10,000 Pageviews, Thanks to you!

We've opened in June! 7 months ago today, we had not even opened. Now, to do the math, not counting big days of news or increases, 1,428 pageviews happen a month. To get to 26,000, by this average, it will take 11 months before we can reach the goal, now with your help, we could be building a base sooner than we think!

Today, Fitzsimmons Weekly passed the 10,000 view mark. Thank you to everyone who has helped get this developing source to where it is today. Although 10,000 may seem like a small number for views, we hope soon to pass 26,000 views within the next 8 or 9 months. On December 22nd, 823 pageviews happened. Almost 1/10th of the total ammount! Almost 200 pageviews have happened today alone, with a fairly small ammount of updates so far. Thank you all for the support! If we get to that golden number, we can find sponsors and build a sales base to fund the site.

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Cydia 1.1.9 released for iOS 7

    Cydia has been updated with a new interface and compatibility fixes for iOS 7, although the new edition of Cydia is still compatible with iOS 2 and above. Evasi0n7 released with an unofficial version of Cydia and hadn't updated MobileSubstrate, so Cydia has been updated for compatibility, but MobileSubstrate is continued to be worked on.

Cydia is updated, Mobile Substrate is in the works, and awesome developers like Ryan Petrich are finishing iOS 7 updates to their tweaks and apps. All again feels a bit normal in the world when it comes to jailbreaking.

from iDownloadBlog

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YouTube for iOS 7 leaked

   Quick Update: On Google's holiday apps page, which you can see here, Google seemed to have leaked a new YouTube app for the iPad and iPhone.

  Update: The update for iPad and iPhone has been released with he following screenshot being accurate.

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Evad3rs Suspends Taig Install in China [UPDATE]

The Evad3rs have suspended their partner company with evasi0n7. In China, a 3rd party appstore was installed that seemed to allow/encourage piracy in the app, although the deal with the Evad3rs is said to be signed under the conditions of no-piracy laws that are acceptable in China. Taig's site has been changed to a site with a message stating "Welcome to nginx!" in an html form.

(December 24th, 2013) Update: The website is back to its previous form although the suspension continues

(December 27th, 2013) 2nd Update: The website now reads "Coming soon..."

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Evasi0n Jailbreak: Now or never?

   Evasi0n came out earlier today, and malware rumors have already began to swirl. A Chinese company named Taig has partnered with the Evad3rs and bundled their app store with the jailbreak. Just a moment ago, the Evad3rs posted an update on Evasi0n7. They explain the contact and how Taig had agreed to not allow piracy to cut back on the store in China. Still, the application can pirate in the jailbreak.

On http://evasi0n.com/l.html, they share the reasoning behind the thinking and explain the story of the agreement.

