Crave

(Credit: Electronista)

It's always seemed a bit odd that a company would model a phone after a successful line of TVs, but that appears to be a trend of sorts in Japan. Sony, for example, did this by coming out with a Bravia phone based on its high-end TVs by the same name. And now Panasonic appears to be taking the same route.

Sporting a 3.5-inch VGA widescreen, the seductively named P905iTV slider is supposed to reflect the design of Panasonic's Viera plasma TVs. The specs listed on Electronista may indicate that the phone is almost more concerned with its video delivery than communications features, including a 4,000:1 contrast ratio, 854x480 resolution, and something called "LCD Artificial Intelligence" that automatically adjusts brightness levels.

Oh right, the phone part. Offered by Japan's DoCoMo, it's a 3G handset with a 2-megapixel camera and microSD slot that claims to have 230 minutes of talk time and 660 hours on standby. But given its mission, it's probably just as important to note that it supposedly gets 160 minutes of video playback per charge.

Don't expect to get true surround sound from Apple TV.

(Credit: Aperion Audio)

With HDMI and optical digital output, Apple TV should eventually be able to pass DVD-like surround sound just as soon as Apple adds surround-encoded movies and TV shows to its iTunes Store--right?

Wrong.

According to the specs on Apple's Web site, the Apple TV's maximum audio track bandwidth for video files is 160Kbps (that doubles to 320Kbps for audio-only files such as MP3s and AACs). That is far below the 640Kbps and 768Kbps surround Dolby and DTS soundtracks you'll find on any old DVD. And that doesn't even begin to account for the next-gen Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD soundtracks available on HD DVD and Blu-ray discs, which start at 3,000Kbps and may eventually go as much as six times higher.

Basically, more bandwidth means there's more space in a file for the actual bits that make up a soundtrack--the more space, the better quality and more channels (six or more surround versus just two for stereo) are available. And because 160Kbps is a pretty tight fit for anything beyond very compressed MP3-like sound, it's a safe bet you won't be seeing surround-encoded files on the Apple Store--and thus the Apple TV--anytime soon. And because this appears to be a hardware limitation, it's probably not something that could be changed with a firmware update.

Yes, you can still connect an A/V receiver or home theater system and get a sorta/kinda surround effect from your Apple TV--just choose the Dolby Digital Pro-Logic II or DTS Neo:6 decoding option that's available on nearly all recent home audio systems. That will deliver a decent faux surround effect from the Apple TV--or any stereo source--but it won't be nearly as rich or detailed as the true multichannel bitstreams found on DVDs or HD discs.

For all the hype about digital delivery replacing optical disc media (DVDs, HD DVDs, Blu-rays), it's worth remembering that even the lowliest DVD holds up to 4.7GB of data. Even with improved compression, you'll need some serious broadband bandwidth to begin to offer a DVD-equivalent video and audio experience (true 480p and true surround sound)--and that's not even high-def. That's why I'm happily sticking with my DVD player and Netflix account for the foreseeable future.

UPDATE: Full review (with hands-on video) now available.

Today we got our first in-person look at the Apple TV since its unveiling back in September of 2006. Company representatives were showing it off at a Manhattan hotel suite and gave us a loaner to do our own hands-on testing. While we conduct a full review, here's our first impression--and a video of our own Rich DeMuro diving into the box for the first time.

Apple TV: the next big thing in digital entertainment?

(Credit: Apple)

The release of Apple TV is imminent--the first hands-on review has appeared, pre-orders have already begun shipping, and it should be popping up in Apple Stores by the end of the week. It's fair to say that Apple's first living room entertainment device is going to cause some major waves in the industry. At the same time, though, it's neither the first nor only product of its kind. Plenty of others--known as digital media adapters or network media devices--are capable of streaming digital media from networked PCs. And iTunes isn't the only show in town when it comes to digitally delivering premium movies and TV shows. So, as the Apple TV rocket leaves the launchpad, we thought it only fair to present a look at the alternatives.

