9to5 Staff

According to the C|Net UK’s  Nate Lanxon, Internet tabloid celebrity Jason Calcanis is going around the Valley telling people that Apple is about to get into the Networked HDTV business.  Beyond the endorsement from Calcanis, who might just be seeking yet another avenue of self-promotion, it does make sense for Apple to be joining this very big market.  They currently make large screen cinema displays, AppleTVs and all-in one units like the iMac.  They also sell lots of TV shows and movies.  Technologically speaking, Apple could probably put together a product in a three day weekend (or 30 seconds with some double sided tape, a cinema display, an Apple TV and a HDMI-DVI adapter)….the question is: is the market big enough to justify building it?  Is it mature enough?  Too mature?  One would think that time is getting close.

Apple, under Steve Jobs, has always been the master of timing, bringing products out right at the cusp of technological maturity.  The iPod and iPhone are perfect examples of this.  When the technology made sense for a product that people would want to use, and not a moment before, Apple released something amazing.  There were MP3 Players before the iPod and smartphones before the iPhone, but when Apple delivered the products, it changed the game.

Apple hasn’t really had the same experience with AppleTV.  While there are many compelling reasons to get one, it isn’t a "must have".  Yet.  Perhaps if Apple innovated up the value chain making some heavy duty equipment with the ability to play videos (please Apple, acknowledge other file formats besides .mp4 and .mov) from a media server.  Or just put a 1Tb drive in the AppleTV model of the HDTV and a H.264 encoder and let me have my way with my media library.   Lots of possibilities here.  From C|Net:

TVs are a huge market. What better way to extend the iTunes Store than by providing an elegant TV that seamlessly integrates with its movie and TV offerings? Apple Computer Inc dropped the ‘Computer’ for a reason, and I have no reason to doubt that this has been on the roadmap ever since.

Or is Calcanis just doing Apple rumors to satisfy his need to be like Kevin Rose (See Netscape vs. Digg)

Via MacRumors

It takes the kind of demented mind that is posessed by one Dr. Macenstein to see the cryptic messages Apple is sending us…or so we are hoping.  Dr. Macenstein reports that the October 14th event invite is actually a glass trackpad.  Yes, that glass trackpad!  If you look at it the right way, under certain conditions…well you get the drift.  Set your clock to count down until Tuesday.  BTW, We’ll be doing our livepanel, bringing you all of the best liveblogs on one page…check back here Tuesday morning..See Macenstein’s image after the break.

 Apple’s success with the iPhone and the explosion of activity surrounding its App Store has driven other handset makers, including Nokia and RIM to reveal plans for their own stores – and has thrown a firework under mobile application developer’s chairs, who find themselves busier than ever – and they’re thankful.

Internet News reports Albert Chu, vice president of global marketing and alliances for mobile software developer, Access Systems, is over the moon at the new entente between mobile makers, carriers and developers. Apple has driven a liberalisation in the market that – realistically – has opened up opportunity across the whole sector.

Chu said, "Our key customers are saying, ‘Make our phone like the iPhone’. There are a lot of things we’ve been trying to sell them in terms of touch and other ideas we’ve tried to peddle, but these are pretty conservative companies. The iPhone has been a disruptive force."

At HP too, the iPhone bell is callinlg, with product marketing man Kurt Kruger remarking, "Thanks to Apple for raising the bar to the mobile operators around the world and helping them really understand that they need to evolve their business practices a bit."

(And yeah, there’s continued rumours HP plans its own iPhone competitor, though there is a danger we’re seeing a repeat of the iPod here, with all devices not being an iPod eventually lumped into a pile called ‘failed iPod killers’. History repeats itself, after all).

Returning to the Internet News report,"Because of Apple’s success, "every platform will have a centralized distribution for applications," said Greg Yardley, CEO of Pinch Media, You’ll see a variety of App stores."

The evolution of touch and mobile application development is very real. As we reported yesterday (‘South Park App’s a comedy as iPhone gold rush booms‘), the mobile ads market’s about to grow into a $12 billion business by 2012, up $10 billion on what it’s worth today. And that’s the cash that’s driving developers to get into mobile right now. And a criticism really of the mobile sector, which somewhat complacently required the entrance of Apple into the business in order to rise to the challenge of innovation.

Not to be outdone, a Google Android developer has built software that emulates the function of the Remote app on an iPhone.

Designed by Jeff Sharkey, the application can be recognised by your PC or Mac’s iTunes. Once it is paired you will be able to browse your library, view album art and play music.