Dear Jailbreak Community,
We are deeply troubled by the rumors and speculation surrounding our iOS 7 jailbreak. We would like to present the whole story to you.
Most of the concern surrounds the inclusion of the Chinese App Store Taig. In the course of developing the iOS 7 jailbreak, we were approached by the company with an offer of partnership in offering Taig bundled with the jailbreak in China. Taig is a Chinese App Store written in Chinese. tailored and, we believe, well suited to meet the needs of users for the Chinese market. Users are not locked into Taig. Cydia can also be installed and Taig removed afterwards. It would be deeply hypocritical to remove choice from the user in the course of jailbreaking.
Taig has never asked us to disclose our exploits to them, let alone sell them. We were simply asked to bundle their third-party app store in China in a similar way we bundle and distribute Cydia around the world as an additional App Store, and in a similar way to how previous jailbreaks like blackra1n have bundled non-Cydia stores.
Of course, the safety and security of our users is a paramount concern, and due to the amount of close scrutiny by security professionals around the world, we offer one of the lower risk programs available for download on the Internet. We are saddened by the accusations that we would ever do such a thing, or sell weaponized exploits. If anyone ever attempted to include malware in a jailbreak, we are confident that the many security experts combing through jailbreak software would find it. The binaries are obfuscated for a similar reason to why we have in the past compiled in Cydia rather than including it as a separate file. We wish to secure the integrity of the jailbreak and discourage its use by third parties who may in fact wish to weaponize it. The obfuscation is of course not intended to deflect serious analysis by security professionals (who have quickly already fully analyzed and discussed the contents of the jailbreak), it is simply intended to prevent easy repackaging by other parties.
Preventing piracy is also extremely important to us. We are deeply sorry and embarrassed about the piracy that was seen today. All of us have spoken out vehemently against piracy in the past. We don’t believe it’s right for developers to not get paid for their work. In our agreement with Taig, we contractually bind them to not have piracy in their store. This was an extremely important precondition of working with them. In entering the agreement with them, we had hoped and continue to hope that our cooperation with Taig will improve the piracy situation in China. Many App Stores within China, including those run by large corporations, have many issues with pirated software. Promoting an app store that is required not to have piracy with our jailbreak, we believe, will help developers.
We are very upset that despite our agreement and review by their team, piracy was found in the store. It was not acceptable and they have been strenuously working to resolve the problem in good faith, and have removed all instances of it that we have brought to their attention. We are happy that it was not overlooked by the community. We’ve been so heads down working on the code that we didn’t see this. We are sorry. We will continue to monitor this issue and work to resolve it completely. Taig will be pulled from the jailbreak if it cannot be resolved.
Many of you have also wondered why this jailbreak was released without Cydia and MobileSubstrate being updated for iOS 7. After we received the offer from Taig, we informed Saurik, our friend, of our decision to accept the offer. SaurikIT had been in talks with Chinese companies regarding potential partnerships, made a counteroffer. We believe they share our views on how a relationship with companies in China currently utilizing jailbreaking might benefit everyone in the community. Unfortunately, the negotiations did not work out. A few days later, we received information that SaurikIT was working with another group to release a jailbreak ahead of us. We decided to release, knowing that Cydia, MobileSubstrate, and jailbreak tweaks would be updated after a few days, just as it always has in the course of jailbreaking.
Yes, we have benefitted financially from our work, just as many others in the jailbreak community have, including tweak developers, repo owners, etc. Any jailbreak from us will always be free to the users but we believe we have a right to be compensated in an ethical way, just as any other developer. However, the interests of the community will always be the most important thing to us. When releasing the jailbreak, we pledged all our donations to foundations supporting the interests of the community. We are deeply upset at how we have inadvertently distressed the community and we are focused on fixing it.
We love the jailbreak community and you motivate us to do this work. Having a choice and freeing your device is important.
We hope you understand and we thank you for all of your support.
evad3rs

www.taig.com

   That being said, Jay, creater of Cydia, or Saurik, has plans of releasing a full-fledged iOS 7 supported jailbreak with an updated Cydia, MobileSubstrate, and may be done soon. As of now, a jailbreak shouldn't be on an everyday device, and as far as I know, the tweaks are broken and most apps don't function or crash. For any one of my devices beside my iPod Touch, I know that a jailbreak won't be happening until the Taig malware scandal or other issues and tweaks are worked out. I will be updating the jailbreak scene as the story continues to develop.

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Evad3rs release iOS 7 Jailbreak

Another Quick Update: For everyone on the jailbreak scene, an untethered iOS 7.0.4 jailbreak has been released and seems to be packaged with some form of malware, be careful if you use it.

Download: http://evasi0n.com/

We have a winner: https://isios7jailbrokenyet.com/

Merry Christmas! The iOS 7 jailbreak has been released at http://t.co/wblOSKyLah! All donations will go to @publicknowledge, @eff and @ffii
— evad3rs (@evad3rs) December 22, 2013

This post was updated to include information on the current issues with the Jailbreak at 4:28 PM CT

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Merry Christmas from Google

   Quick update: As of today, or possibly a few days before, Google now has a Christmas themed search when you search any one of a few holiday words.

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iPad Mini with Retina Display Review

   On December 17, I switched my iPad Mini for an iPad Mini with Retina display, and it has proven to be a stable product. The product comes with A7 and M7 processors, a retina display, and a 10-hour battery. I've been using my device for a while, and it hasn't died once. I have charged it about every 2 days and the battery seems to be going down a percent every 3 or 4 minutes. Basically, about 7 hours for a charge means plenty of time for games. The best part of the device is probably the features with the display, as in speed tests their isn't much difference between the A5 and A7 internals, at least as far as tested with an iPod Touch 5th Generation.

