Until now, if you’ve ever used the Facebook app for the iPhone or iPad you know it pretty much sucks. Not to be negative or anything but it almost always loads very slowly, if at all, and crashes quite a lot.

Fortunately, it looks like Facebook has decided to do something about it and has announced it has completely rebuilt its iPhone and iPad app for a “faster and more enjoyable user experience.” According to the company: “Facebook 5.0 for iOS is twice as fast as the previous version when launching the app, scrolling through news feed and opening photos in feed.”

To be honest, it does seem to load faster and so far we haven’t experienced any crashes. It might have to do with the fact that the company finally decided to build the app using Apple’s native SDK instead of trying to make it just a skin over an HTML5 interface.

Put another way, Facebook seems to have made the app the “right” way this time instead of trying to half-ass it. We think that’s a good thing. Let us know if the app works better for you now too.

Chances are even if you are a hardcore gamer, you probably haven’t heard about 10000000. And its understandable. With hundreds of apps getting put on the App Store daily, it’s easy to miss a game that isn’t an Angry Birds clone. But of any game recently released that should have mass appeal to gamers, 10000000 is it.

10000000 is the epitome of taking current trends, combining them and doing it right. First, the basic gameplay revolves around gem matching. Players drag rows and columns right and left or up and down to match either swords, magic staves, keys, chests, shields, wood and stone to accomplish various tasks. Swords and staves attack. Keys unlock doors and chests. Shields provide armor. Wood and stone provide resources for later. Chests grant gold and items.

Even if you’re not a fan of Apple or its products, you have to admit the company does make some interesting commercials and also tends to get top talent both in front of and behind the camera for them. The latest example of this is the company’s new add for Siri, the iPhone 4S’ “intelligent personal assistant” featuring director Martin Scorsese.

In the new spot, the director of Hugo, Goodfellas and Taxi Driver sits in a New York City cab, ordering Siri to rearrange meetings, locate a friend named Rick, and call up real-time traffic reports — a hint to a new feature of Apple’s upcoming iOS 6.

“I like you, Siri,” Scorsese says. “You’re going places.”

She is indeed. Check out the new spot after the break.

As a Mac OS X user, I’ve moved away from Apple’s Safari web browser and have been using Google’s Chrome for pretty much all of my daily browsing. It works very well, for the most part. But until today, one thing has been missing in the seamless Chrome experience: the Chrome browser on the iPhone and iPad.

Fortunately, Google has remedied that issue and announced Chrome for the iPhone and iPad during day two of its I/O conference in San Francisco. Chrome for iPhone and iPad, which needs iOS version 4.3 or higher, will be available later today.

Another new thing Google announced today which I’m particularly excited for is the Google Drive app for iOS. With the Drive app on iOS, you can open PDFs, photos, videos, documents and anything else stored in your Drive while you’re on the go. You can also search all your files, share them with collaborators, and make files available offline.

That last bit is really cool. Offline files is an awesome development which makes this service even better. No internet connection? Don’t worry, just make changes to your document and the next time you have a connection, it will sync. Awesome.

More from Google’s I/O event as it comes to us. In the meantime, I’m hitting refresh on the iTunes Store until Chrome is available for download.

With Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference set for next week, anticipation is building as to what the company will announce during its keynote presentation on Monday. We, of course, have our suspicions. . . and don’t mind sharing them.

Here’s what we think will happen:

• iOS 6 — This is pretty much a no-brainer. It’s a developer conference, after all, so an announcement of new software to power the next generation of iPhone and iPad is to be expected. In addition to new notifications and tighter integration with Facebook and Twitter, we’ve got our fingers crossed for Android-like widgets — but that’s probably a longshot. Also expect mention and demos of Mac OS X Mountain Lion too.

• New MacBook Pros — The current lineup of MacBook Pro computers is in dire need of a refresh. What better place to announce thinner, faster pro laptops than at WWDC?

• Apple TV — This is a bit more of a longshot. However, we think Apple wants to get into your living room in a big way, so look for an Apple-branded TV or more powerful/amazing Apple TV black box to be unveiled. We don’t necessarily believe Apple will go all the way and offer an actual TV, but stranger things have happened.

With all the advancements in technology coming along the last few years, especially from Apple, whenever the company has an event of any kind. it’s big news. Following that is the announcement today that Apple has officially confirmed the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote will be held at 10:00AM on June 11th at Moscone West in San Francisco.

The news of a keynote for this Apple Developer event isn’t very surprising considering they have one every year. What is somewhat surprising, however, is that the company has not confirmed who will be delivering said keynote.

In the past, Apple Co-Founder and CEO Steve Jobs did the honors. Since his passing, new CEO Tim Cook has taken over. This time around, though, with no confirmation forthcoming, it’s anyone’s guess.

Of course, it could just be that Apple hasn’t announced the keyote speaker yet because they are still working out the details. Or, and this is a scenario I prefer to believe, they are working on something really amazing for the event.

My vote for what this amazing thing could be: Hologram Steve Jobs.

The ink has barely dried on the contract for Facebook’s aquisition of Instagram and the company has already dropped a brand new camera app for iOS devices. The new app, called Camera for iOS, and is intended to make uploading and viewing Facebook photos faster and easier.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the app features Instagram-like filters to modify users’ photographs before uploading and also offers the ability to upload multiple photos, unlike Facebook’s current app for iOS. The timing of this release is more than likely just a coincidence as the company had to have had this app in development long before their purchase of Instagram.

