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Apple dropping copy protection, prices on iTunes
Apple Inc. closed its final appearance at the Macworld trade show Tuesday by cutting the price of some songs in its market-leading iTunes online store to as little as 69 cents and disclosing that soon every track will be available without copy protection.
Apple’s top marketing executive, Philip Schiller, said iTunes songs would come in three pricing tiers: 69 cents, 99 cents and $1.29. Record companies will choose the prices, which marks a significant change, since Apple previously made all songs sell for 99 cents.
Apple offered the record labels that flexibility on pricing as it got them to agree to sell all songs free of “digital rights management” (DRM) technology that limits people’s ability to copy songs or move them to multiple computers. By the end of this quarter, Apple said, all 10 million songs in its library will be available without DRM.
While iTunes is the most popular digital music store, others have been faster to offer songs without copy protection. Amazon.com Inc. started selling DRM-free music in 2007 and swayed all the major labels to sign on in less than a year.
The iTunes updates marked the highlights of Schiller’s stand-in for CEO Steve Jobs, who used to make Macworld the site for some of Apple’s biggest product unveilings, such as the iPhone. But Apple said last month that Jobs would not address the throngs this time because the company plans to pull out of Macworld next year.
Schiller also unveiled a Macbook Pro laptop with a larger screen and unwrapped new versions of two software packages for Macs, including the iLife multimedia programs.
For instance, iPhoto ‘09 can recognize faces and sort photos based on who’s in them. GarageBand ‘09 includes videotaped, interactive music lessons given by Sting and other musicians. Apple also added more professional video editing features to iMovie ‘09.
Apple’s answer to Microsoft Corp.’s Office productivity suite, called iWork, also got a makeover, including zippy new ways to add animation between slides in the Keynote presentation software. And Apple unveiled a “beta” test version of a Web site for sharing documents, iWork.com. Unlike Google Inc.’s online documents program, however, Apple’s version does not allow people to edit documents in a Web browser.
Apple said the new 17-inch Macbook Pro, which costs $2,800 and adds to the existing 13-inch and 15-inch models, will start shipping at the end of January. Perhaps the biggest twist is the laptop’s battery, which is designed to last longer on each charge — up to seven or eight hours — and work after more charges than older batteries. But the battery will be sealed inside, and the owners won’t be able to remove and replace it.
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Baylor alum, musician to appear on Letterman show tonight
Erin McCarley, a 2001 graduate of Baylor University, is scheduled to appear on the “Late Show with David Letterman,” which will be broadcast on KWTX Channel 10 (Grande and Time Warner cable channel 2) at 10:30 p.m. tonight.
McCarley’s debut CD is “Love, Save the Empty.” Her music has appeared in episodes of “Grey’s Anatomy” and “One Tree Hill,” and the title song from her CD will be featured in the upcoming movie “He’s Just Not That Into You,” which will debut in theaters Feb. 6.
McCarley is scheduled to perform Jan. 22 in Houston, Jan. 23 in Austin and Jan. 24 in Dallas.
For more on McCarley, check out her Web site.
Thanks to Jill Scoggins with Baylor for giving us a head’s-up on McCarley’s TV appearance, and for providing us with background information.
Here she is on YouTube performing her song “Pony”:
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Stooges guitarist found dead
Billboard.com is reporting that Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton was found dead this morning at his Michigan home.
“Ann Arbor Detective Bill Stanford tells Billboard.com that police were called to Asheton’s house early this morning by Dara Hytinen, his personal assistant, who had not been able to reach him for several days,” says the article.
The article says there was no sign of foul play or drug use, and that the 60-year-old had likely been dead since New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day.
The Stooges — Asheton, his brother Scott and Iggy Pop — formed in 1967 and split up in ‘74, with Pop then having a solo career. The band reunited in 2003 and has been touring in recent years.
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TNT pondering new shows
Ray Romano, Dylan McDermott and Jada Pinkett Smith are all hoping their TV shows get the greenlight from TNT.
According to Variety.com, Turner programming exec Michael Wright said in November that “the network would wait until the beginning of the year to choose to greenlight ‘one, maybe two’ series from a flurry of pilots from big-name producers and talent.”
Reportedly the leading candidate is Romano’s midlife-crisis drama “Men of a Certain Age.” Also up for consideration are McDermott’s cop drama “The Line” and Pinkett Smith’s medical drama “Time Heals.”