Gadget godfather Walt Mossberg is first out of the gate with a review of the Apple TV, and he likes what he sees. It seems that Apple's first A/V product designed for the living room worked exactly as advertised. Over 10 days of testing, Mossberg (and colleague Katie Boehret) was able to stream the iTunes-based music, video, and photos from six computers--three Windows PCs and three Macs--without a hitch. Even more impressive was the fact that the video streaming was stutter-free, even though he was testing with an older 802.11g wireless router rather than the state-of-the-art 802.11n Wi-Fi version that's built into the Apple TV.

The full review at Mossberg's Personal Technology site (which, curiously, does not require a subscription even though the paper's main site does) goes on to point out the key limitations of the device--it only streams iTunes content, and only works with HD or EDTVs--as well as some feature comparisons to the streaming and video download services available on the Xbox 360 (one of several competing devices). You can also watch Walt and Katie's YouTube-esque video review embedded above.

CNET will have a full review of Apple TV soon.

Video link from mac-essentials.de via Engadget

BYOC: bring your own cables

(Credit: Apple)

If you're planning on buying an Apple TV, make sure you have some extra A/V cables on hand. According to the Apple Web site, the only items included in the box--besides the Apple TV unit itself--are the remote, a power cord, and the instruction manual. Indeed, a more detailed overview of the product elsewhere on Apple's site lists the cables you'll need to supply: either HDMI (which can carry audio and video to compatible HDTVs) or component video, and--if using component--a pair of analog stereo or an optical digital cable to handle the audio. Those not using a wireless network will need to scrounge up an Ethernet cable as well.

While the cash cow that is the iPod accessory business has no doubt whetted Apple's appetite for upselling all sorts of compatible add-ons--even the AC power adapter that was once included in the iPod's box is now a $29 step-up--the company's decision to sell the Apple TV in such a bare-bones fashion is a surprise. Yes, Sony's twice-as-expensive PlayStation 3 omitted the HDMI cable, but the company at least included a composite A/V cable so you could get the game console up and running without a trip to RadioShack--or having to cannibalize cables from your existing home-theater setup. In fact, I can't remember the last A/V product I've encountered that didn't include a perfunctory set of cables--you'll even find them in those $40 DVD players on sale at the drugstore. On the bright side, at least, we can be thankful that the Apple TV doesn't use any proprietary connectors--any HDMI, component, audio, or optical cables you already have will work fine.

Cables or no, the Apple TV is still listed on the company's Web site as shipping in "February." If that's to be believed, we could be seeing it stocked behind the Genius Bar by the end of the week.

SAN FRANCISCO--Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs announced a set of new products during his speech at Macworld Tuesday. We covered his keynote from the floor, so check below for continuous updates as the news happened.

Click here to see photos from the keynote.

The iPhone is looking legit.

(Credit: Declan McCullagh/CNET)

11:10--"We've got a really special treat today. We don't have many traditions at Apple, but Jon Mayer has helped us with many products," Jobs says.

Jon Mayer plays a song. All the 12-year-old girls in the audience are screaming. Oh, wait, that's right, there aren't any, this is a technology trade show.

Mayer praises Steve for making products that make people happy. An actual quote, "It's like the opposite of terrorism." Yes, Jon, you're totally right.

He's playing again. Waiting on the world to change? Dylan, he aint. I'm waiting on the song to change.

11:02--"I couldn't sleep last night, I was so excited about today," Jobs says.

We've had some revolutionary products. And we're going to do it again with the iPhone in 2007. There's an old Wayne Gretsky quote, 'I skate to where the pick is going to be.'"

"We've always tried to do that at Apple, and we always will," Jobs says.

"I want to highlight the folks who worked on these products." Workers stand up to applause. "We also can't leave without thanking the families, all of our families," he says. "Without the support of our families, we couldn't do what we do."

10:59--"Today, we've added to the Mac and the iPod; we've added to Apple TV, and now iPhone. And the Mac is the only one you think of as a computer."

"So, we've thought about this. We are announcing today that we are dropping the "computer" from our name, and we will be known as Apple Inc.

