That’s right all you iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch fans, Apple’s latest OS has dropped today. As you likely know it’s called iOS 8 and has a host of new features, enhancements and more to make your use and enjoyment of your Apple device that much more, well, useful and enjoyable.

Users can download the new software by navigating to the “general” tab in their device’s settings menu and selecting “software update.” You can also connect your device to the latest version of iTunes to download the update.

iOS 8 will work on all devices as new, or newer, than the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4s. Although, as to how well it will run on an iPad 2 or iPhone 4s, well, probably not that well. If you’re still rocking those devices, and want to take full advantage of iOS 8, it might be time for an upgrade.

iOS 8 has a lot of nifty new features including HealthKit, which allows third-party apps and, one would suspect, the upcoming Apple Watch, to monitor your health status and suggest ways to improve it. It also features new hotness like Family Sharing, which lets you share iTunes purchases, calendar information, and messages with a group of people. iOS 8 also brings improved notifications, a Spotlight search function that lets you search inside apps, and the ability to install third-party keyboards such as Swype. See, nifty.

There’s also a few other new features, such as the ability to sync phone calls, files, and SMS messages between iOS 8 devices and Macs, that will have to wait until the next version of OS X (aka Yosemite) is released. Rumor has it that will be next month.

As we told you before, Amazon has come out with its own version of the Apple TV or Roku. It’s called the Fire TV and it’s an Android-powered black box that allows you to stream content from various sources including Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus and Netflix.

But is it any good? Well, our own Chris Ullrich decided to take it for a spin and made his initial report over at his personal site. As with other times he’s done this in the past, we’re still not sure why he doesn’t just write his review, or whatever, here.

Whatever, he’s the boss. Anyway, check out his thoughts and if you end up getting a Fire TV for yourself, let us know what you think of it in the comments.

In a bid to compete with devices like the Google Chromecast, Roku and mainly the Apple TV, Amazon today announced the Amazon Fire TV. According to chairman Jeff Bezos, the Fire TV “is a tiny box that plugs into your HDTV. It’s the easiest way to enjoy Netflix, Prime Instant Video, Hulu Plus, WatchESPN, low-cost video rentals, and more. With instant access to over 200,000 TV episodes and movies, plus all your favorite subscriptions and streaming services, you can watch what you want, when you want.”

In addition, if you’re a Prime member “you get unlimited access to thousands of popular movies and TV shows, including exclusives like Downton Abbey, The Americans, Alpha House, and Under the Dome.” All in 1080p, of course.

Bu wait, there’s even more. “Fire TV has voice search that actually works. The old way of searching with a TV remote—scrolling and clicking one letter at a time on an alphabet grid—is painful. With Fire TV you simply speak the title, actor, or genre into the remote and you’re done.”

The internal specs of the Fire TV are impressive as well. The device features a quad-core processor, dedicated GPU, 2 GB of memory, and dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi. It also features a new buffering system which will supposedly help eliminate any streaming lag. Of course, your mileage may vary.

The device also plays games. Titles at launch include Minecraft, The Walking Dead, Monsters University, the Amazon exclusive Sev Zero, and many other free games available to Prime Members.

The Amazon Fire TV is $99.00 and ships today. The optional game controller will set you back another $39.99.

“Oculus has the chance to create the most social platform ever, and change the way we work, play, and communicate,” says Mark Zuckerberg. But honestly, do you really need to see your friends baby pictures in virtual reality? It was announced yesterday that Facebook would be purchasing the technology company of Oculus VR, the creators of the Oculus Rift. In total, Facebook would be paying by way of $400 million in cash and 23.1 million Facebook shares which comes down to about $1.6 billion.

Oculus Rift has been the talk of the gaming industry since gamers were finally able to start getting their hands on it over the past year, putting to bed the speculation that VR was dead or that it might go the way of the Virtual Boy and be a huge flop. Top creators had begun trying to figure out if the platform was right for their games and early testers were raving about the potential they already got a taste of.

I’m one of those “weirdos” who still wears a watch even though Iv’e got a perfectly good cell phone in my pocket to tell me the time. What can I say, I still like watches and I don’t mind having to look and see where the little hand and the big hand are to see if I’m late for an appointment.

However, I am very interested in all of the wearable tech, including watches, that seems to be heading our way. And that goes double for what Google announced this week. It’s a new SDK called Android Wear and damn if it doesn’t look pretty cool.

It’s basically Google Now and provides you with information as you need it or as it happens in a card-style format. The company is starting with watches, but you can imagine other products not far behind.

Here’s some other highlights of Android Wear:

• Straight answers to spoken questions. Just say “Ok Google” to ask questions, like how many calories are in an avocado, what time your flight leaves, and the score of the game. Or say “Ok Google” to get stuff done, like calling a taxi, sending a text, making a restaurant reservation or setting an alarm.

• The ability to better monitor your health and fitness. Hit your exercise goals with reminders and fitness summaries from Android Wear. Your favorite fitness apps can give you real-time speed, distance and time information on your wrist for your run, cycle or walk.

• Your key to a multiscreen world. Android Wear lets you access and control other devices from your wrist. Just say “Ok Google” to fire up a music playlist on your phone, or cast your favorite movie to your TV.

Google is already working with manufacturers Asus, HTC, LG, Motorola and Samsung, along with chip makers Broadcom, Imagination, Intel, Mediatek, and Qualcomm. Fossil may make the first watches available later this year.

