Some notes from today's event

Seth Weintraub | Sep 1 2010 - 12:10 pm PT

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iTunes 10 is already live or just the download button?. Update: So is the store. and Apple’s website
iPod Classic is dead. Frommer gets a star? Update: Maybe not. Still, no mention at the event doesn’t bode well long term. Think more like ‘we made enough to last a few more months.’
iPod nano is small (even smaller than the screen on the previous model) but also loses the camera which was nice on a device that small. Even Steve said people would wear them as a watch, so I get a star. Speaking of Stars, holy cow! Mr. Nano mockup gets a galaxy of stars. Display is square(!) at 240×240 pixels. Still has FM. Also has accelerometer. It weighs under an ounce(!). I think at 1.5 inches diagonally, it may be too small for videos but perfect for watches.
AppleTV is awesome but maybe the coolest part is the Airport Express Video functionality. Carrying around media on iPads, iPhones and iPods, it will be pretty cool to be able to shoot that right over to the TV. Renting movies and TV shows does two things. It makes cable optional. It also means that TV shows now are a buck a pop or more. If you watch 10 shows (Fox and ABC) a week, that is $40/month. Not a bad tradeoff at that frequency. $4.99 for first run movies is also OK, but I still like buying BlueRay for the good stuff. AppleTV 1080P next year will be much more awesome. Also…what’s that mini-USB port for? Apple gets mega points for USB Stick/USB HD access but just like the older AppleTV, we’re not likely to be able to (officially;) use it. Also, is does NOT do Gigabit Ethernet, which means your fastest method of streaming is N wireless which is marginally faster if there isn’t much overhead. Also, this is the greenest TV appliance you’ll ever see with only a 6 watt power supply. Thank the A4 chip for that. At $99, this will no longer be a hobby, but a popular iOS device accesory.
Speaking of Airplay, it is coming to 3rd parties! (at least the audio component)
iPod touch back camera is only 960×720(!!) pixels for stills. That is abhorrant. They should have made a thicker iPod touch with a decent camera. This one is only good for video – just like the last iPod nano. The entry price went up $30 to get an iPod but that $30 buys you an A4 processor, two cameras and Retina. Not bad.
The video stream of the event was good overall for us but there were definitely some hiccups along the way. I’d rate it a success with the amount of traffic it must have received, but some improvements can definitely be made.
Steve Jobs is looking better. Perhaps that three week vacation in Hawaii last month did him some good.