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Internet Movie Database for iOS adds features, takes a few away
The Internet Movie Database (IMDB) is the best resource on the web for all things movie or TV. Reviews, biographies, production details, trailers -- you name it, IMDB has it. IMDB has launched an updated version of its app for iOS, and added some welcome new features. Looking for showtimes has been improved, TV listings are deeper, and when you search for an actor to see what episodes of a show they have been in, you now can see all of them rather than just 5. On the other hand, the "on DVD/Blu-ray" feature of app has been scrapped because Amazon, the owner of IMDB, wasn't happy with the information provider. IMDB has also lost a previous feature to link to its web presence from the title and name page due to Apple submission guidelines. Overall, the update is a solid one, but you'll have to find some alternatives to the features that were removed. DVD and Blu-ray Disc availability, for example, can be found on the Amazon site. The IMDB app is universal, and requires iOS 7 or later. Happily, the update seems to work fine under iOS 8 beta, so I don't foresee any issues when iOS 8 launches next month.
IMDb's latest iOS update makes it easier to follow movie stars without getting arrested
Whatever happened to Joe Carnahan after he directed the 2002 cop classic, NARC? And what the heck is Joaquin Phoenix up to these days (aside from deeply inappropriate love affairs)? The redesigned IMDb app for iOS 7 delivers answers to these questions and more, especially now that it supports shareable "People Lists" that allow you to track the careers of actors, directors, cinematographers and pretty much anyone else who tends to work on good movies. It's slightly tricky to figure things out at first: you have to sign in to the app, create a list and then change the list's type from "Title" to "Name" before it'll let you track individuals. The app also seems to lack the ability to trigger notifications when someone in your list starts work on a new film. Nevertheless, it all works smoothly once you get the hang of it and, if we'd had this feature sooner, we might well have paid more attention to the 2010 remake of The A-Team.
Amazon adds in-app movie ticket purchases to IMDb app
Amazon has updated its IMDb app with several new features, most notably in-app movie ticket purchasing. Currently movie ticket purchasing is limited to the US, but the app's listing suggests movie ticket purchasing could be coming to other locations in the future. The update also includes direct linking to Amazon's Amazon Mobile app, so users can simply tap a link in the IMDb app to be taken to Amazon Mobile to buy DVDs or Blu-rays. Here's the full release notes: iPad and iPhone * "Tickets, please!" You can now conveniently purchase movie tickets via the IMDb App (currently US-only). * More bios for celebrities you know and love as well as for up-and-comers. * Want to buy a movie or TV show on DVD or Blu-ray? "Search via Amazon Mobile" to the rescue. Requires that you have the Amazon Mobile app, but we provide a handy link if you don't have it yet. * Also, did you know you can tap the "Coming Soon" bar above the title on upcoming movies to add the release date as an event to your calendar? * Bug fixes. Nasty tricksy bugsies. We hates them! iPhone * We heard you. By popular demand, we've updated the movie and celebrity pages to include one-tap access to the full cast/full filmography (which, yes, scrolls vertically). * You'll see that cute little Watchlist flag almost everywhere now. Tap it to add movies and shows to your Watchlist (and tap-and-hold to add to your other lists as well). This will be the last update that supports iOS 5. Future updates will require iOS 6 and above. IMDb is a free download.
IMDb updates Android and iOS apps, lets US users buy movie tickets directly
Last year IMDb updated its mobile application to bring folks HD-quality movie trailers to aid in their cinematic decision making. Today, iOS and Android users living in the US can act on those decisions with the addition of in-app movie ticket purchases. Purchases themselves are processed through Fandango, but doing so merely requires navigating to a preferred movie in IMDb, then choosing your preferred theater and time. The updates are available now, so head on down to the source for the new digital goodies -- Monday movie night awaits!