It uses the Digital Audio Control Protocol (DACP), which was recently introduced by Apple and is built into all recent iTunes versions. DACP is the actual protocol used by the Remote app on the iPhone/iPod Touch.

The developer explains, "With the protocol now reverse engineered, I wrote an Android client in about a week. Now you can remote control your iTunes from your new Android phone when it arrives later this year."

Here’s a video of the application in action.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1919916&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1
Android iTunes Remote Control from Jeffrey Sharkey on Vimeo.

The recently introduced Apple TV 2.2 update may have made an appearance with little fanfare, but did in fact introduce a range of cool improvements to the device.

We’re all aware that the system can now generate Genius playlists based on a selected track – that feature’s been widely-reported. But it doesn’t stop there – system handling of music videos has at last been improved, in order that users can simply hit a button and the music videos will play one after another.

That’s significant because until now you had to initiate playback on each music video manually. And you can now also shuffle videos as well, and also build your own video playlists, which can include a mix of music and video.

Green-aware users have complained that the Apple TV is an always-on device. If you’ve ever touched one in operation you’ll know that it exudes a fair amount of heat, suggesting the system also uses a fair amount of power. With no way to switch the machine off, this was a waste of energy – not really in tune with the times. The new software now offers a Standby button within the device menu.

The update also includes user interface tweaks in the YouTube player and photo slideshows and introduces new features like On-The-Go and Genius playlists, HD television shows purchases and an improved standby mode. 

US users can also purchase TV shows in HD format. Browsing the store has been massively improved – you can now browse movies on the iTunes store by actor and director. Select “More” on the movie page and browse the actor and director list on the left to see other movies for that individual.

Additional new features include support for On-the-Go playlist creation and a bunch of security enhancements.

Early reports suggested that installing the software could create problems with the system engaging in an endless cycle of restarts – we experienced similar symptoms, but the system seemed to right itself after around five minutes.

Boingboing (and others) did some analysis on the aluminum laptop in the Apple event invitation and concluded it was a regular MacBook.  It wasn’t. 

MacBooks will have black (perhaps other colors – we have only heard black) plastic outer shells.  The same type of plastic that is on the backside of an iMac. 

The inside shell, around the keyboard and the screen will be aluminum and that one piece structure will be the skeleton of the laptop.  

It will be two-tone.  Think if a iMac and a MacBook Air had offspring.  Thinner than its predecessor.   They are going to sell a lot of these.  More info on the MacBook.

An interesting sidenote…the invite could be a 13 inch MacBook …Pro.

….or so we’ve heard….by the way, yes the picture is fake but is about the closest we could find to the real…

From MarketWatch…

Apple on Thursday e-mailed invitations to media members for an event on Oct. 14 at the company’s Cupertino, Calif. headquarters where Apple is set to rollout new models of its Macintosh laptop computers. The invitations, which read "The spotlight turns to notebooks," featured a partially obscured notebook PC coming out of shadows with a light upon the Apple logo. Apple has been expected to do some sort of revamp of its notebook line ahead of the end of the year holiday shopping season. Apple shares rose $2.67, or almost 3%, to $92.42 in afternoon trading.

Contrary to reports from other publications, the long anticipated MacBook event is on!  Did you ever doubt? (us neither)

AT&T has introduced an online credit check and account set-up service for the iPhone 3G, attempting to reduce in store wait time for customers.

The move means iPhone 3G customers can set up accounts online before heading to the nearest store to activate and complete the purchase.

New customers can perform a pre-qualifying credit check and determine eligibility to port an existing phone number to AT&T in advance by visiting http://www.att.com/iphone.

Existing AT&T customers can also determine eligibility to add a new line for iPhone. The new AT&T online service joins Apple’s existing offering to speed iPhone purchasing up.

It’s like everyone and their brother has some new Apple parts laying around the house at this point.  Apple.pro chimes in against last night’s shot with a few from someone with some fugly hands…  You can see the CRT television, the running shoes, the smokes and some very Apple-icious cases.  Let’s all remember that Asia is the land of amazing knock-offs and just because some dude has a bunch of MacBook type shells in his house, it doesn’t mean thats what will be in stores later this month.  Huge-er shots after the break.

Microsoft isn’t just suffering from Google-envy – it’s got a high dose of Apple envy, too – now it seems set to do what it can to transform the Xbox 360 into more of an Apple TV-alternate than before.

Microsoft today announced at the Tokyo Game Show 2008 that the New Xbox Experience will launch on Wednesday, Nov. 19, when the company aims to "put more entertainment at their fingertips than any other device connected to the TV."

Microsoft also announced that beginning this month shoppers buying one of these consoles will get a bunch of games for free (at least in the US).

