Apple at the Superbowl

I've been seeing a lot of blog posts about Apple taking out an extremely expensive advertising slot during the Superbowl. Most (all?) seem to think it's all going to be about the Beatles getting signed up for the iTunes Store? Nah, can't see it myself. Sure it would be cool but surely it doesn't warrant such a high profile advert. So what will it be..... When's the Superbowl again? Oh yes, February 4th.... And who is doing a major launch of a new OS on January 30th, oh yes, Microsoft with Vista. So what better than 5 days later to start a MAJOR offensive on launching your superior OS to the masses via one of the most significant ad spots available. I mean, look what they did in 1984... 1984 Superbowl Ad The Beatles? Nah, 2007 is all about Leopard folks! Bring it on :-)

Technorati Tags: Apple, Leopard, Superbowl

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Reaction to the iPhone reveals how the electronics industry failed to beat the iPod

Link

An excellent piece and a sign of things to come.

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Apple TV - Some Thoughts

Following on from Macworld it seems that iPhone has generated enormous amounts of coverage much to the detriment of Apple TV. Now that things are starting to get back to normal (at least as we build up to the big Superbowl advert rumour) I've had some time to start thinking about the arrival of my Apple TV. I ordered one a day or so after launch whilst still at Macworld via the UK online store. It should arrive 3rd March according to the confirmation mail. It was a no brainer really, my main reason being for the testing of ScreenCastsOnline episodes via Apple TV. Luckily (or not as I'd like to think this was forward planning) all of the weekly shows for Extra! members have been produced and distributed in HD 720p (1280x720) resolution encoded in H264. This should mean that near enough the last 12 months worth of content should play beautifully via Apple TV at the highest resolution it can support! Sweet! Video Podcasts
Once that is confirmed, I'll also be looking to utilise the Apple TV for my own personal Video podcasting pleasure. This should mean I'll be able to watch all those video podcasts I've been ferreting away for ages although, they will probably look pretty bad on my 50" HDTV (MacBreak excepted). I think there is only ScreenCastsOnline and MacBreak that are publishing in HD. But anyway, that's another tick in the box. Live TV & PVR
Now Apple TV doesn't support Live TV or have any PVR functionality. And I think it's fair to say that it never will. It just doesn't fit in with the iTunes Store model. Why give people the option to record their own stuff when tey can buy it at low cost from the iTunes store, pre-packed for Apple TV and with a seamless, stress free workflow behind it - more about that later. So anyway, I've got my EyeTV package on my G5 which will allow me to record the occasional TV program if I want. The cools thing about the latest version of the EyeTV software is that it adds the correct metadata into the recorded file and will automatically add it to the TV Shows section of iTunes. Bingo - it should appear on Apple TV. I've read that Elgato will be pushing out an update once Apple TV is available that might even encode in HD. Another tick in the box. TV Shows from iTunes
Nada, zip, no way hosay :-(
No TV shows available from iTunes Store in UK - Bummer! Movies from iTunes
Nada, zip, no way hosay :-(
No TV shows available from iTunes Store in UK - Bummer! With the absence of TV shows and Movies from the iTunes Store I've been investigating other means of getting "Internet Sourced" content onto the Apple TV. This of course means into iTunes which invariably means re-encoding stuff such as Divx encoded material or transcoding 1080 resolution transport streams into iTunes compatible format. No good, especially transcoding 1080 HD ts material into 720p mpeg - it takes forever! So either Apple needs to open up the store to us here in the UK (I'd gladly pay) or can we expect to see more "internet Sourced" stuff being made available pre-coded for the Apple TV. I suppose it depends on penetration and numbers. We'll soon know!

Technorati Tags: Apple, itv, BitTorrent, Apple TV

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Its a Wrap!

Well, you probably know I did Macworld 2007 last week. I think I’m nearly over it but not quite! Some additional media clips - If you want to check out any of the events I was invited to attend and voice my opinion, here’s a few links: MacVoices - Day Two Wrap-Up Panel Discussion The second MacVoices’ Expo Wrap-Up panel concludes Day 2 at Macworld Conference & Expo with MacVoices’ new European correspondent Don McAllister of Screencasts Online showing up in San Francisco on a surprise basis. Don joins MacVoices’ youth correspondent Dan Pourhadi, Take Control author Steve Sande, and Joel Persing of the Hershey Apple Core to discuss what they saw and what they liked at Expo. Included are Dan’s revised thoughts on the ModBook, a new Sync program that Steve is writing the documentation for, furniture manufacturing software from Joel. and what got Don’s attention on his first day at Expo. MacVoices Day Four Wrap-Up Panel Just after the close of Macworld Conference & Expo 2007, the final panel consisting of Don McAllister of Screencasts Online, Joel Persing of the Hershey Apple Core and host Chuck Joiner find some soft seats to review the week and the quality of the year’s biggest Mac event, what they liked and why they’ll be back. Mac OS Ken - Interview Ken collared me and Adam from the Maccast as we were leaving one of the many after hours events at Macworld (OK - a party!) Listen and see who you think has had the most sherbets! Actually, on reflection we all sound remarkably sober! Interview with Ken Ray and Adam Christianson (Maccast) - Click on Listen Now and select episode Mac OS Ken: 01.11.2007 Maccast - Mac Podcasters Meetup Adam from the Maccast also put together this event at the San Francisco Apple Store. I was honoured to be in such illustrious company. Adam has posted both parts of the discussion but my little party piece is in part 2. Part 1 can be found here. It’s really weird listening to such familiar voices (to me anyway) all taking part in the same conversation! A big shout out to those ScreenCastOnline viewers who took the time to come over and say hello, it was fantastic to meet you all!

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$1 Billion Pure Profit!

Ok, Hands up, who is surprised? No really? Thought not :-) The Apple quarterly results are amazing but it seems Apple can do no wrong. But don't forget folks, that was last quarter. That's before: Apple TV HD content from iTunes iPhone Leopard iLife 07 iWork 07 Quad Mac Pro Adobe releasing CS3 releasing all those Pros to upgrade And that's only stuff we know about. What about the other cool products Apple have in store for us that don't even know about yet! OMG! Can I buy Apple stock in the UK?

Technorati Tags: Apple

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