Posts Tagged ‘apple’

Apple unveils new super-slim Air laptop computer Steve Jobs

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

http://MovieLessons.com
Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs took the wraps off a super-slim new laptop at the Macworld trade show on Tuesday, unveiling a personal computer less than an inch thick that turns on the moment it’s opened.
Jobs also confirmed the consumer electronics company’s foray into online movie rentals, revealing an alliance with all six major movie studios to offer films over high-speed Internet connections within 30 days after they’re released on DVD.

Always a showman, Jobs unwound the string on a standard-sized manila office envelope and slid out the ultra-thin MacBook Air notebook computer to coos and peals of laughter from fans at the conference.

At its beefiest, the new computer is 0.76 inches thick; at its thinnest, it’s 0.16 inches, he said. It comes standard with an 80-gigabyte hard drive, with the option of a 64GB flash-based solid state drive as an upgrade.

The machine doesn’t come with a built-in optical drive for reading CDs and DVDs, a feature Jobs says consumers won’t miss because they can download movies and music over the Internet and access the optical drives on other PCs and Macs to install new software. They can buy an external drive, however, that will retail for $99.
Trading in Apple stock was heavy Tuesday, the first day of the Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco. It fell 5.52 percent to $168.91 at midday.
The new laptop, which has a 13.3-inch screen and full-sized laptop keyboard, will cost $1,799 when it goes on sale in two weeks, though Apple is taking orders now. The company’s Web site is already touting the machine. The price is competitive with other laptops in its market segment.
The machine helps fortify Apple’s already-sizzling Macintosh product lineup and burnish its polished image as a purveyor of cool.
Apple’s Macintosh business hit record sales of 7 million units in the company’s fiscal 2007, up more than 30 percent from the previous year.
After hovering for years with a 2 percent to 3 percent share of the personal computer market in the United States, Apple’s slice has grown to almost 8 percent, making it the nation’s third-largest PC vendor, according to the latest figures from market researcher Gartner Inc.
Other revelations during Jobs’ speech reflected the Cupertino-based company’s intensifying efforts to push deeper into consumers’ living rooms with technologies that blend Internet technology into home entertainment devices.
The movie-rental announcement capped months of speculation that an Apple movie rental service was in the offing. The service launched Tuesday in the United States and will roll out internationally later this year.
Apple will have more than 1,000 movies for online rental through iTunes by the end of February, with prices of $2.99 for older movies and $3.99 for new releases. Users can watch instantly over a broadband Internet connection, or download and keep the movie for 30 days while having 24 hours to finish the movie once it’s started.

Apple is partnering with 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers, Walt Disney, Paramount, Universal and Sony on the service, which will work on Macs, Windows-based machines, iPhones, iPods or Apple TV set-top boxes.

Jobs cut the price of Apple TV from $299 to $229 and announced new software that allows users to order movies through the device and play them directly on their TV sets, eliminating the need to route the content through a personal computer first. The software is free to existing Apple TV customers and will be included in new Apple TV devices shipping in two weeks.
Jobs also unveiled a string of new features for the iPhone, showing how users of the combination iPod-cell phone-Internet surfing device can now pinpoint their location on Web maps, text-message multiple people at once and customize their home screens.

Jobs also said Apple has sold 4 million iPhones during their first 200 days on sale.
The crowd applauded when Jobs demonstrated mapping upgrades to the iPhone. Other features rolling out Tuesday included the ability to switch around icons on the iPhone’s home screen. Users also can create up to nine home screens.

Jobs also unveiled new software for the iPod Touch music player. New models will have be able to process e-mail and perform new mapping functions.
http://CanadaPot.com

Duration : 0:7:22

(more…)

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Q&A: Live TV From Your iPhone: Is It Possible?

