Redbox Instant is currently in beta as we speak, with a rumored official launch date sometime in March. Microsoft has announced today that the Xbox 360 will be the only gaming console getting access to the new streaming service. Upon an agreement with the Redmond-based company and Verizon (who is running Redbox Instant), Microsoft is getting exclusive console rights to Redbox Instant.
UPDATE: We received an email from Redbox saying that they “plan to launch on other gaming platforms,” but as of right now, and during the full public launch, the Xbox 360 will be the only console at that time.
If you happen to be a Redbox Instant beta participant currently, you’ll receive an email with a unique code to access the Redbox Instant app on Xbox 360 in the coming days. Microsoft didn’t reveal when Redbox Instant would be coming to the Xbox 360 for the public, but it will be sometime “in the very near future.”
Redbox has been around for a couple of years, and they’re most known for having convenient DVD kiosks at various locations, and allow users to rent a DVD for $1 per night. The company is expanding to online streaming, with the help of Verizon, in order to compete with streaming giant Netflix, and the service aims to create a better experiences for users.
The Xbox 360 is already a massively popular gaming console, and with exclusive access to Redbox Instant, Microsoft is looking to continue the tradition of the most console sold per month, a title that they have held for the past two years straight. However, no word on whether or not you’ll an Xbox Live Gold membership to access the Redbox Instant app, but it’s a safe bet that you’ll need one.
We got to see a lot of funny and great commercials during the Super Bowl last night, including a short teaser for Star Trek: Into Darkness. However, at the end of the trailer, you’ll notice that the link to the official app uses a new AppStore.com vanity URL, which is the first time we’ve seen such a thing in public.
A document from Apple’s developer webpage was released last week talking about the new shorter URLs, but this is the first time we’ve seen it in action. Going to AppStore.com/StarTrekApp will take you to the app’s page in the app store, instead of using the longer URL form that involved a bunch of numbers that no one would be able to remember.
The vanity URLs will be able to allow developers to create shorter links for developer app pages, as well as landing pages for both iOS and Mac apps. These new URLs will no doubt increase the exposure that developers give their apps. In the past, promotors would simply display a banner or icon that said to look for the app in the App Store, but now they can add in a direct link, which will certainly increase the exposure of the app.
If you’re up for a little history lesson, the late Steve Jobs actually acquired the AppStore.com domain from Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff as a personal gift in 2008 after the iTunes App Store was officially announced. And not like it’s a huge surprise or anything, but the Cupertino-based company and Amazon are currently in a legal battle over the “app store” name, in which the court ruled that it was a general term and was not to be trademarked.
If you hate football but love cinema: no problem! Here are the trailers for Iron Man 3 and Star Trek Into Darkness which aired during last night’s game—without any sports involved. More »
There’s a movie out there right this minute by the name of Sound City, a documentary about the recording studio by the same name, and the creators and collaborators of this movie are set to play a single show in New York City this month to celebrate its release. Sound City closed as a commercial recording studio in May of 2011, this prompting the head of the project, music legend Dave Grohl, to create the film and the media that now surrounds it. The band that will play a single show in NYC this month is what’s known as a “Super Group”, consisting of some of the most well-known musicians of the past several decades.
This morphing band has played one other show and there’s apparently no plan for it to ever play together again in the future – but you never know. The first show was played at Sundance with a performance that lasted three hours and included a lineup that could only be beaten by the one that’ll be working on the 13th. The original lineup included Grohl, Steve Nicks, Rick SpringField, John Fogerty, Alain Johannes, Taylor Hawkins, and more.
The lineup for February 13th, 2013 includes Rick Nielsen from Cheap Trick, Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine, Krist Novoselic, and Fogerty, Springfield, and Nicks as well! Foo Fighters members Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel and Pat Smear will be rocking and rolling with the crew as well. This concert will have ticket sales starting on February 5th at 4PM EST from everyone’s favorite CAPTCHA dropping ticket source: Ticketmaster.
