Mac mini, Apple DVR? 487
CDPatten was one of several to note the rumor of a new Mac
PVR... code named Kaleidoscope and featuring an Intel CPU and Front Row 2.0.
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Mac mini, Apple DVR?
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"The following is not for the weak of heart or Fundamentalists." -- Dave Barry
Plus an iPod dock (Score:5, Interesting)
all-important? (Score:3, Interesting)
True DVR capability though... if it has both well-designed, powerful iSoftware AND true plug-n-play hardware, that would make it a serious killer device that launches Macs into millions of living rooms.
If there really is a Macintel mini next month, most likely they'll release a low-end model comparable to the existing high-end, and a premium versi
Re:all-important? (Score:5, Interesting)
Compared to dedicated products like TiVo, an Apple PVR could have a lot to offer if it is not a closed, locked-down system. Provide a high-quality usable product up-front, but in addition turn the user base loose and see what they come up with. Remember, Apple did not invent podcasting.
Would an Apple PVR go anywhere Microsoft's media PC hasn't already gone? Since Apple already has content distribution deals with major players like ABC, I'd say it's a possibility. Hardly anybody even knows that Microsoft has its own music-store competitor to iTunes.
Re:Plus an iPod dock (Score:5, Informative)
In other news... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:In other news... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:In other news... (Score:5, Interesting)
True...although considering that the mac mini isn't all that much bigger than a VHS tape, if all i wanted to do was tape something and bring it to a friend's house, even if they drm'd it to death i could conceivably just pick up my whole pvr and take it with me everywhere. intriguiging...
Re:In other news... (Score:3, Insightful)
If any company can manage seamless, quality DRM acceptable to all parties, it's Apple.
D
Re:In other news... (Score:5, Insightful)
Besides, I doubt Apple would try to push portability in a PVR design anyways. They'd probably rather people use the video iPod for that.
Re:In other news... (Score:3, Interesting)
Fortunately I live in Britain, where all you need is a demultiplexer to grab the digital signal and record it completely unchanged on the harddisk. Since a settop box with receiver, demultiplexer and decoder costs less than £30, all the functionality should be quite cheap.
If you then consider that
Re:In other news... (Score:2)
Re:In other news... (Score:2, Interesting)
Apple doesn't irritate me with DRM. iTunes is a very good ripping machine that doesn't care about what you are doing.
You can even drag folders and folders of illegal MP3s directly into iTunes to be automagically sorted and becoming a first class citizens together with your legally purchased music from iTunes Music Store.
And you can mix. Burn.
And transfer all your files to as many iPods you want.
And you can copy ALL your music - except songs bough
Re:In other news... (Score:2)
Re:In other news... (Score:4, Insightful)
Some things broadcast on TV are entertaining. There's nothing wrong with wanting to watch entertaining things, so a system which helps me sift the entertainment out of the vast mass of TV crap out there is a winner.
Why people like you advocate the wholesale boycott of TV instead of embracing the ways to cherry-pick the good stuff while ignoring the rubbish is beyond me. "We have the technology", and not all of us are vegetative couch potato folks sitting in front of the tube watching rubbish while waiting for the good stuff.
Re:In other news... (Score:2)
Well, its not really off-topic, because PVRs are supposed to help you "cherry-pcik", but in reality people use them to consume even more junk. Just like the original VCR - people tape stuff "becasue they can", and nver get around to watching half of it.
So, how much TV have you watched the last year, including the time spent doing the "cherry-picking"? Mine stays off for weeks at a time. Actually, its pretty much only been on this year when friends come over to watch a dvd.
Re:In other news... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:In other news... (Score:4, Funny)
Besides, you have to have a bit of insight to be funny ... otherwise it wouldn't be funny, so its karmic (ok, moan and groan, that pun was pretty bad)
Re:In other news... (Score:4, Insightful)
Then I'm glad you are here to tell us how to use our technology properly. News flash: everything on TV is there because lots of people watch it. That's the reality of the business. Just because you and I don't like 90% of the programming available doesn't mean that no one likes it. Obviously people are watching it, or the networks would replace it with something else. The whole point of television is to get people to watch, so they can sell advertising. And as a ten-percenter (someone who only likes 10% of available programming) I'm grateful for technologies that allow me to find what I want without having to watch the things I don't. And if I record something with the intention of watching it and never do, it's not a problem. I didn't pay to record that program, and once I delete it the disk space can be used for other things. No sweat.
