Mac Daily News

A well-connected source tells us that AT&T and Apple are working on adding IPTV capabilities to the Apple TV beginning sometime n... [ Full story from MacRumors : Mac News and Rumors ]

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Maybe this shouldn't come as that much of a surprise, but when AT&T execs talk about having a long and close relationship with Apple, they're not just planning on putting out future iPhones. A well-connected source tells us that AT&T and Apple are working on adding IPTV capabilities to the Apple TV beginning sometime next year. (A launch window hasn't yet been determined, our source says that plans are still being worked out.) We're guessing that it'll be something like AT&T's U-verse TV service, but it's still way too early to say whether this would be a blown-out offering a full package of channels aimed at replacing your current cable/satellite service, a more limited selection of on-demand programming, or whether it'd even be available to non-AT&T subscribers.

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Filed under: Hardware, Apple, Apple TV

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Retail, Apple TV

Of all the products Apple has been rolling out in the past few years, the Apple TV is easily one of the most debated. While I haven't seen any specific figures from Apple on how well or poorly the device is selling, Apple's first foray into the living room seems to be getting off to at least a decent start. Jobs made another uncharacteristic move in revealing upcoming plans to support YouTube next month. But could the Apple TV be a dud? CNN Mone y's Brent Schlender sure thinks so. In fact, Mr. Schlender goes so far as to take a jab at the Apple TV's development: "Apple TV is so Zune-like, you'd think Jobs was so busy with the iPhone that he outsourced the Apple TV project to the folks up in Redmond." He then follows with a list of the largest complaints against the device, which includes:

• No DVD drive
• The perceived requirement of an HDTV (though we know that to be not-quite-true) even though you can't buy full HD content from the iTunes Store
• The fact that you can't shop the iTS right from the Apple TV despite its internet connection
• The annoying conundrum with only being able to use images from one computer's photo library, even though most people's pictures are probably the one batch of HD-ready media that isn't rights-managed in any way and completely sharable over a network and amongst friends or even strangers

Schlender is quick to point out, however, that the one other device everyone expected to be able to shop online via its wireless connection - Microsoft's Zune - can't do that either.

Continue reading Is the Apple TV a dud?

Oh, and you can access YouTube on it too

Ah, how every journalist from the UK chuckled when Steve Jobs announced the first incarnation of Apple TV, then called iTV, back in September last year. Apple, it seems, is hell bent on making this new foray a success and consequently has announced a build-to-order 160GB version - four times the capacity of the existing version that soon-to-be-very-cross customers have forked out for up until now.…

Soon the great Silicon Valley soap opera will come full circle. Not since Apple CEO Steve Job... [ Full story from MacRumors : Mac News and Rumors ]

Filed under: Software, Productivity, Internet Tools

Filed under: Handsets, HTC, Windows Mobile

Filed under: Hardware, Apple, Apple TV

Filed under: Other Events, Apple TV

Continue reading Apple TV to support YouTube videos

Filed under: Features

Â"WouldnÂ't it be great if y... [ Full story from MacRumors : Mac News and Rumors ]

Filed under: iTS, Terminal Tips, TUAW Tips

Sure, you can now download music from the iTunes store without DRM but that doesn't mean you should just willy nilly start sharing that music with your friends. For one thing, it's illegal. For another, your account information is embedded into that m4a music file. Don't believe me? Try this yourself.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Odds and ends, iPhone

With iTunes 7.2, preview and purchase iTunes Plus music—new h... [ Full story from MacRumors : Mac News and Rumors ]

Filed under: iTS

Microsoft MP3 player exceeds expectations

Microsoft expects sales of the Zune to hit the one million milestone by the end of June, almost eight months after the product made its debut. Apple on the other hand has sold 100 million of the music players since its launch in October 2001.…

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Filed under: Retail

Filed under: iTunes, Software Update

Filed under: Portable Audio

With iTunes 7.2, preview and purchase iTunes Plus music—new h... [ Full story from MacRumors : Mac News and Rumors ]

Filed under: Apple Financial, iPhone

Filed under: Peripherals

If ZDnet staple Mary Jo Foley (or more specifically, her source) is right, we may be seeing Microsoft take the next big step in device interaction at tomorrow's D: All Things Digital Conference, with the perennial Redmond watcher predicting an official unveiling of the company's PlayTable / Project Milan multi-touch, gesture-based input technology. PlayTable, which combines elements we've seen in the iPhone, from NYU's Jeff Han, in various prototype devices, and f rom Microsoft's own, recently-demo'ed DigiDesk, is envisioned as a multi-purpose interface that can be employed in anything from a DAP (Zune) to a cellphone (WinMo handsets) to a gaming console (Xbox) -- so it's no coincidence that the project is being developed by the same Mobile and Entertainment division that's also in charge of these categories. All in all, tomorrow promises to be a big day: not only is Palm making a potentially breakthrough announcement, and the faces of Apple and Microsoft scheduled to appear together on the same stage, but we may also get to witness computing history to boot; man, if we had real jobs, we'd be calling in sick in a heartbeat.

