A smattering of movies and TV shows formatted for the iPod are starting to show up on BitTorrent — all unofficial, of course.
They include recent(ish) releases like Sin City and Amityville Horror, and edisodes of TV shows, including Lost, Nip/Tuck, Xena and World Series of Poker.
But there’s also unexpected oddities like Metropolis, Battle of the Bulge and Reefer Madness, which were all uploaded by the same person, and downloaded by none.
“Drown out annoying roommates and co-workers today!” says the developer of Noise, a handy little ap for generating pink noise.
“Also known as a signal with even power distribution on a logarithmic frequency scale, pink noise masks background noise to help you concentrate.”
(Via MacFeber)
The problem with having yuppie customers is they are so quick to sue. The class-action lawsuit against Apple over scratched nanos strikes me as petty and greedy — even though I own a nano (scratched, natch) and am probably eligible to join.
Digital-Lifestyles has a summary of the suit:
More details about Jason Tomczak’s class action against Apple for releasing defective iPod Nanos have emerged on The Inquirer’s site.In the action, started in a San Jose district court, Tomczak alleges that the iPod Nano’s easily-scratched screen renders the display unreadable and thus breaches state consumer protection statutes.
Tomczak alleges that Apple kept on shifting the Nanos even when they knew that there were problems with the design and by failing to recall the MP3 players, the company “passed the expense, hassle and frustration of replacing the defectively designed Nanos along to class members.”
The plaintiff alleges that with Steve Jobs whipping the Nano out of his pocket in a TV advert, Apple led consumers to believe the machine was durable.Tomczak argues that even this simple act could lead to a scratched screen, claiming that the resin used in the product was not as thick and strong as in previous iPods.
The plaintiff wraps up his case by alleging that Apple knew about the dodgy quality problems before release but, “fierce competition on the digital music industry” compelled them to release it anyway.
From the heart of Japan’s youth culture — Tokyo’s trendy Shibuya district — Flickr user Purpin describes how Apple is advertising the iPod nano:
As part of their rather unique advertising campaign, huge iPod nano posters now adorn the platform walls of Toyoko Line Shibuya Station.
As you depart the train you’ll be faced with a stream after stream of 1:1 iPod nano cutouts, in which you can pull off and take home. Obviously, I helped myself to a few as well.
Needless to say, with its tens of thousands of people passing through Shibuya station daily, those iPod cutouts won’t last very long.
Fortunately, I was lucky enough to be able to catch a glimpse of the staff furiously “refilling” the empty spaces with new cutouts in between the waves of departing passengers (I took the pictures after the evening rush. I can only imagine how busy these guys can be during rush hour!).
Much to my suprise, I later realised that these cutouts weren’t made of cardboard but of plastic, and are very rigidly built too. On the reverse side were the URL and QR Codes of a site where you can download iPod nano wallpapers for your mobile phone.
Having living somewhere way out from Tokyo, I was very lucky to be able to get my hands on these cutouts AND witness those “refillers” in action. Hats off to Apple and their wonderful advertising.
Update: Apple Japan has more pix of the nano promotion, which give a good idea of its placement in the subway.
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Yahooligan and occassional-OS-X-critic Russell Beattie bought a new video iPod, and he absolutely loves it. Russell’s no slouch. He’s one of the sharpest observers of tech and Silicon Valley. He writes:
I got the new 30GB White iPod yesterday and it completely rocks. Apple did a great job with this gadget. Much thinner than previous iPods, super-fast syncing over USB, and the screen is *great*. Anyone who complains about the screen size is either 1) blind 2) a whining tempermental jerk 3) someone who hasn’t actually seen the screen. It’s beautiful.
I’m telling you right now, Video Podcasts are going to be huge. HUUUUGE… Making it so easy to rip or download new music and sync it to your device made the iPod what it is today. The same functionality for Videos is what is going to make the new iPod the standard bearer for portable video as well, even though it has a much smaller screen than the PSP.
…I can’t wait for iFilm and AtomFilms and JibJab and all the rest to start creating content for my iPod and other devices as well, available via an RSS feed (do they already?). And I can’t wait for the Podcast guys to start ramping up their content like RocketBoom and Mobuzz have as well.
…It’s all related, can you see it? Portable video is really here at least… and it’s going to be huuuuge!
Via Fscklog, a slow-loading video of the world’s longest startup sound. The anticitpation is funnier than the payoff, but worth a look.
Suicide Girls, the popular grunge porn site, has launched “SGTV,” a video podcasting service that promisies to offer free “sexy videos” for the iPod every week.
“Show your friends, your mom, the girl next to you on the bus…” the site teases.