   If I would have to rate it among other tablets, I give it a 9.5/10.

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Superhot, the game based on movement

If you are like me and haven't heard about the Unity game, SUPERHOT, that you should see it now online for free before Steam gets its hands on it. (read about the Greenlight here) The game revolves around you running through the blank world of crime and control time with your movement. The game seems to be preparing a release on Steam and should be back soon. The game is mostly shooting and puzzle, and I highly recommend a look at it now.

Check it out: http://superhotgame.com/

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SNES Advance Concept

Nintendo could be ahead of the curve, but why not look behind for a minute. The Gameboy Advance is an amazing console, but lacked actually advanced hardware besides its back lit display. Now that it is almost 2014, Nintendo should build their own "flashback console", as Atari and Sega have done. Sega's "Classic Game Console" functions with actual cartridges, and that wouldn't be a bad idea to catch on to.

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Wii U Portable Concept

Above, I've mashed together a concept of a next-gen DS device. It features the 3D detail at the top, but isn't controlled in the same area. It has dual-control pads, a 4-button analog piece, and A B X Y buttons, with a power switch below. It is a similar to the 3DS XL, using every element of a Blue 3DS XL. The device allows more connectivity with other users, but sports a larger exterior and less battery than a 3DS XL, and plays 3DS and DS Games. The U would be downloaded from the internet and streams the second screens content to the lower part of the screen. Shown above is my larger edition, while a smaller (poorly edited) edition shown on the right.

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Tearaway: Why the PS Vita makes sense

If you haven't seen Tearaway, the game-to-have for the PS Vita, it was only released on the 22nd of November. It is one of the few games that completely utilize almost every feature of the Vita (if not every feature). You control the on-screen characters, in two ways. You use your fingers to manipulate the enviroment and then you move the character around the obstacles, trying to complete tasks. This may be the groundbreaking game to take the PS Vita back to the top (or to the top, the 3DS has done well). The hardware has aged, but so have the games. With the Vita being a good accessory to the PS4, I wouldn't find anything wrong with the marketing of some new games.

A PS Vita paired to a PS4

So, how will Tearaway fix the PS Vita in the market, and if it does, will the PS4 have any play in the sales?

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Project Ara in 2014

Will Motorola's new Project Ara phone be announced for release in 2014? Talk about the new phone began when a start-up called Phone Bloks teamed with Motorola after finding the phone couldn't be developed on their own. Looking back on the project, it has come to almost create one of the first renewable phones, so your two-year contract might not look as bad. Parts like memory cards, plugs, cameras, sensors, etc. What I would look for is 3rd party accesories for the phone, such as bigger receivers, or female USB pieces for external hardware. How will this project play out? We hope to reveal it later in 2014.

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LG G Flex Announced

The LG G Flex is a G2 with a curve, sharing the same 13 megapixel camera, Snapdragon 800 processor, and 2GB of RAM. The 6 inch OLED display works well with the curve, but the 720p takes the phone down the lower-end display path, although being almost entirely what it is marketed on. Besides these details, the phone has a scratch-proof back (that "self-heals") and IR Blaster combined with an over done software improvement library and notification LED, full-back button control, and 32GB internal storage. We'll be getting some more updates soon.

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The Moto G Announced

   The Moto G was unveiled today and shocked the audience. Live blogs are available on most top sites but if you'd like to get down to the specs, check down below. Everything announced at the conference include the specs being;

a 4.5-inch, 720p LCD TFT display, a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, 1GB of RAM, 8 to 16GB of storage, a 5-megapixel camera at the rear and 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera. Packed in with a 2,070mAh battery. All of this is for $179 off contract and running Android 2.2.

 Although this may seem good from the start, no LTE support may push buyers elsewhere, but the device is aimed at developing countries. It isn't know yet if the device will get KitKat soon, but it launches in January 2014, slightly missing the deadline for the holiday shopping.

 

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iPhone Air: Concept Art

The iPhone Air Concept

iPhone Air

Today, I was browsing through my iPod Touch (5th Gen) and noticed something. Now Apple has been heading towards lighter and faster devices, but leave this one in the dust. The iPhone 5C acts like the middle-ground between the iPod Touch and iPhone 5S. So why won't Apple merge the two? 

