I’m trying something new today: I’ll be posting notes from the Apple keynote live as they happen. Keep hitting reload on this page to see my notes.
10:02: Nothing yet.
10:06: Wow, Steve shaved!
10:07: A three-act story. Act I: the iMac. Today, an all-new iMac. Three new features: Even thinner. Built-in iSight videocam that’s even higher quality than the regular iSight. (There’s also a new side application called Photo Booth, for taking a still picture of yourself like a photo booth.) He’s calling Phil Schiller now.
10:12: Photo booth. Oh man. They thought it would be great if it had a flash, and they realized that they do: When taking the picture, the screen flashes to white, and it acts like a flash. They also have a bunch of video effects that can be used on the picture: distortions, thermal imaging, Andy Warhol, and so on. Looks like a fun app.
10:15: Feature number 3 is a big one: Front Row. It’s a way to enjoy your media from your sofa. It also includes a remote control. You can choose Music, Photos, Videos, and DVDs. You can control your Mac from across the room, select playlists, see full-screen album art, and so on. You can select all of the photos from your library, or any albums or slideshows. You can also control your DVDs from across the room. (He’s using The Incredibles as the demo.) You can also select your own movies, trailers, video podcasts (Tiki Bar TV?), music videos, and so on. Ohhh…here it comes: If you go to Movie Trailers, it pulls all of the posters off of Apple.com, and streams the trailer directly to you. Okay, that is pretty cool.
10:24: A side-by-side comparison between the Microsoft Media Center remote control and the Front Row remote control. Microsoft: 45 buttons. Apple: 6 buttons. Wow.
10:25: The $1299 iMac is getting a faster processor, remote control, new apps, iSight…and all for the same price. The $1799 model is getting all the same stuff, and the price is dropping to $1699. Shipping today.
10:27: Act II: the iPod. 75% of all MP3 players shipping. Over 1 million iPod nanos shipped in the first 17 days. Now he’s going over the critical praise it has received.
10:28: “What about the white iPod? It has been a huge success for us…so we’re going to replace it.…And yet, is does video.”
10:30: A new 2.5" display. 320x240 pixels. Real-time decoding of H.264 video at 30 fps. MPEG 4 at 30 fps. TV output. The 30GB is 31% thinner than the old 20GB version, and the 60GB is 14% thinner. And yes, it will also ship in black. 30GB for $299, and 60GB for $399. 15000 songs, 20000 photos, 150 hours of video for $399. Wow. And that’s just Act II.
10:35: Okay, that’s all the big news that was expected. What could Act III be? Oh, and they’re showing the new ads now.
10:37: New silhouette ads that take it to a whole new level. The new one actually stars Eminem, and it looks pretty cool. And I hate Eminem.
10:39: Act III: iTunes.
10:40: Five weeks ago they shipped iTunes 5, but a lot has changed in five weeks. So now, it’s iTunes 6. Four new features. Gifting: You can now gift songs, albums, and playlists to people. Customer reviews: Kind of like the Amazon feature, it seems. Custom recommendations: It recommends music based on past purchases and your ratings. And finally, videos: over 2000 music videos available for download today. For the song and the video, it costs $1.99. And oh look! You can download six award-winning PIxar video shorts! The videos are 320x240, take the space of about six songs, and you can play them on five computers and unlimited iPods. No burning, though. And now, the demo.
10:50: Demoing video out from the iPod now. Looks like it puts an actual picture of the iPod around the interface when it’s playing back. Weird. Maybe it’s just something they’re doing for this keynote, but if not, it’s very strange.
10:53: One more thing…
10:54: One more thing you can buy off of the iTunes Music Store: TV shows.
10:55: Five shows for download: Lost, Desperate Housewives, Night Stalker…uh, That’s So Raven, and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. For new episodes, you can buy them the day after they are broadcast. The shows are downloaded ad-free at 320x240 resolution, and an hour show takes up about the same space as five albums. And the cost? $1.99 per episode. So basically, close to the same price as the DVD versions. Hm. Not so sure about that one. Kinda cool, but kinda pricey as well.
11:02: Bob Iger is on stage now. “It’s always a pleasure to be able to increase our relationship with Apple…not with Pixar, with Apple.” Ha.
11:07: Finale. “What does it all mean?” Yesterday, you could buy music online, put it on your computer, and take it with you on your iPod. Now, one day later, you can buy video online, watch it on your computer, and bring it with you on your iPod. A round of applause for all the people at Apple who worked on all these products.
11:09: Encore. It’s all about the music. A performance by Wynton Marsalis.
11:26: Wynton Marsalis performance ends. Very cool.
