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I can confirm that the Apple TV is indeed delayed. I got the following message from Apple this morning:

Wrapping up Apple TV is taking a few weeks longer than we projected, and we now expect to begin shipments in mid-March, not in February as originally anticipated.

So I guess we have to be patient a bit longer…

BitTorrent has launched a new service that’s going to sell TV shows and movies in direct competition to iTunes - and like Walmart it appears they have opted for a Microsoft DRM solution and consequently excluded all Mac users (as well as any user outside the United States - although this is not due to DRM).

The following studios and networks have joined the service:

• 20th Century Fox
• Comedy Central
• Lionsgate Films
• MTV
• Paramount
• Spike
• Warner Bros.

You can rent movies at $2.99 and 3.99 as follows:

Usage Rights
You may watch this on one computer. You have 30 days from the transaction to download the file and 24 hours to watch it after you first click play

System Requirements
It looks like your system doesn’t meet the Minimum System Requirements. You can still purchase this title here, but please note that you may only watch it on a Windows XP computer meeting the requirements.

Windows XP, a BitTorrent Client, IE6+, and Windows Media Player 10+. View Full System Requirements.

Availability
This title is available only to residents of the United States.

I guess we have to wait for the rest of the studios to join iTunes and hopefully have all the media we want in one convenient place. In the meantime as a Mac user you can of course still use the normal BitTorrent service and application for other content available through the network.

In an article by Daniel Eran Dilger over at Roughly Drafted - the Windows XP Media Center is compared with the upcoming Apple TV.

Apple critics tried hard to pretend that this year’s Macworld was a huge disappointment because no new Macs or iPods were trotted out on stage. Of course, these same critics have also long lambasted Apple for not offering a “true video” iPod, nor a handheld mobile, nor a Media Center Mac, nor other copies of Microsoft strategies.

What they failed to catch at Macworld was that Apple has leapfrogged Microsoft’s consumer electronics efforts with just three simple product introductions:

• the iPhone makes an absolute joke out of both Windows Mobile phones and Windows Media players
• the new AirPort Extreme offers an obliterating alternative to Windows Home Server at a fraction of the cost
• the new Apple TV slingshots a rock right into the forehead of Microsoft’s Media Center PC

I agree with many of the conclusions - particularly those that addresses the negativity people have raised about the Apple TV only supporting certain formats - before it is even available so who knows really?

Since I switched to Mac I batch convert all my video to H.264 as it (in my view) provides a better quality and smaller file size. I avoid sites with Windows DRM video or if there is no alternative - I watch it on my old Windows box.

I guess it is a bit like VHS vs BetaMax - you have to choose at some point, have one of each or get Parallels/Boot Camp for your Mac.

The development of the Fire Instant Messenger has ended and will no longer be supported or updated.

We are saddened to announce that there will be no future versions of Fire. There are several reasons for this end, but the most notable is the loss of developers. Fire’s development had dwindled to few developers who do not wish to continue the project alone. In addition, another major contributing factor is the fact that all but one of Fire’s IM libraries is no longer in active development.

The good news is that two of Fire’s developers have joined the Adium team and have written a transition path. Adium 1.0, upon first launch, will import your Fire accounts, away messages, groups, buddies, and logs into Adium. For future updates and IM needs, we suggest that you look at Adium.

The first Apple iPhone commercial aired during the 2007 Oscars. The commercial features famous actors saying “hello” ending up confirming the iPhone is coming in June.

The name of the person calling the iPhone is Johnny Appleseed - Apple’s usual care for detail.

The new ad ran during the Academy Awards telecast and is available in HD from the Apple web site.

