Apple just announced that the App Store just hit its 50 billionth app download ever. To celebrate the event, Apple said it would give a $10,000 App Store Gift Card to the person who downloads the 50 billionth app. Apple’s also giving $500 App Store Gift Cards to the next 50 people to download an app after the 50 billion mark.
Siri’s got a ton of talents. She’s an amateur movie critic. She knows all about robotics. Plus, she’s pretty decent at her main job as a personal assistant.
Siri’s never been a great comedian, and whoever was put in charge of making Siri more witty and conversational is just making her look more dorky. Now whenever you ask Siri to tell you a joke, she replies with, “Get Siri-ous. Ha ha!” The joke is bad enough, but the little “Ha ha!” at the end makes Siri sound like some high school nerd at open mic night. Hopefully Tim Cook and the gang will teach Siri some better jokes before WWDC 2013.
Source: Reddit
T-Mobile finally has the iPhone 5. It’s great, and cheap, but unfortunately its data speeds are slower than an iPhone 5 on AT&T. Not satisfied with their slower iPhone 5s, Joseph Brown and Sky Zangas did some digging around in carrier update files and figured out a way to boost data speeds on the T-Mobile iPhone 5.
To get faster data speeds on T-Mobile’s network with the iPhone 5 all you have to do is install a custom carrier update. That sounds like a tough task, but it’s actually pretty easy, and thanks to the guys at TmoNews, here’s a quick guide on how to do it:
Earlier this week we reported that ABC plans to be the first major network in the U.S. to offer live TV programming on your iPad. Well the rebranded ‘Watch ABC’ app just hit the App Store, which means if you live in certain areas you could get free live TV on your iPad now.
Watch ABC’s live video feature currently only works in Philadelphia and New York City, but more cities should be added throughout the year. To get the live streaming service running after July 1st you’ll have to confirm that you have an active cable subscription with either Comcast, Cablevision, Cox, AT&T U-Verse, Charter and Midcontinent.
Here are the release notes:
Square is quickly becoming one of the most convenient and coolest ways for small businesses to process transactions. If you’ve ever visited a shop that uses Square you’ve probably seen a number of improvised iPad cash registers, but Square just debuted its own iPad register called Square Stand.
The Square Stand will go on sale starting June 8th for $299, but you can already pre-order it on Square’s website. The new hardware is to be utilized in conjunction with the Square Register app that is already used by thousands of businesses across the country.
Philips Hue lightbulbs have quickly become one of our favorite iPhone accessories for the home. Not only can change your lighting to fit any mood, you can also create light shows with your music, and now Philips is adding some new features to the bulbs to make them even more powerful.
Philips released a new update for its Philips Hue app for iOS today that adds a number of features including geo-fencing, timers, alarms, and IFTTT support.
Here’s a video of some of the new features:
If you hate remembering and entering passwords, then you’re probably intimately familiar with 1Password. If you’re not, then you really should give the app a try because it just got a meaty update in the App Store.
1Password 4.2 was just released on the Apple Store today and it comes with a ton of new features, including the ability to share items through Messages, search for vault items by URL, lots of bug fixes, and more. The app will set you back $17.99 but the peace of mind it will bring you is well worth it.
Here are the release notes:
iPhone theft has become a huge issue in big city like New York City. In fact, Mayor Bloomberg says the iPhone was responsible for New York City’s first increase in crime in 20 years.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is supposedly pretty tired of his constituents getting their iPhones stolen from them, so he’s written a public letter to Tim Cook asking why Apple isn’t doing more to stop iPhone theft.
T-Mobile had that slamming deal on the iPhone 5 to kick off its rebranding as “The Uncarrier” but those fun and happy days are all gone.
The Uncarrier has decided to bump up the down payment price of the iPhone 5 from $99 to $149 without ever really telling anyone that the $99 price was just a promotion.
Every major television network in the U.S. has its own iOS app that lets users watch episodes of their favorite TV shows, but ABC is revolutionizing its iOS app this week by offering live TV streaming.
ABC’s iOS app will be updated later this week to include a button called “live,” which will allow users to press it at anytime to view a live-stream of ABC’s local stations in the area.
With over 500 episodes of The Simpsons aired on TV, and tons of Apple links, even a hardcore Simpsons and Apple fan might have missed this tribute to Apple. In episode #497 “The D’oh-cial Network” Lisa builds a social-network called SpringFace. The computer behind Lisa’s coding prowess was a Lisa computer by Mapple at the Springfield High School computer lab.
The Apple nod is a reference to the Apple Lisa which was released in 1983, and is named after Steve Jobs’ first daughter, Lisa Brennan-Jobs. The logo on the Simpsons’ Lisa computer is the Mapple logo which is just an apple that has been bitten on both sides.
Source: Reddit
If you’re looking for a new solution to back up your iPhone’s photos to the cloud and access them on other devices, Amazon has a new solution for you. The company just launched it’s new iOS app, Amazon Cloud Drive Photos, that lets you upload your photos to Cloud Drive.
Mother’s Day is in just a few days, and if your way of saying “I love you” is gadgetry, then T-Mobile thinks they have the perfect gift for you by heavily promoting its deal to get an iPhone for $0 down.
The deal has been running since April 12th, when the carrier rebranded itself as “The Uncarrier”. T-Mobile will ramp up the promotion by displaying prominent ads Mother’s Day iPhone 5 ads in the top 20 markets, along with 3 National ads in USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and New York Times.