“New episodes profiling one of the nearly 1,000 SuicideGirls currently active in the community will be posted weekly,” Suicide Girls said in a press release. “The episodes will feature video sets, interviews and candid moments available for free download.”
So far there are 10 videos on the site for download, featuring “Stormy,” “Pearl,” “Regan” and others. The videos will also be available as a video podcast (here’s the RSS), which will be updated every Thursday.
The New York Post notes the similarities between Eminem’s new iPod ad and a 2002 spot for Lugz footwear.
(Like the ads, the Post story bears a similarity to my blog post here on Monday).
Anyway, according to the Post, the Lugz ad was created by New York animation house Psyop on behalf of unnamed ad agency. The Eminem ad was made by TBWA, Apple’s longtime agency.
The Post reports:
“Justin Booth-Clibborn, executive producer for Psyop, said his firm has endured its share of copycats and there are no plans to “make waves.” Still, he admits that even he was struck by the similarities.
“Of all the times that things look like our work, it is the most strikingly similar,” he said.
A posse sticker of your favorite CEO, courtesy of Victor Agreda.
Apple’s at it again. New pro lineup:
Power Mac: Dual-core PowerPC chips across line. Two models: Dual and Quad, which features two dual-core processors, up to 2.5GHz per core. Four PCI Express slots, and “wicked-fast workstation graphics” that can power up to eight Cinema Displasy! Eight! Starts at $2,000; top-of-the-line starts at $3,200.
PowerBooks: Higher res displays (1440-by-960 on the 15″), longer battery life and SuperDrives as standard. $1,400-$2,500.
Aperture: Pro touch-up and archive photo tool. Supports RAW. $500. Not really a Photoshop killer; more like iPhoto on steroids. Get this — it requires Dual 2GHz G5 or faster, 2GB of RAM, 5GB of HD space for ap and tutorials (not counting giant RAW files), and ATI Radeon X800 XT card or better! No worries about it getting pirated: who has the hardware to run such a beast?
I actually don’t like product announcements like this. It makes my 18-month-old PowerBook and G5 look feeble and decrepit. Damn Apple!
“This is my brand new handmade (my wife made it) mac sweater!” writes Sigalakos
on Flickr. “Based on the previous sweater featured here in flickr (sorry i can’t find a link to that). This is a more indie approach with short sleeves.”
The previous Happy/Sad Mac sweater Sigalakos refers to seems to have been removed, but there’s a pic and some details on TUAW.
If you’ve got an iPod nano, you also have a free case for it — the plastic wrapper it came in.
I’ve been using the see-through poly wrapper for a week or two and it’s proven quite functional. It covers both the scroll-wheel and screen, but is thin enough to use the scroll-wheel without taking it off. It protects from scratches, and the glue that holds it together is still sticky.
The only drawback is having to remove the wrapper to plug in the dock connector. Plus it looks kinda mental, like people who leave plastic wrappers on car seats.
What’s really needed is a bit of mental toughness; an acceptance of the fact that the nano will get scratched, and it matters naught.
(Picture lifted from WR276’s Flickr photostream).
“Is that an iPod in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?” asks the press release I just received from PovPod.com, a site offering”point-of-view” porn for the new iPod.
On the site, which is definitely not work safe, there’s some “handy” instructions:
Step 1 Download our Videos to your iPod through itunes 6
Step 2 Hold iPod at crotch level
Step 3 Watch our point-of-view (POV) video and feel like you’re there!
The release continues:
“Isn’t it funny how Smut Peddlers seem to be the first to develop new uses for technology? Well, just when you thought there were enough ways to furtively enjoy pornography, a newcomer emerges.
Hot on the heels of Apple’s introduction of its latest hit MP3 player, povPod.com has announced the launch of a new site offering “Point of View†(POV) adult video content, formatted for – you guessed it – the iPod video.
This new, mobile porn adventure brings portable adult entertainment to the mainstream. With PovPod.com just download videos to your iPod and go. The new apple iPod – with support for up to 140 hours of digital video – is an exciting new solution for people who want their porn to-go.”
The new iPod ad starring Eminem bears an uncanny resemblance to a 2002 ad for Lugz, a brand of hip hop footwear.
The two ads share the same concept and execution, the same color palette, and the same graffiti-style motion graphics superimposed over the live action.
Coincidence? Or same advertising company?
A new Automator action converts video for the new iPod in one easy step — much easier than most of the other convoluted techniques out there.
It converts .mov and .dv files, and requires Quicktime Pro ($30).
(Via Jim Heid)
Motorola’s Rokr is a stinkr, according to Mobile Tracker.
