My son is salivating over Apple announcements

Apple releases movie store, yaw PlaysForSure Movie Stores have been around for years. Apple will only offer Disney movies. Where Amazon will offer a large arrow of movies.

Who wants a product from a company that does not give you choice.

Scoble,

I know you're big on HD. Notice that the 24" iMac is 1920x1200 res? And it also has a $29 VESA mounting kit for wall mounts and swivels to give it that nice "floating effect". Combine with a wireless mouse and keyboard and you've got one sweet setup.

Same here. The minute the MacBooks get the Core 2 Duo, I'm ordering one. I figure since they're putting them in the low end iMacs, they'll have to stuff them in the MacBooks too.

I have the current 23" Cinema display. The color on those screens is amazing compared to most. I get that 24" iMac total rocks.

@claco, Im thinking that they would put core 2 duos in the MBP and up the Macbooks to the 2.16 ghz regular intel chips.

as of now, there really isnt that much of a diff between the highend MB and the low end MBP, apple needs to change that because as of now, in my mind, there isnt enough to justify the extra $500 to get a pro.

I agree. Unless I'm you're graphics and need the 800 firewire port, tne vid chip, and the faster HD, the Pro just doesn't matter.

My first task for a MB is Parallels so I can test software on multiple platforms without reboots. OSX, XP, Ubuntu and FreeBSD...woohoo!

Parallels does work great, but for podcasters that Skype in large groups, you need to run Bootcamp so Skype detects your Intel dual core chip allowing up to ten participants.

As for Apple product news, I have a wish but not any sort of prediction. I want to see Apple use their approach on design and usability to bring a PDA/Palm/whatever handheld to the market.

There has not been a handheld computing device worthy of cult following since the HP 200LX. I would love to see Apple go after handheld computing the way they reinvented portable music.

Larry Myers you do realize Dell and HP both just blew apple's monitor out of the water with their 30inch LCD screen

JoeM,

I didn't realize Dell and HPs 30inch LCD screens had full fledged PCs built into them.

@claco

you can always upgrade the harddrive toa 160gig 7200RPM yourself. and it would be bigger than the MBP.

@Cory: Absolutely! :-)

Although, I already have a portable desktop (Sager). This will be my first portable, which will probably see lots of batter time. 7200 does suck up da juice.

How is Apple's Disney Movie store better than CinemaNow.com or MovieLink.com?

Salivating while waiting for the Core2Duo MBP here too :p

Naysayers notwithstanding, Apple is kicking ass and taking names. Its popularity with the general population is amazing compared to even a couple years ago. My local news led with 'movies on your iPod.' Most corps can't buy publicity like that.

I don't why the peanut gallery is claiming only Disney will be on board. At least one other studio is already in the fold and the others will come along.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ar...

Music and TV started out slow on iTMS, after all.

Joe and Kermit, the train has left the station.

Just because your son wants something doesn't mean you have to buy it. It does sound like you have a great relationship with your son however. It is really cool that you guys share the same interests.

Come on frum ...everybody knows Scoble's son is just another enabler for his gadget fetish.

It is getting to the point that Apple will never be able to live up to the hype of these events. I follow these updates closely, and even when they do release interesting new products, a sizable group is always left grumbling.

Between new Apple products, back to school, the video game platform releases, and the holiday season, I don't know how people will be able to afford it all! And that's not even mentioning things like Zune.

That said, I am an Apple fan, and like Patrick, will be bugging you to buy me whatever they release! :)

Podesta, in other words, there *is* nothing better about Apple's movie store than CinemaNow.com and MovieLink.com except the iPod name. That's cool and all, iPod is a powerul popular brand, but I asked what was actually *better* about Apple's movie store, and you provided no answer except that the movies will only be playable on iPods.

Robert, you've commented on the HP, Ford, and FaceBook PR crises. Here's a new one bubbling up.

The path to a 9-12 announcement of a deal to distribute Disney films on iTunes runs through directly through 9-11.

Turns out that the Disney-ABC brands are collecting a lot of mud because of what many are claiming to be a biased and inaccurate fictionalization of "The Path to 9-11." It's bound to turn into a serious side-bar in coverage of the Apple announcement.

