Apple has added many new HD movie titles to iTunes, according to former TUAWian David Chartier's post for Macworld. David, who is an HD-aficionado, noticed that the iTunes Store just recently stocked both classic and new release HD movies, bringing the HD movie collection to nearly 300 titles.

The new HD content is sold at a premium price (typically $20), and as far as we can tell that pricing stands regardless of whether or not the movies offer iTunes Extras. A few titles, mostly items that were already available on iTunes, sell for less -- such as Terminator 2 [iTunes link] for just $13.

Until now, Apple has offered some of its HD content as exclusive Apple TV rentals. Items could be rented from Apple TV units that were not available to rent from the normal iTunes Store. It's unclear at this time whether Apple will continue this policy of exclusive Apple TV rentals, or will expand the iTunes store-based rental system to match the Apple TV offerings.

With the introduction of the iPhone 3GS back in June of this year, iPhone lovers finally got what a lot of other smartphones already had -- video recording capabilities. A little over a week later, I wrote a post titled "How to make iPhone videos sparkle with iMovie." At the time I remember thinking, "Wouldn't it be great if I could do editing on the iPhone instead of having to do it on my Mac?"

Somebody at Nexvio was obviously thinking the same thing, and the company has introduced ReelDirector [US$7.99, iTunes Link], a video editing app for iPhone. One reviewer noted that "it's not Final Cut Pro," but make no mistake -- ReelDirector is a powerful, easy-to-use, and fun iPhone app for creating videos with titles and effects. It's perfect for putting together on-the-spot vacation videos to send to friends and relatives, making quick video podcasts, and teaching kids (or yourself) the basics of video editing.

Just like the Facebook pages that Apple has set up for iTunes and the iTunes Trailers Twitter account, Apple has just set up several Twitter accounts for iTunes, which cover Music, Podcasts, Movies and TV Shows.

First, the Music account, twitter.com/iTunesMusic , will provide information on "new releases, pre-orders, iTunes LP, exclusive offers and more."

Second, the Podcasting account, twitter.com/iTunesPodcasts , will provide a "Podcast Episode of the Day, from iTunes Podcasting."

Next, the iTunes Movies account, twitter.com/iTunesMovies , doesn't contain a description, but does contain one tweet so far, and it looks like it will be used for Movies on the iTunes Store.

Finally, the iTunes TV account, twitter.com/iTunesTV , which contains no tweets yet, will provide "Official TV updates from the U.S. iTunes Store on Twitter."

Will these accounts make a impact on what you discover in the iTunes Store? Let us know in the comments below!

We posted about Doubletwist earlier this year -- it's a pretty innovative music app (developed in part by Jon Lech Johansen, otherwise known as DVD Jon) that not only plays you play whatever you like, obviously, but even lets you share and send music off to anyone, even other people who don't have the app itself. Now Doubletwist is stepping up even more closely to becoming an iTunes competitor: they've announced a partnership with the Amazon music store to sell music directly from within the app. No TVs or movies -- just music, purchased directly within the app, and then able to be sent out to any devices or social networks as usual.

TechCrunch says the store's simplicity is actually a selling point -- iTunes has ballooned up to do way more than just sell music, and in Doubletwist it's much more straightforward. Here's the other bonus for Mac users: while we originally had to wait for an app release, the music store is currently only available on the Mac version of the software. A PC version is coming soon.

It's doubtful Doubletwist will replace iTunes for many people, given all of the various things iTunes does for a Mac user. But then again, if you are using the Amazon MP3 store with any frequency, Doubletwist is probably worth a look: it's a free download on the website.

If you're into entertainment, the newly updated i.TV for iPhone (iTunes link) offers more content than ever before. Now in its sixth release, i.TV aims to keep you on top of listings, DVD rentals, and more.

If there's a single word that describes this iPhone application, it's "cluttered." i.TV offers more choices, more features, more everything than you'd ever expect. It's a lot like walking into Aunt Marge's trinket-strewn living room with her 27 cats-complete with the chaos you'd expect from a large-scale multi-cat household.