10:58--Steve Jobs is back on. "As Stan said, we started work together about two years ago, and we come from two pretty different worlds. We're going to bring some great stuff to market together over the years. Let's take a look at this market, how big is this market?"

Steve's clicker isn't working. "The clicker is not working. They're scrambling back stage right now."

Steve ad-libs a story about Woz.

"You know, when I was in high school, Steve Woz and I made this little device called the TV jammer, a little device that would screw up a TV. And Woz would screw up the TV, and just as somebody was about to fix it.

Just about a billion phones sold last year worldwide.

1 percent market share equals 10M units. This is exactly what we're going to try to do in 2008, is grab 1 percent market share."

10:55--You know Steve and I, we entered into a contractual agreement without ever seeing the design of the phone, Sigman says. And every time I see this, it's just wow. It's really, really cool, Sigman says.

I brought with me another company to celebrate, it's the new AT&T.

Cingular became a full part of the new AT&T familty. This family will help fulfill the vision of wireline, wireless and video in the ways customers haven't imagined, Sigman says.

Sigman says the partnership takes the mobile phone experience to a whole new level.

He says it's a multiyear exclusive partnership, only available with Cingular wireless services. This is not an MVNO, whatever that is, Sigman says. Someone shout from the audience: "Is it locked?" Sigman doesn't respond.

10:49--The iPhone will ship in US in June, in Europe in the fourth quarter and in Asia in 2008, he says.

Our partner is going to be Cingular, Jobs says, adding that it's the best and most popular network in the country with 58 million subscribers. Cingular is going to be Apple's exclusive partner in the U.S.

It's a unique partnership. We're not just going to be selling phones, we're going to be doing innovation together, he says.

Apple worked with Cingular on the visual voicemail. That's the first fruit of this collaboration, he says.

The iPhone will be sold in Apple and Cingular stores.

Cingular CEO Stan Sigman joins Jobs on stage.

10:48--Speaking about the phone's design, Jobs says "multitouch, OS X, more miniaturization than we've ever done."

Jobs says Apple filed for over 200 patents for all the inventions in iPhone, and we intend to protect them.

"iPhone is like having your life in your pocket," he says.

Price: "People spend $499 for an iPod and smart phone. So what should we charge for iPhone? It's got a lot more than just that. We thought long and hard about it. For 4GB model, price at the same $499, with a two-year contract, 8GB model for $599."

Avilability: shipping these in June. "Apple is announcing it today, shipping in June, we have to go get FCC approval," he says.

10:41--"It's been great having the two greatest companies on the Web right down the block, Google and Yahoo," Jobs says. "Internet communicator, iPod and a phone. Let's put them all together and see what you can do in a real life scenario."

He starts a demo.

Go into iPod, listen to music. Jobs gets a phone call. The music fades out, screen changes, and the ringtone plays. You can ignore it, Jobs says, "but I'll answer it." He puts Phil's picture up on the phone.

Phil asks for a photo of Hawaii, Steve pushes the home button, but stays on the call. He goes to photos, and there is a green bar at the top that allows you to go back to the phone. Can e-mail the photo without leaving the call. Still on the call, he is e-mailing the photo.

Then he keeps talking. Phil wants to go see a movie. Jobs keeps talking, and browses over to Fandango.

He touches the top, goes back to the call and hangs up. Then, the music starts up exactly where it pausd when the call came in.

10:37--Jerry Yang on stage: "I'm not a board member of Apple, but I'd love to have one of these," he says.

"We are really proud at Yahoo to be partnehing on e-mail. It's the first one we're doing, but a variety of other popular services with Apple."

Yang says he hopes they can get Yahoo "OneSearch" onto this phone.

Mail is a killer app on the phone, he says. "Yahoo is trying to redesign the Internet experience."

"It's lke have a Blackberry without the Exchange server."

Lastly, we want to be able to take what Apple is doing, reiventing the phone, and we want to do that on the Internet, take great form factors and experiences and UI that we're taking from the Web and translate into a seamless Web experience.

