Hollywood now classifies iTunes as a competitor to television networks. That’s the seeming reason behind Apple yanking a number of movies from its online video rental and sales, according to a recent report.
When Hollywood licenses movies for TV network airing, they provide a “release window” during which the broadcast is exclusive. In other words, if CBS buys rights to a movie, it can be sure NBC won’t air the same show during that timeframe.
But since first-release DVDs are also a lucrative revenue stream for Hollywood, that “release window” restriction has never been applied to brick-and-mortar retailers, such as Blockbuster or BestBuy.
Promo App Codes, a web forum, tradingpost and clearinghouse for iPhone app developers and the people who love them, launched this week and seems to already be generating considerable interest on both sides of the aisle.
For developers, the site is an oppportunity to promote their work and share Apple’s recently authorized promotional codes, a device for getting early-release and review copies of AppStore approved apps quickly into the hands of up to 50 app testers/reviewers. For reviewers/bloggers/app-nuts, the site provides an easy way to learn about new apps and to establish relationships directly with developers while giving them the valuable feedback to optimize and improve their applications.
Amanuel Tewolde, a developer and founder of Promo App Codes, told Cult of Mac, “When I first heard that Apple will give me 50 promo codes for my apps in the store, I didn’t know who to give them out to.” The site was conceived as he began to consider that “user testing is expensive, and these codes provide a cheap alternative, not to mention help with some positive buzz.”
Potential reviewers and developers alike register for a free account on the clean, simply designed site, with developers having the opportunity to post app information and screenshots in blog-fashion. Registered users have the opportunity to post comments on each “post” about an application.
Users/reviewers/bloggers create profiles and add apps to a “wish list,” entries which show up to developers as interest in their apps, and developers then contact users with free promotional codes. The site maintains a rating system for each app and hosts a forum where all interested parties can communicate with one another. At this writing the site has registered 685 accounts in the two days it’s been open for business.
“We still have lots to learn and do but things look very exciting and the timing seems right,” says Tewolde. “It is christmas season, could there be a better time to start a site where people get free apps?”
Griptonite Games, makers of the wildly overpriced iPhone trivia game Ben Stein: It’s Trivial ($4.99 at the AppStore), announced Wednesday an opportunity to receive an autographed “diploma” from the dour funnyman and crypto-pundit/economist for the first 100 players who successfully complete the game and steal Ben Stein’s mansion. Winners will be inducted into the “Hall of Stein” and be entered into a drawing for the chance to play the game live against Stein himself.
It’s Trivial features fast-paced, tongue-in-cheek gameplay and over 1200 ranked trivia questions. Alongside simian cohort Cheex the Monkey, players go up against a virtual Stein, disguised as the Master of Trivia, to win points and prizes from Ben Stein’s Estate.
Players who complete the game can submit screenshots online at www.bensteinitstrivial.com. Of the first 100 submissions, one player will be randomly chosen to compete against Stein in a live broadcast event.
Psystar, the Florida-based Mac clone maker, now alleges Apple misused its copyright to prevent competition. The new legal theory is part of a modified countersuit the company hopes to file in a California federal court Jan. 15.
The U.S. District Court of Northern California recently dismissed Psystar’s original countersuit, rejecting the company’s claims Apple violated the Clayton Act and Sherman Act antitrust laws.
In a response to the court’s rebuff, Psystar said it “respectfully disagrees” with the ruling by judge William Alsup, who in November granted Apple’s motion to dismiss.
Apple and Nvidia may be sitting on a potential landmine of defective chipsets in new 15″ MacBook Pros, according to a report Tuesday at the Inquirer.
Citing questions stemming from problems affecting Dell, HP and Apple computers earlier in the year with failing chips due to bad materials and thermal stress, as well as a $200 million charge Nvidia took over the problem in July, the Inquirer commissioned researchers to take apart a new MacBook Pro and investigate Nvidia’s assurances that none of the bad chipsets made it into Apple’s new computers that began selling in the fall.
“A small lab of mad scientists who do not wish to be named, fearing repercussions from Nvidia and Apple” took an off-the-shelf 15″ MacBook Pro apart, desoldered the parts, and “cut the defenseless notebook into many pieces,” according to the report, examining what they found through a scanning electron microscope equipped with an X-ray microanalysis system.
The findings indicate the Nvidia GeForce 9400 GPUs in some unknown number of MacBook Pros are in fact afflicted with material, called “bad bumps”, the tiny balls of solder that hold a chip to the green printed circuit board it sits on, that will crack, causing the computer it is in to die.
The Inquirer article suggests that “barring a total failure of their lot-tracking system, [Nvidia] had to have known the Macbooks shipped with ‘bad bumps’.