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

In this video, I get a question from Mark who asks: “I’d a video request on how to watch live t.v. from iphone. Is there away to record live t.v. shows and watch it onto the iphone when your on a go?” Well Mark, there’s two answers to your two questions :) To watch TV on the iPhone, I am personally waiting on SlingPlayer for the iPhone since I have a SlingBox. Look for this application coming shortly on the iPhone. User phillymania14 in the chatroom pointed out that Orb Live for the iPhone allows live streaming of TV video if you have a Windows computer. It costs $10 and is available here: http://bit.ly/6VR0 . As for moving recorded content to your iPhone or iPod, there is a wide range of software that can do this. If you have DVR software for your Windows computer or Mac, there’s a high chance it can export to iPod format. Personally, I’ve used eyeTV from El Gato software, and it does a great job of recording video that I can stream from your iPod Touch or iPhone. Hope this answers your question Mark. If you have any questions, please send them to help@bwana.tv. Take care!

Duration : 0:3:41

(more…)

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Net-Connected TV Set Top Movie Boxes – The 5 On TechVi.com

Friday, February 12th, 2010

In this episode of The 5, we take a look at simple set top boxes that harness the power of the internet to deliver the goods to your big screen.

http://techvi.com/shows/the-5/2009/08/five-net-connected-tv-movie-boxes/

BLOCKBUSTER ONCE COMMANDED THE RENTAL MARKET…
BUT IT’S ONDEMAND PLAYER ARRIVED ON THE SCENE A BIT TOO LATE.
THE COMPANY TEAMED UP WITH MEDIAPOINT TO OFFER A DIGITAL SET TOP BOX THAT WORKS ON BOTH STANDARD AND HIGH DEF TV’S.
THE SIMPLE PLAYER HOOKS UP TO YOUR NETWORK USING A WIRED OR WIFI CONNECTION.
MOVIES ARE PROGRESSIVELY DOWNLOADED AND PLAYED SO VIDEO IS CONSISTENT AND DVD QUALITY.
THERE ARE NO MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION COSTS – YOU PAY 99 BUCKS FOR THE PLAYER AND THAT INCLUDES 25 MOVIE RENTALS.
AFTER THAT, RENTALS START AT 2 DOLLARS.

THE WESTERN DIGITAL TV HD MEDIA PLAYER LETS YOU PLAY JUST ABOUT ANY POPULAR MOVIE FILE ON YOUR BIG SCREEN.
THE WD TV HD MEDIA PLAYER DOESN’T DIRECTLY CONNECT TO THE WEB, BUT DOES LETS YOU PLAY THE AUDIO, VIDEO OR PICTURES YOU’VE DOWNLOADED TO YOUR COMPUTER.
THE DEVICE CONNECTS TO YOUR TV AND ADDS NOT ONE BUT 2 USB PORTS SO YOU CAN CONNECT A HARD DRIVE OR PRETTY MUCH ANY STORAGE DEVICE WITH A USB CONNECTION.
THE WD TV HD HANDLES VIDEO UP TO FULL 1080P AND PLAYS POPULAR FORMATS INCLUDING MPEG, H-264, QUICKTIME, AVI AND MORE.
IT WON’T PLAY PROTECTED FILES LIKE THE ONES YOU GET FROM ITUNES OR AMAZON UNBOX.

BOXEE SOFTWARE IS THE MOST FLEXIBLE AND EXPANDABLE WAY TO WATCH JUST ABOUT ANY TYPE OF MEDIA ON YOUR TV SCREEN.
THE FREE, OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE TAKES A BIT OF TECH-KNOW HOW TO GET UP AND RUNNING – THAT’S BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO INSTALL IT ON AN APPLE TV OR COMPUTER CONNECTED TO YOUR TV SET.
ONCE YOU GET OVER THAT HURDLE, YOU’LL BE GLAD YOU DID.
THE SOFTWARE PULLS TOGETHER MEDIA FROM YOUR HOME NETWORK, CONTENT FROM THE WEB AND TOSSES IN A LITTLE SOCIAL NETWORKING.
THAT’S RIGHT – IT’LL TWEET OUT THE NAME OF THE MOVIE YOU’RE WATCHING – IF YOU WANT IT TO.
IF THE CONTENT IS ON THE WEB, CHANCES ARE YOU CAN WATCH IT WITH BOXEE.
THE SOFTWARE IS SLEEK AND SIMPLE TO NAVIGATE – IT WAS DESIGNED TO BE USED WITH A REMOTE CONTROL.