I’m actually rooting for the Romano series — at least it’s something a little different.
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Actor Josh Brolin, ‘Horton’ director tapped for ‘Jonah Hex’ film adaptation
The DC Comics character Jonah Hex is the latest comic-book hero (is he a hero? I’ve never heard of the guy) to get a live-action film, and it looks like he’ll be played by actor Josh Brolin, according to an article on Reuters.com.
The article describes Hex as “a rough-and-tumble gunslinger and part-time bounty hunter whose adventures always ended in blood.”
Horton Hears a Who director Jimmy Hayward will make his live-action debut with Jonah Hex.
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Jennifer Love Hewitt, fiance split
Waco native and “Ghost Whisperer” star Jennifer Love Hewitt and her actor fiance Ross McCall have split up, reports People.com. The couple had gotten engaged in 2007 “after dating for two years,” says the magazine.
People learned about the split from a source close to the couple, but their reps had no comment.
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Craig Ferguson got married over the holidays
Comedian and talk show host Craig Ferguson announced on his show Monday night that he got married over the holidays, reports People.com.
The “Late Late Show” host married his longtime girlfriend, art dealer Megan Wallace Cunningham, in Vermont.
He joked during his monologue that he has been told that he’s not allowed to flirt with guests now.
“Taking issue with the edict, Ferguson said that simply wasn’t true,” reports People. ” ‘If we ever get George Clooney on this stage, all bets are off,’ ” he quipped.
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Patricia Arquette seeks divorce
Actress Patricia Arquette is seeking to divorce husband Thomas Jane, Reuters.com reports.
The “Medium” star cited ” ‘irreconcilable differences,’ according to court records made public on Monday,” said the Reuters article.
The two actors married in 2006 and have a 5-year-old daughter.
Jane starred in 2004’s The Punisher and in the 2007 horror flick The Mist.
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Polanski lawyer claims LA Superior Court biased
LOS ANGELES — An attorney for fugitive movie director Roman Polanski is seeking to have the Los Angeles County Superior Court removed from his notorious sex case, accusing the court on Monday of bias and prejudice against Polanski.
Polanski has been a fugitive in France for 30 years after pleading guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl in Los Angeles. His attorneys filed a request last month to dismiss the charge against him because of prosecutorial and judicial misconduct that was detailed in a television documentary.
In a motion filed Monday, attorney Chad Hummel sought removal of Polanski’s case to the California Judicial Council for resolution. Hummel wants the council to appoint a judge from another county to hear the case.
He claims that statements by a court spokesman since the original motion was filed showed that the courts have prejudged at least one issue — whether Polanski must appear in court on Jan. 21 for his request to be considered. Such an appearance might make him subject to arrest.
The Polish-born Polanski, 75, has been living in self-imposed exile since fleeing the United States in 1978 after admitting he had sex with a girl he hired as a model for a photo shoot. Polanski, who had already been incarcerated for a psychological diagnosis for 42 days, had been scheduled to be sentenced and sent back to prison. The judge issued a warrant for his arrest that is still in effect.
The motion quotes court spokesman Alan Parachini as telling members of the media that Polanski was required to make a court appearance on his request for dismissal. Hummel said that issue must be resolved by a judge.
“The court’s public comments constituted a prejudgment of the merits of Mr. Polanski’s request … without having received full briefing, evidence or argument from the parties,” the motion said.
Hummel also alleged that the court and the district attorney’s office had mounted “a campaign in the media in an apparent attempt to protect one of its own judges.”
He maintains that Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler tried to resolve the Polanski case in 1997 in a deal that would have required televised coverage of Polanski’s court appearance. The court has denied that such a requirement was proposed.
District attorney’s spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said the office would file a response to the motion for dismissal on Tuesday.
A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Jan. 21 in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Polanski, the director of Chinatown and Rosemary’s Baby, has continued to direct films while in exile, including the 2002 Holocaust drama The Pianist, for which he won the best-director Academy Award.
The woman with whom Polanski admitted having sex has said that she wants the charge dropped and that Polanski should be allowed to return to the United States.
The case was a sensation when it broke. Polanski, the widower of Manson family murder victim Sharon Tate, was arrested for having sex with the girl. He was accused of giving her Quaaludes and champagne, taking her into a hot tub nude and having sex with her.
