NBC's contract with Apple has now officially ended, causing the pull out of NBC shows such as House from iTunes. How will users get their online NBC fix? Find out how in the full article.

Keen viewers of the most recent Saturday Night Live episode aired by NBC may have noticed something a bit odd on the iPhone shown during the iPhone: The Affair segment.

The folks at Gizmodo took a screencap of the iPhone used in the skit. In this screen capture taken by Gizmodo, there is a strange icon that is usually not present in most iPhones...unless the phone is hacked. More at the full article.

An Apple spokesperson has given word that the new episodes of House will not be available on iTunes. This was expected considering the main company producing the show, NBC Universal, has decided not to renew its contract with Apple which expires this December.

Apple has given word that negotiations for a contract renewal fell through because the production company wanted more than double the wholesale price for each episode. A move which would have pushed the price of each show to US$ 4.99. NBC Universal seems to have already found other means of distributing their content online with Hulu, an upcoming joint online video venture with News Corp. that will be challenging YouTube for market dominance once it goes live.

The company pulling out its content has many speculating regarding its impact on the popularity of Apple's media service. Considering that NBC Universal content is credited for 40 percent of all video downloads on iTunes, there might be a very big drop in user downloads once the split has been completed.

SnoopTunes Noestring Attached has been around for some time but is only catching on now. In case you are not so familiar with this gadget, it is an addon device for the iPod which gives the unit wireless sharing capabilities. We're not so keen on adding this bit but, yeah, it's pretty much like the Zune's own wireless music sharing feature.

The gadget was designed by a brilliant 16-year old kid named Kristyn Heath. We wonder now what does Steve jobs, or the rest of the Apple company for that matter, thinks about Heath and her creation.

Anyway, the gadget itself weighs around 10g and it measures 79 mm X 25 mm X 25 mm. There are five available channels as of now and a total number of two channel memories. It is powered by an AAA battery.
If you want to know more about the product, there's a video capture below of SnoopTunes Noestring Attached as recently featured by NBC. The gadget can be purchased over at eBay for US$ 59.99.

Can't wait to see Battlestar Galactica's third season this coming October? Well, sci-fi aficionados are nodding their heads in approval and as a way to appease their viewers, the SCI FI Channel and its sister NBC Universal networks will air a one-hour recap called Battlestar Galactica: The Story So Far which will include footage from the original SCI FI miniseries and the previous two seasons of the Peabody Award-winning series. The special will be narrated from the point of view of Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell), the resistance leader on Cylon-occupied New Caprica.

All throughout September, The Story So Far will be made available for download via iTunes and XBox Live and will be distributed at BestBuy as a bonus DVD with the Battlestar Galactica season 2.5 DVD set and other genre titles from Universal Home Video.

Thanks for the heads up Argonaut!

We all know that Steve Jobs is a non-conformist and a risk taker. I guess you'll all agree with me when I write that Mr. Jobs have learned through his shortcomings that the mark of a true leader is someone who could be a company evangelist and brand spokesperson.

Nowadays, Apple is the connotation of Steve Jobs and vice versa. And because Apple is all about innovation, so is Steve Jobs. With that, maybe it is apt to say that the newly-erected glass cube smacked right in the middle of Manhattan could be a monument for the man himself.

When interviewed by NBC Nightly News' Brian Williams, Mr. Jobs was his usual charismatic and candid self. Topics such as technological innovations and where he fits in the elite American family of thinkers, were some of the things that the interview tackled. Here are some excerpts of the interview:

Brian Williams: Is this (Apple Retail Store, Manhattan) your Model T? Is this your space program?

Steve Jobs: This is the best store we've ever built, and I think that it's the state-of-the-art that we know how to do. Like, the cube is [an] extremely state-of-the-art use of glass. You know, there's hardly any metal holding it up. It's glass fins holding up glass. It's not just the stuff in the store or his company. It's the fact that Steve Jobs helped bring us many of the icons of American life today. From tiny trash cans to clicking and dragging Â? the now-commonplace language of computers, the hand-to-mouse movements we no longer think about Â? it's a language he helped teach America.

Williams: Do you know the downside of innovation? The rap on it is the minute you buy an iPod, you have to get the newest iPod.

Jobs: You know, you keep on innovating, you keep on making better stuff. And if you always want the latest and greatest, then you have to buy a new iPod at least once a year. That makes the Manhattan store the new center of the universe for those who swear by Apple.

To read the full interview, click on the 'Read' link.

According to MacNN, the popularity of the Video iPod coupled with iTunes is proving a fertile ground for networks. In a ratings study, NBC found that The Office, which has been available for download through iTunes for some time now, has fared better than before its unique exposure on the iPod format.

The Office was one of 12 shows that NBC has had on the iTunes Store, but it has clearly been the most popular, according to the article. The Office has accounted for one-third of all total NBC downloads on iTunes and the figure is now starting to reflect itself in the actual show's television broadcast.

Then on Jan. 5, the prime-time series moved to Thursday nights and delivered a 4.5 in adults 18 to 49, then its highest rating ever for a regular slotted telecast, which was bested last week with a 5.1 in the demo.

Well, now, everybody is happy.

[Via, MacNN]