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.

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!

One thing you can say about Apple, they seem to provide a rather steady stream of updates to their various operating systems. Today’s example is an update to OS X Mountain Lion, which brings the software to version 10.8.3.

It features a good amount of fixes, improvements, etc. including:

• The ability to redeem iTunes gift cards in the Mac App Store using the built-in camera on a Mac

• Boot Camp support for installing Windows 8 and Macs with a 3 TB hard drive

• Various fixes for issues that cause a URL to quit apps unexpectedly, that might cause Logic Pro to become unresponsive and stuttering audio on 2011 iMacs.

The update also includes Safari 6.0.3, which is nice. Although, I still prefer Chrome. But that’s a topic for another day.

The update is available via Software Update or through the Mac App Store. Here’s the full list of fixes and improvements.

Today at a press conference in San Francisco, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced some new hardware that’s sure to be on many kids (and kids of all ages) Christmas lists this year. Among the most anticipated announcements was Apple’s new iPad, dubbed the iPad Mini, a smaller verson of its mega-selling iPad.

The company also announced new, improved iPad, updated iMacs, updated Mac Mini and much more. The biggest announcement, of course, was the ipad Mini. The new, smaller, iPad is only 7.2mm thick, 25% thinner than the larger iPad, and weighs just 0.8lbs.

It comes in black and white models, and it’s screen resolution is 1024 x 768 just like the first iPad and iPad 2, but the screen size is 7.9-inches. 4G LTE support is available for the cellular model, an Apple dual-core A5 processor, a FaceTime HD camera on the front, and 5 megapixel iSight camera on the back with 1080p HD video capture.

It starts at $329 for the Wi-Fi model and goes up from there. Still, not bad for what you get.

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.

Add me to the list of people a bit perturbed about not being able to get a ticket for Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference in June. Sure, I could have been more diligent or woken up super early to make sure I got a ticket. However, with tickets selling out in under two hours, it might not have made a difference anyway.

Plus, Apple could have also taken its West Coast developers into a bit more consideration when deciding the release schedule for tickets too. After all, Apple is a West Coast company, so that should count for something. Amiright? Maybe not.

Anyway, for those of you in the same boat who did not manage to get a ticket for WWDC, an alternative has presented itself. No, Apple hasn’t released more tickets for its event. Instead, some enterprising developers in San Francisco, who’ve dubbed their organization Indie Developer Labs, have decided to put on an iOS developer conference of their own.

“Indie Developer Labs is an open area where developers are provided with space to work, free Wi-Fi, and an open environment to connect with other developers. Our mission is to help foster the collaborative spirit of the Apple developer community,” the organizers said on their website.

The event will take place from June 12th to June 15th in San Francisco, during the same time and just blocks away from where Apple’s event will be held at the Moscone Center. We wish them well.

One of the most useful applications I use every day on the Mac has now arrived for Windows. That’s right Windows-using writers Scrivener is now available to you.

No matter if you’re writing the next great American novel (something for National Novel Writing Month perhaps?), research paper, script or any long-form text document that involves more than hammering away at the keys until you’re done, Scrivener, made by the fine folks at Literature & Latte, can help you get your work done. The multi-featured program excels at helping you collect research, bring order to fragmented ideas and avoid shuffling index cards in search of that elusive structure.

Scrivener can help you from the moment an idea comes into your imagination until the final finished pages are output. In short, it pretty much does everything for you except the actual writing.

Unfortunately, that will still be up to you. The rest you can leave to Scrivener.

As someone who uses this app daily (the Mac version) I can safely say it really helps me get my work done. Without it, I would be back to posting index cards to cork boards and trying to make things work that way. I like the 21st Century’s technological advancements and I like Scrivener.

Scrivener requires Windows XP, Vista, or 7 (32 or 64 bit). 1GB RAM; 1ghz Processor; 100mb disk space; 1064 x 786 screen.

The nice folks at Feral Interactive who make sure cool games get to the Mac announced this week they will be bringing one of our favorite games to the Mac platform. That game? Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Sure, those of you who’ve played it already on PS3 or XBox 360 may scoff and say “Who cares?” But those who love the Mac and don’t have a console gaming system (yes, those people exist) will now be able to enjoy one of the cooles games around on their beloved Macs.

The game features a story by Paul Dini, Batman writer and Emmy Award winner. It also features the voice talents of Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy, who reprise their roles as The Joker and Batman from the animated TV series.

The game will reportedly cost $39.99 and will be available in stores or via download. Recommended system requirements for the game are as follows:

2.8 GHz or faster Intel-based Mac with 4GB RAM, Mac OS X 10.6.8 or later and a graphics card with at least 512 MB. Nvidia 7xxx series, ATI 1×00 and Intel GMA graphics chips are not supported.

Batman: Arkham Asylum will be available for the Mac on October 13th.

Well, that didn’t take very long, did it? Today Apple released an update to its operating system for Macs which brings it to version 10.7.1. The 10.7.1 update is recommended for all users running OS X Lion and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability and compatibility of your Mac, including fixes that:

• Address an issue that may cause the system to become unresponsive when playing a video in Safari
• Resolve an issue that may cause system audio to stop working when using HDMI or optical audio out
• Improve the reliability of Wi-Fi connections
• Resolve an issue that prevents transfer of your data, settings, and compatible applications to a new Mac running OS X Lion

For detailed information on this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4764.

We’re going to try it right now on a few of The Flickcast’s Macs. We’ll let you know if we run into any issues. Meantime, if you take the plunge, let us know how it goes in the comments.

Even if you’re not a professional fim or television editor, you’ve probably heard of Apple’s pro editing software Final Cut Pro. It’s become quite popular with editors over the years and has been used on projects ranging from Cold Mountain to True Grit and The Social Network.

Now, as of yesterday, Apple has released a brand new version of the software, dubbed Final Cut Pro X, to a mixed and often hostile reaction from some users. It is currently available in the company’s Mac App Store and priced at $299.99. The companion Motion and Compressor apps are $49.99 each.

Even though FCP X is a completely new version of the editing app with many improvements, it has still drawn criticism from users for the features and capabilities Apple has seemingly removed including XML support and the lack of backward compatibility with previous versions of the software.

Some of the new features include the Magnetic Timeline, clip connections to link effects/title elements to primary footage, raw video keyword tagging and improved content management tools. In addition, the app is now 64-bit, entirely Cocoa, fully parallel and all-around faster (it now leverages the GPU for effects and can render in the background).

An update to the software offering more of the “pro” features users were hoping for is expected from Apple in the coming months. In the meantime, it might be advisable to wait before upgrading or buying the new software — especially if you’re used to FCP 7 and its features.

Click through for the full press release from Apple. Final Cut Pro X is available now in Apple’s Mac App Store.

Even though we try not to use very many products from Microsoft around here (we’re Mac users mostly, after all) that doesn’t mean we don’t have to jump into Microsoft’s Office Suite once in awhile. Now on its 2011 version, Office for Mac has become a pretty darn good program.

Soon, Microsoft will attempt to make it even better with the release of the inevitable Service Pack 1, which will reportedly be coming out next week. The update will reportedly include performance enhancements, as well as security and stability fixes, but it will also include major changes for Outlook for Mac.

After applying the service pack, users will be able to sync their Outlook calendars, tasks, notes, and contacts with Apple’s Sync Services, and it includes support for CalDAV calendar, which Apple is implementing in May. The update will also add a new redirect and resend buttons. iPhone and iPod touch devices will also stay in sync as well.

So, if you’re an Office for Mac 2011 user and think the suite could use some fixes, mark your calendars and get ready for some help next week.

Have you ever wanted to video chat with your iPhone using friends but don’t have an iPhone yourself? Well, if you’ve wanted to use Apple’s FaceTime from the iPhone and only had a Mac, you were out of luck. That is, until this week.

The video chat service from Apple left Beta yesterday and is now a full fledged and polished App available at Apple’s App Store. This update was timed, it would seem, to come out at the same time Apple was refreshing its MacBook Pro lineup.

Now that it’s out of Beta, the App sports a new price, which is only 99¢. In case you’re not familiar with FaceTime, its an Apple provided service that allows Mac, iPhone, iPod touch and soon, iPad users to make video calls for free over land-based Internet connections.

The service itself is free and the App is bundled with any of Apple’s recent iOS devices such as the iPhone. However, as we said above, it cost just under a buck if you want the App for your Mac. However, the App is now pre-installed on all new MacBook Pro models so that’s a nice thing.