9:26: Steve's just announced that the real name for iTV is actually Apple TV!

9:27: USB2, Ethernet, WiFI, HDMI, Component, Stereo inputs.

9:28: 802.11b/g/n

9:29: You can store 50 hours of videos on its 40GB hard drive. AppleTV can stream up to five computers.

9:31: Streaming theatrical trailers from Apple.com. The quality's actually pretty good at 720p.

9:34: Apple's showing off some Zoolander and Heroes clips from the Apple store.

9:35: By the by, the AppleTV logo is an Apple logo next to "TV".

9:36: Demoing music, photos, slideshows (moving). Which actually seems to have facial recognition like the PS3 slideshow.

9:38: Phil Shiller's brought his MacBook over to stream up an episode of Heroes to the AppleTV.

9:39: $299 for AppleTV.

9:40: Taking orders today, shipping Feb.

9:40: He's talking about SOMETHING NEW! Coming up in a sec...

Macworld Keynote 2007 [Gizmodo]
Macworld Keynote 2007: Chronological order [Gizmodo]

•iPhone
Apple and Cingular Tag-Team for iPhone [Gizmodo]
Fresh iPhone details emerge as release grows closer [Think Secret]

•iTV
iTV (Apple) [Wikipedia]

•iPod
Three New iPod Models in 2007 [Mac Rumors]

•Mac Pro
8-Core Mac Pro's [Mac OS X Rumors]

•Display Updates
Next Generation Displays to Include HDMI [Mac OS X Rumors]– Ben Longo

What announcements will Jobs make this year...new iPods, "iPhones", Macbooks, or even mock turtlenecks? Hit the jump for our Frankenreview...errr...Frankenrumor: rumors from a plethora of Internet sources congealed together in an apple-flavored gelatin of knowledge hearsay quasi-intelligent rumors.

iPhone
"...we probably will see an iPhone."
"No Apple iPhone"
" Coming in January to all providers 2 batteries (1 MP3, 1 Phone) 2 capacities (4GB & 8GB) Prices will run $249 & $449 Flash memory (surprise) Slide out keyboard Touchscreen (on outside) "Cool" OS"
"small as shit."
"[Morgan Stanley analyst] Runkle says the phone will cost $599 for the 4GB model and a whopping $649 for the 8GB version...it'll be wider than an iPod Nano, but narrower than the 5G iPod. It'll have a nice 3.5-inch display and will come in multi-colored aluminum shells like the Nano..."

Video iPod
"If Apple's patents are to be believed, there is also a new crop of iPods on the horizon that will offer larger screens and possibly new navigation techniques."
"...little attention has been given to the rumored full Video iPod despite clear evidence that Apple has been considering such a form factor."
"The focus of the patent is the incorporation of a touch-sensitive bezel (edge of screen) that can adapt to the screen contents to provide an input method for the user...non-screen area would eliminate many of the "smudge" and "scratch" concerns for a full-screen touch iPod."
"...we're more likely to see a bump to 100GB capacity, courtesy of Toshiba's new 1.8-inch drive..."

iTV
"Apple now aims to begin shipping iTV (likely under a different product name) in late January or early February. They added that the additional time is necessary to fine-tune an embedded version of the Mac OS operating system that will reportedly run on the device..."
"Many people are speculating and/or hoping that Apple will ink a deal with TiVo or offer its own personal video recording capabilities...it seems a bit hard to believe the two companies are collaborating on a Mac product."
"There's an Apple patent application dated November 2, 2006 that outlines techniques for acquiring a season's worth of TV shows. However, it only mentions the word TiVo once in the entire document, and that's only in a generic sense, describing recorded digital video."
"I've been hoping for a video update to the AirPort Express, but it seems like the iTV more or less kills that idea..."
"Google integration (iTV + YouTube)"

Cinema Displays
"Look for Apple to announce a 17-inch Cinema display to complement their existing 20, 23 and 30-inch monitors."
"Apple hasn't made any major update to the Cinema Displays since their initial release in June 2004...the next generation of Apple Cinema Displays could feature a built-in iSight, HDMI connectivity as well as support for HDCP...23 inch model may be replaced by a 24 inch one while a larger model may broaden the line-up."
"...a 50" monitor may be planned for 'early 2007'."
"...a coordinated effort to intentionally spread false information to rumor sites...these rumors should be viewed with some skepticism."

iLife, iWork
"Apple's iApps usually get updated at Macworld Expo and this year should be no exception."
"iLife and iWork 07 are a sure thing."
"...introduction of a new spreadsheet application code named "Lasso"

Leopard
"Leopard could be released at Macworld Expo despite Steve Jobs' assertion that it would be released in 'Spring 2007'."
"It will certainly not be released at Macworld."
"the Mac OS[X] appears to be the key to Apple's ensuing consumer electronics strategy, beginning with iTV and iPhone and extending far beyond."
"...as much as I'd love to see PVR capabilities built into Mac OS X, I think Apple is much more likely to continue to focus on sales of TV content through the iTunes Store."

