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Sony leaks reveal Apple TV and iTunes Store contracts, Sex Tape + Breaking Bad deals with Apple

MacBook Breaking Bad Sticker

Known for publishing previously confidential documents, WikiLeaks has released a large collection of emails from last year’s widely publicized hack of Sony, notably including Apple agreements covering Sony’s Crackle Apple TV channel, video sales through iTunes, and other topics. The leaks include:

  • The terms of Apple’s agreement to add Sony’s Crackle video service to the Apple TV, notably including a 3-year term (starting December 11, 2013), Sony’s retention of 100% of advertising revenue, and a promise that Apple will permit new types of overlaid/display ads on Crackle if it becomes technically feasible and Apple OKs it. Few details were previously known about the business terms between Apple and channel providers for the Apple TV.
  • Apple’s agreements to distribute Sony videos through the iTunes Store, including the original 2007 agreement between the companies covering TV shows such as Charlie’s Angels and Who’s The Boss, term extensions and high-definition amendments, and the addition of iTunes in the Cloud (which Apple originally called “Virtual Storage Locker”).
  • Sales forecasts for Sony games sold in the App Store, as well as charts suggesting that Sony’s iPhone and iPad game revenues far surpassed the amounts made on competing platforms.

The leaks go on to describe Apple and Sony product tie-ups, including the iPad’s “character” role in the film Sex Tape, as well as Sony’s internal reaction to Apple’s “Stickers” ad featuring a Breaking Bad reference, and an apparent effort by Dreamworks’ Jeffrey Katzenberg urging Sony not to collaborate with Apple…

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Wahwah, Viddy, Launch Center Pro, Audible’s Audiobooks, Punch Quest, and price drops

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Screen Shot 2013-03-08 at 12.06.47 PM

9to5Mac has once again scoured the App Store for all the latest app launches, price drops, noteworthy news, and updates, and we have compiled everything in a roundup below. Check it out, but keep coming back as we continually refresh the list throughout the day.

New

1. Wahwah | Free
Wahwah is a personalized radio service that just landed in the App Store, and it offers a catalogue of more than 15 million songs and allows users to discover the perfect song for working, running, cycling, driving, etc. Users can notably check-in to their location, type in the name of an artist, browse custom stations, or select recommended music, while Wahwah sees who is around, taps into their music, and then offers users the ability to simultaneously listen together and interact via chat.

Updated

1. Viddy | Free
Version 2.1.1 of this Instagram-like app for videos went live today with the ability to handle 30-second clips, pause recordings for multiple-segment filming, toggle brightness, contrast and volume, and simulate stop-motion capture.  The  updated app also features 15 new filters, all new music tracks, simplified video descriptions, swipe-based navigation, new Explore section, geo-feeds with video discovery, Home feed with user preferences, YouTube annotations, and support for 16 new languages.

More apps and updates below.


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Path, Fantastical, Angry Birds, Team Coco, DataMan Pro, Asphalt 7, The Croods, deals, more

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News:

The Croods: Previously announced, Rovio has today released the first official gameplay video for its upcoming iOS movie tie-in for DreamWorks’ upcoming ‘The Croods’ animated feature film hitting theatres March 22. Check out the full gameplay video above.

Updates:

Path version 3.0.1: Path is introducing some new features with an update to its iOS app today that brings a new Messaging features, handcrafted stickers, and a marketplace called “The Shop” where users can purchase “premium photo filters and handcrafted stickers.”

★ Messaging – The fast, fun, and private way to message your family and friends one-to-one or in small groups. Use your words, your voice, your location, media, stickers, and more!
★ Stickers – Say more in a single tap with handcrafted stickers from some of our favorite artists.
★ The Shop – The hand curated place to find premium photo filters and handcrafted stickers to make your Path experience more you.
✓ Performance improvements.
☂ Bug fixes.

Fantastical-screenshot-Fantastical version 1.1: Fantastical, the calendar app we recently reviewed and loved, is updated today with a number of new features including multiple alerts, time zone support, and much, much more. The app is also on sale for a limited time for $3.99 USD.

– Multiple alerts when creating events
– Time zone support
– Duplicate or move events (tap and hold an event in the event list)
– Go to a specific date (tap and hold the red title bar)
– Event list is now scrollable when using the calendar
– Today’s timed events dim after the event has ended
– Copied text containing event info can automatically be made into an event
– Added setting to highlight weekends
– Added setting to show empty days on the DayTicker
– Added setting to display the number of today’s remaining events or date on the app icon badge
– State restoration (iOS 6 only)
– A staggering number of other improvements, parser enhancements, and bug fixes

Conan O’Brien Presents: Team Coco version 3.1: Conan’s iPhone app bringing content from his Team Coco site has been completely redesigned and now includes full episodes of Conan on demand as well as the two-screen syncing experience previously only available to iPad users.

Angry Birds version 3.1.0: On top of making the previously 99 cent original Angry Birds title Free today, the app (both iPad and iPhone versions) have been updated with brand new content. The updated app includes “15 fantastic new levels for the Bad Piggies episode!”

Asphalt 7: Heat version 1.0.8: New super cars and events get added to Gameloft’s popular Asphalt 7: Heat title:
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How Steve Jobs helped Barack Obama’s re-election campaign get more social and go viral

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Barack Obama’s current Campaign Manager Jim Messina revealed recently that Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs encouraged him to capitalize on technology in ways that are boosting the president’s re-election efforts.

According to Businessweek, Messina quit his gig as the White House deputy chief of staff in January to become Obama’s 2012 campaign manager. He immediately met with executives at Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, DreamWorks, and more to commence a forward thinking stand for office.

“I went around the country for literally a month of my life interviewing these companies and just talking about organizational growth, emerging technologies, marketing,” said Messina to Businessweek.

He further described two conversations that he had with Jobs while still acting as deputy chief. The Apple co-founder told Messina last year that mobile technology—coupled with social—had to be the primary focus in the re-election effort.

“Last time you were programming to only a couple of channels,” said Jobs, while referring to the Web and email. “This time, you have to program content to a much wider variety of channels—Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube, Google—because people are segmented in a very different way than they were four years ago.”


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