So, how much TV have you watched the last year, including the time spent doing the "cherry-picking"? Mine stays off for weeks at a time. Actually, its pretty much only been on this year when friends come over to watch a dvd.
Actually, I've spent quite a bit of time watching program's I've "cherry-picked", but almost all of it was because of my automatic script pulling episodes out of RSS feeds and downloading them via BitTorrent. The actual television was off for most of that time, and the time spent doing the actual "cherry-picking" was minimal; it amounted to me typing a regular expression into my filter list and letting the script automatically download the episodes. Sometimes I hear about a new show, and I download one to try it out. If I like it, it goes into the regular rotation. If not, I delete it and get on with my life.
I am currently in the process of building a MythTV box, to free up my cable modem. And, so I can sit on the couch and watch the episodes, instead of at my desk. And, so I can see them on my big TV instead of my smaller LCD monitor. And, so I can record sports to timeshift (no one on BitTorrent seems to care about distributing NCAA basketball games). And, to free up my hard drive.
The DVR has essentially turned television into a pull medium instead of the push medium it has been since its debut. It has put the consumer back in control. How is this a bad thing, again?
Re:In other news... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:In other news... (Score:3, Insightful)
First, my kids will not have watched nearly that much TV by the time they finish high school. Why? Because I believe in good parenting, which shouldn't include the TV as a babysitter.
Second, do I care if other people's kids watch crazy amounts of TV? Not in the slightest. If parents want to stuff their kids with junk food, sit them in front of the TV for hours, then teach them
Re:In other news... (Score:3, Insightful)
I think everyone noticed the gm vans - it was damned annoying.
Now, if we're going to talk advertising impressions, and really amazing numbers, we have to go with the pros - pro sports, that is.
Take hockey. You know all those ads on the sideboards in in the ice? Advertisers have people who count the number of times each ad shows on-screen. The more, the better. It means it was a fast-paced game, and had people looking. It also meant that the camera-work was good. We're talking about generating hundreds o
The excuse I need. (Score:5, Interesting)
I would like to have a Mac around to experience OS/X but I don't need it and therefor have no reason to spend the money. Make it do something useful for me that I would have to already spend money to have and then I can consider it.
Yeah I know TiVO is big, my friends have them. I also see MCE and some Linux solutions. The first is proprietary and the other two require work on my end to have something that both looks decent and might actually work.
If Apple can deliver a PVR that also allows me to dabble with OS/X who knows where it might lead. The big IF is, will they price it for the market or let their ego do the pricing?
Re:The excuse I need. (Score:2)
OS X is so damnned good that I've pretty much abandoned Linux after been devoted to it for many years.
Re:The excuse I need. (Score:5, Interesting)
At the exact same time, people were abandoning Apple in droves for competitors who had lousy support.
So, you can't blame Apple for bad support. You have to blame the invisible hand of the free market.
Re:The excuse I need. (Score:2)
True, I had AppleCare, but I thought it'd be more inconvenient than just that.
So, to each, mileage may vary.
Re:The excuse I need. (Score:2)
That's too bad. I just had a fantastic experience with Apple support. My iBook fell prey to the heinous iBook Logic Board Screwup [apple.com]. It didn't break until a week after the free replacement program ended, but Apple agreed to fix it anyway for free. They sent me a nice box to ship it in and
On the Mactel, repartition the drive or (Score:2)
Re:The excuse I need. (Score:5, Insightful)
So you dismissed the TiVo because it's proprietary and yet would like a DVR from Apple? I seriously doubt whatever Apple releases will be any less proprietary than TiVo...
Re:The excuse I need. (Score:2)
And I agree- they definitely better not put a clock on it.
Will MythTV run? (Score:3, Interesting)
MythTV already runs on Mac OS X (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.mythtv.info/moin.cgi/MythOnMacOsx [mythtv.info]
Re:MythTV already runs on Mac OS X (Score:2)
A PVR without the V.. what is it, a PR?
Re:MythTV already runs on Mac OS X (Score:2)
Re:MythTV already runs on Mac OS X (Score:2)
Re:Will MythTV run? (Score:2)
As an aside, I hope Apple goes with their plan to use a larger HDD. I mean, the unit is much, much smaller than it needs to be - I doubt anyone would complain if their PVR was even as big as a DVD player - and the Mini is obscenely tiny. The payoff in disk space (or price) would be well worth the increase in size.
Re:Will MythTV run? (Score:2)
Apple iProduct. You'll buy it. And you'll like it. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Apple iProduct. You'll buy it. And you'll like (Score:2, Funny)
Yep, it looks like the Apple Product Cycle [misterbg.org] is operating 100% according to spec on this one.