And yet, despite this clutter, there's a lot of usable content on-offer. If you're willing to put up with too-many-kitties syndrome, i.TV provides some information gems.

As a standout feature, i.TV offers a very nice TV listings browser. It automatically detects your location and shows you what's playing on the services in your area. The interface for the show browser is well designed and it's easy to pick a date and time to examine.

When you find a show you want to watch, you can request an e-mail alert or invite a friend to watch with you. You can also use the TiVo scheduling API to create a recording schedule direct from your iPhone. The application even offers a Wi-Fi based TiVo remote.

i.TV doesn't stop with TV. It offers movie listings and reviews as well. You can scan your local theaters, find show times, or if the movie is older, add a request to your Netflix queue. If a movie is available via iTunes, you can tap a link to connect you to the iTunes Store.

As you can tell, there's an awful lot to love about i.TV. Yet, at the same time, there's an awful lot that needs work. In many ways, i.TV feels rushed. Its user interface design needs some serious re-thinking, especially given how many features and options are packed into this hand-held application.

As an example, when you sign up for an i.TV account, you must confirm that you're over 13 years old. The control that's offered for that option is a standard "On/Off" switch. With just a little more thought and programming, the i.TV developers could have created a standard button (rather than a switch) that toggles from No to Yes and back.

In the same sign up sheet, you must use the iPhone keyboard to laboriously enter your e-mail address. Twice. A simple register-by-email form could have let you use your current iPhone's mail settings with a pre-filled note to do the same work with far less typing burden.

Sometimes the application misses obvious usability elements. For example, if you want to record a show to your TiVo, you must work through the "Link to your TiVo account page," but there's no "Back" button offered on that page or any other hint as to how to return to where you were. You can move forward (enter your account data and tap Link My Account) but not back. Yes, you only encounter this page until you set up your account but it's just a basic development principle that you should provide a way to cancel out of an action.

Missteps like these are surprising on an app that does offer some very nice user interface features like the pop-down menu that appears when you tap on the Watch button. I'm enamored with that particularly clever UI element presentation. Unfortunately other UI choices fall short. I haven't played with earlier i.TV releases, so it's hard to tell which elements have been added on for the new update and which are original. But i.TV really needs to hire a usability engineer and work on the overall application flow and feature choices to integrate these million-odd possibilities into a better whole.

So even with these interface issues, do I recommend trying out i.TV? Why yes, I do. Its TV and Movie information retrieval is both useful and on-point. Despite the clutter of its million other features, i.TV puts you right on top of now-playing information. And if you can sort your way through to a few of the features you'll use in addition to that core functionality, you'll find it a handy tool to keep on your iPhone.

i.TV is a free download and well worth giving a spin.

Just a few years ago, lovers of movies had one option of finding out where and when a film was playing: the newspaper. Remember them? They came sometime after scrolls and before Pong.

Next came Mr. Moviefone. Who of you cannot hear a certain voice in your head as you read: 'Hello and welcome to Moviefone'? The voice has been doing it since 1989, and has recorded over three million voice prompts. Moviefone represents many theater chains including: some AMC screens, Cineplex Odeon, Clearview Cinemas, Galaxy Cinemas, and National Amusements theaters depending upon location.

And then came the Internet.

Some years later, in 2000 Fandango emerged to create some competition. Using a ton of funny commercials and movie trailers featuring paper bag puppets, they gave Moviefone a run for their money representing such chains as: some AMC screens, Carmike Cinema, Century Theaters, CineArts, Cinemark, Edwards, Regal, United Artists, and others depending upon location.

Both have Internet sites where, for a service charge ranging from $.75 to $2.00, tickets could be bought online to make sure you wouldn't be shut out of that midnight showing of Transformers 2.

Then came the iPhone/iPod Touch and things got considerably easier, although there is no clear demarcation of what service sells what, or where. I want to give you two alternatives, each using one of the two competing services.