It is a cross between the elegance of an iPod Touch and the colors of the iPhone 5C. This concept would run any normally accessible app compatible with the A7 and M7 co-proccesor. Now, these features would have to stand ground with the Nexus 5, the new $350 unlocked high end phone from Google.

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Xbox One Pre-Orders: Early?

   Yesterday, 3 known Xbox One pre-orders arrived early. One among the twitter community, under the name of +MoonlightSwami had uploaded a video, removed as I type this, showcasing the Xbox One dashboard and exploring the interface. He has updated his twitter with this after the video was taken down.

And now my console is banned. Interesting. Legally purchased game, and system. @Microsoft you got some splaining to do.
— #1 Source 4 XBOX ONE (@Moonlightswami) November 9, 2013

Microsoft is yet to respond to situation besides shutting down the Xbox One shown above. How legally allowed this is is not yet in debate, but it should be reactivated, or else MS might be having legal issues.

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Moto G Leaked

Moto G: What you need to know

   The Moto G (shown above) has been leaked online, and features budget-like appearances. So far not much is known about the phone besides a few places online where it has leaked. Articles shared on the Verge showed specifications for the new device.

According to a retail promo card, the new phone will have a 4.5-inch 720p display and quad-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm processor, which happens to counter Evleaks’s claim of a 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro inside the device. The Moto G is reported to run Android 4.3 Jelly Bean (no KitKat at launch, apparently), have 8GB of storage, and come equipped with a 5-megapixel camera and Bluetooth 4.0.

From The Verge

   As impressive as this sounds, it doesn't seem to compete well with the freshly launched Nexus 5, being $350 off contract and quite a bit more impressiveness packed into its shell. As odd as this all sounds,  the device is said to be only around $215. This is $100 behind what the flagship Moto X has sold for, and customization options are said to be limited, between black and white.

From GSMARENA

   This could be released specifically for the holiday season, showing the package looking like quite a present-themed gift. (January 2014) What countries the device will be aimed at is not yet known, but surely the US will get an arrival and possibly developing countries with the low-budget appeal. See the launch site of the Moto G from Motorola here.

Find Out More:

Moto G Announced:
http://www.fitzweekly.com/2013/11/the-moto-g-announced.html
  Moto G: https://www.moto-g.com/
The Verge: http://www.theverge.com/
GSMarena: http://www.gsmarena.com/

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What are the 2013 iPads?

   Just a few days ago on October 22nd, the iPad Mini with Retina Display and the all-new iPad Air were announced. Now what should you consider picking up? First, if you'd like to get a better idea of everything-Apple checkout the Apple webpage at the top. If I had to pick one up, I would recommend the iPad Air. Of course, if you use a PC or laptop, than it won't be too necessary for such a large display. For anyone using a casual tablet, the Retina Display iPad Mini is the best bet, as it is fast, and the original iPad Mini would go obsolete soon, using the old-fashion A5 chip featured in the Touch and tablet.

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Nexus 5 Released

  Hey bits! So this week the Nexus 5 was announced, and it sounds great. So a few hands on were shown at conferences and now are in peoples homes being used. But why are these phones different than the Nexus 4? Already being one of the best phones that run the original Android experience, the Nexus 4 had great competing specs in the market with a decent cost, but had fallen behind. The Nexus 5 is making the other $800 phones a run for their money, as it sells for $350 (16 GB model) unlocked. And if this doesn't already impress the reviewers, the specs do compete well even with the iPhone 5S (although it does have a bit of an edge on the Nexus 5, 64-bit and all) and Galaxy phone lineup. So would I recommend picking this up later this year for you or a family member? I would recommend a quick peek at what KitKat (Android 4.4) has to offer you. Hangouts replaces messages, every system app has changed in a form, and it is said to improve performance by almost double.

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Nintendo 3DS LL Turquoise and Orange Leaked

   The Nintendo 3DS LL (or XL as in the States and English speaking countries) will have two new releases in Japan for around $209 dollars in USD. These will be bundled with the normal setup, and shipped with a charging cable. These will be released late November 2013 and will be a limited edition for the holiday. Turquoise + Black and Orange + Black will be for the 3DS LL only.

