Film studio Universal has released a free iPhone application, pocket BLU. The software communicates via Wi-Fi with network-connected Blu-ray players, allowing more advanced control over menus and playback. Users can for instance take advantage of a virtual keyboard, and tilt an Apple handheld into widescreen mode to access a graphical timeline.
The first public beta of Boxee will be shown on December 7th, according to its developer. The app is primarily used to stream movies and TV shows to an HDTV, including remote content from sources such as Hulu and Netflix. Music and photos can also be streamed; versions of the app have been produced for the Mac, Windows and the Apple TV.
Apple has introduced a new Music Movies section to the iTunes Store, further segregating its video. The page highlights all movies with a music-related theme, running from documentaries like Imagine and Woodstock through to straight concert films, and fiction titles like The Blues Brothers. iTunes now also has a larger amount of such content, with material including The Song Remains the Same and U2: Rattle and Hum.
mSpot has launched its latest mobile service, enabling users to rent full-length movies directly from their iPhone or other handset. Content is streamed directly to the device, eliminating the need to wait for downloads or sync to a computer. The company currently has agreements with Paramount Studios and Universal Studios, although more partners will be added later in the year.
Apple has confirmed intentions to allow direct purchase of iTunes videos from an iPhone, sources close to the company's training programs say. Originally a blogger is said to have discovered the option's existence by accident, though users of the iPhone 3.0 beta can now gain a glimpse through a custom link. Graphics and downloads in the early browser are currently broken.
Hulu, jointly operated by NBC, Fox and Disney, has launched a new desktop application meant to simplify streaming the site's video. Mac and Windows versions are available, supporting Front Row and Windows Media Center remotes, respectively; aside from controlling playback the software provides a special tracking display, and a distinct menu for browsing categories and subscriptions. Windows systems require XP, 2GB of RAM and a 1.8GHz Core Duo, while Macs differ by needing a 2GHz Core Duo and at least Mac OS X 10.4.
Apple has made significant improvements to its TV offerings at Canada's iTunes Store, beginning with option of HD. Selected episodes are only rendered in 720p, and cost a minimum of $3 each, but may frequently support 5.1-channel sound and will always come with an SD-quality download meant for sync with Apple handhelds. A 2GHz dual-core processor is required, whether for a Mac or a PC.
Apple may soon allow the iPhone and iPod touch to directly access movies and TV shows from the iTunes Store, a leak suggests. In using an ad-supported version of Twitterfon, one user claims to have encountered a banner promoting not just purchases of videos from iTunes, but also movie rentals. At present the main means of shuttling iTunes video to an Apple handheld is through sync with a Mac or PC; the one exception is podcasts.
After a brief postponement, Apple has at last enabled Genius video recommendations within iTunes. When browsing personal movie or TV show collections, the Genius Sidebar will now suggest videos to buy from the iTunes Store, based on information uploaded to Apple and compared against the purchases of others. The option can be toggled on and off, in the same manner as Genius for music recommendations.
Boxee, the developer of its namesake media player front-end, has released a new alpha version of the app with a built-in RSS reader. The software is installed onto Mac and Ubuntu Linux systems as well as Apple TVs, and provides more elaborate support for downloaded media as well as direct web streaming of shows on ABC and CBS. The Boxee RSS reader is optimized for video, and can feed clips from YouTube, Yahoo and several other sources.
Pixar's WALL-E won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature at Sunday night's Academy Awards ceremony, defeating competition from Bolt and Kung Fu Panda. The movie -- about a robot left on Earth after an environmental apocalypse -- was also nominated for Original Screenplay, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Song awards, but lost to movies such as Milk and The Dark Knight. The dominant title at the Oscars was Slumdog Millionaire, which took home Best Picture and Best Director trophies among others.
Netflix will offer a streaming-only subscription option by 2010, according to CEO Reed Hastings. Though the company was founded on the concept of mail-order DVD rental, which still forms the bulk of its business, Hastings notes that "millions" of its 10 million subscribers are taking advantage of streaming through computers or set-top boxes. Microsoft's Xbox 360 is said to be a particularly popular medium, with over 1 million Netflix users.
Apple is preparing an instant streaming option for video at the iTunes Store, a report claims. Said to be named iTunes Replay, the service would be similar in concept to Netflix's "Watch Instantly" option, which allows people to stream material that has already been paid for in a different medium. In the case of Replay, users would be able to watch movies and TV shows that have already been bought in download form.
All Mac owners with a subscription to Netflix should now be able to stream select movies online, the company has announced. Though best known for mail-based DVD rental, Netflix also offers a bonus "Watch Instantly" service, which primarily lets Windows PCs (as well as various set-tops) stream some 12,000 movies and TV shows. To stream movies on a Mac, users must have Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later, 1GB of RAM, and a browser with Microsoft's Silverlight plug-in.
Apple has introduced a new discount option in the iTunes Store, found within the Movies section. Joining the company's $0.99 Rental of the Week option, the company is now selling a Movie of the Week for $5, along with nine other movies priced at the same cost per title. The debut Movie of the Week is James Cameron's Terminator 2; some other $5 movies include Total Recall, The Karate Kid and St. Elmo's Fire.