Amazon intros X-Ray for TV, helps you remember those 'Game of Thrones' actors
Amazon's continuing the steady X-Ray takeover of media today by extending the feature to its TV selection. The latest implementation of the concept, which has already made its way to the company's e-book offerings, offers up similar functionality to its movie counterpart, harnessing IMDB data to offer up contextual information on actors. The feature's available as of today for "most popular TV shows" on the company's Instant Video offering (some of which are also a part of its Prime video selection). And it's a solid list, too, including: Justified, Downton Abbey, The West Wing, Sons of Anarchy, Falling Skies, American Horror Story, Grey's Anatomy, Doctor Who, The Walking Dead, Lost, Glee, Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones. More info on the feature can be found below.
IMDb app adds support for Amazon Instant Video links, Oscars
Amazon's latest update to its IMDb app makes it easy for users to watch a movie when they are done reading about it. The new feature will let users click a link in IMDb and watch the title in the Amazon Instant Video app, if the movie is available as part of Amazon Prime video. It's a welcome link between two of Amazon's entertainment-focused properties. Besides support for Instant Video, the updated IMDb app also has a new section just for the Oscars. Users can browse a list of nominees before the February 24th event and then watch the ceremony unfold live on their iPad or iPhone. You can download the IMDb app for free from the iOS App Store. [Via The Next Web]
Leonard Maltin Movie Guide for iOS adds movies and features
I looked at the Leonard Maltin Movie Guide a couple of years ago, and found it complete and easy to use. Current owners of the US$1.99 app will find a free update today, with more than 300 recent movies added. Other new features are weekly automatic content updates, improved integration with IMDb, and your movie lists (favorites, recommendations, want to see, etc.) are now backed up/restored via Apple's iCloud. The app has 24,000 film reviews available, and, as before, you can connect to the iTunes Store for a purchase or add a film to your Netflix queue, either disc or instant. Trailers are attached to many of the entrees, and the app is now optimized for iOS 6 and the iPhone 5. %Gallery-176621% The only drawback to this app is that it is not universal. That means you have to enlarge it on your iPad, and it only works in portrait mode. I mentioned this weakness in my earlier review in 2010, and I am surprised it hasn't been fixed. Still, this is probably the best and most complete guide to movies you can put in the palm of your hand, especially with direct links to IMDb. You get the benefit of the incisive Maltin reviews, and all the detail IMDb collects. I use the app all the time as a reference for movies old and new. If you have the app already, grab the update. If you don't have it yet, and you love movies, you won't be disappointed. The app is a 14 MB download and requires iOS 4.3 or later.
Daily Update for December 20, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
IMDb app gets iPad facelift
Amazon's popular IMDb app has received a major facelift on the iPad side of things today. IMDb 3.0 brings a host of changes to the iPad, including a completely redesigned interface. Now the iPad app has a sleek black UI, which is much more pleasing to the eye. But the new UI is just the beginning. Here are some of the other new features: Tap the plus sign (+) on any movie or TV show poster to add it to your Watchlist. Sign in to get personalized movie and TV recommendations. New full-page Watchlist and custom lists with updated sort and edit features. Top 250 rank added to movie pages. Tap the history or Watchlist icons to open previews from any page in the app. Browse featured photo galleries and lists, most popular by genre and charts. Tap the IMDb logo to browse from any page in the app. Not to feel left out, the iPhone IMDb app also received a little love, including the ability for iOS 6 users to take advantage of native Facebook sharing, filmographies now include TV episode details and users can navigate to the entire image gallery from any photo or poster. All of these improvements are also in the iPad app. IMDb 3.0 is a free download.
Amazon announces X-Ray for Movies, a Kindle feature that uses IMDB to name the actors for you
Amazon is on a roll at its Kindle press event today, unveiling tons of new hardware, but it's also got some software tricks up its sleeve too: the company just announced X-Ray for Movies, a feature that uses the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) to name the actors for you. As you might know, Amazon already offers X-Ray for books, but this is the first time you can use the feature to get more information about films. To active X-Ray, just pause whatever you're watching and you'll see things like actor bios, a cast list and links to other titles (which you can purchase, natch). All told, not exactly a novel idea, but for Amazon, at least, it's a logical extension for X-Ray. Look for it on the new Kindle Fire HD or the smaller $159 Fire that was also announced earlier.
