Special Apple Event Scheduled for September 12

davidmcg writes "Macworld are reporting that Apple is hosting a special media event on Tuesday, September 12th 2006 in San Francisco, CA at 10AM Pacific. The event will also be simulcast to a location in London where journalists have also been invited. The invitation to the media was entitled It's Showtime — suggesting Movie-related announcements. Rumors sites had originally expected iMac updates during the event, but Apple surprised everyone with iMac and Mac mini updates last week. This leaves iPods, a Movie Store and the possibility of a new streaming Media device for the Tuesday event."

Comments

Widescreen movies

[zoeblade]

16:9 touchscreen ipod would be mighty sweet

I love the way no one is even considering the possibility of 4:3 ratio film downloads, even though the 5G iPod's screen is small enough as it is without films taking up even less of the 320x240 resolution if they're going to remain backwards compatible with it. Sure, a widescreen iPod plus film downloads that you'll need to upgrade to the 6G in order to watch on the go seem likely, but it still amazes me how quickly people will refuse to put up with something like pan and scan, the format everyone watched films in at home until only a few years ago in most people's cases.

It's like there's an unwritten agreement that we'll never speak of VHS ever again, like it was an embarrassing mistake that it ever took off in the first place.

Re:Widescreen movies

[TomHandy]

Well, a lot of people "put up with" pan and scan for a variety of reasons; in some cases they didn't have much choice (only "full screen" versions of certain movies were easily available). In other cases, a lot of consumers were convinced that "pan and scan" was better because they didn't like those "black bars" at the bottom and top of their screen.

I think the success of wide screen has at least something to do with consumers becoming a bit more savvy about buying movies....... I think that more consumers have gotten used to the idea of the black bars (one reason why I think television has become more willing to show "widescreen" TV shows even on standard def broadcasts), and they also seem to have more of a realization that "pan and scan" was not as good, causing a lot of the original film to be unseen.

You mentioned VHS, but it's not like the whole "widescreen vs. full screen" issue stopped with VHS and the advent of DVD. Even today you can still find some movies releases in both Full Screen and Widescreen versions. But I think you'll find that the "full screen" versions of some movies are more likely to end up in the "bargain bin" sooner, as more people are rejecting it.

Conceivably some people will put up with "pan and scan" if they have older devices like the Zen Vision M or 5G iPod.

But I think that anyone actually concerned about watching full length movies on the go is more likely to buy a Zen Vision W or a new widescreen video iPod.

-Zadillo

Re:guess I'm just a skeptic

[Yahweh Doesn't Exist]

for me better is all about the user experience. I don't believe there is anyone creating anything even remotely close to iPod + iTunes + iTMS, and some of the players put out there with better hardware specs than iPods treat their users horrifically (the one suggested by the other replier can't autosync and can't browse by artist, album, or genre!).

every aspect of Apple product design is an order of magnitude greater than their nearest competitor. and every great new product Apple releases makes the integrated experience even stronger. so I don't expect to even consider moving away from iPod in the near future but am still curious what "the best of the rest" is.

standing in the way of progress: telcos

[Gary W. Longsine]

and if it makes my computer easier to use and I'm willing to pay for it who the fuck are you to stand in the way of progress?

I guess that depends if they happen to be an executive at a telco. I've noticed that far fewer Macintosh owners use bluetooth to sync their address book to their phone than one might think. The reason? For certain phone companies including at least Verizon and Quest, the vendors offer almost no bluetooth enabled phones to start with, special models of the same perfectly good phone with the bluetooth hobbled to worthlessness by custom firmware.

The executives at the telcos are holding up progress because they want to be the only company to sell $1.99 ring tones to their customers and they all have fantasies about setting up their own iTunes style online stores, too. The telcos are standing in the way of progress for, literally, hundreds of millions of people (2 Billion served).

??? Think of the children!

[Gary W. Longsine]

Apple made the right decision updating the iMac to a 64-bit processor and using the low power version of the same 64-bit dual core chip family in the product. How many tons of coal will be saved over the lifetime of the first million of those iMacs sold, compared to the same system were it to use the desktop chip, whose primary technology advantage from the home user's perspective would have been that it runs hotter and slurps more electrons.

Re:Letdown of the week

[laffer1]

In case you haven't noticed, iMacs are consumer systems. They also have a small form factor and have had heat issues in the past. A laptop chip is exactly what is needed. If you want power, buy a Mac Pro. Apple doesn't fill the in between market like dell tries to do. You either buy a workstation or a light, friendly desktop.

I'm seriously considering a new iMac now that they are 64bit. That was my holdup to the mac intel switch. I need something I can test emt64 based stuff on. And no, i don't just plan to run OSX on it.

I'm sick of the expensive power bills associated with running a bunch of systems. At any given time I have 2-6 computers running here. It adds up.

An iMac is no gamer rig, its just a desktop for your mom to surf on. I tend to use Macs for everyday tasks like watching video, iTunes, email, surfing and basic programming tasks. Its similar to people who complain about MacBooks not performing well. They are lowend. They are not gamer rigs. Now if you buy a Macbook Pro and it overheats playing WoW you have a reason to bitch.

I wish people would stop anticipating apple announcements so much. Its always a letdown if you wish for the moon. I do believe apple needs to do something innovative with the iPod and iTunes. Its time. If they blow this one, I suspect a larger move to other players. I might even consider it.