Steve totally broke form today. We knew it was going to happen when he opened his wardrobe this morning, cast an eye over the rows of black turtlenecks, then called to his wife “Honey? Don’t we have anything with buttons?”
The trend continued for the rest of the day, up to the last minute of the keynote of Apple’s Showtime event when Jobs gave an unprecedented sneak peek at a device Apple is prepping for Q1 2007: a wireless box that will let you transmit your video content to a TV. The product code name is iTV but they’ll be changing it (and El Gato breathes a sigh of relief).
It sports 802.11 (interesting; they’re not divulging the flavor of 802.11. Could it be Draft N? A?), USB2, Ethernet, HDMI, component (RGB), analog RCA audio, optical audio, and the familiar Apple Remote. You can pop it directly into your screen or a set top receiver. The power supply is internal, so you can just plug the cord in. No brick. Gee, looks like it would sit pretty comfy under a Mac mini, eh?
And then Steve proceeded to demo it. Live. A prototype. Geez, somebody ate their Wheaties today.
Interface apparently looks pretty close to FrontRow, but faster, and the quality is suprisingly high with no lag. But of course, Steve always has the best setup. He claims “These are the same files, same exact files, paying on my iPod, my computer and my flat screen TV.” I find that hard to believe, but we’ll have to wait and see in Q1 2007, at a price of $299. I’ll be saving my pennies.