If you weren’t grandfathered into an unlimited 3G data plan, then you probably spend each minute on your cellphone judiciously deciding what to spend your data on before you reach your limit. It sucks for users, and it sucks for content providers who want you to stream more videos and consume more content.
ESPN is trying to make thing better for consumers though by striking a deal with the carriers to subsidize your data plan so you can watch more sports video and analysis on your smartphone without it costing you anything against your data plan.
Whether you love video games or not, there’s no doubt that games like Halo and Dead Space feature some incredible artwork to breathe life into the make-believe worlds populated by crazed gamers looking for thrills.
Usually a game studio will publish a physical book of all the fantastic concept drawings and sketches that helped bring form to a video game, but Titan Books is releasing the latest Dead Space and Halo art books on iPad this week instead.
Siri’s good at simple things like creating appointments, sending texts, calling people and looking up random bits of information on the Internet, but what I really want Siri to be great at is managing stuff in my house.
One Redditor decided he was tired of turning his Philips Hue bulbs on and off all on his own, so he employed some clever hackery to get Siri to do it for him. In the video above you can see that the results are a little bit clunky, but it makes us drool for Apple to release a Siri API so other smart products can be controlled through Siri.
To complete the Siri Hue Bulbs hack, a jailbroken iPod was hacked to re-route Siri functionality to a Siri proxy. The iPod’s Siri beeps were replaced with WAV files for Iron Man’s Jarvis, which adds a little flair to the project.
Source: YouTube
Via: Reddit
Netflix is one of the greatest tools ever invented for absolutely destroying your weekend with laziness. All you got to do is pull up one of your favorite TV series and watch the entire thing in one glorious weekend of binge TV viewing.
A new update for the Netflix iOS app just hit the App Store and it’s going to make binging even easier, thanks to to the added “post-play” feature that will start up the next episode after one ends. Other features included in the update are a recommendation feature after you’ve finished a movie and enhanced second screen options.
Here are the release notes:
New MacBook Airs might be revealed at WWDC, but if you’re just looking for the cheapest price on the current MacBook Air lineup, then Best Buy’s got you set this week.
To celebrate Mother’s Day, Best Buy is taking $100 off the price of certain MacBook Air models. Then to make things even better, you can get $25 more off the price by entering the code MOM25.
Here are the prices you can expect after the discount:
Last week we reported that AT&T was planning to launch a new pre-paid brand to compete with T-Mobile and other pay-as-you-go carriers, and it looks like it’s finally here.
AT&T just pulled back the curtain on its new pre-paid BYOD service provider that’s a subsidiary of AT&T called AIO Wireless. The new pre-paid nationwide service is launching in Houston, Tampa, and Orlando today but new markets should be opened up in the U.S. over the next year.
The Apple Store on Fifth Avenue is one of the most iconic retail stores on the planet, but a leaky roof caused everything to go into disarray on Tuesday morning as water poured into the store.
A small leak sent water pouring into the west side of the store this morning around 8AM. The New York Post reports that Apple employees quickly went to work on removing the water, but there were only about 15 customers in the store at the time.
Peter Belanger is a San Francisco-based photographer. You’ve never heard of him, but you’ve definitely seen his work. He’s the guy that makes Apple products look so perfect in every Apple ad, so if you’ve seen an ad for an iPhone, iPad, or iPod within the last few years, you’re probably very familiar with Peter’s work.
In a recent interview Peter talked about his creative process with commercial photography. Finding the perfect lighting for each surface of a product is the ultimate challenge, but Peter explained what the creative process is like when working on an Apple product shoot.
Over the last few months developers and websites haven’t seen much iOS 7 beta traffic coming out of Apple’s set of IP addresses in Cupertino. However, over the last few days traffic from devices running iOS 7 has increased for a number of websites and apps.
Onswipe has reported that it has seen a big spike in traffic on its partner sites that run its HTML5 optimized mobile websites. Cult of Mac has seen the number of visits from iOS 7 users increase in our traffic logs, starting around April 29th as well.
After giving Gmail some link support for Chrome, YouTube and Google Maps yesterday, Google is now ready to help developers integrate Chrome for iOS into their apps.
Google just published a new blog post reminding developers of some new Chrome integration tools for iOS developers that will let users open a webpage in Chrome and then come back to the app with just a tap. Despite iOS’s closed system that doesn’t let users set a default browser, the new Chrome tools will let users have the choice to open a link in Safari or Chrome.
Apple has been facing a number of privacy issues and lawsuits in the U.S. for the last year or so, but things aren’t going any better abroad either. A German court ruled that Apple will have to change some of its practices for how it handles consumer data.
The Berlin court recently struck down 8 of 15 provisions Apple’s listed in its general data-use terms. The court found that the 8 terms deviate too much from German laws because Apple is asking for “global consent” to use consumer data without telling them how the data will be used.
Finding pizza late at night can be difficult. You go to one restaurant and it’s closed. By the time you make it to your next option you realize it sucks and there’s something better down the way. There’s a new app that’s going to change all that, and it’s called Pizza Compass.
Pizza Compass isn’t just an app, it’s a tool for slice success. The app basically helps you find the nearest pizza joint in a hurry. You can spin the pizza slice to discover pizza joints nearby and the slice will steam when you’re close to a good place.
You can share you favorite pizza spots with friends, find restaurant hours and see reviews so you know you’re not going to eat something that tastes like cardboard. It sounds like a silly app, but it’s probably the greatest tool ever invented for those that like to do some late night drinking on the town.
Check out the Pizza Compass promo video and just try and tell me you’re not excited to give into your next pizza craving: