Holiday2010
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App Store freeze has ended
Most of the country still has lots of winter to go through, but one thing has already thawed: the Apple App Store. Every year, Apple freezes changes on iOS apps during the holiday, in part to give the team that does updates a little break, and because sales tend to be quite volatile as people unwrap iPhones, iPod touches and (this year for the first time) iPads on Christmas. But today marks the un-freezing of the store, so top paid and free charts will go back to changing at the whims of App Store shoppers, and app developers are free to submit updates and change app prices and descriptions again for the first time since last Thursday. So far, not much has changed. We'll probably see a few of those holiday sales end this week, though EA still hasn't ended its big sale (as of this writing, anyway -- the rumor was that as soon as it could, the company would jack up its prices on popular apps, but that hasn't happened yet). It's possible that some games have done so well at their 99 cent sale prices that they'll just stay there, and/or the developers will find other ways to make them a little more profitable. And I don't think we'll see any big new apps this week (most developers probably made sure to get their apps out before the holiday rush), but you never know -- with so many people making apps for iOS, there's usually always something ready to go.
Facebook for iOS, Tapulous see big iOS downloads over the holiday
As expected, we're starting to see huge download numbers for iOS from over the weekend. As people unwrapped their new iOS devices, they also took to the App Store to pick up new games and apps as soon as they could. Facebook for iOS saw a gigantic jump in users -- as you can see in the chart above, the app saw an increase of a million users just over the holiday weekend, and it has gone up by almost 5 million users since Thanksgiving. That's pretty phenomenal, even considering that we knew the App Store would be busy. We probably haven't seen the last of the record numbers, either -- Tapulous says that its new Tap Tap Revenge 4 app saw twice the downloads this year that the last version did last Christmas. The peak downloads for that app (which is number one on the free App Store chart during the current freeze) reached 45,000 per hour over the weekend, which is just huge. I have a feeling that a lot of devs saw some really high sales and download numbers over the Christmas holiday. We'll keep an eye out for more as the next week goes on. [via DF]
So, what'd you get?
Let's just call it what it is: the best Christmas ever. Why? Well, for starters, it's December 25th. Secondly, it's a Saturday in much of the world. How often does that happen? The technology outfits 'round the globe have managed to deliver a rather insane stack of wares to consider this year -- from terrifically desirable goods to rubbish that we wouldn't wish on our worst enemy's enemies -- and now it's our turn to pry into your business and find out what Santa Claus dumped (or didn't dump) under your tree overnight. Hit us up with your scores in comments below, and be sure to cast your vote as to whether or not the kid on the right is feigning excitement over his newfound laptop. Oh, the kid in the video just past the break -- that's probably useful information. When you're done, check out what people got jazzed about in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.
Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: Digital cameras
Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today's bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season. A new digital camera is a solid go-to gadget present for almost anyone on your list, since everyone loves taking and sharing photos. But pairing the right camera to the right person at the right price can be challenging -- with thousands of camera choices spanning every shape, size, and price tag, picking the right camera can be overwhelming. You're in luck, though -- we've looked through all of 2010's holiday camera offerings and narrowed things down for you. Read on!
