Twenty years ago, if someone had told us we’d be streaming our favorite shows from the internet legally, we would have scoffed at them and disregarded it, never mind how the speed of broadband internet has changed the way we live our everyday lives. Roll on to the last couple of years, where media streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu Plus have taken over and the days when we sat in front of the television flicking through 57 channels with nothing on are no more. Now there’s a whole host of entertainment right at the tap of a button, and we literally have to make no effort to leave our seats as these services take over our smartphones, tablets and electronic devices in a huge way.

But which service to pick? We’ve researched every possible choice out there, engaged in some elaborate hands-on testing, and narrowed down the extensive list to one reigning champion. If you look at the table below, it becomes fairly obvious that each media streaming service provider excels in some aspects but lags behind in others. By comparing each feature, it became much easier to narrow down the overall ultimate media service app.

Think Apple’s “Misunderstood” Christmas ad would have been improved with the addition of a random piano drop, ghost bride, or chainsaw-wielding madman?

If so, you can re-create the commercial your way using Picadelic’s FxGuru: Movie FX Director app. Previously an Android exclusive, the app lets you incorporate a variety of Hollywood-style horror, sci-fi and action movie effects to any iPhone video — with virtual guidelines showing you how to incorporate effects seamlessly, while 24 different “Cinematic” filters allow you enhance the atmosphere of any scene.

Want to watch the Oscars this Sunday, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, no need to dust off the television: you can watch it right from your iPhone or iPad via the Watch ABC app. Unfortunately, though, there’s a catch, and a big one.

Today, Apple designer Jony Ive turns 47. One of the threads of his incredible career has been a passion for hot wheels. Before going on to become one of the world’s most famous designers, Jony Ive went to London’s Central Saint Martins Art School fueled by an early passion to design cars. Eventually, though, he took a detour that led him to revolutionize design in personal technology.

Apple hasn’t gotten around to making an iCar yet, but Jony’s passion for automobiles is still revved up and cruising for thrills. The famed designer hasn’t been afraid to fork over some fat stacks for a nice car on a whim – even if one of his brutal beauties almost cost him his life – and has gathered a nice little collection of luxury cars over the years.

Here’s a look at some of the fabulous cars that have puttered their way into Jony’s garage, with insider information about each one pulled from the pages of Leander Kahney’s new book, “Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products.”

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At this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, the themes were – as we expected – waterproof phones, smart-watches and NFC (again). Samsung’s new Galaxy S5 was a high-profile example of the waterproof trend, and the company also showed its new Galaxy Gear watch, which looks pretty neat for a giant wrist-screen. And NFC is in every Android handset these days.

But how do these themes relate to the iPhone and iPad? Let’s think about that.

You can now double the storage space of your MacBook Air by jamming Sandisk’s new 128GB microSD card into an adapter in the SD card slot. Or you can slide it into any number of devices that use the pink-nail-sized storage standard. And if you are using it in a phone or a camera, it’s fast enough to capture HD video recorded straight to the card.

On February 21st, Apple released iOS 7.0.6, a small software update that provided “a fix for SSL connection verification.” The same SSL fix was also released for older iOS 6 devices and the Apple TV. Apple pushes out smaller bug fixes from time to time, so at first glance 7.0.6 seemed like a pretty normal update.

But in reality, Apple patched a major security flaw that has potentially compromised millions of peoples’ data for years. Nicknamed “gotofail,” the bug has been flying under the radar for quite some time, and it still hasn’t been patched in OS X.

Browsing the App Store can be a bit overwhelming. Which apps are new? Which ones are good? Are the paid ones worth paying for, or do they have a free, lite version that will work well enough?

Well, if you stop interrogating me for a second, hypothetical App Store shopper, I can tell you about this thing we do here.

Every week, we highlight some of the most interesting new apps and collect them here for your consideration. This time, our picks include a sleeping aid for nerds, a clever alarm, and a way to avoid looking at other people’s lunches.

Here you go:

Developer Fixdit sees no reason why your nerd love should have to stop just because you’re unconscious. So now we have Hypersleep, a space-themed sleep aid that includes white-noise-ified versions of the engine noises of various science-fiction vehicles. You can nod off to the engine idle of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D or the background hum of the 10th Doctor’s TARDIS. Or some other equally dweeby drones.

And that’s where the Nerd Tax comes in: The default noise is free, but additional (read: recognizable) sounds cost $0.99 each. But I’m pretty sure that if the sound of Serenity’s engine will help you nod off, you’re willing to pay that dollar.

Hypersleep – Free ($0.99 for additional sounds) | Fixdit

My Smart Alarm wants you to be on time, but it also knows that you can’t just walk out the door looking like that. So it lets you build up a list of things you need to do to get ready (showering, shaving, impromptu Nerf-gun battles) as well as travel time. You tell the app when your event/appointment is and check off your pre-game tasks, and it will alert you when you need to start getting ready.

It won’t tell you if that outfit looks dumb, though; you’re on your own there.

My Smart Alarm – Free | Aliyu Odumosu

An official Metacritic app exists, but it’s pretty basic; it only shows you new movies. Metascore is also basic, but in a completely different way. It allows you to look up the Metacritic aggregate number for anything on the site, including movies, video games, TV shows, and music. You just type in what you’re looking for, and it gives you the number.

And when I say it gives you the number, I mean that it only gives you the number. You’ll have to go somewhere else if you want to read the reviews, but this is still a handy app if you’re just looking for a general rating.

Metascore – Free | Pinxit

Photo-sharing social apps like Instagram are fine and all, but most of them have one flaw: You can’t tell them not to show you pictures of people’s lunch if you don’t want to see them. Enter Just…, a quick-and-easy place to post and look at photos that asks you upfront what you want to look at. So far, it includes 11 categories including Automobiles, Cats, Dogs, and, yes, Food, if you’re into that.

It’s easy to put up your own work and like and share others’, and the feeds already have some beautiful pictures for your enjoyment.

(Apologies to Mr. Albano for the crop job up there.)

Just… – Free | FiveIron Software

We’ve already covered multimedia platform Narr8’s transition from iPad to iPhone, but this week, the company released a standalone app just for biographical comics about some of history’s great thinkers and doers. Biographics offers 13 “episodes” that offer tons of information about some fascinating figures. The first two episodes, which cover Nikola Tesla and Sigmund Freud, are free, and the rest are available for $0.99 each. Subjects include Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Vlad Dracula, and Martin Luther King.

That’s a lot of ground they’re covering, there.

Biographics – Free | Narr8 Limited

Metascore — Entertainment — Free

An official Metacritic app exists, but it’s pretty basic; it only shows you new movies. Metascore is also basic, but in a completely different way. It allows you to look up the Metacritic aggregate number for anything on the site, including movies, video games, TV shows, and music. You just type in what you’re looking for, and it gives you the number.

And when I say it gives you the number, I mean that it only gives you the number. You’ll have to go somewhere else if you want to read the reviews, but this is still a handy app if you’re just looking for a general rating.

Metascore – Pinxit

This story first appeared in Cult of Mac Magazine.

Want to watch the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, but don’t have a TV? Or do you have a TV but just prefer the coverage given by other countries?

Then you’re in the right place. Today we’re going to take a look at ways to watch the games on your Mac and iDevices, and which apps you might want to use to follow along with the fun.