10:35--Google's Eric Schmidt is on stage.

"I've had the privilege of joining the board," Schmidt says, and he jokes about merging the companies. "AppleGoo?"

"What I liked about the new device and the architecture of the Internet is you can merge without merging. Each company should do the absolutely best thing they can do every time, and I think he's shown that today," Schmidt says.

Internet architecture allows you to take the enormous brain trust generated by the Apple design team, and take it with open standards lke the Google Internet stuff, Schmidt says.

"Google pushed very hard to partner with others, and especially Apple, the cultures are similar," he says.

Steve showed a little of the components, but understand this is a set of data from maps and partners so you can get the full integration. This the first of a whole new generation of data services," he says.

You can't think about the Internet without thinking about Yahoo. Have Yahoo search built right in, and of course we also have Yahoo imap e-mail.

Jerry Yang joins Steve on stage.

10:32--Cisco calls CNET News.com reporter with a statement about Apple's use of the term "iPhone" for its new product. "Given Apple's numerous requests for permission to use Cisco's iPhone trademark over the past several years and our extensive discussions with them recently, it is our belief that with their announcement today, Apple intends to agree to the final document and public statements that were distributed to them last night and that address a few remaining items we expect to receive a signed agreement today."

10:30--Jobs shows off the iPhone's widgets, checks Apple's stock and, believe it or not, it's up.

"Now I'm going to show you something truly remarkable, Google Maps on iPhone." You can already get Google Maps on Palm and Windows mobile, and it doesn't appear that the Google iPhone version is any different right now. But you can place a call right from the maps screen.

Steve calls Starbucks and orders 4,000 lattes to go. He cancels the order.

Can use fingers to zoom in on the map. Can replace the map with a satellite image. Again, I belive that's a standard part of Google Maps for Palm or Windows.

10:25--Jobs gives a demo of how the Web part of the iPhone works. There is an e-mail inbox, running live on Yahoo inbox e-mail.

Photos are built right into the e-mail, online photos, rich text e-mail.

iPhone parses out phone numbers. "I can just touch it and I'm going to call this place," Jobs says.

"I can look at e-mail from a split view, like how you can preview the e-mail while still scrolling through the inbox, it's real e-mail just like you're used to on your computer."

And again, free imap e-mail from Yahoo.

There is a touchscreen keyboard to type e-mail. How dirty is that screen going to get? No details yet on the physical specs of the screen, the type of material, etc.

Jobs shows Safari running on the mobile device. Jobs is loading the New York Times. Rather than just give you a WAP version or wrapping around, the iPhone is giving you the whole thing. In landscape mode, you can scroll around a Web site just like a real browser.

Can zoom out to scroll faster around a big site like the Times, and then click again to zoom in on a Web page.

Can have multiple Web pages open, like having Windows open on a desktop screen.

"If you've ever used a Web browser on a phone, you know how revolutionary this is," Jobs says. "We are bringing the real Internet onto your phone."

10:19--"We have reinvented the phone," Jobs says. "So, now let's take a look at an Internet communicaitons device."

Rich HTML e-mail on a mobile device works with any pop or imap client, Jobs says.

Safari is running on the iPhone. It is the first fully usable HTML browser on a phone, according to Jobs.

Google maps is built in.

"We have widgets," he says.

The iPhone communicates, automatically switches to Wi-Fi if it detects a signal. That's an amazing concession from whatever carrier plans to carry this, still no details on that.

Jobs highlights Yahoo mail, the biggest mail service in the world, with 250 million users. "Today we are announcing that they are going to provide free push imap e-mail to all iPhone customers. That's like having a Blackberry iPhone. It pushes your Yahoo e-mail right to the iPhone."

10:14--Jobs moves onto a demo of SMS texting. "Now I go to the SMS icon in the upper left corner, and push it. I can do multiple sessions, can be alerted to multiple messages, and iPhone sets it up in an Internet-style reply e-mail.

