Banner Logo
Home
The Real Kato
About Me
Twitter
Facebook
Frozen Lunches
Links
Kottke
Daring Fireball
Amalah
Secret Agent Josephine
Dooce
Contact



Archives
Most Recent

2024 March
2005 October
2005 September
2005 August
2005 July
2005 June
2005 May
2005 April
2005 March
2005 February
2005 January
2004 December
2004 November


Categories
All Categories 

bloggers 
books 
commentary 
dating 
food 
funnyhaha 
interesting 
life 
movies 
music 
politics 
reviews 
science 
site-business 
sports 
style 
techwatch 
television 
theater 
travel 


Recent Comments
On College Football 2022: Week 6 Recap and Week 7 Pre...
Ken said:
Yeah, we've both had our share of hope and disappointment in this game. Let's just hope for a good b...
On College Football 2022: Week 6 Recap and Week 7 Pre...
Dan* said:
I'm not sure how I feel about this game. On one hand, I feel pretty optimistic that we have the tale...
On College Football 2022: Week 1 Preview
Dan* said:
Glad to see you'll be back writing football again, Ken! Congrats on the easy win today. You didn't ...
On College Football 2021: Week 10 Recap and Week 11 P...
Ken said:
Yeah, sorry one of our teams had to lose. I've come to appreciate Penn State as a classy and sympath...
On College Football 2021: Week 10 Recap and Week 11 P...
Dan* said:
Hey Ken, congratulations on the win yesterday! Some really odd choices by our coaching staff in that...


<< Previous: Pervasive Geekdom | Next: Lawsuits >>

Apple Watch: Something's Coming
Wednesday, 2005 October 5 - 12:01 am
Apple has announced a special media event for October 12th.

In an invitation sent to analysts and the media, Apple is hinting that they will be revealing something in an event at 10:00 a.m. on October 12th. The headline reads "One more thing", which is Steve Jobs's trademark line at the end of his keynote speeches, when he has some hot new product to introduce.

The conventional wisdom is that Jobs will bring out a video iPod. I'm still not convinced about the concept. Presumably it would go something like this:

1. You download videos (music videos, movies, and TV shows) from the iTunes Movie Store.
2. You transfer them to your iPod Movie Player.
3. You connect the iPod Movie Player to your home theater, via a docking station.

The content is in high definition and Dolby surround sound. You don't watch the videos on a tiny 1-inch screen; you watch them in all their glory on your home theater system. There's heavy DRM protection; maybe even expiration dates. Why? Because this concept is design to replace conventional movie rentals. No more Blockbuster. No more NetFlix. You rent movies on the Internet, from a virtually unlimited collection, instantly. And the cost of each rental? 99 cents. Heh.

But here's the problem. Why would you need to use an iPod, instead of simply connecting a computer directly (or over wireless) to your TV? Why have this intermediate device? I can't think of an answer that adequately justifies having a $500 little portable device as simply a transfer mechanism. And I don't want to carry around movies so I can watch them on a 1-inch screen. Really, portability seems like an odd concept here.

So maybe the video iPod isn't really an iPod, but it's the long-fabled home-media set-top box, an HTPC done right. Maybe it's more like a Mac mini than an iPod. Hmm.

Of course, the other possibility for this announcement is those rumored dual-processor, dual-core G5 PowerMacs. But I don't know if that would warrant a media event like this. Apple likes to use theatrics when there's something really new coming out.

Whatever it is, I'm dying to find out.
Permalink  2 Comment   Bookmark and Share
Posted by Ken in: techwatch

Comments

Comment #1 from Ken (realkato)
2005 Oct 5 - 1:04 pm : #
Update: rumor site Think Secret is now reporting that the event is to announce new PowerMacs and PowerBooks.
Comment #2 from Ken (realkato)
2005 Oct 5 - 4:40 pm : #
Another update: a lot of sites seem to be speculating that we'll see an Video Airport Express instead of a Video iPod. That makes sense.

Comments are closed for this post.
Login


Search This Site
Powered by FreeFind