The effort to wipe out the charge comes after an HBO documentary, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, which portrayed the late Superior Court Judge Laurence J. Rittenband as a publicity hound who held news conferences and engaged in extra judicial meetings about the case.
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Congrats to Rebecca Romijn, Jerry O’Connell
Rebecca Romijn and Jerry O’Connell welcomed their twin daughters last week.
Dolly Rebecca Rose and Charlie Tamara Tulip were born Dec. 28, reports the Associated Press. They are the couple’s first children. Romijn and O’Connell married in 2007.
The couple did a funny — if a little vulgar — video about her pregnancy for FunnyOrDie.com, playing off the fact that she portrayed Mystique in some of the X-Men movies. Watch out for curse words in it, though.
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‘Dark Knight’ up for Producers Guild awards
The Producers Guild of America nominated The Dark Knight for best picture for its annual awards Monday, reports the Associated Press.
Also nominated were Brad Pitt’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the saga Frost/Nixon, the film biography Milk and the rags-to-riches tale Slumdog Millionaire.
“The Producers Guild lineup generally is a close match of best-picture nominees for the Academy Awards,” reports the AP. “The guild picks could give The Dark Knight and other contenders a last-minute nudge for the Oscars, whose nomination balloting closes Jan. 12. Oscar nominations will be announced Jan. 22.”
Bolt, Kung Fu Panda and WALL-E were nominated for best animated feature.
“Boston Legal,” “Damages,” “Dexter,” “Lost” and “Mad Men” were nominated for best TV drama, while best TV comedy nods went to “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Entourage,” “The Office,” “30 Rock” and “Weeds.”
The winners will be announced on Jan. 24.
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Hispanic TV landscape could shift in L.A. trial
LOS ANGELES — In a trial that could change the landscape of Hispanic television in the U.S., broadcasting giant Univision Communications Inc. squares off Tuesday against the supplier of its popular telenovelas, Grupo Televisa SA.
The courtroom battle, brewing since 2005, has taken on the tinge of a romantic drama. Televisa is playing the role of the spurned suitor seeking justice, while Univision is trying to keep a financially successful, if unhappy, marriage intact.
Mexico City-based Televisa, the dominant producer of Spanish-language dramas, alleges that Univision wrongly excluded certain programs from the deal that called for Univision to share its advertising revenue with Televisa, even from shows that weren’t made by Televisa. The 25-year agreement was set to continue through 2017.
As the charges and countercharges escalated over the years, the dispute has evolved to threaten Univision’s bedrock of programming — the three hours of Televisa-made soap operas that air five nights a week such as “Las Tontas No Van Al Cielo” (“Dumb Women Don’t Go to Heaven”) — and have cemented Univision at No. 1 among U.S. Hispanic audiences.
If Televisa’s arguments — that Univision committed a material breach of contract — are proved at the jury trial starting Tuesday, the company intends to cut its ties and take its programming elsewhere.
Such a move could cripple New York-based Univision, which has $10.8 billion in debt, much of it created in 2006 in a private-equity firm leveraged buyout, at a time when even advertising for the growing Hispanic market is slumping.
“If Televisa wins, overnight it changes the Spanish-language television landscape as we know it today,” said Jose Cancela, a Coral Gables, Florida-based marketing consultant and author of “The Power of Business en Espanol.”
“This source of programming that Televisa provides gives Univision a dominant position in the marketplace,” Cancela said. “If they were to lose that or it unravels, it has a huge implication for their financial circumstances.”
When the lawsuit was first filed in 2005, it was just about recouping payments Televisa said it was owed. But Televisa raised the legal stakes by alleging a material breach of contract, which would allow it to cancel the deal entirely.
Televisa made this move around the time Univision declared that it was for sale in February 2006. At the time, Televisa owned 11 percent of Univision and was trying to take it over. Univision argued that Televisa’s breach-of-contract claim was designed to scare off other suitors, a poison pill that would leave potential Univision buyers with a hollowed prime-time lineup.
Ultimately, Televisa failed in its takeover bid and had to sell its stake to a group of private equity firms and billionaire Haim Saban, which acquired Univision for $12.3 billion.
But Televisa pressed on with its suit, seeing greater value in shopping its content elsewhere in the United States than the roughly $140 million, or around 12 percent of Univision’s total ad sales, that it collects from Univision annually.