There is a touchscreen keypad with autocorrection. Push the buttons with your fingers and send the message and go. The keypad disappears.

Photos--"I have a two megapixel camera, and the coolest photo management app ever. I can just scroll thorugh photos with my finger," Jobs says. "To go through pictures, I just swipe them from side to side to scroll through photos.

"You can take pictures and make them bigger, can take fingers and adjust the size of the picture, zoom in and edit photos with your fingers, move the sizing around, you can also choose to make a photo my wallpaper. That's part of our phone package for iPod," Jobs says.

10:10--Jobs gives a demonstration of how the phone works. He shows four things--the phone app, photos, calendar and texting.

Users will scroll through contacts the same way they scroll through music. "If I want to call somebody, I scroll around, and push his mobile number."

Jobs is calling Jony, Apple's design chief. It's the first public phone call with iPhone, Jobs says.

Phil Schiller calls, and Jobs shows how the call does three-way calling.

Jony: "It's not too shabby, is it?"

Users can add contacts from a recently-called list, can edit favorites, move people around, delete and add entries. The iPhone lists the recent calls as red if missed.

"If I'm real last-century," Jobs says, "I can push the keypad," and he calls 408-996-1010.

10:05--What's the iPhone's killer app? Making calls, says Jobs.

"People use their recents as their address book; we want to let you use contacts as never before. You can sync your PC with your Mac like never before."

The iPhone will use "visual voicemail." "Wouldn't it be great if you had six voicemails, and you didn't have to listen to five first before listening to the sixth?" Jobs says.

It is a quad-band GSM/EDGE phone. "We decided to go with the most popular international standard," Jobs says. "And of course, we have Wi-Fi and bluetooth."

10:03--Jobs says the iPhone has a great album view that shows all the album art, and I've also got videos.

"It's a video iPod and a regular iPod, plus a phone. And it's widescreen when you hold it in landscape mode, on its side."

There are touch controls on the video iPod as well--play, pause, etc. The phone is a candy bar shape. There don't appear to be any moving parts; all the buttons are touch-screen except for the home button.

"It's the best iPod we've ever made," Jobs says."

Jobs says he was giving a demo to somebody inside Apple who had never seen it before, and they told him, "you had me at scrolling."

9:59--Jobs keeps referring to Apple's phone as the "iPhone," even though Cisco owns the trademark.

There is a slider bar switch above the home button, four touch-screen buttons to activate the iPod. Users can hit the home button to go back home.

Want to scroll through songs? Touch the screen and flick toward the top of the screen, or the bottom. Select songs by touching them.

Flip the album art for the track listing, with a button in the upper right hand corner.

Turn the phone into landscape mode, and it shows you all your albums in the cover flow applications.

He's really got to get some new demo music. I've heard way too much Green Day at Apple keynotes.

9:56--The iPhone's screen will be 160 pixels per inch. "It's gorgeous," Jobs says. There is only one button, the home button.

It's really thin--11.6mm, thinner than the Q or Blackjack. And we've got controls on the side," Jobs says.

The iPhone has a 2-megapixel camera, iPod headphones fit right in, there is a place for sim card, and it has a wake/sleep switch.

A proximity sensor senses your face and turns off the iPod and turns on phone when you bring it up to your face. And ambient light sensor switches the light based on the available light. It has got an accelerometer for portrait vs. landscape.

"It's an iPod; you can touch your music," Jobs says. "And it's got cover flow."

9:49--"We've been very lucky to have brought a few revolutionary user interfaces to the market--the mouse, the clickwheel, and now multitouch," Jobs says.

"We're going to build on top of the interface with software, software on top of mobile phones is like baby software. Today we're going to show you a software breakthrough, software that's 5 years ahead of what's on any other phone," Jobs says.

The iPhone runs OS X.

"Why do you need such a sophisticatd OS on a mobile device? Because it's got everything we need. It's got power management, the mobile multitasking that has let us create desktop class applications, not the crippled stuff you find on most phones."

"We love software...Alan Kay, people who are really serious about software should make their own hardware."

