Apple just recently announced that their app store had just crossed over the 25 billion download mark and while that is amazing for an ecosystem that is just about 4 years old, what people really wanted to know is: What’s the top 10! Well, Apple just released the list and we have it below – enjoy. If you want the complete list, as it’s more than just 10 apps – simply click here.
Source: Apple
Bad Robot Interactive, a company owned by J. J. Abrams, just released Action Movie FX and it’s one badass app. Essentially, it allows you to add special effects to video you take with your iPhone camera – that’s it! I won’t go into detail but the fun is endless – just trust me and check it out. Get it here.
Source: Bad Robot
Remember the infancy of global piracy – where applications like Napster reigned supreme and everyone and their grandmother were hot swapping music like it was going out of style? A lot of time has passed, a lot of prosecutions and a hell of a lot of domains seized and the only thing that’s changed is the method of piracy. Big content creators are dropping the hammer left and right – not asking why but demanding: STOP!
Enter the: Social Science Research Council and their recently released report on global piracy ”Media Piracy Project.” This is hands down, one of the best and most fair reports concerning global piracy, from a source not connected to content creators. The Goal: Simply to examine and understand piracy in emerging markets, such as India, Russia, Mexico and many others.
Not surprisingly, pricing of media content was at the core of piracy, especially true when mixed with low income and the absolute spread of very inexpensive digital equipment. Simply, you have populations of people with the ability to play digital content but without the means to pay for it, as it’s priced beyond their means. For example: If a music album costs the equivalent of $15 in India but the average working person makes far less than the average American, the actual cost of that same album is multiple times higher.
Cracking Down: In many of the mentioned developing nations, actual enforcement for media piracy is non-existant. This can be attributed to many factors: Lack of piracy laws, lack of police enforcement, actual government involvement of piracy and lack of actual legal copies of movies, music or software because of distribution issues.
End Game: So what is the solution? Where can content creators and consumers meet? In my opinion, piracy will end when demand for media is quenched by realistic and fair policies – on both sides. The developing world has a massive thirst for all sorts of media but they can not be expected to purchase content priced outside their means.
Source: Arstechnica.com / piracy.ssrc.org