[Via Scobleizer< /a>]

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Filed under: Hacks, Mods, Developer, Apple TV

Filed under: Software, iWork

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

• Steve Jobs and Bill Gates appearing together in a joint interview Wednesday evening (no, far as we can tell they aren't expected to joint-announce anything)
  
• A second Jobs-only appearance earlier on Wednesday
• Jeff Hawkins, who will appear and introduce "a new category of mobile device" tomorrow morning [thanks, Jimmy]
  

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Filed under: Handsets, Apple

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Filed under: Audio

Filed under: Retail, Apple Financial, Apple

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Both of our competitors have focused on an old paradigm. They focused on more technological horsepower as the path to success. They fell into a trap of just listening to their core user base rather than focusing on attracting new customers.

That's what Apple got so right with the iPod. There were plenty of MP3 players out there, but Apple came along with a product you could just pick up and play. And that's what we think w e got right with the Wii. I think the consumer electronics industry needs to recognize that.

Filed under: Features, Home Entertainment, Portable Audio

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3

Filed under: Software, ATT, Apple

Filed under: Cellphones

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Retail, iPhone

Continue reading Why you won't be buying an iPhone-like iPod anytime soon

Filed under: Hardware, iMac, Steve Jobs, Apple History

For the Mac history buffs out there, a Memorial Day treat:Thomas Hormby at The Mac Observer has a fascinating look at the the story behind the original iMac. Of course, the iMac is considered by many the computer that saved Apple, and was Steve Jobs' first great triumph after his return.

Personally, I did not realize that the "internet Macintosh" was originally intended to be a Network Computer (remember those?) as promoted by then Apple board member Larry Ellison. Above you can see the video (pre-black turtleneck and jeans!) of the original iMac introduction, then go ahead and check out Hormby's story.

[via Digg]

Filed under: Retail

In honor of Memorial Day, a U.S. holiday, The Mac Observer will be taking the day off. We will resume our regular Apple and Mac coverage on Tuesday, May 29th, 2007.

Filed under: HTC

Filed under: Humor, Retail, Cult of Mac, Flickr Find

Filed under: Handsets, Others

Filed under: Cellphones

Cameraphones have never been known to snap the best photos (except for you, dear N95), and the purported 'in the wild' shot of Apple's impending iPhone that you see above is 'clearly' no different. Supposedly captured by an editor of the Geeknuz blog at a Silicon Valley restaurant, the pic is said to show an Apple employee dinging around with his unreleased handset, "taking pictures of the person he was with and...talking about the functions of the phone." Apparently the Man from Cupertino made no effort to hide the fact that he was sporting one of the mos t anticipated consumer electronics products in history, even responding -- albeit quite tersely, it seems -- to a Geeknuz inquiry about the lack of third-party application support. But while this whole story certainly sounds plausible, the unidentifiable device in the gentleman's hand could be anything from an old HP iPaq to a five-dollar tip calculator, so please do your duty as responsible readers and begin dropping your wild theories and baseless debunks into the comments below...

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Filed under: Handsets, Apple

Cameraphones have never been known to snap the best photos (except for you, dear N95), and the purported 'in the wild' shot of Apple's impending iPhone that you see above is certainly no different. Supposedly captured by an editor of the Geeknuz blog at a Silicon Valley restaurant, the pic is said to show an Apple employee dinging around with his unreleased handset, "taking pictures of the person he was with and...talking about the functions of the phone." Apparently the Man from Cupertino made no effort to hide the fact that he was sporting one of the most anticipated consumer electronics product in history, even responding -- albeit quite tersely, it seems -- to a Geeknuz inquiry about the lack of third-party application support. But while this whole story certainly sounds plausible, the unidentifiable device in the gentleman's hand could be anything from an old HP iPaq to a five-dollar tip calculator, so please do your duty as responsible readers and begin dropping your wild theories and baseless debunks into the comments below...

Filed under: Apple, Developer

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Five uber updates in as many months

Apple has released an update that patches more than a dozen OS X vulnerabilities, several of which can lead to the remote execution of malicious code.…

Filed under: Handsets, ATT-Cingular, Apple

Filed under: Cellphones

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Filed under: Accessories, Hardware, Reviews, Macbook Pro, MacBook

Filed under: OS, Cult of Mac

Filed under: Rumors, Video, Found Footage, iPhone

Could this possibly be the first video taken by an iPhone? Over at iPhone Matters, Gregory Ng posts that he received a copy of this video from an Apple Store employee in California. In the video, you can see what appears to be an iPhone appearing on the iMac screen as recorded by its iSight. The video is not the highest quality and Ng writes that the sender compressed the video before sending it over email. What do you think? Real or hoax ?
Thanks to Hadley Stern

Filed under: Software, Productivity

Filed under: Multimedia, Video, Internet Tools

Apple's diminutive Mac Mini is due to be discontinued, it has been claimed, quite possibly the victim of the even smaller but no less Mac OS X friendly Apple TV.…

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Filed under: Desktops

Filed under: Retail, Rumors