“One of the first things I noticed about the ROKR E1 was that it is very slow when iTunes is playing music. This holds true if you’re inside iTunes or if it is hidden. For a phone with music features being so central, this is a fatal flaw. My unit couln’t even keep the play time counter working smoothly (see video). When iTunes is playing a song menus are also slow and I easily typed faster than it could keep up with. Navigating through menus is also painful–count on a second or two after you touch a button for it to respond.
… I’m happy to report some good news though, the speakers on the ROKR E1 sound amazing. Great quality and even bass (it has a bit of rumble when you hold it). Everyone I showed the E1 off to was impressed by the built-in speakers. The idea of stereo speakers on a device this small should be ridiculous, but they sound great. Of course you’ll run through the battery faster using the speakers, but this is one thing that even the iPod cannot do.”
Victor Agreda, Jr. , who normally posts over at The Unofficial Apple Weblog, kindly posted some predictions over here about Apple’s announcement in New York Wednesday, saving me the trouble.
“The PowerBooks will get iSights, as will Apple LCD monitors. We’ll see a sort of iPhoto Pro, but mostly it’ll be a cataloging tool with great RAW support.
Also some other software surprises, and of course, the updates to the G5 towers (dual core dualies, yeah baby!).
You heard it here first for some reason.”
About the anticipated updates, analyst Rob Enderle said: “Apple is very good at getting people revved up into a frenzy to buy something from the company even if they’re not sure what.”
There’s an odd moment in Eminem’s new iPod ad for Apple that seems to illustrate his contempt for either Apple or advertising.
As the ad starts, Eminem’s singing his hit Lose Yourself while a silhouette dancer wearing white earbuds prances about. But suddenly, at the ad’s midpoint, Eminem shouts, “Move it out!” and shoves the iPod dancer aside. The dancer flies out of the frame.
The gesture’s appropriate for a rap video, but not an iPod ad. It’s odd that Eminem got away with such a thing — shoving the figure representing the buyer out of the picture. It undermines the whole ad.
See for yourself. Watch the ad here.
The ad has a history, of course. Eighteen months ago, Eminem sued Apple for allegedly using Lose Yourself without his permission. I seem to remember him making noises about “selling out” at the time. Obviously he changed his mind, but I wonder if the shoving is his way of trying to maintain his dignity?
On Flick: This graduate stuck an Apple logo on top of his graduation cap.
There’s a new fish plaque in town: the Flying Sphagetti Monster.
The big flaw in ThinkSecret’s fun-spoiling story that next week’s special event will about PowerBooks and Power Macs, is that Apple doesn’t hold special media events for these kind of upgrades.
Incremental upgrades of existing products are usually ushered in with a press release, or a Macworld mention at best.
Oh, and now ThinkSecret’s saying it is about the iPod, but not the video iPod. New iPod–but not video–on next week’s itinerary.
Sorry, but I’m not convinced.
There aren’t a lot of protective cases for the iPod nano in stores just yet. So here are some options for building your own. There’s a range of materials to choose from: gum wrappers, pleather or paper — whatever tickles your fancy.
Londoner Graham Bower has some plausible video iPod predictions, as well as nifty Photoshop mockups of the rumored device.
In Bower’s view, Apple needs to differentiate the 60/80 Gbyte iPod from lower-capacity, music-only offerings, and that’s done by adding video.
The video iPod will sync music, photos and home movies (“home movies away from home”), as well as play short music videos and video podcasts downloaded from the iTMS.
Other predictions include an onscreen keyboard, controlled by the click wheel; a return to the original iPod design (polycarbonate front, metal back); video playback in landscape mode; and a revolving click wheel to control playback when the iPod is held horizontally.
Paul Gillibrand’s Apple brunch. It’s the full monty!
Se the full Flickr set, including the interactive plan.
(Via Fscklog)
Apple will introduce a major product on October 12 — and it may be the long-awaited video iPod.
The company on Tuesday sent out invites to an event at the plush California Theater in San Jose, where Steve Jobs and Bono introduced the U2 iPod last year.
“Join Apple for ‘One More Thing…'” the invite says, refering to Steve Jobs’ famous line before he unveils a major product.
The invite gives no clue about the product, but AppleInsider — a somewhat reliable rumor site — says it’s a video-capable iPod.
The new iPod will be 60 Gbytes and sport a large, high-resolution color screen.
“The release of the iPod video is expected to be accompanied by a ‘major update’ to Apple’s iTunes music store that will include a significant number of music videos and other short video content,” AppleInsider says.
The site says a video-cpable Airport Express is also in the works.