HBO has released its original documentary film “Too Hot Not To Handle” as a video podcast on the iTunes Music Store. The film offers a guide to the effects of global warming in the United States, and is available in four downloadable parts.
iScorch is a short downloadable video/photo of a flame that can be shown on your iPod at concerts. “The next concert you go to, you’ll be paying homage to the band not with a lighter but with iScorch and iPod. Download iScorch for iPod Video, Nano or Photo and hold your iPods high! Be the first to usher in a new era of musical appreciation.”
Mach 5 Products, a “small, family operated business that makes games for arcade machines,” has been hit with a threatening letter from Apple after recently submitting a trademark application for a “Profit Pod” device. ZDNet’s David Berlind writes: “If you ask me, it looks nothing like an iPod. It doesn’t play music. It has nothing to do with digital entertainment. Ordinary consumers will never even see one. It gets built into arcade games and if you look closely at the bottom of the image, it has about six wires hanging out of the bottom of it. I don’t see in any way how the “products are likewise related.” Mr. Jobs, this is simply over the top.”
A Los Angeles Times article concludes that Hollywood’s traditional movie release model is being turned upside down by teen lifestyles and gadgets. “With an array of devices competing to fill their leisure time, today’s teens and young adults show diminishing interest in adhering to Hollywood tradition. They’re willing to watch brand-new movies at home rather than in theaters, are starting to use their PCs as their entertainment gateway and are slowly turning to their iPods and cellphones for video programming.”