Actors, movies and scenes used in the iPhone commercial

• Alfred Hitchcock Director - Dial M For Murder (1954)
• Lucile Ball - I Love Lucy TV Show (1956-64)
• Jackie Gleason - The Honeymooners (1955-56)
• Humphrey Bogart - Key Largo (1948)
• Marlon Brando - A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
• Jerry Lewis - The Bellboy (1960)
• Marilyn Monroe - Some Like It Hot (1959)
• Clark Gable - It Happened One Night (1934)
• Peter Sellers - The Pink Panther (1963)
• Steve McQueen - The Getaway (1972)
• Richard Dryfus - American Graffiti (1973)
• Burt Reynolds - Boogie Nights (1997)
• Bea Benaderet Voice of Betty Rubble - The Flintstones (1959-66)
• Robert Redford - Three Days of the Condor (1975)
• Michael J. Fox - Back To The Future (1985)
• Harrison Ford - The Fugitive (1993)
• John Cusak - High Fidelity (2000)
• Audrey Tautou - Amélie (2001)
• Kevin Spacey - Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
• William H. Macy - Fargo (1996)
• Dustin hoffman - Meet The Fockers (2004)
• Will Ferrell - The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
• Sarah Jessica Parker - Sex & The City (1998-2004)
• Jeff Bridges - The Big Lebowski (1998)
• Billy Crystal - When Harry Met Sally (1989)
• Cameron Diaz - Charlie’s Angels (2000)
• Samuel L. Jackson - Jackie Brown (1997)
• John Travolta - Face Off (1997)
• Robert De Niro - Meet The Fockers (2004)
• Ben Stiller - Zoolander (2001)
• Michael Douglas - The American President (1995)
• Craig T. Nelson’s Voice as Bob Parr - The Incredibles (2004)

So I got my Airport Extreme today and setting it up was not really hard at all - but I did run into some problems that was a bit disappointing:

• My Printer HP Officejet 5610 All-In-One is not compatible as a Network printer. I can see it in the Airport Utility but unable to install the scanner function
• After everything was set - I was unable to join my Windows Workgroup - it just does not show up?

UPDATE: In my particular setup - I managed to get access to the Windows Workgroup by setting “Connection Sharing” to “Off (Bridge Mode)” in the Internet Connections Tab. This may not work for everybody.

Other than that Airport Extreme seems like a solid product - easy to use and the speed and range is a huge improvement over my previous wireless router (Linksys).

Having looked around through the various menus I noticed that there is a “Music” setting (currently grayed out) but I guess this means something is coming up - perhaps you will be able to sync your music to your iPhone or upcoming WiFi enabled iPod models through your Airport Extreme?

I tried to hook my iPod to the Airport Extreme USB but was only able to mount it as a disk - I was not able to to sync with iTunes over the network - at least not yet?

I installed a USB hub on the Airport Extreme and tried to connect several drives and printers - it works fine and is instantly available to all other machines on your network (Windows and Mac).

This is a great way of keeping all your storage/printing/scanning somewhere central and avoid all the wires coming out of your machine - it is also a cheap and easy NAS solution.

There is a really useful video over at ScreenCastsOnline.com if you want some details on setting it up.

Rumors about where Apple will be going next are once again all over the place, so I thought I’d summarize some of the most interesting, and in my view, possible ones.

• Black iMac line-up
• 8-Core Mac Pros
• Mac OS X Leopard (March?)
• iLife ‘07 and iWork ‘07 (together with Leopard)
• HDMI/HDCP capable displays with built-in iSight
• iPhone (June?)
• Apple TV (Early March I expect)
• Ultra-portable Macbook - with flash drive
• 15″ Macbook

Let me know if I have missed anything..

The second generation iPod Shuffle was awarded “Consumer Product Design“. Design Week Awards 2007 took place on 19th February.

We were in a quandary with Consumer Product Design. Though there was a wide variety of interesting products, there was also a raft of entries from Apple’s design team, of which, though all were excellent, only the Shuffle was truly ‘new’.

The quality of Apple’s products, packaging and enticing presentation really sets the benchmark and
creates a compelling ‘itchy wallet’ syndrome that makes them so successful. It feels a bit unfair to all the other entries, which were mainly very good indeed, that Apple – with its relentless commitment to
innovative and evolutionary design, and its attention to detail – should again win pole position. The
Shuffle is a simple, beautifully executed concept with minimal, re-useable packaging that is fantastic value
for money.

According to Reuters, Cisco Systems Inc. and Apple Inc. on Wednesday said they have reached an agreement that allow both to use the “iPhone” name, after Cisco sued the iPod maker for using it for a new multimedia phone.

In a joint statement, they said both companies are free to use the “iPhone” trademark on their products throughout the world, and each side will dismiss any pending actions regarding the trademark.

One problem out of the way

I just downloaded the first public beta version of Joost - version 0.8.0 for Mac OS X and I can already tell you - it really has potential - as if it was designed for Mac in the first place (I remember seeing Janus Friis working on a Macbook Pro in a TV interview a while back).

This current version is for Intel Mac’s only.

It seems that their mission to build a television platform combining the best of the net and the best of conventional TV is beginning to come together.

I suggest you go and sign up to become a beta tester and try it out for yourself - be patient though it can take a while. If I get any tokens I’ll make sure to be generous with the Mac Season readers.