Site-specific browser apps are prone to shittiness, because at heart, they're really just websites. The key is to offer something more, or, if you're offering more or less the same thing you get on the regular website, to present it in a markedly better way. This app take the latter approach. You're not going to find any information in the IMDB app that isn't available on the full IMDB website—that would be kind of odd—but you will find a neatly-designed, easily navigable reference for just about every film or show, ever, as well as local showtimes, trailers, an TV listings.

It's just about everything you could ask for in an IMDB app, except that it doesn't support accounts, which means that regular users can't rate or review movies, and that Pro users (I assume) can't access all those agents' phone numbers, that raw box office data, those movie stars' secret Twitter handles or whatever else they're shelling out for.

Alas, she is excused of this grave offense, for she is free. [iTunes]

The most immediate (and maybe most promising) is Live Lookup. It'll be on the Wolverine disc (you know, the same one that has the PSPgo digital copy).

Live Lookup allows you to hit a button and be linked to IMDB. Actors can be sorted by scene, allowing you to search for bikini shots of cute, female b-listers later. Check it out in the lead photo.

Load times should be diminished or even eliminated, but at a cost. Fox plans to load BD menus while you watch previews. So things may not actually get faster, but you may have more incentive to sit through all that extra promotional material that shouldn't be on a BD in the first place.

Finally, we may even control a BD player through a remote device, like an iPhone. Not only could you search for content without popping a guide up onscreen, but the BD player could stream additional content to this second, personal screen.

These are all great ideas, but hopefully more studios than just Fox will adopt them. Read more of what Fox had to say on the matter over at: [SlashFilm]

MovieIQ pulls everything from cast lists and crew info to soundtrack data and production trivia from the Sony-owned Gracenote video database—a name that might sound familiar, since it's also one of the biggest CD databases in the world, and the one the iTunes uses to identify and name your discs. You can peruse the data manually, or wait for a (disable-able) icon in the corner or the screen, which shows up when info about a particular scene is available.

There's no way to tell how rich the database will be—meaning, how well it will compare to IMDB—but the concept is solid, if a little late. Honestly, when Sony announced in 2006 that BD-Live would bring interactive, online content to Blu-ray players, this, I think, is was most people expected from the start. [SonyInsider via Techradar]

San Francisco, CA (June 18, 2009) - Sony Pictures Home Entertainment today announced the launch of movieIQ, a new Blu-ray Disc feature powered by Gracenote® that offers viewers access to a real-time movie database. With a movieIQ-enabled Blu-ray Disc and an internet-connected Blu-ray™ player, movie fans can immediately access continuously-updated information on cast and crew and explore relevant trivia such as production facts, music and soundtrack information all tied to scenes within the movie. SPHE will feature movieIQ on upcoming Blu-ray Disc titles starting in September and will offer it on all major catalog titles and new releases including Angels & Demons, Easy Rider, Punch Drunk Love, The Quick and the Dead, Silverado and sex, lies, and videotape.

"It has always been our goal at Sony Pictures to offer fans the ability to truly connect with their favorite movies using BD-Live," said Lexine Wong, Senior Executive Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. "We know many people interrupt their movie-watching experience to look up the filmography of an actor or to find out more about a song playing in the background. Now through movieIQ, movie lovers can dive into constantly-updated information about the movie they are watching without leaving their sofa, further enhancing the experience of watching movies in this always-connected age."

movieIQ takes advantage of Gracenote's Video Explore solution, which brings powerful search and navigation capabilities to connected consumer electronic devices. Video Explore allows users to search the online Gracenote video database, linking together related cast, crew, movies, TV episodes, franchises, seasons, DVDs, and Blu-rays. Gracenote's global Video database contains rich video information for North America, Europe, and Japan, including factual metadata, synopses, credits, and detailed descriptive elements.

"We are thrilled to be partnering with Sony Pictures to deliver movieIQ, a feature that takes full advantage of the Blu-ray format's internet connectivity and truly demonstrates that Blu-ray is the future of home entertainment," said Ross Blanchard, VP of Business Development at Gracenote. "Now, movie lovers will have access to an incredible new service where they can explore and discover all the rich details on their favorite actors, directors and movies."

The movieIQ feature is the latest addition to SPHE's BD-Live portfolio, which also includes social networking through cinechat, multiplayer games, and a customizable music video editor, as well as soundtrack playlists, e-movie cash, downloadable featurettes, and more, available on over 100 Sony Pictures Blu-ray titles worldwide since the technology launched in spring of 2008.

About Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is a Sony Pictures Entertainment company. SPE is a division of Sony Corporation of America, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPE's global operations encompass motion picture production and distribution; television production and distribution; digital content creation and distribution; worldwide channel investments; home entertainment acquisition and distribution; operation of studio facilities; development of new entertainment products, services and technologies; and distribution of filmed entertainment in 67 countries. Sony Pictures Entertainment can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.sonypictures.com.

About Gracenote
Gracenote, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, is a global leader in embedded technology, enriched content, and data services for digital entertainment solutions within the Internet, consumer electronics, mobile, and automotive markets. Formerly known as CDDB®, Gracenote delivers a substantially improved consumer experience in digital media devices and applications, plus media monitoring and other data services to the recording industry, making it an integral part of the digital media economy. Gracenote powers leading services including Apple iTunes, Yahoo! Music Jukebox, Winamp; home and automotive products from Alpine, Panasonic, Philips and Sony; and mobile music applications from Samsung, Sony Ericsson, KDDI (Japan), KTF (Korea), Musiwave (Europe), and others. Gracenote is headquartered in Emeryville, California. www.gracenote.com/corporate/.

UPDATE: Autoplaying video tossed after the jump. Sorry about that.

[cracked]

What's too bad is that there isn't an official wine database like CD's have with CDDB. That way you could tag it with RFID and type in the brand, year and variety to get even more information. Currently you have to enter in all of the information by hand. Hopefully someone will bring the wine database to fruition, but in the mean check out the WineM in light show mode, it's almost more impressive than the RFID locating.

[][Product Page via TodBot]