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Wii U: One Edition

   Next in the completion of our concepts, here is one titled the Wii U: One Edition. I built it to show how a Wii U tablet would look if Microsoft had taken their controller design hints tot eh tablet. Actually, it looks very clean and considerably nicer than the Wii U tablet. As I would add, SmartGlass should be taking the place of any need for tablets in the market but it would not be bad to market as an option for a reasonable price.

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Game Carts

   I've built a new concept for the 3DS and Wii U. Game carts, and as old as it sounds, they don't just function as a game piece. The cards download the game to whatever system you specify it to download to and function as a 16GB SD card afterword. These would work almost like trading cards, owning a certain cart and trade with others. Although the games work once, they can hold game saves and run programs. These can be returned to the store and reloaded and get the price of the card back, like to keep the card would cost extra than to return it.

Maybe in years to come we will return to the classic game cart style. It would make trading and sharing games much easier. I hope Nintendo tries it out.

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Wii 2

Here is the Wii 2, a concept I've created explaining how to make a Wii U portable. First, you would remove the internals of the Wii U system,and then take out the hexagonal framework in the back of the tablet, create a large enough battery for at least 4 hours, and put the motherboard in the back. Next, would be software and hardware improvements, as a flip button under the d-pad would make easy access to flip between the tablet mode and TV mode. The TV control button functions to allow you to use apps that support TV, and TV if set in a console mode. It could rest in standby mode on a desk and supports HDMI out.  

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Bit #2: 10 Facts about Thanksgiving

Bit #2: 10 Facts about Thanksgiving

  Hello bits. I've been working a bit for the site, even though it doesn't look like anything new is happening, its under the walls. So if you'd like to get a bit caught up, check out the Microsoft and Apple sections on the site. Next up, here are 10 facts about Thanksgiving in the old US of A. 

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Windows 8.1 Released

Stay tuned...

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Surface: One Edition

Surface: One Edition

    I created a concept yesterday, highlighting why the XPS 13 from Dell is so great (beautiful, light, powerhouse) and though why not create an Xbox. These two things seem far away now, but it could make sense if it is done right. This model is almost entirely based on the XPS 13 with optional HD Display. It would use Haswell chip sets and run Windows 8.1, plus an Xbox interface, in place of the average start screen. The desktop would remain, probably with a function on the keyboard instead of a fully-fledged button on the start screen. (make the windows button switch between start screen and desktop). Now, the touchpad would be a standard touchpad, but the Xbox One remote would be programmed to run wireless with the Surface One. Although the device is named Surface, it still has its own laptop bottom to keep it unified and to hold more internals. The CD ROM drive wouldn't be included in the Surface itself, but as an add on for older games not available online. You could order one with a CD ROM drive, but it will create additional thickness and make it larger. Since it uses Windows and 64-bit Architecture, along with Xbox cores, Steam would run fine on it. 

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Bit #1: Where did Mr. Potato Head come from?

A "Bit" is a piece of history, coming to you from Fitzsimmons Weekly

Bit #1: Where did Mr. Potato Head come from?

Photo and links from mrpotatohead.net

1960s were big years for Hasbro, as their most successful line of toys were released. 

 During the World War 2 era, George Lerner enjoyed success as a well known inventor and designer. Just before 1950, he designed and produced a first generation set of plastic face pieces. The push pin shaped noses, ears, eyes and mouth parts could be pushed into fruits or vegetables to transform the food into an endless array of magical anthropomorphic playmates.
    The toy wasn't an immediate hit however. There was still a World War 2 mentality to conserve resources. Toy companies didn't think that customers would accept the idea of wasting a piece of food as a child's toy. But after awhile, George finally sold the toy to a cereal company, who planned to use the pieces as a premium giveaway in cereal boxes. 

From MrPotatoHead.net

   Even with the toys looking to be doomed from the start, Hasbro picks up the line and builds a fully-fledged toy lineup with them. As strange as that lok

Here are a few examples... and if you'd like to check out my collectors site dedicated, look here

Update 5/5/2016: Links are completely broken. Website was closed in 2015.

