Not sure when they — finally — flipped this switch, but this morning when I fired up iTunes I was greeted with a full on content party — US TV productions from ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, and Warner Brothers are now available for Canadians to download in both standard and high definition.
Prices are $3.49 for HD (which includes an SD copy for your iPhone or iPod) and/or $2.49 for SD all by its lonesome.
So, if you don’t mind paying for a-la-carte programming a day later but sans commercials, loves you the HD option, and you live in the True North Strong and Free-ish, apparently this week is Canada Day come early!
Unsubstantiated rumor? Check. First time source? Check. Friend who wants to remain nameless? Check. That’s it then it’s crazy iPhone screenshot time!
The above come from Kwame Jones via Ars Technica and while I’m perfectly willing to believe Apple would extend their on-device music and podcast (including video podcast) download service to include movies and TV shows, and that we’d get early warning by way of leaked screenshots, I just can’t bring myself to believe this part of the story:
This revelation, (again at least to me) comes by way of an advertisement in the new ad supported version of the app Twitterfon released on 5/15/09. Three ads, stumbled upon by a geeky friend of mine who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of the powerful arms of the Apple legal department, scrolling across the top of the app were for ‘iTunes Movies’, ‘iTunes TV’ and ‘iTunes Movie Rentals’.
Could Apple accidentally post content pre-official release? Sure, happens to everyone. But to advertise it through a network placement pre-release? Not since Steve Jobs walked the MobileMe hallways with a flamethrower, I’d wager.
If the service is for real, AT&T would no doubt impose the usual 10MB cap on 3G downloads, though Wi-Fi would work. 3G streaming, like with SlingPlayer Mobile, might just bring the network down like the towers of paper antenna it’s thus far proven to be.
Ifs, ands, and buts, aside, would you want on-device downloads for your TV and movies?
There’s no technology that’s 100% safe from fraud or social engineering. Those are predators that walk the cyber landscape, and just like hunter gatherers had to watch out for saber-toothed tigers and dire wolves, modern consumers have to keep an eye out for scammers and spammers.
So, it comes as little surprise that Fox New York (via Consumerist) reports iTunes is among the many attack vectors Bad Guys use when committing their fraud.
The crux of this one is bogus charges on your credit card, from $1 to full on $50+ gift card purchases:
Over on GetSatisfaction, there’s a long thread about fraudulent iTunes charges, but no clear answer about what’s going on. In fact, some people seem to be getting hit with charges on their credit cards from a fake APL*ITUNES business even if they don’t have iTunes accounts, while others who do have iTunes accounts receive receipts via email for real gift card purchases that they didn’t make.
So stay informed, check your accounts and your credit card charges, and report anything fishy (or phishy).
Ars Technica reports, with some very nice commentary and screen caps from Equivalence (iTunes link) for iPhone, that:
One of the most requested features from developers, automated crash reports, can now be submitted by users via iTunes 8.2. Developers can access the reports via iTunes Connect.
No code is ever perfect, but anything that helps developers make their apps more solid for more users is certainly appreciated.
MacRumors, via a user in their forums, is reporting that iTunes 8.2 could have some Blu-Ray functionality? Check out their post for details.
Steve Jobs famously called Blu-Ray licensing a “bag of hurt” when asked about it previously, but there’s been some chatter to suggest licensing has been somewhat de-hurt-bagged recently. Still, Apple hasn’t announced any first-party Blu-Ray hardware, so we’re not sure what to make of this at the moment.
In any event, unless they start including iPhone-friendly “digital copies” for transfer directly from the BD disks, it won’t change things for our mobile devices anyway.
Apple Insider reports that the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) is helping OdioWorks LLC file suit in an attempt to get Apple to stop threatening to sue them. Complicated much?
OdioWorks, which runs the free and open wiki service BluWiki, wants to bar Apple from repeatedly threatening its own legal action simply for letting BluWiki users host a wiki for iTunesDB, a project to learn about iTunes’ database file system and create third-party software that can replicate the sync functionality of iTunes for iPhones and iPods without forcing users to run Apple’s own media software. Over the course of several months, Apple has claimed the very existence of iTunesDB violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)’s rules on circumventing copyright locks and, in November, successfully frightened OdioWorks into taking down the wiki entries.
EFF says it’s legal to hack code to increase competition — i.e. to allow an iPhone to work outside of iTunes. Is it also legal to hack bank accounts and transfer large sums of money so my net worth is more competitive with Bill Gates?
Not the same thing, of course, just pointing out that while I’d personally love Apple to open-source more of their code, the way they’ve done with OpenCL, CardDAV, CalDAV, etc. it’s still their code. As much as I don’t want to live in a corporate-controlled world where big business owns the rights to math, I also don’t want to live in a world where the over-entitled populace thinks they can take whatever they want. Because, if either side gets too extreme, what’s to stop them from targeting me next?
Other than the fact that I’ve never made or hacked any code worth stealing or knowing…
Looked at our iTunes and what did we see? Genius enabled for Movies and TV. For those playing along at home, Apple first pre-announced this feature before making iTunes 8.1 available for download, then removed it just moments before the download went live, then said it wasn’t quite ready, and now has unleashed it on the world.
Sorta. Not all iTunes-purchased videos seem to generate Genius results yet, and some produce… non-intuitive recommendations to say the least. Those of you who have ripped your own, legally purchased DVDs to your collection under the principles of fair use might have a particularly hard time finding matches if you haven’t undertaken the arduous task of entering all the meta data, and even then…
So, feel free to share your Genius Video results in the comments, the funnier, the better. Eagle Eye returning Coyote Ugly for you to?
UPDATED: Macworld put in a call to Apple to find some answers, and find them they did:
“The feature isn’t live yet, but it will be in the coming days.”
ORIGINAL: I asked about this last night on Twitter, and now MacRumors is confirming it. It looks like Apple pulled the Genius Sidebar from Movies and TV Shows just prior to launch. Since it was advertised on Apple’s website (now revised to exclude it) and the release notes themselves, it certainly appears to be a hasty reversal on Apple’s part.
Was it not working? Returning Elektra as a recommended addition to your Batman Begins/Dark Knight collection? Choking on its own “reality show” library?
More as this develops…
One of the new features in Apple’s iTunes 8.1, released just today, is iTunes DJ. Replacing the old Party Shuffle atop the Playlists heap, it also integrates with the Apple Remote app for the iPhone for shiny party goodness.
How does it work? At first look, anyone at your party with the Apple Remote app can request songs from your iTunes library, and everyone with the app can vote for which song gets played when. Genius seems to work with it as well.
Jeremy was kind enough to grab us some screenshots, after the break! If you’ve given it a go already, let us know if you’ve found anything else in there!
Read the rest of this entry »
Ready. Set. Software Update!
Yes, as expected this morning, Apple has released iTunes 8.1 (and Front Row 2.1.7) with support for the new iPod shuffle 4G with VoiceOver, also tied into the updated Apple Remote app [iTunes link] released earlier today for the iPhone and iPod touch.
Anyone got it yet? Is it really faster, stronger, and better for you? Let us know!
[Thanks to Blake for the tip!]