As someone posted to my Daily Kos diary:

Gates: Uber-Philanthropy.
Jobs: peddling neo-con fever dreams.
who saw that coming?

Do you have a recipe for dealing with this one?

Podesta, what train. Apple has only signed an agreement with Disney, and that is only because they bought Pixar, which was steve jobs company. I have been play movies and downloading shows for some time now (2-3 years) on my portable media Center. So what if anything new is apple doing? And I didn't even need to install any additional software on my machine to get it to work. I also don't need any program running all the time in the background (itunes) either.

Michael Markman - Yes ...leave politics out of this.

The latest rumour is a new version of the Cube. Awesome. If they can get a Mac Mini-like machine out with Core 2 Duo (instead of Core Duo), with an actual x16 PCIe slot for a graphics card, a real 3.5" HD (and eSATA connector), they'll sell one to me. I could make do with a Firewire 800 connector instead of the eSATA. I'm still waiting for Apple to get the right machine out the door, but once they do (if they do), I'm SO outta Windows-land. I'm upgrading my Athlon XP-M system at home to a Core 2 Duo E6300 this weekend, and migrating from WinXP to Ubuntu Linux at the same time, so either way, it's hasta la vista to Windows for me. *contented sigh*

It's a shame the latest Mac Mini update went with Core Duo instead of Core 2 Duo - there goes another chance to migrate OS X to 64-bit only and simplify things a bit. I can't wait to the the LV and ULV versions of Merom...

Kermit said:

"I asked what was actually *better* about Apple’s movie store, and you provided no answer except that the movies will only be playable on iPods."

Since Apple's movie store is new (in fact, not even yet launched) your question is rather premature. However, some of the factors that will make it a success are already present:

• Direct downloads to iTunes/iPods instead of having to go through a somewhat difficult, and arguably illegal process, of reformatting,

• Lower prices than buying the DVD, and


• Portablility on a small device.

People looking for those assets will find the Apple service better. Those who aren't will not be forced to participate, obviously. Methinks that movie buffs will use the Apple movie store and other means of obtaining content. There's no need to be exclusive.

JoeM, if you would overcome your obsessive Apple bashing, you could learn some things. For example, there's no reason to run iTunes in the background. Unless one is actually using the application, it can remain closed. Nor is iTunes 'additional software.' It comes with OS X and is available free for both Macs and Windows computers. Furthermore, it is considered one of the most elegant and effective applications in existence.

You are defintely free to download to your Windows gadget. However, most people prefer the iPod for its greater portability. The phenomenal success of iTMS is instructive to those open to information.

Podesta, I guess you don't look. When you install iTunes it installs a service that ALWAYS Runs (even if the user disables it iTunes reenables it). iTunes also by default associates mp3 files, and others with itself witout asking. WMP11, checks to see if any other program is using the extension then ask if you would like to leave them alone(which is by deault). Most power user can disable iTunes from running, but since it puts itself in the startup by default with quicktime, it ends up hurting performance. I don't see WMP11 doing this. I also have choice of where I want to buy my music or Videos. So if I have an iPod and want to buy music, and end up with no choice but to buy from Apple. As my customers have told me, if you have a problem with Apples music store, they tell you "too bad, who else are you going to go to we are the only game in town". Now if you don't call that a monopoly I don't know what is. This is worse that Apple.

I have used OSX and Linux, both of which turned me off. Even Apple's which a few people said to me looks like a kids toy (worse then XP).

Joe, the iTMS feature you seem to referring to, the MiniStore, can be turned off. In fact, I think it is loading turned off by default now if you have the latest version of iTunes.

iPods and iTunes are compatible with more platforms than any other comparable products. I really don't know why you are claiming otherwise. Macs. Windows. Cingular and Motorola cell phones. Linux, with a little tweaking. What's to complain about, really?

iPod users are encouraged to buy from the biggest and best purveyor of digital content. However, they are also free to rip their own CDs and movies to iTunes and to use non-DRM sites such as eMusic.

Im gutted this annoucmnet is next week - I'm actually over in houston at the moment and my original plan was to pickup a cheap (gotta love that dollar --> UKP rate) video ipod - for video podcasts only (I already have an archos for movies and stuff) But now I dont want to shell out on an ipod video that will be replaced in the next few weeks/months ! Pants !