Now Playing - Free
This is one of the nicest apps going. It uses Fandango for purchasing tickets, but it does a whole lot more. In fact, it has the fullest feature set of any movie app I've come across. Here are some of the things it can do:

Netflix management: Many options found on the Netflix site are available here but I found them a bit harder to get to than on the web site. Queues can be re-ordered, add to or deleted from. When adding you have the option of moving your choice to the top of your queue. If you're not sure if you want it, you can be transferred to Amazon, IMDb, Wikipedia or even the Netflix site via Safari for more information. I should note that when using any of the Netflix oriented functions, the app takes quite a while to download all your Netflix account information.

Movie searching by theater: Choose a theater and get show times and the option of playing a trailer. A website button brings you to all of the sites mentioned plus the Metacritic review site, or you can read the first paragraph of a number of reviews from top critics. You are also alerted if the movie is already in your Netflix Queue and given the Netflix star rating.

Movie schedules can be emailed. A full list of upcoming movies along with DVD release dates can be found along with the ability of saving any upcoming title to your Netflix queue to receive it after it's released.

It doesn't have the nicest interface out there, but it's jammed with functionality and the price is certainly right.

Note: Fandango service charges a 'convenience fee' ranging from $.75 to $2.00 depending upon venue and location.

One movie. One iPhone. One app. One blogger. That was the scenario last night when I put RunPee for iPhone to the test. Available from Rock Software (iTunes Link) for $0.99, RunPee lets you know which points in a given movie that are safe to miss.

When word of this app first hit TUAW, it inspired a lively discussion about the appropriateness of missing any part of a movie. Our own Christina Warren argued passionately that to do so would take you out of the movie, even if you never got up and left. Other, smaller-bladdered bloggers, welcomed the idea saying that if you had to go, it was better to go at a time where less was happening on-screen.

Since I knew I was going to be seeing Star Trek, I volunteered to put the software to the test. RunPee provides a timed list for most of the newest releases, Star Trek among them. I took my iPhone and headed off to the Cinema.

So how did things go? Well, to be frank, not as well as I'd hoped. First of all, the RunPee software provides a list of times and cues, so you know when to head loo-wards. For example, at nearly an hour into the movie, one character says to another to take the con. Notice that I do not mention which characters are involved.

RunPee is not that discreet. In fact, its relatively short list of times and actions can be seen as a series of movie spoilers. There's no timed/reveal of each successive break so I was inadvertently spoiled from the start by several big plot developments, which are all shown on-screen at once.

In use it's also really hard to track the suggested break times. The app comes with a built-in timer but no other cues. You cannot stick the iPhone in your pocket and wait for alarmed vibrations, pulling it out to see if you're at the proper place or not. This feature is not in the software. Instead, you have to keep unlocking the screen and checking the time. It feels like work and it's really annoying to the people around you who keep getting flashed by the lit iPhone screen.

To use this application, you need Internet access. There's no way to download the data and then read it later offline. If your theater has poor cell reception, you're out of luck.

In short, RunPee does not yet bring anything to the table that a spoiler website couldn't. Yes, you get access to pre-timed lists that you could possibly use to service bladder interruptus but between the difficulty of use, the annoyance to other patrons, and the outright spoiling of movie points, RunPee didn't do what I had hoped. So points to Christina, who argued exactly that.

In e-mail, the developer has promised to add vibration support and is working on improving the product in other ways. For now, if you don't mind spoilers and you want to avoid the whole crazy astronaut woman syndrome, RunPee may supply the information you want. And the movie? Thumbs up. One of the better Star Trek offerings.

Name: Run Pee Mobile (iTunes link)
Developer: Rock Software
Platform: iPhone or iPod touch
Price: 0.99

Shooting photographs of fireworks can be a real challenge. The good shots happen quickly, cameras don't always get the focus right, and there is a lot of movement that can make for blurry pictures. The iPhone is not the best camera in the world for demanding photo jobs -- that's true for all cell phone cams, with the possible exception of digital cameras that happen to include phones as a bonus feature.

Nevertheless, we asked our readers around the U.S. to send us their fireworks images, and that they did. Actually, the iPhone acquitted itself pretty well, both with still images and in movies done with the new 3G (plus one movie done with a jailbroken 2G and Cycorder).