1966 Collection
Real Katie Carrot: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1960/19606.htm
Real Oscar Orange: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1960/19604.htm
Real Pete Pepper: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1960/19603.htm
Real Mr. Potato Head: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1960/19601.htm
Real Cooky Cucumber: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1960/19605.htm
Real Jumper Potatoes: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1960/19609.htm
Real Special Event Characters: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1960/196010.htm#donut
Real First Disney Products: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1960/196011.htm
Real Tooty Fruity Toys: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1960/19607.htm#replacement2

1970 Collection
Real Early 1971 Mr. Potato Head: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1970/19701.htm
Real Potato Pals (Birds, Bugs, etc.) : http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1970/19705.htm
Real Late 1972 Mr. Potato Head: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1970/19702.htm
Real Mr. Potato Head FIRST accessories Pack: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1970/19703.htm
Real SUPER Mr. Potato Head Combo Pack: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1970/19704.htm
Real Mr. potato Head Rider: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1970/19706.htm


1980 Collection
Real Bendy Arm Mr. Potato Head: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1980/19801.htm
Real Super Mr. Potato Head V. 2: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1980/19802.htm
Real First Mr. Potato Head Full Family Pack: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1980/19803.htm
Real Potato Head Kids: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1980/19805.htm
Real Authentic Mr. Potato Head Products of the 80's: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1980/19806.htm
Real McDonald Sponsorship Products: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1980/19807.htm
Real Potato Head Kids Puzzles: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1980/19809.htm
Real My Little Pony PHK sponsorship: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1980/19808.htm

Real Crazy Mr. Potato Head: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1990/19902.htm

Collection 1990 

Real 1990 Collecter Mr. Potato Head: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1990/19901.htm

Real Mr. Potato Head Dress Up Kits: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1990/19903.htm

Real Mr. Potato Head Dolls: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1990/19904.htm

Real Mr. Potato Head Magnets: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1990/19905.htm

Real More Mr. Potato Head Products: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1990/19906.htm

Real Mr. Potato Head Ceramics: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1990/19907.htm

Real MPH art: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1990/199011.htm

Real Rarest collectibles of the 90's: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1990/199012.htm

2000 Collection
Real Collector's Holiday Sheet: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/2000/20001.htm
Real Darth Tater: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/2000/200013.html
Real 2000's Products: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/2000/20002.htm
Real 2000's Collectibles: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/2000/20006.htm
Real Theme Park Updates: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/2000/20007.htm
Real Remakes of Originals: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/2000/20008.htm

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Samsung Galaxy Round Announced

Late Tuesday, Samsung announced the Galaxy Round, a curved-smartphone that resembles the S4. The Galaxy Round has a 5.7-inch, 1080p screen with an HD Super AMOLED display. The device is 7.9mm thick, weighs 154g, and has a 2800mAh battery. Runs Android 4.3, 3GB of RAM, and a 2.3GHz quad-core processor, with an impressive 13 mega-pixel camera. It will be released in "Luxury Brown" in Korea, but doesn't seem to be set with an international release just yet. The price is around $1,000 and is a higher-end smartphone. We hope to see more of these curved displays from Samsung again soon, possibly on their S and Note models.

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iPhone 5S Review

The iPhone 5S

   Now, let me start out with a background. I am a big Apple fan and don't own many other devices besides Windows-based computers. It could be iCloud, but this phone is good. Really good. With almost any review, I have good things and bad things. I am going to start with the bad things, just to get them off my chest and attempt to land on a good note. The touch-sensor is slow learning, and isn't fast at all in the setup. It almost took 5 minutes to set-up from the very beginning. When I saw it, it had a bit of an off-setting gray. It may because I am used to a jet black phone, but it made me feel a bit odd, like something wasn't quite right with the iPhone. If you can easily overlook these things and have plenty of patience, then it should be nice to see once it is out of the box. The OS is innovated and drastically different than iOS 6 and the previous editions, and very much changed graphically. It feels strange if you've used iOS before, but it settles in after a while. The phone is slick and easy to hold, light, and has the perfect pixel density and display size for me (but not for everyone). The camera is great, but not innovative, still holding up what I need in a camera. In 4 years, maybe Apple should've changed the camera, but it still has that sold-built feel to it (unlike the Nokia Lumia 1020). With everything taken into consideration, I give the iPhone 5S 9 out of 10.

