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]

According to a press release issued by Apple this morning, two Apple vice presidents are leaving the company for personal reasons, "as they devote more time to their young family."

iPod division senior vice president Tony Fadell and his wife, Danielle Lambert, vice president of human resources, will "reduce their roles" at Apple. Lambert will stay until the end of the year to transition to a successor.

"Tony and Dani have each made important contributions to Apple over the past eight years. We're sorry to see Dani go, and are looking forward to working with Tony in his new capacity," said Steve Jobs in the press release.

Former IBM chip executive Mark Papermaster will be joining Apple later this month to replace Fadell, and will gain the new title of Senior Vice President of Devices Hardware Engineering. He's expected to bring his 25 years of experience to Apple's server technologies, as well.

Papermaster unfortunately arrives with some baggage: IBM filed suit against Papermaster attempting to forbid him from taking his knowledge of the Power chip architecture to other companies.

IBM said in a statement to CNET that "Mr. Papermaster's employment by Apple is a violation of his agreement with IBM against working for a competitor should he leave IBM. We will vigorously pursue this case in court."

[Via MacDailyNews.]

CNET and The Mac Observer noted a legal filing on Friday that suggested Apple and Psystar were looking to bypass the normal lawsuit process and enter a phase of private arbitration and mediation.

The filing notes that Apple and Psystar will participate in the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) process, a way to keep legal costs down -- and the outcome private. For famously secretive Apple, this agreement seems right up their alley.

The agreement means the two companies will enter non-binding arbitration, present their case to a neutral party, and work out a deal through mediation.

This all probably comes down to one thing: cash money. Psystar has nowhere near the cash reserves that Apple has, so this less-expensive option is attractive to them. It's attractive to Apple because if they lose, the decision is kept under wraps. As CNET's Tom Krazit notes, if Apple is guilty of Psystar's antitrust accusations, it could hurt their other cases where they're accused of the same thing.

Of course, we'll know for certain the outcome simply by seeing if Psystar continues to sell their computers (or not) after January 31, when the ADR sessions wrap up.

[Via AppleInsider.]

Update: According to Psystar's attorneys, Apple and Psystar were ordered into the mediation by the court. According to several of our commenters, ADR is a common practice. Soulbarn says: "It is practically mandatory. It would be a surprise if it didn't happen, no matter who the case involved, big or small, famous or not famous, precedent-setting or non-precedent setting. It is part of the normal legal process." Thanks, everyone!

We should probably have some due diligence on the latest rumors streaming around the Apple blogosphere, so here you go: CNET is claiming that Asus is helping Apple build a sweet new Tablet PC. This is just the latest in a long line of rumors about an ultraportable, and we've heard this so much by now that even if it isn't true, there are probably engineers at Apple right now working on how to make it a reality anyway.

I tend to agree with Macenstein: what do we need an Apple Tablet for, anyway? The whole ultraportable idea seems to be based on the fact that people want to see it made, not necessarily that anyone is walking around with an iPhone and a MacBook and still asking for yet another computer to carry around. Don't get me wrong-- if anyone can find a hidden niche for beautiful, usable products, Apple can, but I just don't see where an iTablet would fit in the hierarchy.

Now, the last time I speculated on Apple releases (I said we wouldn't see new MacBooks for a while), Apple decided to release MacBook updates just hours later, so for everyone out there hoping to see a new Apple Tablet, try this on: my guess is that Apple won't release an iTablet in January. Now, when I'm dead wrong (as usual), I'll just be able to claim that I predicted the opposite of what I thought so we'd get the product we wanted.

We've talked so much about Leopard already here at TUAW that I'd find it hard to believe you readers haven't decided yet whether you're ready to pick it up (or not), but just in case, here's a few concise reviews from around the 'net to let you know whether this is something you want or not.

