The year’s biggest Hollywood awards ceremony – the Oscars – takes place on Sunday, and you can livestream coverage from the red carpet and backstage on your Apple device …
Hopes that an Oscar win or two might revive interest in the Sorkin/Boyle movie Steve Jobs were dashed last night when neither of the nominees won. Michael Fassbender had been nominated for lead actor in the title role, but lost out to Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant. Ironically, DiCaprio was originally on board for the role later taken by Fassbender …
Aaron Sorkin’s mixed reviewed Steve Jobs movie already won a Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay and was nominated for even more. Now the film is showing up on the 2016 Oscar nominees list with the Steve Jobs biopic up for two Oscars at the upcoming 88th Academy Awards.
(via Oscar Blog)
Even before Apple introduces an expected refresh to its streaming set top box sometime this year, several content providers are making the current platform even richer with more and more content. Two big players, ESPN and ABC, will be providing content new to the Apple TV very soon, Variety reports. Starting with ABC, the network will stream the Oscars on Sunday live through its Watch ABC apps for subscribers in select cities (details below). ESPN, for its part, has announced dedicated channels within its Watch ESPN app on Apple TV and Roku for following 15 different conferences.
Expand
Expanding
Close
The IMDb iOS app for iPhone and iPad gets a nice update today that finally introduces an iOS 7 style redesign for the app. On top of the new look and feel, the app also adds a bunch of new features that improve navigation and make it easier to track people and release dates using filters and wish lists:
What’s New in Version 4.0
– New iOS7 look and feel!
– New navigation and homepages for iphone, including a sleek dropdown menu, accessible from every page.
– Name lists! Finally, you can keep track of your favorite people!
– New list sorts and filters (including the much requested Release Date sort for Watchlists).
– Vote on interesting name trivia, title trivia, quotes, and goofs.
The updated app also includes a new section dubbed “Road to the Oscars” that includes “all your nominations and award season photos leading up to The Academy Awards®, including live results during both the Golden Globes and The Academy Awards® broadcasts.”
Version 4.0 of the IMDb app for iPhone and iPad is available on the App Store now.
[ooyala code=”9wc3FtOTpudZkeXdJrtb8gXF-WmHpm1i”]
In the video above, Bloomberg West speaks with 72andSunny’s partner and creative director Jason Norcross about the thinking behind some of Samsung’s latest campaigns.
If there is one person qualified to discuss the state of Apple’s current marketing efforts, it’s Ken Segall. Working alongside Steve Jobs’ creative team for more than a decade, Segall, the man who put the “i” in iMac, served as creative director at ad agency TBWA\Chiat\Day. He created some of Apple’s most iconic ads such as the legendary Think Different campaign. Segall took some time on his Observatory blog today to share his thoughts on how “momentum has been lost” for Apple’s marketing department at the hands of none other than the company’s biggest rival, Samsung:
While you can still argue that Macs and i-devices have a ton of appeal, you can’t argue that Apple is still untouchable when it comes to advertising…The fact is, it is being touched — often and effectively — by none other than Samsung…Samsung has made remarkable inroads in a very short time, for two big reasons.
According to Segall, the two big reasons Samsung’s advertising has eclipsed Apple’s is due to Sammy’s massive advertising budget and willingness to “bash away at Apple, delivering ads that are well produced, well written and seem to be striking a nerve.” Specifically, Segall pointed to Samsung’s decision to run creative new ads at the Super Bowl and Oscars:
Expand
Expanding
Close
