Surface Pro 3

Today, the Surface Pro 3 was announced. It has some new features including a lighter, thinner design. Personally, my favorite feature is the Surface Pen. It has palm rejection and a button on top that instantly opens the OneNote app (which is basically a digital notebook). In addition, this Surface has a 12" display and uses Intel i3, i5, or i7 processors. The Surface Pro 3 also comes in storage sizes of 64, 128, 256, and 512 GB. This Surface will start at $799 and is currently available for pre-order. Different models will be released at different times of this Summer through Fall.

40th Anniversary of Rubik's Cube

Today is the 40th Anniversary of the Rubik's Cube and Google is making the most of it with a playfully themed Google Doodle and a whole Chrome campaign towards it, the Chrome Cube Lab. This lab lets you code your own cube. I haven't tried it out, but if I get a chance I might post it on the blog or tweet it. By clicking on the cube on Google's home page, you can solve a scrambled cube.

Create Ringtones in Garageband!

Have you ever wanted to create a ringtone with a sound byte or your favorite song? Now you can! Just open Garageband on your Mac, create a new project (empty project), select "Software Instrument", when prompted, and drag a song or sound into the project. Then go to Share > Ringtone to iTunes > and adjust the length if needed. You can sync this to your iOS device and have it go off with every text or phone call. I hope this helps!

Apple and Beats Purchase Finishes Next Week

Beats creators, Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine, will take on senior roles if this deal of $3.2 billion goes through. Re/code has provided the following statement on the deal.

"Apple’s planned deal to buy Beats Electronics for $3.2 billion may not be finalized until next week, according to people familiar with the transaction. That’s a longer timetable than some people expected as recently as a few days ago."

- Re/code

Google Buys Word Lens and Now It's FREE (Limited Time)

Google bought the iOS, Android, and Glass app Word Lens. This app lets you take your camera, point it at a foreign language, and have the words change in front of your eyes. Normally, the languages would cost money as in-app purchases, but now they're free. Get them while they're free. You can download the app (be sure to check in-app purchases) by following this direct link.

Image Credit: MacRumors

Wildfires

In the wake of recent events, I'd like to highlight an app. It's the American Red Cross Wildfires app. It has many useful tools including the "I'm Safe" function. It lets you quickly send out a message to family or the public that you're okay in a disaster. It also has information on how to handle a wildfire. The American Red Cross Wildfires app is available for free from the Apple App Store [Direct Link] and the Google Play Store [Direct Link].

It's Back…

Flappy Bird will return to the app stores in August. These new apps will be multiplayer and "less addictive." Flappy Bird gained wild success this year, but was removed in February by the creator, Dong Nguyen, because it was too addicting. It hasn't been stated how it will be multiplayer and "less addicting."

iOS 8 To Have True Multitasking on iPad

iOS 8 is expected to have this feature for iPads. It's called Split Screen Multitasking! It seems that it WILL be in iOS 8. I've found a cool concept video by Sam Beckett and it's pretty impressive. Check it out!

iPhone 6 To Have NFC

The new iPhone is supposed to have a new feature, NFC. NFC stands for Near Field Communication. It allows phones to communicate with each other with a tap and allows people to pay with their phone. It will be interesting as to how Apple will incorporate this with Passbook.

Image Credit: MacRumors

Facebook Removes "Poke" and "Camera" From Their App Lineup

Today, Facebook discontinued Poke and Camera. These are two failed products of Facebook. They haven't been updated since 2013. Poke is a Snapchat competitor, which allowed users to "poke" photos and videos to their friends. Camera allowed users to share multiple photos at once to Facebook. Facebook has offered no explanation for their removal. 

Image Credit: MacRumors

Cool New Apple TV Rendering

Although no new Apple TVs are expected at WWDC this year, it would be nice to see what it would look like. Well, here's a cool rendering I found on the internet (Credit to Curved). It's pretty cool. It features a color scheme similar to the iPhone and iPad lineup. In addition, an iPod Touch like remote could accompany the setup. I hope this is similar to what the new Apple TV will look like.

Stats For Nerds

Try going to any YouTube video and right-click on it. You might just find a button that says "Stats for Nerds". There's stuff like frame rates and stuff. It gives you a lot of stats, but it's nice to see Google have a nice sense of humor towards nerds and geeks alike.

Apple Wants To Acquire Beats Electronics

Apple is said to be acquiring the Beats company. This would be very beneficial for Apple as it could bring the popularity of EarPods to the quality of Beats headphones. While Apple's close to acquiring Beats, it's not a done deal. This would be an acquisition of $3.2 billion. For those who don't know, Beats make professional grade headphones and are some of the best that are sold to consumers.

Image Credit: MacRumors

Google Classroom

An interesting new product is Classroom made by Google Apps for Education. This allows your class to be a bit more intuitive with technology. One thing I really like about Google is that they have a universal platform that works with any laptop (whether it's Apple, Microsoft, a Chromebook, or even a Raspberry Pi). This service allows students to digitally turn-in and complete their homework. This product has no release date, but teachers can request an invite by following this link.

EarPod Speaker!

Have you ever been annoyed of constantly wrapping your EarPods in the case? Maybe you're just gonna use them for 2 minutes and put them back, but you don't want to have the trouble of wrapping and unwrapping because it takes forever! Well, I came up with a solution! First, uncoil the cable part of the EarPods until it reaches a comfortable distance between your ear and the headphone jack. Then, play your content or media. Finally, hold the EarPods in the case up to your ear. This makes it much quicker to wrap up your EarPods as about half of the cable is still in the case. It should look like the image below.

Text 911

Starting May 15, you have the ability to text 911 with your phone. While this only works with AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile, and in certain locations, it could potentially be a life-saver. It is recommended as a last resort when calling is impossible. Also, it should be noted that photos and videos can't be sent to 911.

                                 

View Last Siri Session

If you want to see what you asked Siri the last time you used her, then try this little tip (iOS 7 only)! Simply, hold the home button until the Siri menu comes up, and swipe up once it does. You'll find what you've asked her in your last conversation. Try it out!

Analog or Digital?

If you wear a watch like me, you might like the clocks as analog clocks in the Clock app in iOS 7. If you like digital clocks, simply tap the clock face to change the design. It's simple! Tap again to switch back! Try it out!

Notability Free as App of the Week

The popular note-taking app, Notability, is free this week as the iTunes App of the Week. Notability lets you draw notes and annotate PDFs. It's very good and popular. I personally love it. Be sure to get it! Notability is available for free until this Thursday [Direct Link].

Check Your Reputation

We all have digital reputations. Someone posts a photo of you on Facebook without you knowing, or maybe someone with Google Glass takes a five hour video of every person on the streets of San Francisco and you just happened to be in it. Whatever the case is, most of us have something out there one the internet. It's important to know what others see and make sure that you don't have anything that can damage your reputation. Here's a handy tip, go to Google. Log in and click your face in the top-right corner of Google and click "Account". Next, go to "Data Tools" and click "View options", which is next to "Me on the Web". Finally, click "Search now". This shows you what everyone else sees. There are no personalized results. This is your reputation. Along with this tool are some other nice options, including web alerts and your Google+ account. Try it out!