25,000,000,000

It wasn't long ago that Apple's App Store reach 10,000,000,000 (ten billion) downloads. Today, apple.com features a countdown to the twenty-five billionth app download. That's 25 with nine 0's, an astronomical number if there ever was one.


Great. So what? Apple's had a lot of downloads. What's the big deal?


The big deal is that Apple is offering a $10,000 App Store gift card to the person who downloads the 25 billionth app. That's 1 with four 0's, not an astronomical number, but large, none the less.


This giveaway marks a milestone in Apple's history, and this milestone places yet another feather in Apple's hat. The Android Market has some catching up to do.


See Apple's countdown.

Busted.

Google's invasive cookies discussed in Apple-related post from Tech Bytes: Google.


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A Day in the Life

This is a compressed (and depressed) day in the life of a Windows user. Don't understand why PC users have a different outlook on life? Continue reading.

I open the laptop with a creak, blow off the dust, and push power button. There are internal whirring sounds and whatnot as the screen turns into a lit black. It blinks with text once or twice, and an animated bar begins its ritualistic movements. After several seconds, the Windows flag appears, and the password box follows before long. After I type the password and wait for a few more seconds, the ever-annoying Windows startup sound plays over speakers that might as well be from Dollar Tree.

The desktop background appears, and after a few seconds, all 30 desktop icons blink for a little bit as if trying to get the sleep out of their eyes. The Windows Sidebar eventually awakens, trying to figure out which way is up. This whole time, the mouse cursor is continuously spinning in a never-ending, blue circle.

After several seconds, I'm finally able to open Microsoft Word. As it loads, I take time to plan out my life from college to retirement. As I'm nearing funeral preparations, Windows informs me that Microsoft Word encountered an unexpected error and has to close. It is also gracious enough to give me the option to send an error report to Microsoft. After dealing with that, I attempt to reopen Word. Life goes on without me as I struggle to pull up a text document.

I am unfortunate enough to have never heard of any web browser other than Internet Explorer. While I am trying to check Hotmail and MSN, the guy down the street with Google Chrome has already checked Gmail, looked at the latest information on most every major news corporation's website, and is off to lead a productive life. I am still trying to search Bing for error reports displayed by Microsoft Word.

A portion of media I run across online uses Windows Media Player, and I spend dozens of seconds waiting for Windows Media to start, load, and buffer. After I complete the video, Windows Media dozes off and forgets to close when I click the red X. Control+Alt+Delete solves that problem after I waste another thirty seconds of my life.

I get tired of non-productivity, so I decide to shut down my WinDOZE computer. But my life plays before me in slow motion yet again, as I wait... and wait… and wait… for my computer to shut down. But before my laptop it can completely shut down, the battery dies, leaving me to deal with a prolonged restart next time I decide to practice patience.