here’s the gist of what we’ll most likely be looking at :

*Very flat, sleek design, with completely new look icons, tabs and toolbars, whilst still retaining the intuitiveness Apple is acclaimed for.

*More ‘at glance’ information with possible pull across screens similar to the pull down notification center.

*Apple Maps and Siri car integration, where you can use Apple Maps and Siri through your vehicles built in display.

*The high possibility of gesture control

Ive has been encouraging collaboration between the hardware and software teams, where previously the two worked independently, and, after last years Maps PR debacle, he is making sure that each and every change is reviewed extensively.

This means, according to most sources, (and the folks over at d’uh town), that everyone over there at Apple are working overtime to get the software ready for previewing at WWDC June 10-14. These sources have also claimed that engineers for OS X 10.9 have been pulled to help in preparation for iOS 7.

This all sounds pretty impressive and exciting- changes that will improve the way we use and interact with our iPhones forever- but there is bound to be more updates and improvements that have been so far kept under wraps.

There have been claims that the iOS 7 testers are using their devices with films over the screens that prevent anyone else around them from seeing the screen.

So, we’re expecting big things Mr Ive! ( No Pressure. … Well, a little bit of pressure… 😉 )