Confirming earlier rumors, Blockbuster has announced plans to build a set-top box that will stream digital movies to TVs. The company's CEO, Jim Keyes, further notes that the the device will be associated with its Movielink rental and purchase service, but has not provided details on costs, capabilities or hardware specifications. A release is expected sometime during the holiday season; also in development is support for Blockbuster streaming through Intel chips inside IPTV hardware.
KavaSoft has released KavaMovies 1.0, a program which organizes movies into a single database. The software connects to the Internet to download information about movies, while providing a way to track which titles have already been watched, and which ones the user wants to see. Movies can be browsed by criteria such as actors, genres, keywords, languages or years; similarly, a list of recommended films can be generated.
Japan's GClue has unveiled Pocket Clapper, an iPhone/iPod touch app that simulates the clapboards used while filming movies. Users can draw virtual chalk on a blackboard, outlining a scene with production information such as date, time, camera, director, scene, and take, to be used later during movie editing. The app also replicates the clap sound used to align audio and video content that have been recorded on separate devices.
Subscriber numbers for Netflix are on a slight decline, the company has announced. The movie rental outfit says that in figures for the third quarter of the year, it recorded only 8.672 million subscribers, below predictions of 8.675 to 8.875 million. Final revenue figures, which will be announced on October 20th, are expected to end up between $343 and $348 million. CFO Barry McCarthy notes that while July subscriber growth was fine, it dropped significantly in August, only to resume growth in September.
An upcoming Blu-ray disc will be the first of its sort to support iPhones and iPods, a report claims. The French release of Iron Man is expected to support NetBlender's BD Touch technology, which lets users interact with movies when both the player and the disc are compatible. Through a supporting iPhone app called Remote Haxey, French owners of Iron Man should be able to access trailers, play an original game, and use their handheld as a form of remote, much in the way that Apple's Remote utility controls iTunes.
Apple has announced the release of iTunes 8, the latest version of its music software for Macs and PCs. Features in the new software include "Genius" playlists, which automatically match songs thought to go together. iTunes can also recommend tracks to buy via a sidebar, and recommendations will be based on anonymous uploads of user data, meant to gradually improve the accuracy of what shoppers are offered in the future.
Shorts International is now offering a collection of short animated movies through iTunes, including Peter and the Wolf, winner of an Oscar in 2008, and nominee Even Pigeons Go To Heaven. According to Distorted Loop, the offerings range across drama, comedy, and satire. Shorts International boasts the largest collection of short films, with over half of the catalogue receiving nominations or awards from various international film festivals.
20th Century Fox has announced a slate of new movies in its Digital Copy program. Digital Copy is a partnership with Apple, and bundles a digital version of a movie with its DVD counterpart; the file is pre-formatted for iTunes, making it convenient to sync with devices like iPhones and Apple TVs, although the file is not DRM-free, as with a normal DVD rip. Digital Copies can also be loaded onto Windows Media-compatible devices.
Cable Internet provider Comcast may be implementing a 250GB transfer cap as soon as October 1st, anonymous sources claim. The company has been moving towards more neutral bandwidth-limiting techniques, following an FCC ruling that sabotaging BitTorrent traffic violates net neutrality policies. Although BitTorrent seeds are frequently used to share pirated material, they are also used for legitimate peer-to-peer distribution, and the FCC has noted that blocking BitTorrent unnecessarily favors some forms of Internet traffic over others.
During a conference call for the company's Q3 2008 results, Bob Iger, president of the Walt Disney Corporation, has announced that since agreeing to sell movies through the iTunes Store, the company has sold over five million titles. Iger insists however that the presence of Apple CEO Steve Jobs on the board of directors has not influenced any decisions on content distribution. "Some of our agreements were signed before the purchase of Pixar," says Iger.
The UK storefront for iTunes has joined those in Canada and the US in offering discount movie rentals, Apple has announced. The site now advertises a "99p Film of the Week" program, letting people rent a single movie at a sharp discount over the normal cost of £2.49. The chosen debut movie is John Frankenheimer's Ronin, a 1998 thriller about the life of spies in a world without good, evil or the Soviet Union.
Boxee has released a Mac alpha of its “open and smart“ media player application. The start-up says in it’s blog that alternatives such as iTunes do a good job of pushing new content for download, but aren’t ideal for storing existing content. Boxee is designed to help users rediscover their “comfort content,” movies, pictures, and music that may be stored in a variety of formats, using a unique visual interface.
Vudu, the maker of a self-named video streaming set-top, has released a new upgrade for its system called the Wireless Kit. The add-on enables users to download movies and TV shows via wireless Internet rather than an Ethernet cable, a factor which may be crucial given the distance of many TVs from routers and computers. Competitors such as the Apple TV and the Roku already have Wi-Fi.