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Nest Protect, the Smoke Alarm You'll Love

Nest Protect
Nest has released the Nest Protect, a product that works as a friendly smoke alarm. It detects what room you're in and can understand simply commands. Motion and easy access from mobile devices has taken a note from Nest's other products, or as of now, its thermostat. They both work on the same app and function almost identically with devices, but both offer helpful things for your home. Nest has been innovating this industry for quite a while and you can take a look back on what they've achieved so far in the company history, they seem to be doing well. As told by Tony Fadell, the company CEO, he describes the Nest community and why the products they deliver today do what they actually do, serve the home.

It was never just about thermostats. At its core, Nest has always been about the home. We reinvent unloved home products to create simple, beautiful, thoughtful things. First we made an entirely different kind of thermostat, because saving energy should be easy. Now we’ve reinvented the smoke alarm, because safety is too important to be annoying.

Tony Fadell, CEO of Nest

Nest Protect isn't on sale yet, but you can pre-order both the wired and battery-powered Nest Protect now from nest.com. The black Nest Protect is available exclusively from the Nest Store.

Pre-order from Nest: https://store.nest.com/
Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch

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Why isn't the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh still made?

As you probably are already thinking, what is the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh? It was an Apple built computer that doubled as a TV. (Yes, it was kind of the first Apple TV) 

The TAM featured a 250 MHz PowerPC 603e processor and 12.1" active matrix LCD powered by an ATI 3D Rage II video chipset with 2MB of VRAM capable of displaying up to 16bit color at 800x600 or 640x480 pixels. It had a vertically mounted 4x SCSI CD-ROM and an Apple floppy Superdrive, a 2GB ATA hard drive, a TV/FM tuner, an S-Video card, and a custom-made Bose sound system including two "Jewel" speakers and a subwoofer built into the externally located power supply "base unit".

From Wikipedia

For 1997, this was amazing. So why was it discontinued? First, it was limited edition. It was only released for a limited time, and you are lucky to find one at all, none the less for a small price. Besides that, it was $7,499 USD. This was at its basjc, so it was almost like buying 6 Macbook Pros today. The thing that allowed to sell as well as it did (and I mean well, as in for its price) was its exclusive TV tuner. This gave it a selling point that matched many TV boxes at the time, to a limit. 800x600 did not prove to be a great resolution for a TV, but it worked in a pinch. To really put it into perspective, think about just pressing a button in your Mac, with a trackpad and keyboard duo, and all-in-one system, just to watch some news or a game on TV. That is 1997 or early 1998. Windows was just catching up to having monitors as well as that, none the less exclusive anniversary devices that featured trackpads or keyboards that were easy to use. The price wasn't good. I mean really, really bad. It was the Mac Pro of today, running how a dream computer would run, and seems better in most peoples head that what it was in reality.

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Analyst predicts iPhone 6 will sport a 4.8-inch display

The new Twitter still supports 3.5 inch displays, for now (Dribble)

Analyst predicts that the iPhone 6 will have a 4.8 inch display. This wouldn't be too surprising, as the change in size releases (iPhone 5, iPad Mini) have followed about a 2-year release cycle if this would be accurate. 2 lines of phones would make sense, and the C and S might drop from the title. The iPhone S may be the bigger model, while the iPhone may keep its 4 inch display. This change could take away the need to develop 3.5 inch applications and go to developing 4.8 inch display applications. The release wouldn't change mostly anything, but the 4S still being sold may halt more development until Apple runs exclusively on 4 inch or more displays.  How all of this will play out isn't yet clear, but once Apple makes a move to a larger display, developers move along with them. Removing screen dimensions isn't an option for a developer, and Apple doesn't seem to be taking any steps back from their designs so far (besides a few Macs) and they have done so not purposelessly.

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Update: Freebies

Update: Freebies

Check out the new page on Fitzsimmons Weekly for weekly freebies and cool programs on the web for download.

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Wii U? Part 2

Wii U? by Grant Fitzsimmons

From Wii U

Sales: As of 30 June 2013, Nintendo reports 3.61 million units have been shipped worldwide. During its first week of release in the United States, Nintendo sold its entire allotment of over 400,000 Wii U units and sold a total of 425,000 units for the month of November, according to the NPD Group. It also sold over 40,000 consoles in the UK in its first weekend. In Japan, over 600,000 Wii U units were sold during December 2012. According to the NPD Group, nearly 890,000 Nintendo Wii U units were sold in the United States after 41 days on the market. In the three months leading up to June 2013 it sold 160,000 units, which was down 51% from the three months prior.

