App Store Reaches 10 Billion App Downloads!

 

Today is a day that will go down in history. The App store has reached 10 Billion downloads! This is more apps downloaded than people on this earth! Congratulations Apple, but what is next? 20 Billion? 50 Billion? 100 Billion? I hope we can get a bit of rest before you smash through those barriers. 

The person who downloads the 10 Billionth app will win a $10,000 iTunes voucher but we still have to wait to find out who it is, maybe it will be you. Personally, if won I would sell the voucher for $9,000 and go crazy in the actual Apple store. Probably won't but who knows...

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Source iTunes

Sony Releasing Official PlayStation App

Sony has announced that it is releasing the official free PlayStation app for both iOS and Android devices. The PlayStation app will only be available in Europe when it comes out soon but there are already plans to add more countries. Version 1.0 will have the following features with more to come:

• Check out your PlayStation Network trophies and keep up to date with your friends’ games and online status.
• Discover all the latest games, news and hardware for your PlayStation 3, PSP and PlayStation 2.
• Read all the announcements on the European PlayStation.Blog.
• Share your favourite products or news with your friends on Facebook, Twitter or via e-mail.

Source PlayStation via MacRumors

Apple Mac Store Opens it's Doors on January 6th

 

Apple has announced that it's Mac app store will be available for download on January 6th next year. This is Apple's desktop version of the already incredibly popular iPhone and iPad app stores. But everyone still running 10.5 needs to upgrade to 10.6 to take advantage of the Mac App store as it only runs on Snow Leopard. Apple is planning on launching it around the world in 90 countries and will include free and paid apps of a wide range of apps for Apple's computer OS from developers all around the world. However Apple is not taking submissions of apps that are trials, demos, or betas, you will have to go to the developer's website to get these, but if you are a developer, I would suggest getting yours in there to get better exposure as it will probably be as big of a hit with developers and consumers alike as the iPhone and iPad app store. 

Read the press release below. 

Apple's Mac App Store to Open on January 6

CUPERTINO, California-December 16, 2010-Apple® today announced that the Mac® App Store℠ will open for business on Thursday, January 6. By bringing the revolutionary App Store experience to Mac OS® X, the Mac App Store makes discovering, installing and updating Mac apps easier than ever. The Mac App Store will be available in 90 countries at launch and will feature paid and free apps in categories like Education, Games, Graphics & Design, Lifestyle, Productivity and Utilities.

"The App Store revolutionized mobile apps," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We hope to do the same for PC apps with the Mac App Store by making finding and buying PC apps easy and fun. We can't wait to get started on January 6."

The Mac App Store lets you browse new and noteworthy apps, find out what's hot, view staff favorites, search categories and read customer ratings and reviews. Like on iPhone®, iPod touch® and iPad™, you can purchase, download and install apps in just one click and start using them immediately. Purchased apps can run on all of your personal Macs and updates are delivered directly through the Mac App Store so it's easy to keep all of your apps up to date. The Mac App Store is available to Mac OS X Snow Leopard® users as a free download through Software Update.

Mac developers set the price for their apps, keep 70 percent of the sales revenue, are not charged for free apps and do not have to pay hosting, marketing or credit card fees. To find out more about developing for the Mac App Store visit developer.apple.com/programs/mac.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork, and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple is reinventing the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

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Source Apple

Find My iPhone is Now A Free Service, Find Your iOS Devices

MobileMe paid subscribers have been enjoying Apple's Find My iPhone services for a long time now, and today Apple has turned around and made this service completely free for iOS 4.2 users. The app allows you to locate a lost or stolen iPhone 4, iPad and iPod Touch 4G when you've got the app installed onto the device. You will need to create a free MobileMe account in order to setup the Find My iPhone app and begin locating your device/s. It's quick and easy so everyone should have this installed just in case. 

You can remotely wipe all your data, set a passcode lock, display a custom message on the screen with a sound and even back your data. Thank you Apple, for looking after us. It's about time Apple renames their app though, don't you think?

Real Racing 2 Coming Soon To iPhone, Trailer Released

Firemint, the creators of Real Racing and Flight Control for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad are getting ready to release a second addition to the Real Racing game. Real Racing 2 will finally feature official licensed cars like the 2006 BMW Z4 M Coupe race car and the 2010 Chevrolet Corvette C6.R, both shown above. Firemint released today a trailer for the game with more licensed cars like the 2010 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500, 2010 Jaguar RSR XKR GT, 2010 Nissan GT-R (R35). Now you can be a bit happier knowing you can actually drive these cars, on your iPhone. Watch the new trailer below for some good Real Racing 2 action.

Flash Comes To The iPhone! Well Kinda...

 

Good news folks! You can now watch flash video on an iOS device! And how I hear you ask, by using a brand new browser called Skyfire. As you can expect, Skyfire does not use Flash exactly, because if they did Steve Jobs would kick its ass straight out the door, it converts Flash video to HTML5 so it can be played on iOS devices. However, Skyfire can't play flash games or on Hulu. 

Skyfire should be available on the App Store at 9 A.M. EST on Thursday after a wait of over a month for admission into Apple's walled garden. Check the video out below.

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Apple Responds to iTunes Hack

 

Over the weekend, we reported that iTunes was hacked (read here) by a rogue iPhone developer had managed to make his apps 42 of the top 50 places in the Books category in the App Store.  So we've finally gotten a press release from Apple about the subject and it says that "the developer in question, called Thuat Nguyen has been kicked out of the app store. However, the do not say clearly that fraud had happened, but if you are concrerned at all about this matter, they say to contact your bank and stop your card if any of your info was stolen... which implies that something did actually happen.

The developer Thuat Nguyen and his apps were removed from the App Store for violating the developer Program License Agreement, including fraudulent purchase patterns. 

Developers do not receive any iTunes confidential customer data when an app is downloaded. 

If your credit card or iTunes password is stolen and used on iTunes we recommend that you contact your financial institution and inquire about canceling the card and issuing a chargeback for any unauthorized transactions. We also recommend that you change your iTunes account password immediately. For more information on best practices for password security visit http://www.apple.com/support/itunes.

So, Steve's walled garden has a hole in it, but it seems like only a very small amount of people have been affected by the problem. Long live iTunes!

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Source Engadget