It’s absolutely primitive by today’s standards, but when Pong arrived in 1972, it was a technological marvel. So how did Tomy create a handheld knock-off of the game in 1977 when the electronics needed to miniaturize it didn’t exist yet? It created this mechanical alternative that might be one of the most bizarre portable gaming…
Merry Christmas! Toybox is taking the day off for some festive revelry and will be back tomorrow, starting a reduced schedule between the 26th and January 2nd. Normal shenanigans will resume on January 5th.
Chromecast just got more educational content and funny laughs, in the form of seven new apps including Comedy Central, Sesame Street Go, Nickelodeon, and more. Sidenote: this also offers more ways to escape your family over the holidays.
Pocket, everyone’s favorite service that was formerly Read It Later, just announced a paid plan. For $5 a month or $45 a year, your Pocketed pages will persist forever in a searchable, tag-able, digital library. Like Evernote, but exclusively for things you probably won’t get around to reading.
Esquire editor Ryan D’Agostino will be taking over as Editor-in-Chief at Popular Mechanics in a few weeks. Godspeed Ryan, we can’t wait to see what you do with it!
Chromecast just keeps getting better. You can now cast livestreaming baseball through the MLB.TV app. The only catch is that you’ll have to have a premium subscription. If you do, it’s time to play ball!
Apple is adding NPR to iTunes radio, making it the first news station on the streaming service. (Read in your best public radio voice). [Re/code]
Horizon, the clever camera app that forces your iPhone or iPad to only shoot horizontal videos no matter how they’re held, is now free on the iTunes App Store for a little while. So now you have no excuse for shooting vertical videos ever again. [iTunes App Store]
The first official Ubuntu hardware partners have been announced and companies you’ve never heard of! Expect the phones later this year, but don’t set your heart on US availability you crazy Linux junkie.
Finally, finally! After nearly a year of iOS-clusivity, the THX Tuneup App is now available for Android. Get a copy for either OS right now, for free, through February 3. [iOS, Android]
Google Drive just got an activity stream that details everything you and the people you’re working with have been doing with your documents and spreadsheets.
Apple has quietly updated its iMacs to include fourth-gen Intel quad-core processors, new graphics, next-gen Wi-Fi, and faster flash storage. The new computers are available today starting at $1,300 for the 21.5-inch model and $1,800 for the 27-incher.
Oh snap! Looks like Siri is technically (and quietly) leaving beta with the rollout of iOS 7.
Yesterday Apple TV added Vevo, Disney, Disney XD, and Smithsonian apps. Today, in another over-the-air update, it got ESPN’s entire lineup of apps, including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and more.
Apple TV got an over-the-air update today that added a couple of great new apps to the platform—Vevo, Disney, Disney XD, and an app from the Smithsonian.
Turns out indie RSS reader The Old Reader isn’t going to shut down after all; they got a bunch of help from some anonymous feed-readin’ benefactor. But who could it be?
Twitter will now let you make as many as 1,000 lists (up from 20) with as many as 5,000 accounts (rather than 500). Go nuts!
Microsoft and YouTube just told us that they’re working on an official YouTube app for Windows Phone together. The app will be released in “the coming weeks” (and will have ads).
The new Google Play Music and Google Search are live in the Play Store right now!
In 2012, 19 billion chat messages were sent each day across the world—compared to just 17.6 billion SMS messages.