But it’s not just games: existing film, TV and music offerings all seem set to be ramped-up with the new "Experience", which will also offer enhanced sharing and social networking features through Xbox Live (well, that’s if we’re translating this message out of Redmond correctly).

As we all know, the Xbox 360 already offers over 12,000 films and TV episodes from Netflix, and a large online library of on-demand high-definition TV shows and movies from partners such as Constantin, Disney, MGM, NBC Universal and Warner Bros. Entertainment.

However, with the company slashing console prices and offering free titles, we wonder just how much cash investors are going to allow Microsoft to fork out as it follows its imitation innovation strategy?

We’re excited about this – the South Park team are developing what looks set to quickly become one of the most downloaded applications on the App Store, the South Park iPhone app.

This app will grab clips, wallpapers, South park-related news and even lets you use South Park characters as pictures for your contact book. As reported by BoingBoing the application won’t let you download and stream full-length episodes, so you’ll have to use iTunes to buy and YouTube to forage for those (and don’t forget all South Park episodes are available legally online), but it looks great, and we think it will be really rather popular.

We also know the application has been submitted to Apple and "hopefully will be made available soon", the South Park people said. Recent weeks have seen the delay between submission and arrival on the store pan out at around seven days, so with luck we should be playing with this app come next week (It wasn’t available at time of writing).

Naturally, there’s a serious side – this kind of interactive experience is becoming a growth industry for marketing people, with a host of companies seeking to emulate the Audi driving or iPint experience by offering a little dose of iPhone fun beside their brand. Kind of "friendly advertising", which they hope we’ll be less resistant too.

And it seems this kind of mobile advertising’s emerging as THE growth sector, according to a report on CNN. That report says the mobile ads market’s about to grow into a $12 billion business by 2012, up $10 billion on what it’s worth today. T

hat’s a lot of cash to divvy out between savvy iPhone application developers. And if you want to get more savvy, Apple announced a world tour for developers this morning – check here. Now get building, even in this recession there’s an Apple-inspired Gold Rush on…

The connection between Ben Folds and Apple grows ever stronger, it seems, with the artist scheduled to perform live at the Apple retail store in Chicago this Friday.

According to Time Out Chicago in its article, "Ben Folds goes Genius Bar hopping", the artist will perform a free show at the North Michigan Ave Apple Store in Chicago (679 N. Michigan Ave.) at 3pm this Friday, October 10, just before his appearance at the Congress Theater in Chicago that night.

This news follows revelations earlier this week that Folds is working with iTunes to release an exclusive live album, releasing a single track taken from the gig the preceding night via iTunes every morning during his current tour, with the whole collection to also be made available as an album.

An even better tick to Apple’s moves in the creative industry. The recordings are made on a Mac, previewed on an iPod, Folds makes the original cover art using PhotoBooth application and sends the music to iTunes for sale the next day. 

Apple plans to drive a price-driven stake through competing PC brands in the ailing market, boosting sales with the introduction of its first $799 MacBook, a report claims (via MacRumors).

The news follows hot on the heels of the recently leaked image of the new Apple notebook, and the information is decribed as coming from a reliable source, says Inquisitr.com.

"According to the source, Apple retail stores have been given price sheets that list 12 price points for the new range, with prices between $800-$3100."

This indicates some diversification of the existing range: MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, with 12 standard configurations rather than 8 claimed by the source, presumably an Apple retailer.  That puts the price differentiation at about 4 price points per model, unless *gasp* Apple is to release a new model or have more color options.

The new Macs are expected to be made using an advanced new manufacturing process (dubbed ‘Brick’) and to field advanced Nvidia graphics, at least on some models.

No event invitations have gone out yet but given all of the recent activity in this area, it is hard to imagine we’ll have to wait too much longer for an introduction.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak may have pronounced it dead, but it looks like there will be iPod connections pre-installed in over half the new cars introduced in the US next year.

iSuppli points out that this trend reflects automaker’s growing understanding that they must pimp out their rides with ever more technology.

"US consumers for the past few years have been demanding improved connectivity between their vehicles’ audio/video systems and their media players, particularly iPods," iSuppli explains.

Seems the response is strong:

– 39 percent of vehicle models sold in the US in 2008 expected to offer iPod integration options. 

– In 2009, this will rise to 58 percent of car models, which will have iPod support available from the factory, marking the first time that more than half will sport this feature. 

For the also rans of digital player, manufacturers are focusing on USB as an interface, this will be available on one-third of available vehicle models next year – from 16 per cent in 2008, the analysts said. Bluetooth will rise to 82 percent in 2009, either as standard or optional equipment.