Entangled in the corporate legal feud is also the generational struggle of the media mogul family of Emilio Azcarraga Viduaretta, the founder of the company that became Televisa.
His son Emilio Azcarraga Milmo, “El Tigre,” locked the company into the quarter-century deal with Univision’s then chief executive, Andrew Jerrold Perenchio. But when the second Emilio Azcarraga died in 1997, passing on the family’s control to the third, Emilio Azcarraga Jean, relations between the companies soured.
In 2005, Azcarraga resigned from Univision’s board to protest Perenchio’s decision to pick the company’s next president without consulting him.
“Perenchio never really accepted Emilio Jr.,” Cancela said. “Perenchio’s attitude was, ‘I signed this with your dad, and you’re stuck with it.’”
Univision, now led by CEO Joe Uva, claims that the alleged breaches in the contract, even if they are proven, are not “so dominant or pervasive as to frustrate the purpose” of the deal, thereby not crossing the threshold for a “material breach” set by Judge Philip Gutierrez.
Televisa claims it is owed $118 million from Univision; Univision has paid $18 million of it under protest. About $80 million of the damages sought are over unsold commercial spots that were then used by Univision subsidiaries, which Univision argues are not part of the revenue-sharing plan.
“Univision has always complied with the terms of its agreements with Televisa,” Univision lawyer John Keker said in a statement. “When the jury hears the evidence, we are confident that they will understand that and we will prevail at trial.”
Televisa lawyer Marshall Grossman argues that the “bad faith which permeates the relationship,” including stonewalling by Univision accountants, is enough to justify the termination of the contract.
The prospect of appeals means it could take another year or two for the matter to be settled, meaning any shock to Univision and its programming lineup might be blunted for now. “This lawsu it is almost five years old. So Univision has had plenty of opportunity to continue to develop and make alternative arrangements,” Grossman said. “If it’s wounded, in our judgment, it’s self-inflicted.”
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Twitter accounts of Obama, Britney Spears hacked
Here’s a story from CNN.com:
The Twitter accounts of President-elect Barack Obama, CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, Britney Spears, Fox News and 29 others were hacked today according to the microblog site, leading to false and inappropriate messages being posted on their accounts.
The microblog site Twitter was hit with phishing scams and hacker attacks during the last three days.
First Fox News Twitter followers read a false message about Bill O’Reilly’s sexuality Monday morning after hackers launched several attacks.
Then came the attack on pop princess Britney Spears private parts.
CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, who uses Twitter on his TV show to interact with the audience, also fell victim to the scam, when a hacker posted about drugs on his account.
Twitter is a social-networking blog site that allows users to send status updates, or “tweets,” from cell phones, instant messaging services and Facebook in less than 140 characters.
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone wrote on the site’s blog that the accounts were compromised after a hacker accessed tools the support team uses when a Twitter user can’t remember or wants to reset their login info.
“We considered this a very serious breach of security and immediately took the support tools offline,” Stone said in the blog post. “We’ll put them back only when they’re safe and secure.”
Jennifer Dargan, Director of Public Relations for CNN confirmed Sanchez’s account was compromised.
“As a result, some Twitter users may have received offensive messages attributed to Rick when the breach occurred,” she said. “This is annoying, though such breaches are not uncommon when using social networking sites.”
“Rick has notified Twitter of his account’s breach and taken some basic steps to secure his account’s access. Rick enjoys communicating with viewers via Twitter and he and many others at CNN find social networking a valuable tool in their shows. Rick will continue to use Twitter — along with MySpace and Facebook — to engage CNN’s audience.”
The attacks came after Twitter suffered a vicious phishing scam over the weekend, during which everyday Twitter users may have been tricked into logging on to a page masquerading as the Twitter front page, according to the site.
Instead, users were actually giving out their login information. The fake link was then passed along to anyone following that user.
Twitter posted a small notice on the page of each user warning them about the attacks.
But some users, concerned about the attacks, began messaging Twitter employees.
“So you’re OK with a status quo where any Twitter [application] is potentially a phishing scam?” Twitter user “Aral” posted on the account of Alex Payne, a developer at Twitter. According to his Web site Payne is in charge of working with programmers who develop their own applications that work with Twitter.
“I’m certainly not happy with the security status quo. I just want people to understand the different threats. We’ll get there,” Payne responded.
The attacks are the first known security issues with Twitter, which has grown as a popular social networking site during the last year.
