When NBC started making conciliatory gestures toward Apple back in January it looked as thought the network’s TV shows might soon be back on iTunes. Of course, that hasn’t happened, and the two companies are still arguing over how media is priced and whether Apple is using, as many analysts suspect, iTunes as a loss-leader to pull in new iPod buyers. Now NBC’s chief digital officer, George Kliavkoff, has cranked the pressure up a notch, with the suggestion that current anti-piracy solutions aren’t secure enough to protect his company’s content.
“If you look at studies about MP3 players, especially leading MP3 players and what portion of that content is pirated, and think about how that content gets onto that device, it has to go through a gatekeeping piece of software, which would be a convenient place to put some antipiracy measures. One of the big issues for NBC is piracy. We are financially harmed every day by piracy. It results in us not being able to invest as much money in the next generation of film and TV products” George Kliavkoff, chief digital officer, NBC
While NBC Universal’s film arm distributes through iTunes, currently the only legal way for users to view TV content online is via the Hulu service. Described as a YouTube for professionally produced video - together with the anti-piracy measures such producers demand - Hulu currently lacks any download or mobile device use. Since iTunes is the largest music retailer in the US, Kliavkoff’s comments seem obviously aimed at Apple.
NBC and Apple have disagreed over the way wholesale and retail pricing is arrived at. NBC are looking to set their own wholesale price, from which point they say retailers are free to mark it up, to make profit, or mark it down and use it as a loss-leader. However Apple are apparently trying to set both the price they sell content at and the price they buy it, passing the loss-leader mark-down on to NBC. The network pulled its TV shows from iTunes in December last year.
Written by Chris Davies on April 18th, 2008 with no comments.
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Omitting video recording is just another of the bizarre decisions Apple made with their generation-one cellphone, but if the past year has taught us anything it’s that whatever iPhone developers set their mind to, they usually achieve. In this case, it’s a video recording app for the handset. Called uShow, it currently seems to be in closed beta.
Developed by drunknbass, uShow allows you to record and playback video footage, save or email it, or upload it to a number of video sharing sites. So far they’re claiming compatibility with YouTube, Flickr Video, facebook, MySpace Video, friendster, metacafe and photobucket. Everything follows the chubby-finger-friendly GUI iPhone users are used to.
There are even higher-end features like on-screen timestamps and framing guides. A menu of audio and video compression options should make tweaking file sizes straightforward to. There’s no suggestion of when uShow will be generally released, but they’ll be re-opening beta registration on April 20th.
[via Just Another iPhone Blog]
Written by Chris Davies on April 17th, 2008 with no comments.
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The first movie starring stoner legend Ellen Feiss, the break-out star of Apple’s “Switch ads,” will air online on Monday, April 21. But don’t get too excited: it looks like a turkey.
Bed & Breakfast, an indie movie shot in France, will air at 9:30PM ET / 6:30 PM PT on TheDigitalLifestyle.tv, a 24-hour Apple-related Web TV channel.
Feiss stars as the girlfriend of an American guy lured to a castle owned by a former college roommate, or something. The movie was shot in 2006 and seems to have promptly disappeared. There’s no indication whether it’s a comedy, a drama or a slasher flick.
It looks like a film school project; it “twists the apparent perception of things to reveal the reality that lurks behind,” according to this archived web site for the film.
Feiss shot to fame in 2002 after slurring her words in an Apple Switch ad detailing how her dad’s PC ate her homework. The ad became an online sensation, and was parodied widely. Feiss was invited on late night TV and was offered roles in moveis and TV shows, but shunned Hollywood — until now.
Here’s a still of Feiss from the movie:
Written by Leander Kahney on April 16th, 2008 with no comments.
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Developers NetBlender have just announced their BD Touch software for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Using the official Apple SDK, they’ve come up with an app that links your handset, via WiFi, to your Blu-Ray player; not only can you control it remotely, you could use it to transfer content from the player to your iPhone, direct from the Blu-Ray menu structure. It’ll also let you manage a media library (both of owned and rented titles, together with suggestions for films you may enjoy), view trivia and commentary-style information on the iPhone’s display in-sync with the on-screen playback, and use the iPhone as a controller in discs that offer gaming features.
The second video is even more cool: it shows how BD Touch could enabled Blu-Ray disc makers to put a digital copy of their media onto your iPhone or iPod Touch via WiFi, all with a straightforward interface and no need to get your hands dirty ripping the film with software:
NetBlender are offering their BD Touch SDKs as free downloads for developers to put compatible content onto discs and to create iPhone applications that are compatible with Blu-Ray media, opening up the possibility of films having free iPhone games and other apps, available through Apple’s AppStore, available to coincide with the in-store film release.
Written by Chris Davies on April 11th, 2008 with no comments.
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Filed Under: FutureWatch
What I’m going to say will likely disturb some folks, particularly in light of the fact that iTunes just became the #1 music retailer in the world this month. But work with me a little.
The online music revolution has not occurred, yet.
That’s it. No wild speculation, or tin-foil hat accusations, (and yet your characteristic sensationalism remains –ed)
That is the whole of the thing. While other industries have seen often dramatic effects on their business as a result of the internet, the music business is much like it was when my dad had a music store 20 years ago. Consumers still shop, they buy records, or singles they’re interested in. In short, online music has not been changed by the internet (save for the piracy aspect), it remains the same “Buy and Consume” metaphor it has always been.
In the spirit of disrupting future software patents by publishing prior art, after the break we’ll discuss in detail exactly how Apple could change all that.
(more…)
Written by Leigh McMullen on April 10th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Advertising and iPod and iTunes and Music and Media.
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