MacPro
"Apple's desktop Mac is due for a quad-core Intel Xeon Processor..."
"One more thing: 8-core Mac Pro."
"The new Mac Pro configuration will feature two of the recently announced Quad-core Intel (more likely Xeon) processors for a total of eight cores per configuration... development on the systems has been complete for some time..."

Macbook Pro
"...the miniaturized MacBook Pro should keep its built-in optical drive and sport a dual-core processor, providing unequalled size/performance ratio in the PC industry... Apple should use the 12 inch form factor... could be priced in the $1700~$1800 range."
"[odds: 50:1]"
"Unlikely rumors, which [PiperJaffray analyst] Munster calls "a stretch," include an ultra-portable 12-inch MacBook Pro..."

iTablet
"... a number of new Apple patent applications that relate to the long-rumored Apple Tablet based computer. The most recent patents appeared...February 2nd, 2006...with a filing date as recent as January 31st, 2005."
"...Methods and systems for processing touch inputs are disclosed. The invention in one respect includes reading data from a multipoint sensing device such as a multipoint touch screen..."
"Apple researchers have built a fully working prototype of tablet Mac and three companies in Taiwan are bidding for a potential launch in mid 2007."
"...it's not likely to happen..."

– Mark Wilson

Rumor Links...In No Particular Order
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Apple iTV Availability to Escape Macworld Expo [AppleInsider]

Doing particularly well are the movies offered in HD, not surprising since many Xbox 360 owners are already playing their console games in high definition. Industry wags say consumers are lukewarm about downloading movies on their PCs and Macs, because there's no convenient way to watch those movies in their living rooms or home theaters. Not so with the Xbox 360, which has already made its inroads into the TV room.

Competing download services such as Amazon Unbox have discovered that it's hard to get people interested in downloading movies for playback on PCs, as evidenced by slow sales of the company's downloads. Sources at movie studios say some titles on the Amazon service have barely even garnered 100 downloads each.

I've downloaded movies and video content on Xbox Live, and it's a seamless and cost-effective experience, where even HD movies cost just a dollar more than their standard-definition counterparts and download surprisingly quickly. The compression quality is quite good, too, although the content is offered in resolutions of 720p or 1080i, and not in the desirable highest-resolution 1080p. The only problem with the service thus far is that not enough content is offered in high definition.

Besides the Xbox 360, there's other help on the way. Apple's iTV device is set to be released soon, and that might help consumers bridge that chasm of convergence between their Macs and PCs and the home entertainment center. Making it easy to play movies where the TV set resides is the key to luring people into downloading content. – Charlie White

XBox up on downloads [Variety]

This remote is actually the Ruwido's VEXO and is supposedly "an echo of previous and current Apple products." It is also extremely large, ugly and doesn't even match the iTV. I guess the scroll wheel is kind of Apple-y, but I'm having my doubts. Hell, Jobs even said himself that the remote would be simple and easy to use, this obviously isn't. Jump for another picture.

– Travis Hudson

Ruwido's VEXO: The Apple iTV remote [FireceIPTV]

Then today, one more meager yet tantalizing tidbit popped into our inbox, supposedly from an Apple employee who said this Mac Media Capsule has gone through a slight design change since its iTV prototype was revealed in September, and now it will include a stand that gives users a choice of either vertical or horizontal orientation. Is this true? The thin evidence so far:

There's an Apple patent application dated November 2, 2006 that outlines techniques for acquiring a season's worth of TV shows. However, it only mentions the word TiVo once in the entire document, and that's only in a generic sense, describing recorded digital video.

Last summer, TiVo was hiring Mac programmers, but that probably had to do with TiVo's promise to deliver TiVoToGo software for the Mac, a crude alpha version of which we saw at CES last January but still isn't available. Why the delay when we saw a semi-working version nearly a year ago? But TiVo Desktop, the software that lets you program your TiVo from afar, has since become available for the Mac, so those programmers were doing something.