IMDB: Kevin Butler, Cole McGrath, Drake, Snake voice actors in Playstation All-Stars cast
The IMDB page for PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale reveals some more all-stars appearing in the game as some form or another. Listed in the voice cast are Nolan North as Uncharted's Nathan Drake, David Hayter as Snake, Eric Ladin as Infamous's Cole McGrath, and ... Jerry Lambert as fictional executive Kevin Butler.It's tempting to imagine Kevin Butler's in-game stint as the VP of Special Attacks, but these characters aren't necessarily playable. The game is full of cameos, like Captain Quark in the background of a Ratchet & Clank level. We're asking Sony to clarify this information. Kevin Butler would tell us, if he existed.Update: For its part, Sony said it didn't set up the IMDB page. And since IMDB listings can be edited by users, it's entirely possible it was fabricated by a dreamy-eyed fan hoping to will this into existence.
IMDb updates Android app, now lets you watch 720p trailers
iOS friends still flaunting those HD movie previews from Cupertino's Trailers app? Well, looks like now you can come right back at them thanks to IMDb. The all things Hollywood site just gave its Android application a minor refresh, boosting the max resolution on teasers within the app from 480p to 720p -- which you can change to accommodate any data caps you may have. Aside from the higher-res trailers, there's not much to dig save for the fix of some "pesky bugs." You can snag the update straight from your handset, or hit the Play link below if you're an IMDb first-timer.
Facebook partners up to bring music, news and videos to your profile through Open Graph (video)
Facebook's f8 developer conference is going on today, and Andy Samberg Mark Zuckerberg has just revealed another part of his master plan for the social network. Open Graph will now integrate many of your favorite news and music services, including Spotify, Rhapsody, Rdio and MOG onto your Facebook page with custom apps, and will also bring video from Vevo, Netflix, Hulu and many more. The media platform's already up and running, so you can see (and hear) the results of Mark's labor right now. Update: Unfortunately for Facebook users in the US, Netflix has confirmed that its Facebook integration will only be available in Canada and Latin America initially, due to a US law that "creates some confusion over our ability to allow U.S. members to share what they watch." That doesn't apply to the music services, however, and you can get an idea how Spotify will work in the video after the break. Even TiVo's gotten in on the action, announcing new sharing buttons for its iPhone and iPad mobile apps, although there's no direct DVR integration mentioned yet.
Updated IMDB app gains AirPlay support for trailers
Although third-party AirPlay support debuted as part of the recent 4.3, apps that offer that support are now trickling in. AirPlay allows you to beam video from your iOS device to an Apple TV or to a third-party application, like Banana TV, without cables. The newly updated IMDB application (version 2.1) offers Watchlist (a way to keep track of movies that you want to watch), enhanced showtimes and ticket purchasing, and AirPlay support for trailers. Unfortunately, you cannot use the new AirPlay features to watch Hulu or Amazon Instant Video the way that you can on desktop browsers. Update: Looks like the Fandango app also supports AirPlay for trailers. Neato!
Rovi sues Amazon and IMDb for infringing TV guide patents
Rovi sounds friendly enough, but the company used to be called Macrovision -- and the infamous DRM provider just sued Amazon's IMDb.com last week for infringement of five TV guide patents. The patents came along with Rovi's acquisition of Gemstar, and they cover everything from interactive program guides to purchasing products on-demand to scheduling recordings from a computer -- a huge range that seems to hit everything from QVC to the Xfinity TV iPad app. That probably explains why Rovi says it has deals with everyone from Apple to Yahoo -- between its TV listings products, recent purchase of a sizable video library, and the current litigation with IMDb, it appears that the company is serious about leaving its DRM-centric roots behind and moving into internet content distribution.
