Movies

No, Steve Jobs never asked prospective employee if he was a virgin

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 22, 2018

I take it you watched Pirates of Silicon Valley, a 1999 made-for-television film directed by Martyn Burke and based on the book Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer by Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine. If not, you should!

The flick depicts the Microsoft-Apple rivalry and covers the early days of Steve Jobs, played masterfully by Noah Wyle.

Those who saw the movie remember the famous job interview scene which explores the darker aspects of Jobs’ personality, with him famously asking a prospective employee - an IBMer - if he was still a virgin.

That scene sticks in mind as a classic portrayal of Jobs infamous personality tantrums. Too bad it's been made up. Yup, you read that right, this never actually happened...

Indie Steve Jobs biopic being rushed through production, will it flop?

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 16, 2012

An indie Steve Jobs biopic starring Ashton Kutcher is reportedly being rushed through production, with principal photography scheduled to start next month so that the project could hopefully be ready for a fourth-quarter release.

They are actually hoping to get it out ahead of Sony's upcoming flix about Steve Jobs and Apple, according to the movie's producer.

But does an independent movie starring a comedic actor in a serious role have what it takes to beat a multi-million dollar project, based on Walter Isaacson's authorized biography of Apple's co-founder and backed by one of Hollywood's most powerful studios?

Ashton Kutcher to play young Steve Jobs in upcoming indie biopic

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 2, 2012

Variety insists this one ain't an April Fool's Day prank. Apparently, an indie biopic covering the early days of Steve Jobs is in the works, starring Hollywood celebrity and Silicon Valley investor Ashton Kutcher.

This is not the same movie as another biopic in the works by Sony, which itself is based on Walter Isaacson’s authorized biography of Apple's co-founder.

Directed by Joshua Michael Stern of the Swing Vote fame, from a script by Matt Whiteley, the independent project aptly entitled "Jobs" will apparently follow Jobs' early days and his meteoric rise from a Northern California hippie to co-founder of Apple.

Kutcher, who indeed looks a lot like the 1970s Steve Jobs, has apparently accepted the offer. Principal photography is said to begin in May.

Apple updates Trailers app for Retina iPad, Netflix promises high-def streaming “soon”

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 23, 2012

Ahead of the original iPad introduction in the April of 2010, the blogosphere had been abuzz over an unnamed Hollywood exec who allegedly saw a prototype in person and claimed the product would be awesome for watching movies. It ended up being quite enjoyable for this purpose, but hardly awesome due its modest 1024-by-768 pixel resolution.

Fast-forward to today and the new iPad, which has a million more pixels than an HDTV, is perfect for watching Hollywood movies in all their 1080 glory. As developers of popular apps update their offerings with Retina support, Apple isn't wasting time neither. Yesterday, the company issued an update to its iTunes Movie Trailers app, basically a pretty-fied frontend to its movie trailers page released last October.

At the same time, Netflix pushed an update to its video streaming client for iOS with support for Retina graphics. Though the program does not enable high-definition video streaming yet, it's in the works and should follow "soon"...

How 1080p content in iTunes compares to Blu-ray

Cody Lee ∙ March 14, 2012

iTunes 1080p movie on the left, Blu-ray movie on the right

The new iPad and the new Apple TV have one thing in common — full HD video. Both products recently received significant hardware upgrades to allow them to playback 1080p content. Heck, the new iPad can even capture its own hi-def videos.

But is full HD video really worth the upgrade? Ars Technica published a report this morning aiming to answer that very question. The site takes a look at the difference between iTunes files encoded in 720p and 1080p. And 1080p versus Blu-ray...

HBO to finally allow Universal and Fox movies into iCloud

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

According to recent reports, Apple is secretly trying to put together its own TV subscription service. And by the sounds of things, it doesn't seem to be going very well. Studios are afraid to let Apple anywhere near their multi-million dollar industry.

But it appears that at least one major content provider is coming around. The Wall Street Journal has learned that HBO is finally going to relax its terms enough to allow iCloud users to stream previously purchased content to other iOS devices...

These Videos Took First Place in the 2011 Original iPhone Film Festival

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

Last Summer we told you about the Original iPhone Film Festival. The contest only had two rules of entry: the contestants must shoot their entire video with an iOS device, and the clip could not exceed 4 and 1/2 minutes.

Well it took a little while, but the winners of the Film Festival have finally been chosen. Continue reading to see the four videos that took home first place in their respective categories...

Here’s Why You Should Install XBMC on Your Apple TV

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

If you haven't noticed by now, we're pretty big fans of the Apple TV here at iDownloadBlog, and for good reason.

As we alluded to in our benefits post yesterday, the Apple TV is probably one of the best sub-$99 purchases that money can buy if you're looking for entertainment.

In this article, we'll show you another reason why the Apple TV is a must have, and once you own it, why you must jailbreak it. The answer? XBMC.

Magisto Makes Your Home Movies Cool With a Single Click

Cody Lee ∙ January 10, 2012

The Consumer Electronics Show is typically a hardware-focused venue. But there are some software developers who use the event to launch new mobile applications.

The folks over at Sightera Technologies, for example, have just used the show to unveil their latest creation: Magisto. The iPhone app allows you to create entertaining, edited short films out of your boring old home movies.

Create Your Own James Bond Film With Action Movie FX on the iPhone

Cody Lee ∙ December 23, 2011

Applications can turn a smartphone into a swiss army knife, enabling it to do a number of things outside of its native scope of abilities.

Action Movie FX is a perfect example of that. The recently-released app turns your iPhone into a bonafide action movie-maker, allowing you to add high-quality digital effects to your videos like explosions and car crashes...

Picks of the Week: Superman, Stamped, Fanhattan TV

Alex Heath ∙ Updated May 12, 2018

It’s that time of the week! We frequently comb the far reaches of the App Store to bring you awesome apps for your downloading pleasure.

This week, we’ve got a super fun game for the iPhone and iPad, an app for rating things you like best, and a movie/TV discovery tool with a unique twist. We hope you enjoy this week’s picks!