Each of the members of the Sound City Players are included in the group due to their involvement in heating up the Sound City recording studio over the past 40 years. The studio was originally incorporated in 1969 and played host to such epic albums as “After the Gold Rush” by Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumors”, Dio’s “Holy Diver”, and Nirvana’s “Nevermind.” The documentary film “Sound City” is available for purchase in digital format now and the soundtrack for the album “Sound City – Real to Reel” will be available on March 12th.
The track “Cut Me Some Slack” from the album as recorded by Paul McCartney and the three living members of Nirvana (Grohl, Novoselic, and Smear) is up for sale right this minute – the rest comes later! The documentary itself is up on iTunes for both rental and purchase – whatever strikes your fancy!
I may have a bad memory, but I don’t remember Matrix Reloaded to be about “white men wanting a stud to breed slaves.” Or Arnold Swarchenegger starring in Star Wars. Or a Tom Cruise movie called Pepe Likes Tacos. But, if you are in China, that’s exactly what happens. More »
JOBS star Ashton Kutcher, who plays the lead role of Steve Jobs in the film, gave a talk this morning at Macworld/iWorld 2013 and discussed what it was like to play the role of the co-founder and former CEO of one of the biggest technology companies on Earth. When asked what he thought the most important things were that viewers should get out of the movie, he had a few things in mind.
Kutcher specifically mentioned three things that audience members should get from the movie: focus, compassion for customers, and dream the impossible. Kutcher noted that Jobs had the ability to say no to anything that wasn’t his greatest mission at the time, and says that “it’s not a detriment to your character if you say no to the things that won’t help other people.”
He also discussed the compassion for Apple customers that Jobs had. Kutcher said he learned that caring about the consumer experience is what makes Apple a great company, and as long as you focus on customers and give them priority, other things such as revenue and profit will just fall into place. Lastly, Kutcher mentioned that Jobs “believed that it was possible to do things that were impossible.” In fact, one of Kutcher’s favorite quotes from Jobs is, “Everything around you that you call life was made up by people who are no smarter than you.”
Kutcher said that he ultimately hopes people walk away from the movie with the motivation to not just settle for things, and he notes that people should just “make life better and build something.” JOBS recently debuted last weekend at the Sundance Film Festival, and will see an official theatrical release on April 19.
Having already ploughed through Warner Bros.’ catalog, execs at Sky have just added the latest wares from Sony Pictures Television to their UK and Ireland playlist. Forthcoming titles like After Earth will arrive on Sky Movies six months after they’ve finished in cinemas, and will join other Sony pictures — like Men in Black 3, The Amazing Spider-Man and Django Unchained — in being Sky-only for another twelve months after that.
Because we’re all just suckers when it comes to anything Marvel, Iron Man and/or Bob Downey (and especially because Iron Man 3 looks so amazing), we can’t help but enjoy watching trailers for… freaking trailers. Iron Man 3 will showcase a new trailer during the Super Bowl so Marvel decided to tease the spot by showing an adrenaline pumping, emotion inducing 15 second teaser that includes some new never before shots. Namely, Don Cheadle as Iron Patriot? [YouTube] More »
Lucasfilm has announced that for the time being, its plans to release Star Wars Episodes II and III in 3D have been shelved. In their place will be increased focus on the new Episode VII, which will be directed by J.J. Abrams, whose credits include the latest Star Trek series. The movie is set to hit theaters in 2015.
While fans are sure to be a tad disappointed at the news that we won’t get to see episodes II and III in 3D for an indefinite period of time, there is a ray of light – this move allows Lucasfilm to focus 100-percent of its attention on the new movie, something that will (hopefully) be more satisfying in the long run. The company will announce when it has an update on its plans to release 3D versions of the two movies.
Last week, we reported that Abrams’ role as director had been confirmed on the official Star Wars website, with him being referred to as the perfect director for the job. No one knows if he’ll direct Star Wars movies after Episode VII, but it seems like a strong possibility, with George Lucas and others heaping praise on his past work and expressing enthusiasm about his involvement with the series.
