Apple adds new countries to iCloud movie support

Millions more people can now watch their favorite synced movies via iTunes in the Cloud. Apple added movie support to its iTunes in the Cloud in eight new countries -- Austria, Estonia, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, and Switzerland -- now have Apple's cloud-based movie support, according to TUAW and others. Related storiesDialed in 110: Lessons for Android (podcast)The 404 Podcast 498: Where Jeff battles the TriadBuzz Out Loud Podcast 1145: China to Google: Suck it This means users in these countries can purchase movies from iTunes that are then automatically synced to the cloud and made available for viewing on any eligible device -- computer, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, or Apple TV.The last time Apple added new countries to its iCloud movie roster was about a year ago. The service launched in 2011 and users in the U.S. have long been able to synchronize their movies. But the rollout has been slower for those abroad. Apple lists which countries have cloud availability on its Web site.

Apple addressing iPhone 4 issues Friday

It appears that Apple's silence on the iPhone 4 issues will come to an end later this week.Apple is planning to hold a press conference at 10 a.m. in Cupertino, Calif., on Friday to discuss the iPhone 4, according to CNET blogger Jim Dalrymple on his personal blog, The Loop. No other details were provided.It's likely that this is Apple's attempt to address the uproar over the iPhone's signal loss problems. It's been reported by some iPhone 4 customers since the day the phone was available that when the phone is gripped in a certain way, it can cause reception and bandwidth to drop.Apple at first addressed the reports by telling users to hold the phone in a different way or to buy a rubber bumper case to prevent fingers from coming in contact with the phone's exterior antenna. Later, Apple said the problem lay in the way the phone displays signal bars and said a software update to fix the issues would be forthcoming.The beta version of that update, iOS 4.1, was released to developers Wednesday.