--
"Threads pop up around feature wish lists, favorite colors, and likely retail price points..."
video ipod (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously, who cares about "Watching their music"
Re:video ipod (Score:5, Funny)
Those of us on acid, naturally.
Re:video ipod (Score:5, Insightful)
I can guarantee that it will not sync with the video ipod in a useful way (ie transcode TV shows to ipod's low res format)
Because:
1) I doubt this thing will be fast enough to transcode a TV show in a timeframe deemed acceptable to Apple's high QA standards.
2) Revenue sources (why would anyone buy what they can set their shiny new Apple PVR to record?)
3) Fear of getting sued.
Re:video ipod (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple has a QA standard to tv transcoding? The closest thing I can think of is an iDVD encoding which can take hours on my dual 1.8Ghz. I'm sure that a mac mini can transcode a tv show to low res in less than hours. Hell, even with the hardware that's in the little boxes now shows could almost be transcoded on the fly. How is that not good enough?
2) Revenue sources (why would anyone buy what they can set their shiny new Apple PVR to record?)
The same reason people with tivos still buy DVDs, extra content. If you refer to the music store, then I submit that their ultimate goal is to be the content distribution medium for videos and shows that *aren't* on network television. Think of Star Trek: Beyond; now replace Star Trek with New, Brilliantly Written, Made by the Viewer tv show. Such a beast could never hope to reach a market via television unless they were very lucky; but now anyone can make a show and get it on iTunes.
3) Fear of getting sued.
Silly. It would be no more than a portable tivo.
Re:video ipod (Score:2)
(PSP as a LocationFree client is already confirmed and shipping...)
It's good, but... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:It's good, but... (Score:5, Funny)
"...Shall I e-order beer and pizza for you?"
I wish clippy did anything as useful as suggesting beer and pizza.
Re:It's good, but... (Score:2, Funny)
Mini-mac PVR (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Mini-mac PVR (Score:5, Interesting)
Since I use a projection system and don't really need my media computer to be teeny-tiny, I'm actually replacing it this week with a refurb G5 tower. The mini is going into my music studio rack as a headless digital audio processor. Versitile little gadgets, those minis.
Apple's move to get video on the ipod (Score:3, Interesting)
But now that I think about it, this would cannibalize iTunes TV show sales... Maybe this is all rumor?
Re:Apple's move to get video on the ipod (Score:2)
Re:Apple's move to get video on the ipod (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Apple's move to get video on the ipod (Score:2)
But now that I think about it, this would cannibalize iTunes TV show sales... Maybe this is all rumor?
Sort of the way the ability to rip CDs and import downloaded songs cannibalizes iTunes music sales? Apple has been using the same model for years, they break even on consumer software and services in order to sell hardware and professional grade software. I don't think they care if users use the iTunes store except in that it leads to iPod and Mac sales and counters an MS file format lock-in on media.
Why do people buy from iTMS? (Score:4, Insightful)
Once Apple has millions of these in living rooms, there will be a much larger potential audience for paid video content.
Not a lot of people are buying iTunes TV shows because not a lot of people have a Digital Home Theater.
Times Have Changed (Score:2, Insightful)
Kaleidoscope (Score:5, Informative)
Kaleidoscope "skins" were unreal -- take a look (Score:5, Informative)
For those who aren't familiar, the old Kaleidoscope gave you the ability to drop "skins" over the OS 9 finder and OS, to the point where you could go with a complete BeOS or any number of completely outlandish looks and feels.
Half of the results weren't amazingly useful, exactly, but it was so easy to develop a new scheme that you could easily tinker around and produce yout own flavor. The archive of schemes [kaleidoscope.net] pretty much says it all.
Form Factor (Score:3, Interesting)
I am freaked out... (Score:2)
Why build when... (Score:3, Interesting)
TiVo already negotiated the ability to transfer files to the Video iPod, so why not go the next step and put the iPod connector directly on the box itself?
Re:Why build when... (Score:5, Informative)
DVB perhaps? (Score:2)
Re:DVB perhaps? (Score:2)
HDMI inputs, and the ability to control an STB would do the trick - just like Tivo but ready for HD when it arrives. For SD of course SCART is an absolute necessity (biggest problem with MCE at the moment is it's *very* hard to find capture cards with SCART inputs, so they can't be attached to standard media systems).
Price cut? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Price cut? (Score:2)
1.) Plays DVDs. No need for a separate DVD player.