It’s more likely they were trying to mimic some of Instagram’s features in their own app but then decided it would probably just be easier to buy Instagram and incorporate it info Facebook. Plus, they get one more important thing with that purchase: the users. This new app is just the beginning. Look for an improved app sooner rather than later.

Facebook’s Camera for iOS is available now on the Apple’s App Store. And no, there’s no Android version . . . yet.

Google+ hasn’t quite caught on with people as much as something like Twitter or Facebook, at least not yet. However, that hasn’t stopped Google from trying make it the best social networking experience possible.

Going a long way towards that goal is the update to its Google+ app or iOS users, which the company rolled out late yesterday. With the new update, users will see a completely redone user experience and Google’s goal is to basically simplify and beautify Google+. They released a statement on this new philosophy:

To be clear, we’re not interested in a mobile or social experience that’s just smaller. We’re embracing the sensor-rich smartphone (with its touchable screen and high-density display), and transforming Google+ into something more intimate, and more expressive.

Sounds good. And if you check out the app, you can see they’ve done pretty much what they set out to do. The new version of the app is extremely well done and, dare we say it, quite beautiful.

As far as music services go, iTunes has pretty much been the dominant player for several years. However, Spotify has made great strides and has become a personal favorite of many members of The Flickcast staff. But as good as the service is, there’s been something lacking: an iPad app.

Fortunately, the company is changing that today. That’s right, Spotify has announced that its iPad application is now available in Apple’s App Store. The free app allows premium Spotify subscribers to access the services huge library of music, stream tracks and playlists, and share songs.

The new Spotify iPad app also features gapless playback, a crossfade function and AirPlay integration, allowing users to stream music wirelessly from the iPad to AirPlay-compatible devices. In other words, if your an ipad and Spotify user, this is just the thing you’ve been waiting for.

On a side note, if you’re a Spotify user and want to listen to music at home I highly recomment pairing the service with some Sonos speakers. The Sonos Play 5 / Spotify combo is really hard to beat.

Check out a video highlighting all the new features of Spotify for iPad, as well as the full press release, after the break.

Developing apps for the iPhone, iPad and other iOS devices is a booming business. There’s also money to be made developing apps for the Mac and Mac OS X as well.

There’s so much to gain, and Apple wants to keep developers as happy as they can, that the company holds an annual developer’s conference in San Francisco to make sure everyone is on the same page and to help developers get all the tools they need to create great apps. In fact, the company just announced that its Worldwide Developer Conference will take place in San Francisco from June 11th to June 15th.

For the event, Apple is providing over 100 sessions on iOS and OS X, in addition to a student scholarship program. If you’re a first-time developer of apps for the iPhone or a seasoned veteran, this even surely offers a great deal of useful information and contact building.

Read on for all the details from Apple’s official press release.

If you’re one of the millions of people who have and use an iPhone or iPad (or both) on a daily basis, you may have considered Jailbreaking it from time to time in order to take advantage of extra features, applications and more. However, if you haven’t done it up to this point, perhaps you just haven’t heard enough reasons why Jailbreaking is a great way to go for many people.

Fortunately, if you’re on the fence at all, a video from Mario Dabek of Jailbreak Matrix covering 100 reasons why you should crack it open may help convince you. Plus, it has a pretty girl in it, which is always a plus.

Sure, it’s still a dicey proposition to some people. But that doesn’t stop it from also being pretty amazing once you get access to all the great stuff out there in the world that people put together to help make your iPhone and iPad using experience that much better.

Because Jailbreaking your iPhone can cause problems, we can’t endorse it officially here at The Flickcast. However, we’ve heard about some people who’ve done it and it seemed to go okay. Proceeded at your own risk.

Check out the video after the break. If this video convinces you, let us know your Jailbreaking stories.

If you’re not a fan of launching birds into the air so they can land on and destroy pigs who’ve built castles and more, then you haven’t really lived. Angry Birds pretty much came out of nowhere and now dominates the mobile gaming space.

So, when Rovio, the makers of the game, decide to release a new version and, more to the point, make it really affordable, we take notice and bring the details to you. That’s right, today the company released Angry Birds Space for iOS and Android devices, as well as OS X and Windows PCs.

In this, the fourth major Birds release, users will get to fling birds on zero-gravity planets while utilizing new gameplay features such as slow-motion and lightspeed destruction. Sounds awesome.

“This is Rovio at its finest, and we are more than excited to bring Angry Birds Space to all our fans worldwide,” said Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio. “This launch marks a huge step for us as a company, and our whole team and partners have really pulled together to bring out a fantastic array of exciting products and experiences.”

Angry Birds Space is available for $0.99 for the iPhone and iPod touch, with the HD version available for $2.99 on the iPad. The Mac version is available for $4.99 in the Mac App Store. The Android version is free with advertisements in the Google Play marketplace, with an ad-free versions available for $0.99 and an HD version for Android tablets available for $2.99 in the Amazon Appstore.

Click through fior the full Rovio press release and a bonus video highlighting aspects of the game.