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Journalists Cover Microsoft, Using Macs

It’s not an easy time for Microsoft — with Steve Ballmer having to field questions about being “buffoons” and an “evil empire”  at the shareholder’s meeting (.doc) — so when they get together “the world’s most influential technology pundits and online writers” (nb: we weren’t invited) for Mobius to discuss super-secret mobile tech you’d think [...]

Guide To Black Friday Apple Bargains: Cheap MacBooks, iPods and Accessories Galore

Here’s a guide for finding the best bargains on Apple-related gear during the infamous Black Friday sales on November 27. We’ve compiled a comprehensive list of gear from leaked photos of sales flyers and descriptions of sales.
The bargains include a 2.26 GHz MacBook + $150 gift card at Best Buy for $999.99 ; a 32GB [...]

Review: Voices Is Today’s Best Thing Ever, Grab It Now While It’s Cheap

New on the App Store is Voices from the clever folk at Tap Tap Tap. You can guess what it does.

Open it up, pick a silly voice. Helium is pretty silly. A microphone appears and the app even clears your throat for you (try it, you’ll see what I mean). Now speak your brains, and [...]

Review: Sony Walkman S540 Series Video MP3 Player

Press releases, you will hardly be surprised to hear, are rarely very interesting. But one arrived in my inbox a couple of weeks ago that made me double-take.
“Sony’s S Series Walkman,” it chattered, “is a serious challenger to the iPod Nano.” Gosh, really? Perhaps the Cult had better have a look at one, then, despite [...]

Video Rental is a Better Business for Apple Than Movie Sales

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Image via Sydney Morning Herald

BusinessWeek reports that sources claim Apple has a deal with Fox, Warner Bros., Paramount, and Lionsgate to allow sales, rentals or both through iTunes. If so, this could prove a huge boon for Apple. At last year’s All Things D conference, CEO Steve Jobs referred to its digital television device business as “a hobby.” Though promising an iPod for the living room, the AppleTV has been quite slow to catch on by Apple’s recent standards. That’s according to sales estimates from analysts and also anecdotal evidence: I’ve been to a lot of geeks’ houses in San Francisco and never seen a single AppleTV in the living room.

At this point, I’m ready to admit that Apple’s assumptions for the movie market were flat-out wrong — barely anyone wants to own movies in download format alone. I haven’t bought a single film myself, but there have been plenty of times when I would gladly rent a movie download — it’s faster than NetFlix and easier than walking down the street to Blockbuster. At the same time, for the movies I love, I want a tangible artifact to hold onto. I want to explore their special features and revisit favorite scenes. At the moment, Apple’s downloads are worse than what I can get at the store. But a rental? Heck, if it means staying on the coach, I’m in. Especially if it’s less than $3.

BusinessWeek via EpiCenter

About the author

Petemortensen

Pete Mortensen is the communications lead for growth strategy firm Jump Associates and the co-author of Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy, a book and blog that are significantly more interesting than you might initially think. Pete's particular Apple avocations are both around design--interface and industrial. Follow him on Twitter!

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One comment

    If they can provide a Netflix-esque experience without the waiting 4 days for the disc part, I’m way in.

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