   Wii U sales have not been near what Nintendo of America projected. This may mean a lot for the console's future. Game development has almost froze for the console, besides Nintendo's upcoming projects for the console with visualization and such. The question is when will the console wars end (as it has been slowing) and what would a Wii U 2 look like?

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Steam Box Specs Revealed

The prototype units will ship with an Intel Core i7-4770, an Intel Core i5-4570, or an unidentified Core i3 CPU. As far as GPUs go, there will be a mix of Nvidia Titan, Nvidia GTX780, Nvidia GTX760, and Nvidia GTX660 models — all with 3GB of GDDR5. All units will ship with 16GB of DDR3-1600 RAM, hybrid 1TB/8GB SSHDs, and a 450w power supply. Impressively, all of this equipment is designed to fit inside a 12-inch x 12.4-inch x 2.9-inch case. Really sleek stuff.

From Extremetech 

So far, this spec sheet seems to make the Steam Box a great gaming computer, but the question keeps floating, how well will Steam OS be made? In Valve's history, they've attempted to create a point of switching to systems that run Ubuntu. Now, according to Valve, Windows games will be played by "streaming". The definition of that to the gaming communities is still unknown, and may involve emulation. Still, how these things will effect sales of the Steam box and its performance isn't yet known.

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Apple and Microsoft

(Apple or Microsoft)

Quick Update: Microsoft and Apple pages have updated, check it out above here.

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Why iPhone?

Why iPhone?

I choose iPhone because of the innovation. This might sound a bit bogus, but in all honesty I think Apple could be one of the most innovative companies on the planet. Microsoft is evolving, to even a rate where I think it could be comparable. In almost any sense, the Ubuntu Phone may even evolve to become the head of the market, but the direction it has been headed shows Ubuntu's plans to create lower-end devices for developing countries or anyone on a budget. It depends on who your are for what phone would fit you the best.

iPhone 5s not the C

I can't say that I like the 5C. It doesn't seem like the Apple when the iPhone 4 was announced. Even as they have covered recently that the 5C "isn't" a low end device, it still is marketed as if it was. The product isn't polished, and overall, iOS 7 isn't either. The phone is solid on the insides but Apple wouldn't have made this even a good year ago. The direction they are headed could confuse future buyers. The iPhone 6 or the 6C would be harder to market and the "C" could be lost in time. Removing the iPhone 5 from there lineup could be a good move, but why keep the iPhone 4S? Besides the lower manufacturing cost, they could still make the iPhone 5 take its place and immediately remove it from the lineup all together. $50 with a 2-year contract still would make it a nice market point, but may drive sales from the 5C. I would take the iPhone 5 over the iPhone 5C almost any day. The reason behind this is my drive to have a high-quality crafted phone.

Android.

I would gladly take an Android phone on the higher end (HTC One, S4, etc.) over the 4 and 4S iPhone editions. (Today I have an iPhone 4) This being because Android has many innovations and customization moves Apple hasn't chosen to take. Windows Phone is a nice option, too, but I haven't felt anything that would be beneficial for me to upgrade to the Windows service beside on a PC. With all this said, I would greatly prefer a Nexus 10 over an iPad. (maybe a Mini if it gets an A7 and a retina)

With all this said, leave your comments for what you think down below.

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Google Updates Again

   Google has begun to roll out it's new homepage. Originally, the new logo was believed to be used only on small pieces of their products. While the homepage update has been in development for a long time, it is being slowly rolled out for anyone using new browsers. Updating...

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Target Unveils Brightspot, a new StraightTalk competitor

Credit to Engadget

    Brightspot, a new competitor to StraightTalk will be a new challenge for the old phone plan system. This will be released this Saturday and will be publicly available at Target. For $35-50 a month, Brightspot gives unlimited data from T-Mobile.  The ad (seen on the right) shows that Brightspot will be exclusively available in the United States at launch. The story will be developing soon...

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