Back on November 16, we reported that Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy has announced plans for 2-3 Star Wars movie releases per year following Episode VII. This followed Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm for over $4 billion. Disney has stated that it will be focusing on social and mobile Star Wars titles, more so than on console games.
The Steve Jobs biopic, JOBS, made its debut this past weekend at the Sundance Film Festival (with a theatrical release on April 19), and the reviews have begun pouring in. While many critics praised Kutcher and Gad for a job well done in their roles as Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, respectively, they were quick to criticize a few inaccurate details in the film. For instance, we saw the first clip from the film a few days ago, and Steve Wozniak said himself that the scene was “totally wrong,” and it’s actually not what happened at all during the early days of Apple. In the long run, though, does it really matter? In the Hollywood industry where the truth doesn’t always entirely make it through anyway, should we really be upset that a narrative non-fiction film isn’t 100% accurate?
In the one-minute clip, Jobs and Wozniak are in a heated debate about the operating system that Wozniak created. While Jobs is certain that the OS will be a big hit with the general public, Wozniak isn’t so sure and needs convincing. Apparently, though, the Woz himself denied that he was ever skeptical about his creation, and he actually had full confidence in the operating system. All hell broke loose at this point for Apple fans.
Many argue that there’s no excuse for the production team to bend the truth of the history of Apple and its founders. Because both Jobs and Wozniak have a biography and an autobiography, respectively, fans argue that there’s no reason for the movie to include made up bits, since resources are readily available. For instance, in Steve Jobs’ biography, author Walter Isaacson interviewed Jobs over 40 times, as well as interviewing over 100 different family members, friends, and colleagues in order to get an accurate account of the man behind the company. Because of that, many fans argue that there’s no reason that the team behind JOBS had to steer away from the truth.
Sure, in the grand scheme of things, the movie gives a mostly-accurate account of the history of the company and the founders who created it, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise that some of the factual details are either missing or a little off, and it shouldn’t be big deal either. It’s just a movie, folks. Movies are meant to be entertaining and fun to watch. In other words, it’s not a documentary, where there’s a word-for-word account of what happened. Remember The Social Network? It’s another non-fiction film that shows off the conception of Facebook, and while it gave viewers a vague idea of how the social networking giant got started, all of the drinking, drugs, and parties actually never happened in real life; but it was still fun to watch. If the movie ended up being an exact representation of how Facebook got started, it would honestly be boring as hell — just Zuckerberg in his dorm room sitting at his desk coding for hours on end. Who seriously wants to watch that?
In other words, it’s completely okay to make up scenes in order to make the movie more dramatic and fast-paced, or whatever style the director is going for. I agree, though, that there is a line, but screen writers these days are smart enough not to cross it. And by crossing the line, I mean putting in explosions, car chases, and pretty ladies in a film about the history of Apple — now THAT would be ridiculous. But so what if Wozniak was skeptical about his operating system in the movie when that really wasn’t the case. It shouldn’t change how you enjoy the movie. Plus, this is only one clip — one minute from a 122-minute film. We shouldn’t even be criticizing something that we’ve only seen 0.8% of anyway.
However, this isn’t the only Steve Jobs biopic that will be coming out. If you recall, Sony Pictures is also working on a movie about the history of Apple and its fearless founders, only this time, Wozniak himself is involved, along with Aaron Sorkin, who is one of the greatest screenwriters of our time. While this Sony version may be a little more accurate than JOBS, though — thanks to the Woz’s help — I’ll be surprised if it’s any more accurate than JOBS. Sorkin was the one who penned The Social Network, and he’s always been one to credit the fact that non-fiction films and documentaries are two completely different beasts.
In any case, if you really want to know what the early years of Apple were like, I hope you would be smart enough to not rely on a couple of Hollywood movie to accurately inform you about the company’s history. You’re better off reading Jobs’ and Wozniak’s respective books, “Steve Jobs” and “iWoz”. Both give a clearer picture of what Apple was like in the early days, and they better reflect the relationship that the dynamic duo had back in the late 70s and 80s. Happy reading!
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
