Angry Puppy

What with all the health rumors and MobileMe troubles, Steve Jobs is not having the best of quarters. Fortunately for him, brave iPeople are willing to stand up for their leader.

Leave Steve Jobs Alone!!! [Language NSFW]

Let’s just hope he doesn’t see “Calvin and Jobs” in the latest edition of Mad Magazine.

[Via Gizmodo]

I try not to subscribe to mailing lists (RSS…RSS…), but for some reason I get Apple marketing e-mails.

“Surprise your valentine with a pink iPod nano,” read the subject line.  Blech.

The e-mail, once opened, revealed a bigger horror within:

Double blech.

If you go in for this sort of thing, let me translate.  I saw something like this:

The only nano my Valentine would be interested in would be along these lines:

You would think they would segment their list into different market groups.  But then again, maybe they already have. Triple blech.

Disclaimer: I am a fan of Mac OSX. I generally like Apple hardware (though you should always let someone else be the guinea pig for new products before purchasing).

But Microsoft trounced Apple in one major area yesterday.

While the Macworld Keynote featured Randy Newman sing-talking something about George Bush and Nazis, the Macworld Blast, a launch party for Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac, was headlined by none other than our #8 top geek band ever, Devo.

Well played, Microsoft.  Steve Jobs, please leave your Pixar buddies at home next year.

Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Our two wishes for the AppleTV (that would require only a software upgrade) were granted today at the Macworld Keynote.

• Direct access to the iTunes store
• Video rentals

We’ll give you a full review in a couple of weeks when the software update becomes available, but in the meantime, here are some details:

• Rentals will be $2.99 for library titles and $3.99 for new releases. HD versions of either cost $1 more: $3.99 and $4.99, respectively.
• Lots of studios are involved, including: 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Lionsgate and New Line Cinema.
• Rentals are valid for up to thirty days after rental. However, like my DVRs VOD service, files will auto-delete 24 hours after being started.
• 1000 titles are expected by the end of February, some with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound

Just as the rumors said, DVDs from Fox marked “iTunes Digital Copy” will now include an iTunes compatible copy on the disk. It can be imported into only one iTunes library, but from there can be played an unlimited number of times (you own it, after all) on your compatible iPod, PC, Mac or AppleTV.

Drink some Kool-Aid and watch the official Guided Tour on the Apple site.

I’m sure the Germans have a single word for disappointment-anticipation, that feeling you have when something should have been groundbreaking, really wasn’t, but still might be. Right now I need that word.

“So, Mabel, my Apple TV is really [insert word here], but did you see yesterday’s Financial Times?”

As we mentioned in Episode 7, a couple of tweaks would make the Apple TV more than a glorified slideshow/visualizer for parties.

1. Direct access to the iTunes store
2. Video rentals

For the time being, you’ll need to keep syncing your Apple TV with a computer to get content from iTunes, but according to a recent article in the Financial Times, our second wish is about to be granted.

Apple and Fox have reportedly agreed to let iTunes users rent Fox DVD releases. In addition, the actual DVDs from Fox would include a copy of the movie with FairPlay DRM protection so that consumers could legally (and simply) sync movies from purchased DVDs onto their iPods.

There are no details on the specifics, but educated speculations have included an enticing 30-day rental for only $2.99. Expect to learn more from Jobs himself at the Macworld show on January 14.