"We're bringing breakthrough software to a mobile device for the first time. The second thing we're doing is learning from the iPod, syncing with iTunes. People know how to sync media onto their iPod. You're going to do the same thing with iPhone," Jobs says.

"iTunes is going to sync all your media on the iPhone, but it also syncs a ton of data, already can get contacts and calendar on the iPod, and all that stuff can be moved over to iphone automatically."

"Set up the phone in iTunes, just like an iPod or Apple TV. It is just like an iPod: Charge and sync."

9:48--"We're going to start with legendary user interface," Jobs says. "The problem with the standard ones is the keyboard; they are there whether you need them to be there or not, control buttons that are fixed in plastic. Every application wants a set of buttons optimized for it."

"So what do you do? It doesn't work, because the buttons and controls can't change."

"How do you solve this? Turns out we have solved it; we solved it in computers 20 years ago," Jobs says. "A bitmap screen, and a pointing device; we solved it with a mouse."

How are we going to take it to a device? We're going to get rid of all these buttons, and just make a giant screen. Who wants a stylus? Nobody wants a stylus, so let's not use it.

We're going to use the pointing device we're all born with. We have invented a new technology called 'multitouch.' You don't need a stylus, and it is far more accurate than any pointing device that's shipped. And boy, have we patented it!"

9:45--"We are calling it iPhone," Jobs says. "Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone, and here it is."

Jobs shows a spoof of an iPod with a old-style rotary phone. Much laughter. Joke, joke.

Jobs says he will talk about "a category of things called smart phone, which combine a bunch of things." "Problem is," says Jobs, "they aren't so smart, and they aren't so easy to use."

Smart phones are definitely a little smarter, he says, but they are harder to use.

9:42--"This is a day I've been looking forward to for two and a half years. Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything. You're very fortunate if you get to work on one of these for your career. In 1984, we introduced the Macintosh. It didn't just change Apple; it changed the whole computer industry," Jobs says.

"In 2001, we introduced the Apple iPod, which changed the entire music industry," Jobs says.

"Today, we're introduing three revolutionary products of this class."

The first one is a widescreen iPod with touch controls.

9:40--He's demonstrating content synced from computer to Apple TV. He demonstrates what happens when Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, comes over with a notebook.

It can connect to a new iTunes, running on Schiller's machine. He has to type in a PIN, and Jobs can load Schiller's MacBook and look at Schiller's TV shows.

You can watch movies from an somebody else's notebook on your iTV. But how is that DRMed? It doesn't appear to allow you to transfer content between friends, just stream.

The price is $299. Apple will be taking orders today, and shipping them in February.

9:37--Jobs gives a demonstration of how Apple TV will work. It can stream video directly over the Internet to TV and you can control it with a remote to browse for shows or trailers on the iTunes store.

Jobs is showing demos of movies, TV shows and music. There are album covers, movie posters and TV commercials floating around the interface as you select a song, TV show, or whatever from the menu. You can put photos, as well, on your TV, stream them over a wireless network or move them to Apple TV.

9:31--Apple TV will allow users to stream content from up to five computers, and autosync from one computer.

"Just like you set up an iPod, set up a TV. The 1- most-watched movies on Apple TV, for example."

TV shows can be set to automatically stream to Apple TV and reside there on the hard drive when you purchase them. If you like Lost, you can set it to download every Lost episode to the Apple TV when you purchase it. Other videos you can choose to keep on your Mac or PC.

"You can also stream from up to five computers, watch on Apple TV but not store on the hard drive, like if your neighbor comes over," Jobs says.

9:28--Jobs introduces what has been known as the iTV. It is now called "Apple TV," consisting of the Apple logo, then "TV". Jobs describes it as a way to enjoy your content on your TV."

Users can wirelessly transmit the content to an Apple TV from a PC or Mac, according to Jobs. "I'm going to use a Mac," he says.

Jobs says Apple TV will use the same hookups as we saw in September and will have 720p high-definition video. "It's got a 40GB hard drive, up to 50 hours of video, and comes in handy for something I'm going to show you," Jobs says.