What's next? TivoToGo software on the upcoming iPhone? Then there's that widescreen video player we've heard rumblings about. Wouldn't that be a great device on which to watch your TiVo recordings? But then wouldn't that conflict with Apple's deal with the networks to sell TV shows? – Charlie White

Wild rumor: Apple & TiVo partner for iTV [PVRblog]

What do we think? Unlikely.

Apple's done well in their current markets of PC and digital music because they've been able to keep their ecosystem closed. iPod + iTunes and the fact that you can't build your own Mac are examples of control Apple has over their products. Apple doesn't need to rely so much on third party providers to sell their systems.

If they get into the gaming arena, they're going to be at the mercy of game development studios to produce killer titles for yet another console in an already crowded horse race.

However, Prudential analyst Jesse Tortora says Apple's been hiring video game designers and thinking about entering the video game market sometime in the next few years. Tortora says the decision to enter may be based on how well the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles do as media hubs for the living room, something Apple's also trying to do with their upcoming iTV. – Jason Chen

Apple rumored to be eyeing video game market [Apple Insider via Crunchgear]

Instead of stripping off DRM from iTunes movies and music, Jon's offering up the mechanism to add DRM onto un-DRMed tracks so companies can get their products to work with Apple devices. Third party studios could make their movies iTV compatible without having to go through Apple licensing, and save a few bucks along the way.

Johansen and Farantzos went down to Cupertino for an audience with King Jobs, but weren't terribly specific about their new company's plans (to be fair, at this point, they didn't quite know what their plans were). Jobs apparently warned that while Apple was not a litigious company, other tech firms might not take kindly to whatever DVD Jon might be up to. Ha!

– Jason Chen

DVD Jon Fairplays Apple [GigaOM via Digg]

In the back of the unit, there's component, S-Video, Digital Coax/SPDIF audio, and RCA to connect to your TV or home theater. It also has 802.11g support to access your network, or you can just go ahead and use the Netgear Powerline HD Ethernet Adapter Kit if you don't have a wireless router handy. Useful if you have lots of PC content you want to stream to your TV. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Netgear]

Press Release [Netgear via Digital Trends]

Apple iTV [internal]

Smart move, Evergreen, anticipating the next home theater PVR with the building blocks for a Mac mini-based TiVo replacement. Imagine one or two of these stacked underneath a mini. Drop in a $190 Western Digital Caviar 7200rpm 500GB disk, and you'll have plenty of cost-effective storage, maybe even enough for those huge HDTV media files. – Charlie White

Evergreen NAS Mini [Akihabara News]

He breaks out a chart ("Oh no he didn't!" "Oh Yes He Did!") comparing the two on price, availability, platform support, WiFi, DRM, Price-per-movie, and porn.

Nick, we forgive you for posting a Sony camcorder cable in the comparison. Your theory, and point are still valid: Per dollar, video streaming is still hottest without IP addresses, wireless, and hard drives. It's called Netflix, DVD player, and some S-video cables, bitches.

Click to Valleywag to see Apple 0wned by tech-retards.–Brian Lam

iTV vs. POS Cable [Valleywag]

Apple made four releases and one announcement in San Francisco today, as you probably saw if you visited Gizmodo at all in the last 12 hours. Here's a roundup of all the stuff that went down in San Francisco.

First up is the updated iPod. The Apple iPod 5.1G has a screen that's 60% brighter than the 5G, and is available in two models, a 30GB and an 80GB. The 30GB model gets 14 hours of music playback and 3.5 hours of video playback, whereas the 80GB gets 20 hours of music playback and 6.5 hours of video playback—both increased from the 5G models. The 30GB costs $249 and the 80GB costs $349, lower than the previous $299 and $399 prices.

The iPod 5.1G and the older 5G can both play the new iPod Games, which are "Bejeweled", "Cubis 2", "Mahjong", "Mini Golf", "Pac-Man", "Tetris", "Texas Hold'em", "Vortex", and "Zuma". You can buy these for $4.99 each from the iTunes store. We also have a mini guide on how to get iPod games working on your 5G iPod.

Jump to see the rest.

Next is the second generation iPod Nano, which got a redesign and looks quite like the discontinued iPod Mini. The iPod Nano 2G has an aluminum body, 24 hours of battery life and is available in three sizes. The 2GB iPod Nano is silver and costs $149, the 4GB versions are silver, pink, green and blue and cost $199, and the 8GB is only in black and costs $249.