The attack on Twitter indicates hackers may see social networking sites as a good place to try and steal passwords and account information from the most people.
While many of the accounts were fixed quickly by resetting passwords, the attacks are a reminder for Twitter that with increasing popularity comes more security risks. iReport.com: Scammers ‘phishing’ on Twitter
And those risks have kept employees at Twitter working quickly to try and fend off attacks and fix compromised tools.
The company’s CEO Evan Williams echoed that sentiment with a post on his Twitter account this morning.
“Mood at Twitter HQ the first work day of the year: Focused Anxiety.
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Gwyneth Paltrow shares diet tips
Few people would envision Hollywood star Gwyneth Paltrow as one who needs a diet.
But the 36-year-old, who most recently appeared in the summer hit “Iron Man,” did share her plans for a post-holiday detox, and you can find the details here and here.
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Springsteen songs free via Amazon, Guitar Hero
Bruce Springsteen fans can download a free song now and also have something to look forward to later this month.
In celebration of his upcoming album, “Working on a Dream,” Springsteen’s single “Life Itself” is already available via Amazon (along with a video).
And from Jan. 27 through Feb. 4, fans of The Boss will be able to download “My Lucky Day” and the classic “Born to Run” for Guitar Hero World Tour. The songs are available for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii video game systems.
Meanwhile, Springsteen and the E Street Band are preparing for their halftime performance in the Super Bowl.
For more details, check out this link.
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North American box office has record year
The Hollywood Reporter says the domestic box office did set a record last year, grossing $9.78 billion, up about 2 percent over 2007.
However, the number of tickets sold in Canada and the U.S. dropped, from 1.4 billion to 1.36 billion, meaning that higher ticket prices helped fuel the record.
Of course, The Dark Knight and its studio, Warner Bros., were the big winners, with Dark Knight earning $531 million.
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Actor Pat Hingle dies at 84
Actor (and University of Texas grad) Pat Hingle died of cancer over the weekend at the age of 84, reports Variety.com.
He was perhaps best known for playing Commissioner Gordon in the 1990s Batman movies, but he also had roles in Norma Rae and On the Waterfront, and made appearances on numerous TV shows.
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Actor Gary Oldman marries jazz singer
Actor Gary Oldman has tied the knot for the fourth time, marrying musician Alexandra Edenborough in California last week, reports England’s Daily Telegraph.
The 50-year-old actor, who played Commissioner Gordon in The Dark Knight, was previously married to model Donya Fiorentino (divorced in 2001), actress Uma Thurman and actress Lesley Manville (the Web site did not list when those marriages ended).
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‘Marley’ remains at the top of the box office
Marley and Me was the weekend’s top film, making about $24 million and bringing its total to $106.5 million since it opened on Christmas Day, says The New York Times.
In fact, “the top five films — and some others down the ladder — kept their positions from last week,” said the Times.
At No. 2, Bedtime Stories took in about $20 million. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, at No. 3, made about $18.5 million. No. 4, Valkyrie, made $14 million. And No. 5, Yes Man, took in about $13.9 million.
I don’t expect that trend will continue next week, with Bride Wars opening and Gran Torino expanding into new markets. Be sure to check Friday’s paper for reviews of the opening films.
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What’s the song being played in ‘The Soloist’ trailer?
I finally got around to seeing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button over the weekend, and before the movie started I saw the trailer again for The Soloist, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx.
I could not figure out what classical piece was played in the trailer, and finally had to look it up online.
It’s Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G, according to WikiAnswers.
Here’s the trailer (found on YouTube). Following that is a video of Yo-Yo Ma playing the suite (also from YouTube).
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‘Dancing’ host wants Jackman on the show
“Dancing with the Stars” host Samantha Harris says she wants to see Australia star Hugh Jackman on the show, reports People.com.
She expects he would do well as a contestant, because he has had starring roles on Broadway. Harris even pitched the idea to him and “he actually twirled and dipped me. I was so excited,” she said told People.
The next season of “Dancing” begins in March — so you fans don’t have too much longer to wait (remember, February is a short month!) — and obviously the cast will be announced in the coming weeks.
If by some miracle Jackman was a contestant on the show, do you think that would make him the biggest star on the popular reality series? I can’t remember all the other stars who’ve danced for ABC, but no other A-list actor comes to mind.
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