2.) Plays and rips CDs
3.) Stores and plays your digital music library
4.) Allows both audio and video downloads from the iTunes Music Store (tangent: will they be renaming it to simply the "iTunes Store" in the near future?)
5.) Sync with the iPod dir
Re:Price cut? (Score:2)
In the meantime... (Score:4, Informative)
- plays movies
- plays DVDs
- plays DVDs ripped to a VIDEO_TS folder and the parent folder name is what shows up in the menu
It also works with EyeTV products, but I don't have or care about that--being a happy DirecTiVo owner, I was just looking for something that does everything the TiVo doesn't. Works with some ATI remotes, according to the site, and it also works with my $30 Keyspan DMR remote control. Just set '*" to be 'quit' and 'stop' to be 'eject' (in addition to the regular keys--left, right, up, down, enter=middle, space=play/pause, escape=menu) and you're in business. Runs fine on my base (1.25 GHz, 256 MB) Mini.
PVR (Score:2)
This is interesting... (Score:5, Informative)
There is software available as part of the Apple FireWire SDK that lets you record MPEG2 streams direct from a firewire enabled cable box. Hmmm....
Check here [macosxhints.com], here [avsforum.com] and here: [use this link: http://machdtvtimer.home.comcast.net/%5D [comcast.net] for more info.
Re:This is interesting... (Score:2)
Deal (Score:3, Interesting)
If this thing actually appears, I have an old notebook for sale.
No way in hell am I giving M$ the keys to my living room. Linux was tried, but didn't quite work out. I do have confidence in Apple to pull this off. I'm very much looking forward to the Expo.
Many people waiting for this (Score:2)
Interesting, but (Score:2)
Having a built-in DVD player might be a selling point for some...
I am ready to buy my first Mac! (Score:2)
But somewhere along the way my attitude changed and I am looking for something fresh. I am getting tired of sorting out MB conflicts, windows conflicts etc...
I have also come to the point where the power curve is really flattening. My many years old Athlon is still adequate in power for all my needs. Any PC I buy will likely last me many years now.
Everything is lining up now and buy a well packaged qu
Disappointed by Mac Mini as entertainment center (Score:5, Insightful)
These are all the problems I ran into, and I can't imagine how much trouble it would've been getting emulators to work in addition to movies/music (none of the frontends seemed to support emulators).
So to all those that think the Mac Mini is a good entertainment center choice, I say think again! It's really expensive, the software is terrible, and the hardware issues are a real pain. You know what I did recently? Spent far less money on an XBox and put XBMC on it. It works just the way I expect it to, and with a lot less hassle!
Re:Disappointed by Mac Mini as entertainment cente (Score:5, Informative)
Last year I bought myself a Creative Soundblaster MP3+ (paid around $42 US then, its $36 now with FREE ship). The device works great with my iBook G4 and provides me with 1/8", 2 RCA, and OPTICAL inputs and outputs. When connected to the iBook it doesn't require any drivers and all the outputs are recognized under Mac OS X 10.3 and 10.4.
Here's the link to the Creative Sounblaster MP3+ on Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000095IMS/102-1
Re:Disappointed by Mac Mini as entertainment cente (Score:4, Insightful)
Considering the current incarnation of the MacMini isn't advertised, promoted, or intended to be a media center-style PC, why are you disappointed?
Mac mini done better (Score:4, Interesting)
First... An Intel Mac mini means a sub-$500 computer that runs OS X and Windows. Steve Jobs quipped during the launch of the first Mac mini that they wanted to price it so that "people who are, you know, thinking of switching, will have no more excuses". With this they won't even need to keep their own PC - assuming the storage is plentiful and drivers available, they can transfer over all old files from their PC and keep their old environment truckin' in addition to working in OS X.
Speaking of storage. Think Secret's report notices that a 3.5" HD might be in the cards (instead of the current 2.5") which would, even after adding bulk to the relatively small machine, be a good move as it would allow for more storage and cheaper drives. The most spacious 2.5" drives Apple offer today are 120GB for the Powerbook and only 100GB on the mini - the smallest 3.5" Apple will let you get away with on the iMac is a 160GB drive.
While we're dreaming, I hope Apple will make Superdrive (DVD+-RW and Dual Layer) standard, and add Gigabit Ethernet, an extra USB port or two and certainly an extra RAM slot.
Not going to happen. Apple wants no part of DVR. (Score:3, Insightful)
Apple will make a Mac mini running an Intel chip that will be a media player though. It will connect to your television and stereo. It will show photos, play music, and play videos that are on the computer. But it won't record television broadcasts.