These Nanos fit into older docks, but the dock connector is a little bit offcenter, so they may not work with all accessories. There are also new accessories made just for the Nano, including lanyard headphones ($39), an armband ($29), a new dock ($29), and a USB power adapter that's smaller than the previous USB power adapter ($20). Also take can see our iPod Nano Hands On.

Both the Nano and the 5.1G iPod have the updated search and quick scrolling that makes browsing faster by displaying what the current letter you're scrolling through is, and letting you input alphabetical letters to jump to a certain place. The letter display is already in 5G iPods after you perform a software update, but I'm not sure about the character searching.

The last iPod is the iPod Shuffle 2G, which has 1GB of storage, costs $79 and has a built-in clip on the back. It weighs half an ounce, measures only a half cubic inch in volume, and is still screen-less like the old iPod Shuffle. Its battery life is 12 hours, and includes a dock to connect to your PC (no longer has a USB-connector like the iPod Shuffle 1G). This is only available in the one color, grey.

The iTunes software has also been updated to version 7, which has new album and cover browsing views including a Cover Flow view to scroll through your music, movies and TV shows by its cover. There are also new iPod management screens to manage your iPod preferences from inside iTunes, instead of in iTunes preferences. The iPod games are also purchased through the iTunes store for $4.99. The Cover Flow features look really awesome, and you can try it out for yourself now.

The iTunes Movie Store has just launched with 75 movies from Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar, Touchstone Pictures and Miramax Films. Among them, "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl", "Shakespeare in Love", and "Toy Story". These movies can be downloaded in 640x480 resolution, which is near DVD quality, and can be played on your iPod or iTunes software. Prices will be $12.99 for pre-orders and first week sales, which then jumps to $14.99 afterwards. Older titles will be $9.99.

The last item is the iTV, a set-top-box-like device that can connect to your home network through 802.11 wireless or ethernet, and streams your iTunes movies to your TV. The power supply is internal, and the connectors are USB, HDMI, component video, optical audio and analog audio. It's wider, but flatter than a Mac Mini, and has a UI similar to Front Row. This will be $299 when it's released in Q1 2007. More iTV Pictures and iTV Screenshots for your enjoyment. – Jason Chen

iTunes [Apple]

Again, it streams those new 640 by 480 pixel movies, music, photos, podcasts, TV shows. There's a power supply inside, USB, 802.11 wireless, Ethernet, HDMI, component, stereo audio, and optical audio out to your TV.

The good news is that even though there's a front row like interface, it looks like it's running fast enough that it won't suck like Apple's sluggish 10-foot interface, Front Row.

Apple's set top streamer won't be in our grubby little gadget mitts until 2007, but we're already asking: Why $299 for something without a drive? I don't know. Call it love.

And we touched it! Jump for some fetish shots, along with some screens. BTW, its a box, so don't expect centerfold-type imagery, mmkay?–Brian Lam

(PS, we're not done yet! More posts to come in the next few hours.)

All our iTV coverage at Apple's Showtime [Gizmodo]
All Apple Showtime Posts [Gizmodo]

The new product: a box to connect to your TV to play all these iTunes Movies and iTunes TV shows on it.

This box supports wireless—no stringing cables—and is the missing piece.

iTV looks like a small Mac Mini. It's just an internal codename, and will be renamed later.

There's a power supply inside, USB, 802.11 wireless, Ethernet, HDMI, component, stereo audio, and optical audio out to your TV.

Whatever setup you've got, you can hook up to this iTV box. It can go out to your TV, stereo, whatever.

Steve's holdiing one. It's wider than a Mac Mini, but flatter.

iTV looks faster than Front Row. Looks similar to Front Row—has movie covers, TV covers.

When you're browsing your movies, it gives you the synopsis of the movie, stars, and the cover.

Demo of watching TV on the iTV. Steve's showing The Office clip. I would have preferred 24, but whatevs.

He's controlling everything with the little remote.

Steve's browsing music now. Browsing through artists, now albums, picking the songs. The album art is on the left, reflected, very pretty.

Podcasts, photos can also be viewed through iTV. Similar to how Front Row works. Browse through your photo album (iPhoto, no doubt), and view a slideshow with music.

iTV should be out sometime in Q1 2007. Works with iTunes on PCs OR Macs. Priced at $299.

"Apple's in your den", "Apple's in your living room", "Apple is in your car", "Apple is in your pocket".

Steve says this should give you an idea of where they're going. TAKING OVER YOUR LIFE!

Wha? One more thing?

Jump!

This is how you browse Trailers.

For the livingroom streaming of movies. Jump for the port-shot.