Tag: Apple

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Breaking Bad fans sue Apple over Season Pass Shenanigans

better call saul breaking bad apple lawsuit news itunes season pass somegadgetguyUh-oh! Apple better call Saul!

So what happens when seasons are sold on services like iTunes, but show runners divide seasons halfway through the year. AMC has recently exploded with a number of very successful shows like The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad. In order to spread content out throughout the year, and keep production costs in check, both shows have employed split seasons, airing half of a season before taking a mid season break and returning to finish the season arc.

That division is whats at argument with services like iTunes. Apple see each “half season” sold as its own unique DVD box set, and they want in on the action. For Breaking Bad “Season 5” Apple sold the first eight episode arc under their Season Pass service for $22 with the promise “this season pass includes all current and future episodes of Breaking Bad season 5”. A different season pass is required for the back eight episodes, and they’re treating it as if it’s a separate season. Of course this conflicts somewhat from AMC’s marketing which has billed Season 5 as having a 16 episode arc.

Now Noam Lazebnik of Ohio is filing a class action suit against Apple to get Apple to honor the Season Pass arc based on AMC’s definition of what constitutes a season of television, mid-season break or otherwise.

“When a consumer buys a ticket to a football game, he does not have to leave at halftime. When a consumer buys an opera ticket, he does not get kicked out at intermission…”

Hit the jump for the full filing (via Scribd)

Continue reading “Breaking Bad fans sue Apple over Season Pass Shenanigans”

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Ask GadgetGuy: Why SHOULDN’T I buy an iPad Mini right now?

ipad miniRoss from Facebook asks:

Hey Gadget Guy… tell me why I shouldn’t buy an iPad Mini, and what I should buy instead, and why it’d be better. I don’t want to admit to drinking the apple-flavored kool-aid, but I love my iPhone, and wanna get a pair of tablets for me and my special lady friend… yeah, we gotta get 2 because we can’t share. hehe…
Thanks!

No worries on “drinking the kool-aid”, I’d be daft to say Apple doesn’t make fine products. The Mini is in an interesting position at the moment however, and buying one now, might not be the best move.

It’s old hardware. It was old-ish hardware when it was released, essentially a shrunk iPad 2. This brings up numerous support questions, like whether it will receive two full proper updates of iOS, as the iPad 2 is most likely done with major updates this year. That and I would fully expect we’ll see an iPad Mini refresh this November. Plus for hardware almost three years old, it’s really expensive compared to the current crop of Android Mini tablets.

And to answer your question about what else to buy, I’d start by looking at the Nexus 7.

Nexus 7 - hero - press siteFor $100 less you get a MUCH nicer true HD 1080p screen, in proper widescreen (so if you watch movies, you don’t lose half your display to letter-boxing). Remember the current Mini isn’t a “Retina” device.

Other things like stereo speakers and NFC might be a wash, but it’s much more current technology.

It’s not out yet, but the LTE variant of the Nexus 7 will likely sell for about $20 more than the least expensive, WiFi only iPad Mini. Ouch.

In conclusion, depending on what you want to do with a tablet, an iPad Mini today would still be a fine purchase. It is a sexy little tablet. However, if you can hold off, treat yourself to more of a Thanksgiving present, you’ll probably get a better “bang for buck”.

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Are 2011 MacBook Pro GPU’s failing?

Macbook proThe cool thing about Apple is how hard they work at software+hardware integration. The bummer is you can only buy an Apple from Apple, so if there’s a problem with a certain batch of Apple products, you’re kinda stuck.

Currently on the Apple message boards, a post has racked up over 136 pages of replies from folks having, and trying to fix, issues with older MacBook Pros using discrete graphics chips. Computers freezing, information getting corrupted, locking up, even some stories of blue screens of death. With a thread this long, it’s difficult to establish a clear pattern of what might be failing, but enough people are pointing to logic board and GPU issues that it might just be a theme.

No official word from Apple regarding any potential issues with this line of MacBooks. Do yo own a MacBook Pro from 2011? Are you/ were you having problems?

MacBook Pro 2011 17″ hard freeze (136 pages)

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Video Review: DreSuit’s Bamboo Bed Stand for iPad

dresuit bed stand ipad inexpensive bamboo review somegadgetguyAdmit it.

You use your tablet so much it’s starting to give you back and arm pain. You’ve tried propping it up on pillows or on cradles. It’s embarrassing. I get it. It’s ok. This happens to the best of us. No judgement here.

Well DreSuit might have just the trick to help you use your iPad in creative positions. Best of all, it’s quite inexpensive!

DreSuit Bed Stand for iPad on Amazon: http://goo.gl/t6jQRs

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