• PC Mag gives the OS a whopping 4.5 out of 5: "Leopard performs all such tasks even better than previous versions did-and Leopard is the only OS on the planet that works effortlessly and intuitively in today's world of networked computers and peripherals. Leopard is far from perfect, but it's better than any alternative, and it's getting harder and harder to find good reasons to use anything else."
• Laptop Magazine isn't quite as harsh on the glitches, but also give it 4.5/5: "Part useful, part flash, all beautifully easy: Apple's Mac OS X 10 Leopard bounded into stores Friday, thrilling the Mac faithful with a solid and extremely useful upgrade."
• CNET gives Leopard an 8.0 out of 10, saying that while Leopard is nice, it might not be necessary: "Should you pay for Leopard? If you're happy with the way Tiger works, then maybe not. If you need Bootcamp, however, then you must have Leopard. And if you're considering the purchase of a new computer, Leopard makes Macs more enticing than Tiger did."
• And Macworld says that while you might not use everything, the stuff you will use is worth it: "Given the impressive value of Time Machine and improvements to existing programs such as iCal, iChat, Mail, and the Finder, most active Mac users will find more than enough reasons to consider that upgrade cost money well spent. Despite a few interface missteps, particularly when it comes the menu bar and the Dock, Leopard is an upgrade that roars."

Now, once again, odds are that either you've using Leopard right now, or you're already waiting on a specific reason to upgrade for it. But across the board, reviews on the new OS are generally good. And even though lots of users are dealing with bugs and unfixed errors right now, the best days of Leopard are still yet to come.
Thanks to everyone who sent these in!

You should be able to buy an Apple TV at your local Apple Store very soon (I imagine if they don't have them today they'll be getting them over the weekend). What if you are one of the many folks who do not live near an Apple Store? According to CNet Best Buy has worked out a deal to get Apple TVs this Tuesday, a full 2 weeks before other retail outlets. Apple is only shipping them 3000 units, which will be spread out to over 800 Best Buy locations, but if you are jonesing for an Apple TV you might have to 'turn on the fun' at Best Buy.

Update: It looks like Best Buy might have been overly zealous with the whole 'exclusive' claim. They are still getting about 3000 Apple TVs though, so check it out if you're in the market.

Over at CNET labs, they've done gone and stuck a couple of new Intel quad-core Xeon 5355 processors into an Apple Mac Pro and ran copious benchmarks on their new baby. Surprisingly enough, a single 3.0 GHz quad core kicked the bejesus out of the 2.66 GHz oct cores in some of the tasks. Follow the link to see lots and lots of bar graphs.

And yes, that is 8 cores hard at work in the CPU monitor. How long will we have to wait until we can pick up this configuration from Apple, instead of having to hack our way to more cores?

So, you weren't standing out in the rain wait for the new Fifth Avenue store to open but you don't have to miss out on the experience. Cnet took a camera and a reporter down to the line and spoke with some of the people who were waiting. Amongst the folks are a man who flew in from Scotland to be there, and Stormy Shippy.

Stormy Shippy, besides having an improbable name, blogged about his trip from America to London for the opening of the Regent Street opening.

We Mac folks truly are a special lot.

Cnet has pitted the very hot MacBook Pro vs the slightly ugly Acer TravelMate 8200 in a deathmatch. May the best portable win.

And which portable do you think won? It was close, but the Acer edged the MacBook Pro out by one. The MacBook Pro won on design, display, and software while the Acer took features, performance, battery life and price.

It should be noted that the Acer doesn't run OS X and Windows out of the box, but if you're looking for a PC laptop it looks like the Acer is a good one.

How many people out there are being to trade in their MacBooks for one?

James Kim replaced the firmware on his iPod with that of RockBox, which is an alternate OS (basically) for the iPod, and tells us about the experience. It allows you to tweak a number of settings and even gives the iPod new features (such as support for Ogg files). Now, it isn't as pretty as Apple's version, and the iTunes integration isn't there, but if you are an iPod user who has install Linux on their iPods, I bet RockBox is right up your alley.

Honestly: I'm always down for some competition; it keeps (some) companies innovating and (hopefully) on their toes. But wow... if you're going to openly take on a device like Apple's beautiful and simple 6-button Remote, it might be a good idea to make sure you're firing on all cylinders.

Check out this video at CNET of Don McDonald, Intel's VP and general manager of their digital home group, demoing a voice-activated remote for Windows Media Center. Mr. McDonald brags that the remote has absolutely no buttons, but forgets to mention it has almost no functionality either. Watch, as he tries not once, not twice, not thrice - but a whopping four times (with some serious lag on his last attempt) to ask the remote "what time is Family Guy on TV." Also, note how much they trust the abilities of their 'zero button remote'... with all the buttons it actually contains.

I'd say you and your team earned an A for effort Don, but you might have to whip out those tablet PCs and get back to the drawing board on the voice-activation bit. Just be careful the next time you try using it to dictate your product design notes.

[via digg]