To see Android Wear in action, check out the videos after the break.

If you’re already taking advantage of Amazon’s Prime service, this is a post for you. And if you’re not, it might be a good idea to pay attention too. Why?

Well, the company announced today they are raising prices on their Prime service to $99 from its current level of $79. Students will pay $49, up from $39.

New members have until March 20 to sign up for $79, according to the company, while current members will see the price increase to $99 at their next renewal. Guess they’ve gotta pay for those drones somehow, right?

Members whose accounts are set to renew before April 17 will be charged $79. Lucky them.

Currently, members get unlimited free two-day shipping on eligible items, free streaming of movies and TV episodes, and free e-book borrowing from Amazon’s library of more than 475,000 titles. It’s expected that Amazon will offer additional services and perks to help soften the blow of the price increase. But so far, no word on what those might be.

In the meantime, if you haven’t signed up yet, now would be a good time. Check out more at the official Amazon Prime page.

In case you haven’t heard, Apple released an update to its mobile operating system this week. The update, known as iOS 7.1 to those in the know (and pretty much everyone else) features a host of improvements and bug fixes. But much like most of Apple’s updates, the company doesn’t really spell out exactly what all those “improvements and bug fixes” are.

But what if you really want to know each and every detail of this update? Fortunately, the folks at iTwe4kz have got you covered.

In fact, they’ve made a handy video that highlights pretty much everything that’s new in iOS 7.1. Cool, right?

Check out the video after the break. You can download Apple’s iOS 7.1 via software update on your devices or via iTunes.

Love them or hate them, Apple is one of the most dominant players all over the world world with their iPad and iPhone devices. And now they’re looking to expand that dominance into a new place: your car.

That’s right, today Apple announced a new way to integrate iOS7 devices with your future vehicle. It’s called CarPlay and, to be honest, it looks pretty darn cool.

Set to debut later this year in vehicles from select manufacturers, CarPlay will let users make and receive calls, send and receive messages, listen to music and navigate with Maps, all via a built-in display in the car. Several other apps will be supported at launch, including Podcasts, Beats Music, Spotify, iHeartRadio and Stitcher.

Car companies such as Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo will showcase CarPlay at next week’s Geneva International Motor Show. Meanwhile, others such as BMW, Ford, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia, Mitsubishi, Nissan, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Subaru, Suzuki and Toyota intend to make future vehicles compatible with CarPLay.

For more on how it will work, Volvo has released a video highlights CarPlay’s features. Check it out after the break.

If you’re an Android and Samsung fan, this is a great day for you. Why? Well, Samsung has just announced its brand new flagship Android-powered smartphone: the Galaxy S5. And yes, it looks pretty cool.

The new hotness features a 5.1-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, a 2.5GHz quad-core processor, a 16-megapixel rear-facing camera, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, 3GB of RAM, a 2,800 mAh battery and Android 4.4 KitKat. But wait, there’s more.

The Galaxy S5 also features a water-resistant case and a fingerprint scanner similar to the one Apple uses in its iPhone 5s. It comes in four colors including charcoal black, shimmery white, electric blue and copper gold.

Here are the full specs:

Much as it did with The Killing and Arrested Development, Netflix has decided to give a cancelled series a new lease on life. Well, for at least one more season anyway. That series? Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

That’s right, the streaming service will unleash a 13-episode sixth season of the animated series next month. The season will be called Titled The Lost Missions which promises to reveal “some of the deepest mysteries of the conflict between the light and the dark sides of the Force leading to a series finale.”

“An intrepid clone trooper discovers a shocking secret, Anakin Skywalker’s closest relationship is tested to its limits, and what Master Yoda discovers while investigating the disappearance of a Jedi could forever change the balance of power in the galaxy.”

Sounds good, right? We really hope this is a success because then it could open up other opportunities for canceled series that didn’t get a proper send off.

Firefly anyone? Let’s make it happen Netflix.

Look for Star Wars: The Clone Wars to debut in March 7.

We don’t listen to the rumors surrounding the upcoming release of a new Apple product. Well, not very often anyway. Still, it is sometimes fun to speculate a little as to that the company may end up bringing to the table.

This time around our subject of speculation is the iPhone 6. We know there’s going to be one and we know it will likely come out in June or July. We also know it will probably have a larger screen.

But what will it really look like? This video, made by YouTube user Concepts iPhone, may just be able to tell us.

We won’t go into too much about the video itself because really, if this is your thing, you should just watch. After the break, of course.

On January 24, 1984 the first Macintosh computer from Apple was launched. And the world was never the same again.

Regardless of your personal feelings towards Apple or its products, there’s no denying the company changed the personal computer world forever with the introduction of the Macintosh. And in the 30 years since, many of us here at The Flickcast (and elsewhere to be sure) couldn’t imagine going through our day, or getting work done, without one.

To commemorate this milestone, Apple has a special home page on its website and a video to celebrate “30 years of Mac innovation.” The company has also created a special section on its website dedicated to the 30 years of Mac.

On one of the many pages at Apple’s website dedicated to the Mac, there’s a quote from Steve Jobs which helps set the stage and encapsulates fully the lasting legacy that is the Mac.

“We’re just in the beginning stages of what will be a truly remarkable breakthrough for most people — as remarkable as the telephone,” said Jobs.

How right he was. Check out the video after the break. Happy 30th Mac!