Macgasm

Apple has abandoned the TV show rentals strategy it had fought so hard to push forward last year. TV Networks were originally opposed to the notion of renting episodes for a microfee.

Steve Jobs convinced the major TV networks that keeping a price offering as low as possible was key to success in this space. After pushing back for quite a while, many caved and agreed to what studios are now calling a “trial”. Jobs cited that TV show rentals would be the best way to achieve that price point sweet spot.

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Jot and Jot Pro

The Jot Stylus ($19.99 to $29.99), by Adonit, is a precision stylus for touch screens, including iPads, iPhones, MacBook Trackpads, Magic Trackpads, HTC, Samsung, Nokia, Motorola, and Blackberry. It comes in two versions: the Jot ($19.99) and the Jot Pro ($29.99). The Pro version includes a rubber grip for more finger comfort and it can attach magnetically to your tablet for easy access.

Both versions are made of aluminum and steel, both come with a pen cap, and both sport the innovative ball point and disk system that makes the Jot work so precisely on touch screens. The Jot was originally a Kickstarter project and is the brainchild of the same people who brought you the Adonit Writer (see my review here). (more…)

Today the fine folks over at DigiTimes have stated that the iPhone 5 will not only shed the reinforced glass back panel, but that it will also ship with a 3.5 –3.7-inch display panel. This rumor runs contrary to all the other rumors on the market, which makes it a little less surprising that DigiTimes has decided to buck the trend and report something else. But here’s where things get a bit bizarre. The iPhone currently has an 3.5-inch display. We’re going to give DigiTimes the benefit of the doubt and assume they mean that the iPhone 5 screen is smaller than what people are reporting, but possibly slightly bigger than it is currently. According to the post, the smaller screen will allow Apple to make the phone’s bezel thinner. DigiTimes is expecting that the smaller display will actually look a bit larger, because the casing will be thinner. We’re not completely sold on that logic.

If there’s anything that can be as traffic grabbing as rumors, it’s rumors that previous rumors weren’t true. Joseph Tsai, journalist for the DigiTimes, points out that previous reports are likely based on market demands and not fact. Here’s what you need to know: no one seems to have any clue about what the iPhone 5 will bring. Sure there are rumors, but this report just like all other reports before it are based on people in the know and other unnamed sources.

You know what that means. Better order your truckload of salt early.

Source: DigiTimes

As has been the topic of many a discussion, the official Steve Jobs biography is due out this November 21st. With the latest developments of Jobs’ resignation, however, the publisher of the book, Simon & Schuster, promised that not only will the details of the resignation be included in the latter chapters of the book, but that the release date will stay the same.

Of course, this makes me wonder if Walter Isaacson, the author of the book, knew anything about the resignation prior to the official public announcement. Apparently Isaacson and Jobs speak on a fairly regular basis, and are collaborating on this final chapter as we speak.

Either way, it’s impressive to me that they were able to hold the release date, and I’m just glad that we will all be able to get our hands on the book when anticipated.

Source: PCMag
Via: TUAW

The Macgasm weekly rewind focuses on our original content and reviews that you may have missed the week starting August 22nd.

I’m not going to lie to you. Once we got the whole resignation of Steve Jobs news on Wednesday, nothing else seemed to matter. I think the Apple news world is in a tiny bit of a funk over this. Well, not everyone. Some decided to try and capitalize on this. I would go on about the collective morals of the Macgasm team and most of the community, but really, that’s not why you’re here. So let’s get back to the tech goods. Here’s what we dug up for you this week.

• iTunes, Ping, the artist, and you
• Video Podcast: The OWC SuperSlim and GumDrop’s Drop Series iPad 2 Case
• Sonos almost ready to Lionify the Sonos Desktop Controller
• Podcast: Our favorite apps of the moment, and a couple tips
• Auto Ingest Tool serves up all your iTunes Connect sales reports automagically
• Nike Training Club for iPhone: A review
• Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple
• Meet the new executive team at Apple, it’s the same as the old team (be sure to check out Jony Ive’s sexy pic… H.O.T.)
• Flickr Find Friday: Mr. Jobs
• Phishers targeting Apple customers and iCloud upgraders

Can I tell you how happy I am to see that I’m not the only crazy person with a Steve Jobs doll? I love mine. I want to take him with me everywhere. Now this just got creepy…. OK, forget that part and let’s get back to the oh so important purpose of this post. Follow us, like everywhere. We want you to be our stalkers.

Find out where we’re hiding

You already know I love hearing stories of hackers gone legit, and today famed iPhone hacker @Comex joins the list of those offered positions at legit companies. Apple has offered the 19 year old an internship and he has graciously accepted.

Comex is most well known for building the one click iPhone jailbreaking site JailBreakMe.Com. This allows iPhone users to simply visit the site and click “install” to jailBreak and install Cydia.

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Flipboard has announced plans to expand their social media app to include television shows and movies. According to Chairman and Chief Executive Mike McCue, this project will only get underway towards the end of this year, so don’t expect this change to take place any time soon. This move will require deals to be made with multiple studios in order to allow Flipboard to offer their content, and anyone familiar with the rise of other video streaming services such as Netflix knows that this takes time.

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