Did Apple know? Calls to Apple PR were not returned prior to the story’s publication, and while that might look pretty damning, it isn’t. “Apple will not talk to journalists unless they are assured the response will be fawning,” according to the Inquirer report.
We’ll have to keep an eye on this story to see if the news affects sales of MacBook Pros and whether – or when – Apple support forums might begin to erupt with tales of dying notebooks.
They may not look as studiously Apple as the Earbud speakers in the next post, but I’ll wager the $20 difference in price these Altec Lansing expressionist CLASSIC speakers kick some serious audio jams on those stylin’ earbuds.
To begin with, Altec Lansing is one of the venerable names in audiophile engineering. The Milford, PA-based company has been producing superior quality speakers since 1938 and this offering in the PC audio category lives up to its 70 year reputation for good sound. Unique cylindrical cabinets house specially designed 3″ drivers powered by 15 watts of total continuous power to deliver a full spectrum of clear, warm sound found in other PC audio products costing twice as much.
Speakers should never require an engineering degree to get going and these small-footprint machines, with their own simple style that says “listen up,” are about as plug and play as any audio component you will find. Power and speaker volume controls are at your fingertips on the rear of the Right speaker, and if you’ve got a friend over with an iPod or other portable audio device, you can easily listen to their iTunes library by plugging into the Altec’s 3.5mm Aux-in jack. All the cords and connecting hardware are made from high-quality, heavy gauge material that inspires confidence in a well-made, long-lasting product.
I mentioned they sound great, right? For $79.95, these speakers will upgrade your standard thin, tinny PC audio system and bring new life to your music, gameplay and movie watching experience.
Available now from the Altec Lansing website and select Apple Retail outlets, these and the full line of Altec Lansing PC audio components will also be featured at Macworld 2009.
Even credit-crunch era consumers will break out the plastic to buy an iPod in a new color.
USA today devoted an article on how shoppers aren’t color blind — especially when it comes to Apple mp3 players:
Nearly five years ago, Sally Trammer of Indianapolis, a senior systems analyst at Eli Lilly bought herself an iPod Mini specifically because it came in the color she craved: lime green.
Trammer was fully aware that this model stored far fewer songs than a full-size white or black iPod.
“I didn’t care, I just wanted to have that color,” she says. She recalls overpaying, too about $300. Then she purchased a fancy, lime-green leather case, to boot. “Regardless of what it cost, I knew I had to have it.”
Such consumer color devotion is a key element in iPod sales. Apple officials declined to comment, but retail expert Marshal Cohen of NPD says he’s spoken with plenty of adult iPod owners who bought new iPods specifically to get a new color. “This boggles the mind,” he says.
Color me a little astonished by the trend, too. A silver iPod nano is as far as I’ve strayed from classic white.
Fess up in the comments: have you bought a new iPod for the color, for yourself or for someone else?
In the title sequence for 1960s spy-spoof turned film “Get Smart,” main character Maxwell Smart interprets intelligence chatter on his iPod.
He’s first shown without the original earbuds, but shortly afterwards on his way to Control with white headphones plugged in, having traded the intelligence chatter for mood-boosting Abba’s “Take a Chance on Me.”
Arguably the best gadget in what should’ve been a gadget film (anyone hanker for a molar transmitter? Though the Cone of Silence might be nice ), to boost product placement in the movie Apple teamed up with Warner Bros to promote the film by giving away iPod Touch devices to journalists with pre-loaded film clips and having cast members make Apple store appearances.
Spawn Illuminati (App Store)is a fun and cheap little app for your iPhone/iTouch. You can see what it does; it spawns little blobs of light that respond, in a manner of speaking, to your touch commands.
The commands aren’t terribly intuitive, and the app seems to have a mind of its own half the time, but that doesn’t stop it being fun to play with, especially for little ones. With a bit of practice, you can get some very nice results with it (as evidenced in the official gallery).
And it’s a great way to make a wallpaper image for your iPhone that’s completely unique.
There’s no Flickr grounp yet – gasp! Perhaps one will pop up later on. I would have made one myself, but I’ve got tea to drink.
We all known Apple moves in mysterious ways, making changes that disrupt the lives of users with few warnings. Users Monday reported some movies are vanishing from the shelves of the iTunes Store.
Like in the Eagles’ “Hotel California,” a variety of movies can be bookmarked on iTunes but can’t check out. An error window appears when such flicks as Michael Clayton, Atonement and Charlie Wilson’s War are selected, according to Macworld.
The mystery may be some rights-management issue, although the movies involved span several studios, Ars Technica points out.
This isn’t the first time iTunes users have scratched their heads over movies available through iTunes. A recent uproar occurred after iTunes customers discovered new MacBooks included hardware-based copyright protection features which prevented some movies from playing on third-party displays.