WITH ALL OF IT’S EXCELLENT QUALITIES, IT’S A SURPRISE THE COMPANY IS STRUGGLING TO GAIN A FOOTHOLD IN THE SET TOP SPACE.
THE DEVICE HAS A HUGE HD MOVIE LIBRARY, NO SUBSCRIPTION FEE AND THE ABILITY TO STREAM IN 1080 P.
THE REMOTE CONTROL DESIGN RIVALS THE FORM AND FUNCTION OF TIVO’S FAMOUSLY HAND-FRIENDLY REMOTE.
STILL, THE COMPANY HAD SOME EARLY STUMBLES, INCLUDING OVERLY EXPENSIVE HARDWARE AND MOVIE PRICES AND NO BUILT IN WI-FI.
PURCHASED MOVIES STILL WON’T PLAY ANYWHERE ELSE.
VUDU’S CLAIM TO FAME IS IT’S ABILITY TO INSTANTLY STREAM MOVIES IN HD – BUT YOU’LL NEED A FAT NET CONNECTION TO MAKE THIS POSSIBLE.
THE ROKU DIGITAL VIDEO PLAYER IS COMPACT, CHEAP AND IT’S STREAMING ABILITIES ARE ENDLESS.

FOR STARTERS, THE DEVICE STREAMS CONTENT FROM TWO MAJOR PLAYERS – NETFLIX AND AMAZON – BUT SERVICE CHOICES ARE EXPANDING FAST.
THE BOX IS SUPER SIMPLE TO SET UP AND WORKS WITH STANDARD OR HIGH-DEF TVS.
BUILT IN WI-FI MEANS YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT HAVING A NET CONNECTION NEAR YOUR TV.
THIS IS THE PLAYER YOU’D BE COMFORTABLE GIVING YOUR GRANDMA TO USE – IT’S THAT SIMPLE.
YOU CAN CHOOSE FROM THOUSANDS OF NETFLIX INSTANT STREAMING SELECTIONS OR FROM AMAZON’S VIDEO ON DEMAND LIBRARY.
THE SECRET HERE IS IN THE STREAMING – VIDEO QUALITY IS AUTOMATICALLY ADJUSTED TO SUIT YOUR INTERNET’S SPEED – IT CAN EVEN HANDLE HD.
THE DOWNSIDE OF NETFLIX’S INSTANT STREAMING LIBRARY IS THAT MANY TITLES ARE OLDER – YOU ALSO AREN’T GUARANTEED HD.

APPLE TV IS BASCIALLY A GIANT IPOD FOR YOUR HDTV – IN FACT, IT’S ONLY MEANT TO CONNECT TO WIDESCREENS.
APPLE HAS DEALS WITH ALL OF THE MAJOR STUDIOS, AND MOST MOVIES ARE AVAILABLE TO RENT WITHIN 30 DAYS OF THEIR DVD RELEASE.
IF YOU CAN’T WAIT THAT LONG, YOU CAN DOWNLOAD TO OWN.
THE INTERFACE IS SLICK, AND THE DEVICE ALSO HANDLES TV SHOWS, PODCASTS, MUSIC, PHOTOS AND YOUTUBE.
THE NEAT THING HERE – MOVIES YOU BUY ON APPLE TV CAN ALSO BE PLAYED ON YOUR COMPUTER OR IPOD OR IPHONE.
YOU CAN ALSO LOAD YOUR OWN MOVIES ONTO THE BOX, BUT COMPATIBLE FORMATS ARE LIMITED -
THERE’S ALSO NO EXPANDABLE HARD DRIVE.
STILL, APPLE TV IS A GREAT ALTERNATIVE TO FUMBLING WITH DVD’S.

Duration : 0:5:7

(more…)

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,