IMDB apps updated with social network integration, global movie showtimes
Moviegoers love the free IMDB apps for iOS. Between the huge, searchable database of movies and actors, the reviews, and the ability to look up movie showtimes in the US, it's no surprise that the app is downloaded over a million times per month. Things just got even better for IMDB users. A new update of the apps for iPhone and iPad released today now expands movie showtimes to a dozen more countries: UK, Canada, Australia, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, New Zealand, Chile and Argentina. The home screen now shows the latest available trailers for upcoming and newly released movies, as well as expanded entertainment news coverage. Hard core professional IMDB users with IMDB Pro accounts can now log into their accounts from the apps to access contact and representation info, and the iPhone app will be able to dial those contacts. IMDB has included social network integration into the apps by letting Facebook users log in using their accounts and enabling Facebook and Twitter updates from the apps. The updated version of the IMDB app is available in the App Store now, and will show up as an update if you already have it installed. [via TechCrunch]
Windows Phone 7 launch day app roundup
With thousands of developers churning out thousands of apps, we've no doubt exploring the Marketplace is going to be a full-time job for at least a day or two after you nab your Windows Phone 7 device this fall -- but with all the hullabaloo today, we thought this would be a good opportunity to highlight a few that Microsoft and its partners have been talking about recently. Dig in!
Visualized: world's most trafficked websites and their favicons
We knew Google Search was an iconic service (we had to), but seeing it dwarf the rest of the web like this is pretty humbling. This here map of the internets uses Alexa data from earlier this year to assign the favicon dimensions of each of the top 288,945 sites around the world. Oh, and if you don't have an icon sidled up next to your URL, tough luck, you're not on here. See how many you can spot before your eyes start bleeding, then hit up the source to look up your favorite sites. As to your absolute favoritest site of them all, you can spot us somewhere in the space between vBulletin and Wikipedia.
Twenty iPad apps you'll want to see
The App Store is live and running with iPad apps right now -- you can download and buy any iPad apps you want, even though most of them are technically "embargoed" until tomorrow morning. There's a lot of amazing stuff out there, but we'll try to focus you as best we can. Here's twenty apps that you won't want to miss in the App Store -- even if you don't buy them for iPad this weekend, you should at least check out the info and screenshots that are now available. USA Today for iPad is free and is probably the quickest and easiest virtual newspaper experience on the iPad. The Wall Street Journal app is also free, as is the NYT Editor's Choice. Flight Control HD and Plants vs. Zombies HD are two of the most-awaited iPad games. Evernote has released their iPad app. MLB's At Bat 2010 has a new edition, so you'll unfortunately have to re-buy it on the iPad even if you've already bought it on the iPhone. Words with Friends HD and Fieldrunners for iPad are available right now. 2K Games has released Civilization Revolution on the iPad, the more accessible version of Sid Meier's classic turn-based strategy game. Here's the Comic Zeal comic reader app we covered earlier this week, and there's also an official Marvel comics app in the store. Twitterific for iPad is on the store and looking great. Aurora Feint 3 is the newest iPad version of one of the iPhone's biggest titles. CastleCraft is a new strategy freemium MMO from Freeverse and Ngmoco. StumbleUpon will allow you to browse the crowdsourced best of the Web from your couch. iMDb has released a full iPad app of their movie database. Minigore HD brings another big iPhone title to the bigger screen. StarWalk for iPad recreates the popular astronomy app and TUAW favorite. And Let's Golf! HD brings a quality handheld golfing experience to the "HD" screen. There's more -- much more, and obviously we'll be seeing lots and lots of new titles in the very exciting days to come. But the magical revolution that we've been hearing about for months has begun. When the iPad releases on Saturday, there'll be no shortage of great software to run and browse and play with on it. Update: Netflix's app is live as well, as is NetNewsWire for iPad, Galcon Fusion, Articles, and Twittelator Pad. Too many good apps!
RCDb bringing IMDB, Gracenote lookup extras to tru2way boxes
We haven't seen a lot out of tru2way to start 2010, but maybe that can get turned around starting at the CableLabs Winter Conference, where Related Content Database (RCDb) is showing off its technology which pulls together cable set-tops with web databases like IMDB and Gracenote. Using a demo on a Panasonic tru2way box, the company's showing off the ability for Hollywood and others to bring BD-Live style features to discs and cable simultaneously. Of course, the adoption of BD-Live and tru2way have both been shaky so showing them off together might not strengthen the position of either right away, but we'll keep an optimistic eye out for any developments coming.