What about games? (Score:4, Interesting)
The key would be not to limit functionality to make it feel too much like a special purpose device, but to have a simple button to switch the software from one mode to the other. Maybe just have a remote like a multipurpose remote, with buttons on the top for switching between different modes, and a cool ipod like menu wheel. That would be pretty slick.
makes sense, but... (Score:3, Interesting)
As it is, I use my Mac Mini for DVD playback and as a jukebox; as a PVR, it's not all that usable in its current form.
It's all about the content... (Score:3, Interesting)
Disclaimer... I am an Apple zealot. I have tasted the Koolaid and it was good.
The new iMac with the built in camera, remote, and Front Row was interesting. It was tied to the iTunes music store and created (either by accident or design) the largest iPod on the planet, complete with 20inch LCD if desired. If we apply the remote technology and Front Row from the iMac to the Mini we can in effect turn it into a giant iPod dock.
With the new video iPod we can already perform almost everything we can do in Front Row on a TV by just connecting the iPod. To be really interesting the Mini will need to tap into a greater source of content. It is the content that is the key to any PVR/DVR solution IMO. Comcast manages their content through OnDemand, Tivo was wildly successful because it taped into a huge content store, starting with over the air, then moving to satellite. Unless the Mini can at a minimum support the content I already pay for (digital cable in my case) then I'm really not interested.
There is another post here talking about connecting to digital cable through the firewire connection on the cable box. That would be the least desirable method, but even that would be enough for me to make the purchase. HOWEVER, this firewire connection must be native to the product, not a hack. Ideally I would like to see a cablecard slot in the Mini but that is because I pay for cable. I'm not sure what the best solution is for the folks out there that are using satellite.
My prediction is that the new features of the Mini will tap into a Apple managed content pool, the iTunes store. The launch of this device will coincide with the launch of a much larger video content pool on iTunes, and, if we're lucky, the ability to rip your DVD's to the mini.Ripping DVD's creates its own set of headaches on the Mini. Even with a switch to 3.5 inch hard drives there would still only be room for 1 drive in the system. Even if that drive were a 500gb SATA monster my DVD collection would not fit on the drive. My hope is that Apple will recognize this and let the Mini be the engine or brain allowing me to access a much larger NAS storage solution. I don't want to have to stack external firewire drives next to my Mini in the entertainment center.
This type of separation is a week spot already in the iTunes library. I keep all my music on a NAS appliance at home so that my wife and I can access it at the same time with out a server. When I add new music to the NAS appliance I have to go to my wife's machine and add the new folder to her library. My hope is that a new media center focused Mini could solve this issue by allowing our computers to access the Mini as a server for all of our content, music, video, etc. But if the Mini is limited to internal storage it really won't be able to keep up with the volume of content.
PVR/DVR solutions don't really have this problem because by design, you never own the content. It is assumed that the content on these drives would be overwritten over time. Apple on the other hand sells their content through the iTunes store so it is expected that the user would keep their content because they own it. It is the balance between these two sales models that needs to be addressed, prior to releasing any PVR/DVR functions on a new Mini.
Weak article, all speculation. (Score:4, Informative)
Some of their quotes from this article just seemed silly.. "It is similarly unknown whether Apple will scrap the 2.5-inch hard drive currently featured in the Mac mini in favor a standard 3.5-inch hard drive". WTF? Have they seen a Mac Mini? A 3.5" drive would require a completely new, much larger, case. Also, 3.5" drives account for 10W+ more power/heat, which is a no-go in the tiny confines of the Mac Mini.
Ever since the x86 announcement, people have been speculating that the Mini would be one of the first to go Intel. I don't see this.. Even the Pentium-M processors can't go as low in power/heat as the PowerPC G4's. The extremely small space of the Mini tells me that it would be the last to go x86, not the first.
Re:Name sounds familiar (Score:5, Insightful)
When's the last time a code name was also used for the retail product? I can't remember that ever happening. It's a "code name" for a reason - the developers and designers needed something to call it, without the hassle of all of the due diligence and legal work.
For a media center [yafla.com] to really work, it needs to be anointed by the cable and satellite companies: If it's unable to work with the digital EDTV and digital HDTV signals on their networks, with all of their DRM, then it is close to useless. Microsoft recently got that blessing [audioholics.com], though apparently it won't be supported in retail deliveries until next Christmas.
The famous butt-head astronomer (Score:4, Interesting)
Of course, this being America, you can sue any time you want - including when it's just a codename. That's what Carl Sagan did over the use of Sagan as a codename by Apple. Apple responded by using the codename BHA, which stood prominently for Butt-Head Astronomer.