Look below for a gallery of some of my favorite stills. Many were sent anonymously, so we can't always credit the photographer. Some were uploaded directly from their phones to MobileMe and YouTube.

Thanks to all who participated and made our 4th of July sparking and colorful. Visit this link to see the full collection of entries, check out comments in our request for pictures article yesterday for more YouTube links, and view the gallery below for our selection of some great images from around the country.

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." - William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

If we applied Shakespeare's logic to today's digital age, then it would also mean that watching mis-tagged or untagged videos on your Apple device (be it a Mac, iPhone, iPod or Apple TV) would be just as enjoyable. Okay, you got me, they'd probably be just as good. But this doesn't mean you're excused from tagging your videos appropriately.

First, a bit of background. The vast majority of videos purchased from the iTunes store, as well as "digital copy" (iPod/iPhone pre-formatted videos that are sometimes included on DVDs and Blu-Ray discs), will come pre-tagged. So, the situation for those in this camp (myself included) is peachy, especially when using an Apple TV. Your videos show up on the screen screen with proper titles, season and episode numbers, actors, and descriptions. Just the way Steve likes 'em.

But what if you already own the DVD and want a version for your iTunes library? For those of you with the time and patience to rip an MPEG-4 version (and believe me, this takes some patience, especially if you use H.264 encoding) of your favorite videos, a HandBrake-MetaX martini make tagging your videos a bit more of a pleasurable experience - as if it wasn't fun enough already.

Being the Disney-Pixar fanatics that we are, my wife and I went to see Up Saturday night (in Disney Digital 3D, of course) at our local theater. Remembering the appearance of the Mac startup sound as Wall-E's waking noise in last year's Pixar epic, and the brief shot of an Apple-themed racer in Cars, I decided to look for Apple-themed Easter eggs in the movie.

By the time we were at the end of the film, I was beginning to think that there weren't going to be any love letters to Apple in Up. The credits, featuring Russell's Wilderness Explorer merit badges floating by on a typed page, began to look somewhat promising. Sure enough, I spied a stylized and stationary "Spinning Pizza of Death," the dreaded Mac OS X wait cursor, on a merit badge just about at the end of the credits.
For those of you who are either Windows users or have been lucky enough to have never seen this infamous Mac icon (seen 3 times lifesize above), it's the Mac OS X equivalent of the hourglass in Windows. The SPOD (officially known as the Spinning Wait Cursor, A.K.A. the Beach Ball of Death or the Marble of Doom) appears when an application is not responding to events.

If you go to see the movie (which you should; it's funny, action-filled, and great for absolutely any audience) be patient and sit through the credits. You'll be rewarded by the sight of a SPOD on the big screen (it's after the two nuclear merit badges). If you're an Up-aholic, you can also check out the Mac game or the $4.99US iPhone game (link opens iTunes).

Update: Slashfilm has a photo of the SPOD (BBOD, MOD, take your pick...) merit badge in a detailed post about all of the Easter Eggs in Up.

Check the old Software Update, folks: there's a 68 MB iTunes 8.1.1 upgrade awaiting, or you can get it direct from Apple's site. The notes on the new version are as follows:

iTunes 8.1.1 adds support for renting HD movies and provides a number of bug fixes, including addressing issues with VoiceOver and syncing with iPhone or iPod touch.

The recent influx of HD movies onto the iTunes store (full list of titles here) promised but did not deliver rentals for HD titles; this update should take care of that detail. Let us know your mileage if you update.

Thanks Bruce!

I have no idea how much of this is spoilers, but if you want to walk into this summer's Star Trek movie with a completely blank slate of expectations, you should probably move on to the next post. Spoilers ahead!

Ok then. Apparently J.J. Abrams, who's directing the new Star Trek movie, has worked with some comic book creators to (get this) bring a prequel of the prequel to the small screen before it appears on the big one. Whew. They're releasing a series of iPhone apps, which are actually "mini-comics" telling the pre-story of the movie. And here's where it gets really confusing (and spoilerific): apparently, while the movie is a prequel featuring a young Kirk and Spock, the story's villian is actually a time-traveler from Star Trek: TNG times. Which means the iPhone comics actually star Picard and his TNG crew, and tell the story of the movie's villian, a Romulan named Nero. I originally though the film was a non-canon reboot of the series, but no -- apparently even though we've never seen this era on film before, it is still mean to fit right in the Federation's universe.

