Apple TV And YouTube

This is pretty big. Apple TV will be gaining YouTube functionality this June; something I mentioned could happen back at Macworld in January. So, it didn't happen then, but it's happening now. Steve Jobs apparently said that the Apple TV is a hobby. I really don't think so if they're making YouTube re-encode all their videos into a nice h.264 streaming codec for use only, for now at least, on the Apple TV. To me, this is very intriguing, and pushes the device further into the radar of the consumer electronics market. Now all we need is movies available internationally and a rental service.

Oh, and I also made this prediction in January:

I'm thinking we'll see HD content on iTunes one month after Apple TV starts shipping (in February) at the very latest. Well, there's another prediction that'll die I bet. :p

Yeah, it died. I even had the one month delay to work with and HD content never materialized. Of course, it will happen eventually.

An Important Look At Packaging

MacWorld 2007 Outcome: The New Apple

This was a bad year for my predictions. I was just as bad as last year. :p

Regardless of my predictions, this year's January Macworld was a stunner. It marked the end of Apple Computer Inc. and the beginning of Apple Inc. Beyond further iterations and cheaper versions of the iPhone, and actual Apple televisions with integrated Apple TVs, I can't actually think what else Apple might make. The next 5 years should be very interesting. :)

As usual, I shall give my thoughts on what was announced in bullet-point form.

Macs

• The Vista ad is a good addition to Apple's current lineup of Get A Mac ads. Plus, it's considerably funnier than the last batch they introduced a month or so ago.
  
• No iWork '07? No iLife '07? Fucking Christ, the sky's falling. (I'm sure these will get released later in the year)
• Absolutely nothing on Leopard. Man, I want to know what some of those "top-secret" features are.
• Oh man, the new AirPort Extreme is sweet.
  
• Something that alot of people haven't talked about in the wake of the iPhone: 50% of the Macs Apple are selling in the United States through all channels are new to Mac. Pretty damn sweet. I'm definitely looking forward to 4th quarter results.
• Aside from the above comments, Apple didn't say anything else about the Mac. For some reason, people are unnerved by this.

Apple TV

• The solution they came up with is not the best solution, but is alot better then just streaming the video. Essentially the device has a 40GB HD inside of it, and that's used to send content to it from one computer using iTunes. Then, with the Apple TV you can just traverse through the content. The Apple TV can also sync with the computer much like an iPod so that it constantly stays up to date according to your specifications. On top of that, it can also do streaming from up to 5 other computers.
  
• I wonder if OS X is running on this, like the iPhone is.
• What's the use in an HDMI-out when there's no HD content on iTunes. I'm thinking we'll see HD content on iTunes one month after Apple TV starts shipping (in February) at the very latest. Well, there's another prediction that'll die I bet. :p

I'll have more on the iPhone in a later post.

Macworld January 2007 Predictions

I don't have any insider information or anything, but I'm just going to give my predictions.

iTV
Of course, Apple won't be calling it that, but it's the one thing I'm absolutely positive about for this Macworld. At this point, there are so many product rumours regarding Apple that I don't have a damn clue as to what's going to actually be released instead of just announced, only to be released at a later date. iTV seems to be a safe bet on the release part, as Apple announced the product September of last year. As for the whole Google Video/YouTube integration, that I'm not entirely sure about. Although that doesn't sound like such a bad idea (although how you would search around for videos is beyond me).

Movie Store Announcements
First Apple had to prove to the rest of the industry that it could sell movies. Now that they've done that, they need to expand. I only really expect a couple of new studios to be added. And I guess there's also the possibility of higher quality (720p) and expansion into other countries.

Apple Cell-Phone
To me, it seems like this is inevitable. I'm thinking it will get announced at Macworld. I don't expect this thing to blow us away, like all the rumours have suggested. I think Apple's going to play this safe. First they'll release a nicely designed cell-phone that features integration with iTunes and some innovative new features (like dual batteries: one for music playback, the other for the rest of the phone). But this is definitely not going to be the shape-shifting, do-it-all phone that others are expecting.

iLife '07 and iWork '07
Okay, so these are coming out, no question about it. However, this year, we might just see a tables application debut in iWork.

Update and Preview of Mac OS X Leopard
This one seems likely. I do hope that Apple does preview some new features of Leopard though.

New iPod Speaker
Yeah, maybe something like a cheaper, smaller version of the Hi-Fi.

6G iPod
This one I'm not really sure about at all. Refer to my previous post on the 6G iPod for more info.

Well, let's see how right I am this year. :)

Weekly Desktop December/17/2006

I also made my first purchase with my credit card (and from iTunes): The Pixar animated short film, One Man Band.

Satellite Anthem Icarus by Boards Of Canada from the album:
The Campfire Headphase
4 Stars