Apple Enters Media Center Domain

An anonymous reader writes "CNN has a story up describing Apple's new media center concept. The software takes on a classic Apple approach: simplicity. 'The program, called Front Row, lets you listen to music, watch videos, play DVDs and display photos from a distance with a few clicks of a lighter-sized, six-button remote control.'" More details available from ThinkSecret.

Six-button remote control

[Anonymous Coward]

Five of buttons change the color of media center unit and one is for the mouse click.

If you will forgive a little whining...

[Golias]

"Apple Releases Front Row Media Software" is a news story. (Or, at the very least, a slashvertizement worth reading.)

"Somebody From CNN Write About Apple's Front Row Media Software, Which Was Released About A Month Ago" is the sort of submission that MacSlash and other "what Steve Jobs had for breakfast today is thrilling news to us" sites would probably reject.

I'd rather read a badly-written review of Front Row by some random slashbot (or a link to some techie-site review, like Ars) than another "OMG! Apple Matters So Much That CNN Is Writing About Their Software" submission. Come on, editors. You can do better.

six buttons?

[Anonymous Coward]

"a few clicks of a lighter-sized, six-button remote control."

shouldn't it just have 1 button?

Re:Old News?

[sgant]

In other news, Apple is rumored to be working on an operating system that is based on BSD Unix and will have a user-friendly UI attached to it.

They are also thinking of getting into the music arena, possibly with portable MP3 players, but analysts say this is just crazy.

Re:If you will forgive a little whining...

[kerry-buckley]

Come on, editors. You can do better.

Recent experience would appear to indicate otherwise.

six buttons?

[cancerward]

Six buttons is too many for an Apple object! I suggest just one button, and the remote can
have a motion detector in it; the user can hold the remote parallel to the appropriate
face of a cube, and click the button. Simplicity itself!

HUGE announcement from Think Secret

[yardbird]

WIth the roll-out of the new Mac mini, which sources continue to maintain will be bigger than anyone can imagine...

So what are we talking about? The Mac Maxi?

At Microsoft Headquarters ...

[ta ma de]

The employees create beowolf clusters with mac mini media centers. The Soviets do it too, but no one cares.

MicroSoft?

[putko]

I bet MS is kinda scared about this. At this stage in the game, I think there are a lot of satisfied Apple customers who'd love to bring an 'iPod' quality media device into their living room.

I don't think MicroSoft has built up this sort of goodwill.

In fact, I saw on TV -- "The Apprentice", where they has MicroSoft on the show. Trump said to them, "I use a lot of MicroSoft, and it works." As if that was news.

Not "it works fanTASTIcally!" -- but just a limp-sounding "it works."

Given how much Trump exaggerates, it automatically downgraded his statement to, "on good days it kinda works," -- basically, if something is half-assed, Trump says it is the best thing ever. So I think MicroSoft has a customer-perception problem.

Re:HUGE announcement from Think Secret

[ta ma de]

I will buy a mac maxi ASAP, so that my house can evolve into the Mac Maxi Pad it was always intended to be.

Re:Or....

[Jozer99]

Thats because everybody else got sick of saying it 6 months before that. Sorry to be rude, but look at the archvives of thinksecret. Every 5th story is something about how Apple is going to kill MCE, or merge with some other media company (TiVo, XM, Sirus, ect...)

Their MP3 player won't be any good.

[ThreeDayMonk]

They are also thinking of getting into the music arena, possibly with portable MP3 players, but analysts say this is just crazy.

I hear that it will have lower capacity than its competitors, and lack wireless. As that's lame [slashdot.org], no one will buy it.

Re:About time

[SmittyTheBold]

I refuse to purchase any machine with the display married to the computer...I love their PowerBooks

I know it's not really what you meant, but technically...