Apple TV will use 802.11n, the new draft Wi-Fi standard. And it's got an Intel processor in it, but he doesn't say which one.

9:26--Jobs talks about Microsoft's Zune as a new competitor to the iPod. "How did they do?" Jobs asks. Then he cites data for November, which was the Zune's launch month. The Zune grabbed 2 percent market share, according to Jobs. The iPod had 62 percent market share, he says citing NPD.

A Zune goes up in flames, and the crowd titters.

Jobs shows off new iPod ads: the same silhouette ads of people dancing around.

9:23--"We are the fifth largest music reseller in the U.S.," Jobs says. "Because of the growth of iTunes, we have now passed Amazon; we are now No. 4."

You can guess who our next target may be; it's Target."

TV shows--we have sold 50 million TV shows on iTunes. Movies--(the) pioneering partner we had with TV shows was Disney. We have sold 1.3 million movies in the first four months, which I think has exceeded all of our expectations."

Jobs announces Apple's new partner will be Paramount. "They have some awesome movies, all six Star Trek movies," he says to laughs.

"We are going go be moving up to 250 movies on iTunes; we hope to add more movies as other studios throw in with us," he says."

9:21--"2007 was an awesome year for the Mac," Jobs says. "But that's all we're going to talk about the Mac today."

Jobs gives an update on Apple's music business. "We've got iPods. A few things about iTunes--we have crossed a major milestone; we have sold over 2 billion songs on iTunes. iTunes sales were really up this year. It took us three years to get to 1 billion; we got our second billion in a year."

"We're selling over 5 million songs a day on iTunes."

9:19--Jobs references retiring Microsoft exec Jim Allchin's off-cited quote, in which he said he'd buy a Mac if he didn't work at Microsoft.

A Vista ad is shown on screen, with the Mac and PC guys who've starred in Apple's most recent ad campaign. The "PC guy" is in a hospital gown, scared about major surgery.

"Mac," he says, "if I don't come back, I want you to have my peripherals."

9:17--"We said we'd do Intel in 12 months; we did in 7. Beautiful, seamless transition of OS X for Intel processors. Rosetta software created to run PPC apps on Intel processors," Jobs says.

"We didn't do this alone; we did it with a lot of folks. Our new colleagues at Intel helped us. Thank you very much."

"We've had an extremely succesful year, and I want to thank our users very much," Jobs says.

"We are pleased to report that Macs are selling through all channels, over half are selling to people who have never owned a Mac."

9:15--Steve Jobs comes on stage to James Brown's "I Got You, (Feel Good)." He's wearing his traditional outfit, turtleneck.

"We're going to make some history together today," he says.

9:07 a.m. PST--We're awaiting Steve Jobs here at Macworld, a little past 9 a.m. People were lined up by the hundreds in the pre-dawn hours to get a prime seat for Jobs' speech in which he's expected to discuss an Apple-designed phone, the company's iTV product, and who knows what else. We'll bring it to you live as Jobs presents at Macworld 2007.

The Bravia Internet Video Link snaps onto the rear of compatible Sony TVs

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Sony today unveiled the Bravia Internet Video Link, a small accessory designed to deliver online video to compatible Bravia flat-screen HDTVs. The device is scheduled to be released in mid-2007; pricing has not yet been set. It will only work with compatible Bravia LCD TVs that are scheduled to be released later in 2007.

The Bravia Internet Video Link is a small device about the size of a VHS tape that's designed to snap onto the back of the TV. In addition to the Ethernet port (which interfaces to your home network), the Video Link box includes USB and HDMI outputs to the TV (USB for control functionality, HDMI for outputting the video). The box also sports HDMI and USB pass-through inputs--thus letting you use one of your TV's precious HDMI inputs without monopolizing it. And while the networking connection is strictly wired (Sony says a Wi-Fi-enabled version may follow), the Video Link doesn't require a PC, just a broadband Internet connection.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Once the Bravia Internet Video Link is connected and online, you can browse the available content via the onscreen display. Sony has opted to use the PS3-style XMB (Cross Media Bar) interface, so navigation is a snap. And the coffee table won't be getting any more crowded: the Video Link uses the TV's existing remote control.