A select number of movies should soon be available for sale from the UK and Canadian iTunes Stores, writes The Times. The British newspaper cites studio sources, who claim that Apple has signed new agreements with four major studios: Fox, Disney, Warner Bros. and Paramount. Lionsgate and MGM are also expected to join in the deal, but issues appear to remain with Sony and Universal. Crucially, people should be able to both buy and rent films from iTunes, at prices comparable to the countries' DVD and video-on-demand options.
Apple's new deal with major movie studios to offer downloadable movies on iTunes the same day they are released on DVD is currently costing the company more than it would make on the sale. According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple is buying movies for a wholesale price of around $16, while only charging $14.99 for the content. iTunes' popularity has so far earned the company a solid reputation, helping change the face of digital media distribution by increasing overall market revenue to $175.8 million from almost nothing two years prior.
Apple on Thursday quietly enabled its Apple TV set-top device, in the wake on this morning's movie announcement, to allow owners of the device to purchase movies directly, without the use of a computer. iLounge reveals that the update was automatically applied, without needing an entire system upgrade. Apple also added a "Top Sellers" category to the "Top Movies" menu, which shows the most popular purchased titles.
Apple has confirmed earlier reports and announced that starting this week, at least some movies are being released on the iTunes Store the same day as their retail DVD launch; previously, intentional delays on the part of studios blocked iTunes sales until weeks after DVD shipment. Deals have been secured with most major studios, including Disney, Lionsgate, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal, Sony and 20th Century Fox. Also included are Image Entertainment and First Look Studios. Some other studios remain absent, notably MGM.
Days after celebrating iTunes' fifth anniversary, Apple on Thursday is expected to announce a breakthrough movie distribution deal that would allow it to sell new releases at the iTunes Store, offering a digital content delivery alternative to DVD sales. The new agreement will include major studios such as Fox, Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal, Sony Pictures, Lionsgate and New Line as well as smaller boutiques such as Magnolia and Image Entertainment, but will leave out new titles from MGM, the report said. The Hollywood Reporter notes that the move would allow a broad slate of top-shelf films to be offered day-and-date with home video releases, potentially cannibalizing DVD sales, while simulataneousl putting "significant" pressure on iTunes competitors ranging from Amazon's Unbox to Microsoft XBox Live Marketplace.
The Tennessee State government is reviewing the possibility of implementing a tax on digital media downloads, which would include music videos, movies, news and entertainment programs, music, ringtones, and electronic books, among others. Law firm Waller Landsen notes that standard software downloads would not be taxable, and while the proposition has not been shown to lawmakers, it is predictably drawing negative criticism.
Apple promised the world in mid-January that 1,000 iTunes movie rentals would arrive at the company's iTunes Store by the end of February, but those rentals were still missing in action on the last day of last month. Macworld quotes Apple's statement during the Macworld Expo in San Francisco earlier this year: "iTunes Movie Rentals launches today and will offer over 1,000 titles by the end of February, including over 100 titles in stunning high definition video with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound which users can rent directly from their widescreen TV using Apple TV."
Apple today released its Apple TV "Take 2" software update, which was delayed roughly two weeks ago because it was "not quite finished." The update adds a new on-screen interface that allows users to rent high definition movies directly from a widescreen TV. The update is available for free via automatic update for all existing Apple TV owners, and will ship with all newly manufactured Apple TV devices.
Creaceed today began shipping its Hydra 1.0 HDR photography software for Mac, and unveiled a major upgrade to its Morph Age application for morphing as well as warping images and movies. Hydra aims to give the human eye perception to photographs by creating high dynamic range (HDR) images from a series of standard photographs, either from DSLRs or traditional point-and-shoot cameras. Hydra is priced at $60, but is available for an introductory price of $40 until the end of January. Hydra requires Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard to run.
Macrovision, the company largely responsible for modern DVD copy-protection schemes, has officially integrated its technologies with CinemaNow to offer downloads of CinemaNow premium video directly to Macrovision-enabled consumer electronics devices. Users who have registered Macrovision-enabled hardware at CinemaNow.com can use those devices to watch movies, TV shows, and music videos from CinemaNow's online library of available programming, according to TWICE.
Thousands of consumers hoping to enjoy music, photos, and movies with Apple gadgets they receive this holiday season may need to learn some basic skills before diving right into the devices. Dave Taylor, a SupportSpace Committee member specializing in Mac as well as handheld technologies says the jump is even more difficult for most PC users. "Apple's iPhone and the latest generation of iPods have delivered enormous power and simplicity to the average consumer, but the technology is still complicated and usability is not 100% intuitive, especially for Windows users," he said.
Hollywood studios are taking a chance on the Vudu set-top box by granting the service the right to distribute the first of many major movies simultaneously with the official DVD release. The Bourne Ultimatum will be available Tuesday for rent or purchase, in standard and high definition. Universal Pictures is one of a few studios that have agreed to sell high definition content through the Vudu box, though there are not many titles currently available, in contrast to the 5000 standard definition titles that Vudu offers. Vudu sells the set-top box for $400, with rentals ranging from $1 to $5.