“The automotive industry is at the point where in-vehicle technologies – or the lack of them – are influencing sales,” said Phil Magney, vice president of automotive research for iSuppli. “The charge toward greater technological integration has been led by car makers like Hyundai and Honda, which are making USB/iPod combination interfaces standard on many of their vehicles. It’s also been spurred by those like Audi and Mercedes, which offer integrated Media Device Gateways that allow any device imaginable to integrate with a vehicle.”

iSuppli’s Technology Availability Index also reports that embedded Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) used in infotainment systems will be available in nearly one-third of the 2009 model lineup, or in approximately 88 models. This trend is fueled by the increasing size of digital maps and related content along with storage for audio files. Higher-definition maps, 3D images and tens-of-millions of Points of Interest (POIs) demand HDDs with greater data capacities, even as data aggregators develop better compression methods. OEMs like Chrysler, Mercedes, Ford, Volkswagen and Nissan have responded by integrating HDDs into their current products.

Another feature that is more evident in the 2009 model year is real-time, location-based content – real-time traffic will be part of the deal with some car models from Ford, Volkswagen, Mercedes and GM, the report observes, and Bluetooth and satellite radio support are also becoming de rigeur.

 IMAGE: A fast car – the Ferrari California which made its public debut at the Paris Show this month, it boasts an infotainment system with 6.5’’ touchscreen, Sat Nav, USB connection, Bluetooth, hard disc, voice commands and iPod connector.

Upon further review, we are not so sure this picture represents the new MacBook Pro. While it does look exact in a lot of areas, the white ‘splotch’ on the top left looks suspicious.  We took the original from the Chinese forum and blew it up a bit.  If you look at the white area, it doesn’t really conform the way it should around the beveled keyboard, especially if it is supposed to be a light reflection.  We’re torn 50-50, what do you think?

We actually love John Hodgeman, especially his Daily Show appearances…when not all PC’ed up he seems like a pretty funny guy. Juxtapose that with the Real PC  guy who seems like he might be one of the least cool guys in Microsoft’s IPv6 development department.

That is just Microsoft being Microsoft.

Engadget thinks it might have found the next MacBook Pro in this spy shot.  Looks pretty good to us – One piece of Aluminum, check.  Laser cut speaker holes? Check.  Notice how much smaller those are than current Macbook Pro speaker holes.   Also, we notice that these things are somehow getting even thinner than the width of a USB port. 

Click here for more insightful analysis :P

Swiss Mac website, MacPrime, has uncovered evidence indicating that Apple will open its first retail store in Germany in the coming weeks.

Situated in Munich on Rosenstrasse (Berlin’s equivalent is the subject of an award-winning German film), little is known about the store so far, but we can speculate it will offer Apple’s 21st-Century design aesthetic, be staffed by enthusiastic  Mac users from across Germany, and will likely be run by a US-trained manager. Otherwise, it’s all simple speculation.

MacPrime adds that the constuction plans for the site have been public since last month, though Apple hasn’t yet published any information pertaining to its new shop on its retails site.

The evidence for the location emerged as part of an all-new initiative from Apple, which it is calling ‘Field Trip’. Essentially the company is inviting schools and colleges to book time at an Apple retails store in order to engage in a host of training toward creating a project. 

Apple’s words, "Whether your students create a project from scratch or come to showcase the remarkable work they’ve already created, we provide all the hardware and software they need. Trainers and Specialists will be there to answer questions and give expert, on-the-spot advice. Every participating student gets a free T-Shirt. We even supply personalized invitations for parents, teachers, and friends. And just wait till you see the smiles they take home."

News of the Rosenstrasse location tallies well with a Spring 2007 tip given to IFO AppleStore which suggested Apple planned to open for business on that street, the main city square of Munich and a typically up-market area in which to plant an Apple shop.

"As of February 2008 the existing building had been demolished and the foundation had been laid. Could open by late 2008 or early 2009," IFO AppleStore informs.

Stores in Frankfurt and Berlin are also expected.

 Everybody’s talking about RIM’s answer to the iPhone, the Blackberry Storm, which begins shipping in many markets from next month. Frankly, there’s so much information on this circulating everywhere we were wondering what we could offer, but in view of today’s survey which underlined the importance of video online, we’ve trawled around for this video, in which Vodafone’s chief marketing manager, Frank H. Rovekamp, explains the key features of the device.

Key differences/similarities to the iPhone: 3.25-inch screen, 3.2MP camera, video capture, music playback, and (erm, hello, Cupertino, are you on this yet) copy & paste.