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Apple’s hit a huge milestone today: it’s passed a staggering 50 billion downloads on the App Store for iOS devices, and one lucky winner’s picked up a massive prize along the way.

Since it launched in June 2008, more than 50,000,000,000 apps and games have been downloaded on the iTunes App Store for iPhones, iPads and iPod touches. That’s a staggering statistic: spread out over five years, that’s around 7,600 apps downloaded per second, averaged out over that time. And with the number of iOS devices out there far higher now than at launch, that number’s likely far, far higher now.Apple’s made a tradition out of awarding a big prize to the person downloading the milestone app, and it’s upping the ante in this respect once again: Brandon Ashmore from Ohio, who downloaded the app Say The Same Thing this week, has scooped a $10,000,000 App Store gift card for his troubles – that’s a lot of games of Candy Crush Saga.

While Apple’s App Store was not the first download store for smartphone apps, it was the easiest to use at the time, radically changing our expectations of what we use phones for, and turning applications and services into easy to access, easy to use apps available anywhere. Judging by the rate it’s going at in 2013, it’s still going from strength to strength.

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Smartphone? What’s a smartphone now? Meet the brand new Nokia Asha 501, a “dumbphone” running an all new version of Nokia’s low-power, low price Asha operating system. It’s designed to do just about everything that a smartphone can do, but for a fraction of the price. Read on to find out all about it.

At a glance, the Nokia Asha 501’s specs don’t impress: a three-inch touchscreen with a low-res 320×240 screen and 4GB of storage, plus Wi-Fi for jumping online at high speed. But it’s what the Nokia Asha 501 can do with just that that impresses: there are apps for Facebook, Twitter and more, games, even Nokia’s HERE mapping for directions, and WhatsApp is believed to be working on its own chat app for the new platform/

The Asha OS on the 501 has had a big revamp too, with Nokia using the expertise from feature-phone software developer Smarterphone, which it bought last year. The bright, clear homescreens are clearly reminiscent of today’s smartphones, putting contacts and apps at the fore.

One big difference: few of today’s smartphones cost $99 (£63) unlocked and none boast a battery life of up to 48 days. It’s a bold move on Nokia’s part, but one it needs to make as app-packed Android phones get cheaper and cheaper. The Nokia Asha 501 goes on sale in June in red, green, cyan, yellow, white and black hues

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US service personnel will soon be using many different mobile gadgets

Samsung phones running a secure version of Android have been approved for use by the US Department of Defense.

The approval is the start of a process that will see many different types of mobile devices used by US soldiers.

Approval for other Android devices as well as Apple phones and tablets is expected in late May.

Before now, ailing phone maker Blackberry was the only firm whose products were approved for use by US service personnel.

Fast growth

The approval of Samsung phones was the first step of a strategy that would let soldiers use many different types of devices, both smartphones and tablets, during their tours of duty, said DoD spokesman Lt Col Damien Pickart.

The approval would not necessarily result in orders for gadgets, he said, but meant different groups within the DoD could now buy the devices most appropriate to their needs.

The US DoD has about 600,000 smartphone users, said Col Pickart, about 470,000 of whom were using Blackberry handsets. The remainder was split between people using both Google Android and Apple phones in a series of trials to assess whether the devices could be used securely.

According to one report on Federal News Radio, the approval of other handset makers is part of a US DoD plan to more than double the number of secure mobile devices used by its armed forces by 2014. Alongside this will be built a secure system to manage all these devices and their associated app stores. Commercial bids to provide this are currently being assessed.

Blackberry handsets dominate within the US military because, before now, it was the only make to meet the Department's stringent security demands.

Samsung phones were among the first to win approval because of work done on a hardened version of the Android operating system called Knox that also met those security requirements. Gadgets that run Apple's iOS 6 operating system as well as other Android phones are currently undergoing testing by the Defense Information Systems Agency and are expected to be approved by the end of the month.

At the same time Samsung won approval, Blackberry 10 smartphones and Playbook tablets were also ruled safe to use on military networks.

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No longer the preserve of sci-fi, 3D printers are getting cheaper and cheaper and they’ve already found their way into various parts of the world – toy making giant Hasbro uses them to print off toy parts during the concept stages and they’re even used in the medical world too. The possibilities are endless and life-changing: take at a look at how 3D printers will change your life.

Medical uses

From prosthetics to spare-bone parts and even artificial organs, 3D printers can print out life-changing replacements that can be fine-tuned right to the smallest measurement to ensure that patients get exactly what they need. We’ve seen a human skull replaced with 3D-printed materials, to exoskeletons fine tuned for children and even a 3D-printed jaw replacement: the medical world is a lot brighter thanks to 3D printing.

Furniture

Need a new chair? Just print one. Prices for printing larger models are coming down and you can specify exactly what you want from your printed fittings no matter what it is. Whether it’s a simple coffee table, a bar stool or even an ergonomically designed chair just for you, you can be sure that 3D-printed furniture is going to be keeping IKEA execs up at night soon – unless they figure it out first.

Clothing

Francis Bitonti along with Michael Schmidt and Shapeways made waves in the fashion world with a 3D printed dress draped on Dita Von Teese, and we can expect even more items of clothing to be on the way in the future. New Balance has begun to use 3D printing to make highly customised shoes for professional athletes and a variety of fashion designers have begun to use them to make other shoes such as high heels and even fabrics. What’s great is that they’re recyclable too and they require less labour, meaning it’s a much greener way to create clothing too.

Developing countries

Large scale 3D printers, like re:3D’s upcoming Gigabot, will be able to help out developing countries and communities for little cost, and can even use recycled plastic to print. Household items such as bowls, plates or even larger appliances like toilets can be printed for little cost and can help out third-world countries that struggle with basic needs.

Toys

Even the big toy makers use 3D printers at some point during the design process, and you can make your own playthings at home too. Being able to print your own toys is not only a viable business but it’s also massively creative. Imagine turning your child’s drawings into a 3D model that they can actually play with – they’ll think it’s just like magic.

Roll your own gadget accessories

Stop paying through the nose for a case every time you upgrade to a new phone, and start making your own. Nokia now provides 3D printing information so you can craft your own Nokia Lumia 820 cases, and that’s just the beginning: very soon, it’ll be a piece of cake to mock up your own Galaxy S4 or iPhone case with whatever images you want, and just hit Print to realise your creation.

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