Macgasm

Samsung isn’t exactly in financial trouble, but no company in the world is gonna laugh off a $10B drop in market value. Reuters reports that the Korean handset giant took an Old-Testament-Level beatdown when Taiwan’s DigiTimes reported a rumor about Apple placing huge orders for DRAM with Japanese chip-maker Elpida. This, of course, draws a pretty grim picture for Samsung’s earnings, as their chips have been used in Apple’s ridiculously popular mobile devices and the business deal represents a hard-to-ignore percentage of their earnings. Samsung’s stock dropped 6.2% in a single day to a 9-week low of approximately $1,100 USD and, according to Reuter’s, it was their biggest daily fall in four years.

Reports of Elpida being purchased by Micron have also come to the fore and talks are supposedly in progress. This could further serve to drink Samsung’s milkshake because, as Lim Dol-yi, an analyst at Solomon Investment & Securities says, “A merged Micron-Elpida could pose a significant threat to South Korean memory chipmakers, and Elpida’s huge order from Apple was the spark that triggered these worries.”

The irony of this rumor having come from DigiTimes isn’t lost on us here at Macgasm. As we recently reported, Time’s Harry McCracken demonstrated clearly (and a little embarrassingly) how DigiTimes is wrong about Apple predictions 3/5ths of the time. Why investors and the market in general would put so much (sorry for the pun) stock in DigiTimes’ reports about Apple business, we have no idea. Never the less, Samsung is feeling some pressure over it and, if the reports turn out to be true, it’s going to hurt them.

Source: Reuters

Via: AppleInsider

Warner Brothers is trying something rather unusual and kind of awesome: They’ll be streaming Casablanca on Facebook for today for free at 7 PM Eastern and 7 PM Pacific. Only one screening per Facebook account is permitted, but still… the 1942 movie that’s been referred to as “the greatest film of all time” by more than one credible reviewer? That’s not bad.

Warner is making kind of a big thing out of it, too: A three-disc Blue-ray/DVD combo gift set with the original film and two never-before-seen documentaries about it plus 14 hours of bonus material will hit shelves today. It’s an interesting and somewhat innovative way to pair up a brick-and-mortar release with a virtual event. It’s not the first time Facebook has been used to stream media, but this seems like it could potentially be a bit of a test balloon by Warner Brothers to gauge reception. If this screening turns out to be a hit, I suspect we’ll see more of this kind of thing both from Warner and their competition.

As a footnote: A lot of you young ‘uns have never seen Casablanca and may only have a vague grasp on the pre-internet memes of “here’s lookin’ at you, kid” and “play it again, Sam.” But if you think you can handle a movie that has no 3D, no lightsabers, no ninjas and no sequels… you may find yourself enjoying one of the greatest films ever made.

Update: This one seems to be for Americans only, kids. Sorry if I got my fellow Canadians (or any other non-Americans) excited!

Pac-Man

Who doesn’t love the little yellow pizza chasing after dots and fruit? No one I know or care about, that’s for sure. For only $4.99 USD in the App Store, you can relive your misspent youth. No more pumping machines full of quarters now that we have credit cards and Paypal.

Tetris

If there was a stop watch that measured how much time I’ve spent in every activity I partake in, I would worry that playing Tetris would be right up at the top. Make those blocks fall with just a quick swipe and $2.99 USD on the App Store.

Frogger

Many people’s first interaction with video games was Frogger. Navigate the green guy through a busy highway and speeding stream to safety without getting squished into green goo. You can get up on the Frogger tip with Frogger Pad for only $0.99 USD on the App Store.

Flipboard is a fantastic interface to your world online. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google Reader, and anything else you’re into can be tossed into Flipboard and made into a glossy magazine. The one aspect of social media that it was missing was audio. As of today, Flipboard now integrates with Soundcloud so you can listen to the jams and podcasts that your friends and favorite artists create right inside of Flipboard. Never before has there been such a wonderful app to experience your favorite media in one place. Included with the Soundcloud integration are dozens of recommended audio feeds for your listening pleasure right in the content guide.

Worth noting is the addition of VoiceOver support in this version of Flipboard. Now visually impaired iOS users can more easily navigate Flipboard so they enjoy great content right alongside of people with normal vision. It’s nice to see an effort to serve the disabled, and we certainly would like to see more like this in all applications across the board.

Also in this update is Readability support, Japanese localization, and the ability to drill down into separate sections of social networks on the iPhone version of Flipboard. As always, Flipboard is completely free, and there is no indication of how they ever plan to make money.