The initial content partners are AOL, Yahoo, and Sony-owned Grouper; further partners could easily be added at any point. The system is designed to stream HD video, and Sony stressed that content will have a high-definition focus. Moreover, the content will be free (at least for the foreseeable future). Beyond video, text-based pages can be created using RSS feeds, allowing for custom "channels" of news, sports, and weather information.

Inputs are found on the device's underside.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

The Bravia Internet Video Link will have intense competition from the increasingly long list of streaming media products designed to deliver Web-based media to the TV, including the Netgear Digital Entertainer HD, the Sling Media SlingCatcher, and the Apple iTV, just to name a few. While the appeal to owners of compatible Bravia models is obvious (if the price is right), the limited compatibility and the proprietary nature of the box and the walled garden nature of the video services are all potentially problematic--you can't, for example, watch a YouTube video unless Sony ends up partnering with them. And while the fact that you don't need a PC for the Video Link to operate is certainly a plus, Sony made no mention of being able to stream music and movies from your PC--tough luck if you've got 50GB of music you want to hear in your living room. And finally, we're a little curious as to why Sony didn't just roll exactly this sort of service out on the PlayStation 3 instead. PS3 owners can always just access online videos through the console's built-in Web browser, but an online showcase of HD video content would certainly be another feather in the PlayStation's multimedia cap.

Apple iTV: coming soon

(Credit: appelinsider.com)

By this time next week, Steve Jobs' Macworld Expo keynote address will be history. While guesses about what will be announced run the gamut from the mundane (OS X upgrades) to the lustful (iPod phone and/or wide-screen video iPod), it's a near certainty that we'll get more details on Apple's so-called iTV product. The iTV--its final name is still pending--is Apple's take on the digital media receiver. It's a small box designed to stream your computer-based iTunes media (movies, TV shows, music, podcasts) to your big-screen TV and home theater system--basically, a networked "home iPod." The little that's known about the iTV is what Jobs revealed back in September 2006: It's got built-in wireless networking, HDMI output, and--perhaps most importantly--it's priced at just $300.

But when will you be able to buy an iTV? And what features of the device does Apple have yet to reveal? Nobody knows for sure, but rumor site Appleinsider.com (as spotted on Digg) has some relevant dirt, thanks to "people familiar with the matter" (otherwise known as anonymous sources). The iTV will ship in just a few weeks ("late January or early February"). Moreover, it's said to have a "small hard drive" which would enable some local content storage, according to information previously leaked by Disney CEO Robert Iger (a friend and colleague of Jobs--the Apple CEO, you'll remember, also sits on Disney's board of directors as a result of the entertainment company's 2006 buyout of his other company, animation stalwart Pixar).

What do these latest rumors mean? Not too much, in the grand scheme of things. While Apple generally has its new products available within days of their announcements--if not instantaneously--anytime between now and the end of March would still fall within the previously announced first-quarter time frame. As for the inclusion of a small hard drive: maybe, maybe not. Yes, hard drives are dirt cheap these days, and Apple gets some of the best discounts in the business. But Iger's "hard drive" phrasing may be a layman's description of a decent flash memory capacity (say, 2GB to 4GB) that could be used to cache media files--especially video--as they zip across a home network, to deliver smoother performance. A few gigs also could be helpful when streaming Web radio and increasingly large digital photos.

Whatever the actual release date or storage capacity, however, there's no doubt that the iTV is going to shake up the market for digitally-delivered media. By this time next week, we'll have a much better idea of exactly how much. In the meantime, look for the rumors to reach a fever pitch.

Previous iTV coverage:

• iTV: beam there, done that
• Apple's iTV: promise and peril
• Apple previews iTV network digital media player
• Video: Steve Jobs unveils the iTV