For all the video sharers, viewers, and creators alike, Democracy Player version 0.9.5 has been officially released, introducing a host of new improvements and enhancements since the 0.9.2 release back in November of 2006. Here’s a brief sampling of some new features:

• Simpler, more minimal interface
• New ‘Share’ menu on each item allows user to email a video or post to VideoBomb, del.icio.us, Digg, or Reddit
• Video downloads are now stored in folders by channel for better organization
• New pause and resume download functions
• Improved BitTorrent performance
• Drop-down menu feature for auto-download for individual channels
• Automatic thumbnail generation on OS X for videos lacking thumbnails

The application is immediately available for download, and the development team still urges users to keep an eye open for any potential bugs that might be lurking about and to fill out a bug report where necessary. The program has really been shaping up nicely since its inception, and this upgrade will be worth the download. For ‘Internet TV’ surfing, there is no tighter application than Democracy, methinks. Anyway, check out the full list of improvements at the Democracy blog.

Anime has officially landed in the iTunes Store today, courtesy of Funimation Entertainment, with newly available series for purchase including Samurai 7, Speed Grapher, and Desert Punk. Each episode from all three franchises are available for $1.99 each, and season passes can be purchased for $38.99. Notably, the videos are only offered with the option of an English dub, and knowing how particular many fans are about strictly watching shows with the original Japanese language tracks and subtitles, this might be a serious deal breaker. Other than this issue, I guess this is not such a horrible deal considering most shows would cost you anywhere from $4-6+ per episode on DVD. (Of course, that’s if you don’t mind the limited viewing options, DRM, and lower quality.) But, yeaaa. There you go. Anime. In the iTunes Store. Today.

The Greenpeace activists behind GreenMyApple.org claim that Apple may begin taking steps to address several of the company’s environmental issues, despite their denial of said concerns because of a disagreement with Greenpeace’s ratings and criteria. In particular, Greenpeace is concerned with Apple’s use of several hazardous chemicals in its products which can have adverse effects on the environment and people’s health once the equipment is disassembled. Other manufacturers have already begun to ditch some of these same toxic chemicals, and Greenpeace claims Steve Jobs recently met with a Social Responsibility Fund investor to discuss some of these environmental matters.

Apple has not yet responded to this claim of meeting with Greenpeace, but they did issue a statement to a new report, which ranks Apple lower than HP, Dell, Nokia, and Sony for its global policies and practices on eliminating dangerous chemicals and on taking responsibility for products once they are thrown away by consumers. “We disagree with Greenpeace’s rating and the criteria they chose. Apple has a strong environmental track record and has led the industry in restricting and banning toxic substances such as mercury, cadmium and hexavalent chromium, as well as many BFRs (brominated flame retardants).” Despite the arguments, let’s hope Apple can come to terms with stronger and more effective policies in this delicate day and age of increasing environmental concerns.

Posted Feb 16th 2007 3:00PM by Brian Liloia
Filed under: Retail, Deals

Apple has just added a few new goodies to the collection of refurbished products in the Apple Store, including several Intel Core Duo-based MacBooks, MacBook Pros, iMacs, and minis. Specific models range from the 17 inch, 2.16GHz Core Duo MacBook Pro with 1GB of RAM, 120GB HD, and SuperDrive for $1,999, to the 1.66GHz Core Duo-equipped mini with 512MB of RAM, 80GB HD, and a SuperDrive. There are some good deals to be had on older Core Duo (and even newer Core 2 Duo) systems here, with savings ranging between 18% to 33%+. Of course, all systems include the standard one year warranty, so if you’re looking for to save a few bucks and don’t mind having a slightly older model, this is a prime opportunity.

voXover is a new, high end voice-over automation and batch recording application for OS X intended for multimedia, video game, telephone voice-response, and related production uses. Designed for maximum efficiency for projects that require large amounts of individual voice recording, voXover allows the user to write and import scripts and rapidly automate recording. An advanced and streamlined utility designed in Cocoa from the ground up, this software takes advantage of CoreAudio, Quartz, and several other advanced OS X features. Developed by Audiofile Engineering, this is a serious audio recording utility for multimedia professionals, priced at $375. A full list of features can be found on the official website.

Spring Cleaning, the system optimization, cleaning, and uninstaller utility from Smith Micro is now a Universal Binary. Completely rewritten from the ground up, version 9 introduces a wealth of new features and tools, such as a Task Scheduler, Permissions Fixer, a Housekeeping Scripts Runner, Spotlight Index Rebuilder, System Cache Cleaner, and others, in addition to a reworked interface. $49.99 for the package, or $19.99 for upgrades. Requires OS X 10.4. Although I can’t vouch for this application, I will recommend OnyX for folks looking for something similar, and for free. I usually make sure to crack OnyX open every month or so for a bit of housekeeping of my own.

A bug fix release for Democracy Player has just been posted that corrects some startup problems that a few Mac users have encountered since the 0.9.5 update. Democracy 0.9.5.1 resolves the issues originally caused by a conflict between versions of py2app and some input managers like Growl and a Camino extension. The team has upgraded to the latest py2app and all issues should now be resolved, so users can once again video channel surf to their heart’s content. Recommended update.

I don’t give predictions of market analysts too much serious thought, mostly because the statistics don’t really mean much other than to hype up a particular product. Or maybe these analysts just like to be able to say ‘told ya so’ if their predictions become true. Anyway, one Deutsche Bank analyst claims that the Apple TV can potentially capture 20-30% of the CD and DVD market within a few years after its launch this month. Not to be a naysayer or anything, but that is a huge percentage that seems way too optimistic to be taken seriously. There are a ton of factors at play here. (Oh, and let’s not forget that only Disney, Paramount, and Lions Gate are on board to sell films through iTunes… and as far as I know, there are a couple more movie studios out there than just these three).

What do you think? Will the Apple TV cause that big of a shakeup in the home entertainment market once it lands? Will it appeal only to fervent Apple fans? What about those people that can barely operate the remote control of their DVD player, never mind tackling the prospect of downloading and transferring digital videos? Any thoughts?

IFC Entertainment has just announced the immediate availability of select independent films in the iTunes Store, including IFC’s 2007 Independent Spirit Award (think Oscars for indies) nominees. All thirteen films, six of which are nominees for the award ceremony this weekend, are available for purchase at $9.99. The other films are previous Independent Spirit Award nominees, highlighting some of the most critically acclaimed titles in IFC’s catalog. Film titles include Me And You And Everyone We Know, The Thin Blue Line, Pizza, Sorry, Haters, Camp, Go Tigers!, and others. Also available are free podcasts dedicated to each of the movies with behind-the-scenes footage and discussions. No word on potential future releases from IFC.

There are two Oscar award categories with films that almost no one ever sees, and those are the live action and animated short films. Unfortunately, these films usually never make it past film festival circuits and don’t receive wide distribution, and typically they are welcomed with a big “huh?” when they pop up during the Academy Awards ceremony. Anyway, this year’s short film nominees are available for purchase in the iTunes Store, along with previous winners and nominees. Priced at $1.99 each, the videos are not much of a big investment and might be worth the price of admission, just to get a feel for what a Oscar-nominated short film looks like. The curious can scope them out here (warning: iTunes link).