Still with us and interested? You actually are a Star Trek fan! (I prefer Star Wars myself.) The comics are going for 99 cents each (you can apparently pick up the same comic in print for $3.99), and are available in the App Store right now.

Hot on the heels of Fandango, AOL has released Moviefone [App Store link], a free application for the iPhone and iPod touch. Moviefone can find your nearest theaters, movie times, trailers, and in some cases you can buy tickets.

The app is fast, and the trailers are nicely encoded for the iPhone. It has links to your address book, and you can invite friends to join you at the theater easily. It's a clever idea. You can touch a link and call the theater (good luck getting past voice mail) and there is some info on the stars of the movies. Like Fandango, it can display a map to your nearest theater, and that links out to MapQuest to get you directions.

Here in Southern Arizona, the app worked quickly and efficiently. The only caveats I have are the 'buy tickets' function was not available on many of the theaters I tried, and the closest theater to me was listed about the 5th nearest. It also did not understand my zip code (it's a fairly new one) but made an appropriate substitution.

Moviefone also contains a search function so you can search by movie title, and a favorites option so you can save your favorite movie palace to a list.

The app also has a feedback option, so I sent some along with my email address. It will be interesting to see if I get a response. Update: They did respond. I'm impressed. They said the 'buy' feature only works where Movietickets.com is supported. Moviefone is a nice app, and other than my inability to buy a ticket at some theaters, it looks pretty solid. The price is right, and competition is a good thing. It's certainly worth a download and a tryout. If it lets you buy tickets, you're ahead of the game. While you're at it, be sure to get a look at Now Playing, i.TV (which includes TV and DVDs), and Hot Popcorn. See you at the movies.

Has your favorite movie gone missing from iTunes or Netflix lately? The reason could be television, says CNET -- apparently a slew of movies on iTunes and Netflix's streaming service have recently fallen prey to television exclusive agreements. With the onset of Apple TV and apps like Boxee making it possible to stream Netflix, TV networks with exclusive showing agreements have made sure that while they've got a lock on a movie, we can't watch it anywhere else.

Of course, as CNET notes, it's about the money (isn't it always?). If studios can make more money from the TV networks than they can from online rentals, then obviously they're going to go with television. The only problem with that, however, is that with an exclusive agreement, they'll never know, will they?

And of course the other issue here is the actual definition of places like iTunes and Netflix -- obviously, retail stores aren't barred from carrying these movies, so does that mean that Netflix and iTunes are actually content channels rather than retailers? Tough issue. You have to think that it'll eventually be settled in favor of digital distribution (what consumer wouldn't want to watch a movie on their own time rather than sticking to a TV network's schedule), but until studios are convinced otherwise, exclusivity agreements will likely be the rule.

[via Apple Insider]

Update: As the commenters have noted -- this service is currently only available for US customers. I truly apologize for my US-centric slant.

Last month, Netflix finally started to roll out its Watch Instantly service to Mac users. You needed to opt-in to use the feature, but it was available for those who wanted to access it. Today, Watch Instantly is available for Mac users without having to opt-in -- as long as you meet the minimum system requirements (Intel Mac running OS X 10.4.8 or higher, and at least one GB of RAM).

Watch Instantly is a great way to catch up on a movie, TV show or documentary without having to wait for the movie to come in the mail. You don't get the extra features or super surround sound, but it's fast, the quality is good and it is free to use. If you have a Netflix Unlimited plan, you can watch as many movies a month as you want. If you have a limited plan, the number of films you can stream is also limited.

You can access Watch Instantly from the tab on the main Netflix page and browse through the selection of movies and TV shows. You still need to install the Microsoft Silverlight plugin, if you don't already have it installed. Watch Instantly works in Firefox 2 or higher and Safari 3 and up.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!