Re:The famous butt-head astronomer (Score:3, Informative)
In his place, I'd also be unhappy about the implication of being placed in between those two.
Re:The famous butt-head astronomer (Score:5, Insightful)
PM 6100: codename Piltdown Man, famous archaeology hoax
PM 7100: codename Sagan
PM 8100: codename Cold Fusion, overhyped physics flop du jour
In his place, I'd also be unhappy about the implication of being placed in between those two.
That's one take on things. Another is to note that the PM6100/7100/8100 were the first Macs to be powered by the PowerPC - a major evolution for Macs (first processor family change). Piltdown man was supposed to be the missing link that would revolutionalize the theories of evolution, whereas Cold Fusion was supposed to revolutionalize power generation. Did Carl Sagan revolutionalize physics? Well, he certainly brought it to the masses.
Still, it was a friggin' internal codename. I'm glad he lost the suit (and the BHA suit).
Re:The famous butt-head astronomer (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Name sounds familiar (Score:2)
Such as Lisa, Macintosh, Newton, or Pippin?
Re:Name sounds familiar (Score:4, Informative)
Tiger's real code-name was Slate. Apple was playing a bit of a game, and choosing actual retail names that they publicly disseminated as "code names". Of course they could be doing it with this product, but the instant hit on a competing product proves that close to impossible.
Re:Name sounds familiar (Score:4, Informative)
Since I am so freakin' awesome, I've gone ahead and found evidence to support what I say. See http://www.opensource.apple.com/darwinsource/10.4
And just in case you don't have an ADC account, here is the relevant section:
typedef enum {
CFSystemVersionCheetah = 0,
CFSystemVersionPuma = 1,
CFSystemVersionJaguar = 2,
CFSystemVersionPanther = 3,
CFSystemVersionPinot = 3,
CFSystemVersionTiger = 4,
CFSystemVersionMerlot = 4,
CFSystemVersionChablis = 5,
CFSystemVersionMax
} CFSystemVersion;
Re:Name sounds familiar (Score:3, Informative)
That was a code name, IIRC. They ended up reverse acronym-izing it, but it certainly didn't begin life as a real name...
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Name sounds familiar (Score:3, Interesting)
I'd give their system a try, but "How much does it cost" is not in their FAQ, and I'm in one of the 14 states that doesn't have a dealer. I guess I'll forge ahea
Re:Name sounds familiar (Score:3, Insightful)
On the other hand, who in the industry should we look to for originality--Microsoft with "Media Center"? Fucking Windows?!?!? "Windows" in a GUI were called "windows" long before MS came along and co-opted the word for their whole stupid OS.
Then again, Apple and MS have one product that infuriates me--both of them call their remote-control app "Remote [apple.com] Desktop [microsoft.com]."
Re:Name sounds familiar (Score:2)
Apple Remote Destop or ARD is the product name for Apple's remote control.
Remote Desktop Connection or RDC is the product name for MS's remote control.
And they're both very good products for what they do. RDC could add a few features, but it's good at controlling a remote Windows box.
Re:Name sounds familiar (Score:2)
What planet are you from? That disclaimer is there because McIntosh Labs reached a legal settlement with Apple Computer, Inc.
Moderators, WTF??? (Score:3, Interesting)
That's modded as informative?? That's troll/flamebait if I've ever seen it. I seriously doubt Apple goes looking for names to steal - they do not like all the legal attention. Apple Records sued Apple Computer simply because it saw a chance to gain some revenue. Why don't they sue AppleOne Employment http://appleone.com/ [appleone.com]? At the very least, they s
Re:iTunes video sales (Score:2)
P: "you'll be able to have a DVR that can record TV shows in a format that you will be able to watch on your PowerBook"
Record from what exactly?
Re:sorry guys... (Score:4, Insightful)
If everybody was happy with "good enough" then Apple would have gone out of business years ago. As for HD, I'm seeing rows of cheap ($500-600) HD TVs at Walmart. In a lot of areas, all it takes is a cheap roof antenna or even rabbit ears to bring in perfect HD, so why pay for cable, anyway?
Re:sorry guys... (Score:3, Informative)
I know quite a few families who have cable only because over the air reception is fuzzy for the local stations. When I tell them that they can get a $200 box at wal-mart that gets crystal clear over the air stations, plus up to 3 extra channels per station built into the signal, they can't believe it. I'm really surprised that there are no commercials on the regular stations