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Apple announcements from MacWorld Expo

January 15th, 2008, 9:11 am · 3 Comments · posted by

For Apple fans everywhere the wait is over. For months the Macintosh faithful have postponed purchases and speculated online all in preparation for today’s speech given by Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs during which he listed the company’s latest products.

Please take the poll below about your favorite from the announcements, and click below that to read a full log of the keynote.

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9 a.m.: Media begins to file into the auditorium to the sound of Coldplay. Now, a Kanye West song is playing.

9:15: Steve Jobs: “Welcome to Macworld 2008. We’ve got some great stuff for you. There’s clearly some great stuff in the air today” (Quote from Gizmodo)

9:16: Jobs recounts Apple’s 2007.

9:17: Jobs will talk about four things today. First is Leopard. He reviews Leopard’s release.

9:18: “We have delivered 5 million copies of Leopard in the first three months: the most successful release of Mac OS X ever, Jobs said. (Quote from CNet)

9:20: Time Capsule announced. An AirPort Extreme station that allows users to back up computers wirelessly. Two offered: 500-gigabyte model for $299, 1-terabyte model for $499. The product will ship in February.

9:23: Second thing is the iPhone. Jobs notes that Apple has sold 4 million iPhones to date, an average of 20,000 iPhones sold per day.

9:26: iPhone SDK (kit allowing people to develop software for the phone) to be released in late February. Also coming: maps with location, web clips, customized home screen, text message multiple people at once, lyrics support for iTunes music and chapters, subtitles, and language support in video.

googlemapsSM9:32: The ability to add Web site bookmarks to the homepage works just the way multiple leaks have said: click the plus icon in Safari and an option comes up to add the web clip to the homescreen. Also, icons on the homescreen are rearranged just like was leaked – hold down an icon and all the icons wiggle allowing you to drag and rearrange the icons. Users can put icons on nine different screens (including the homescreen). The iPhone’s new Google Maps shown in image at left, click to view larger image.

9:36: Looks like a few sources cannot handle the massive amount of people reading the keynote coverage live. Gizmodo’s site is up and running, Irvine’s iLounge site won’t load for me, Macworld’s site is going strong, also good is the Gadget Lab blog and then CNet’s live blog was great but it stopped working.

9:40: iPhone GPS by triangulation is made possible through partnership with Google and Skyhook Wireless (who has mapped Wi-Fi hotspots). All new iPhone features available today as a free software update. Also, iPod Touch can add Mail, Maps, Stocks, Notes and Weather today for a $20 upgrade on iTunes. That update will be included and free on all new iPod Touch devices.

9:43: Third thing is an iTunes movie rental service launching today in the U.S., international will launch later this year. Software updates coming for iPods and iTunes. Library titles: $2.99, new releases: $3.99. Rules are movies have 30 days to start watching and 24 hours to finish watching. Movies can be viewed anywhere (Macs, PCS, iPods, iPhones). Over 1,000 movies to be available by the end of February. Movies will be made available 30 days after the DVD release. Every major movie studio is on board: Touchstone, Miramax, MGM, Lionsgate, Newline, FOX, WB, Disney, Paramount, Universal and Sony.

9:47: Movies can be rented on the new Apple TV. No computer required. Those will come in DVD quality and HD Dolby 5.1 sound quality. View photos from Flickr and .Mac. Sync the collection with iTunes. Movies bought or rented in HD format will cost $1 more than their standard-quality counterparts.

9:51: Jobs shows movie rental service by demoing the latest Die Hard movie that includes Justin Long (who plays Mac in the Apple commercials — or as I like to call him “Apple Guy”). MacRumors says the movie rental appears to be downloading at a rate of one percent per second (granted that Jobs has a super fast connection).

9:59: Apple TV 2 allows users to not just see their own photos from .Mac and Flickr, but also their friend’s photos. Gizmodo writes that Jobs attempts to show a friend’s Flickr photo slide show set to the Apple TV’s internal song. The demo doesn’t work — no photos, just music. Gizmodo says it was a Flickr problem.

10:02: Gadget Labs writes about the Flickr problem: “I’m afraid Flickr’s not serving up the photos on that one,” Jobs said. Jobs now notes that the Apple TV2 (he says) is “a revolution” because all of those new features are bundled in a free upgrade.

10:05: The Apple TV update will be out in two weeks. Also, the Apple TV price will drop from $299 to $229.airSM

10:06: Jobs says the first studio to sign up for the iTunes movie rentals was 20th Century Fox. He invites Fox’s Chairman and CEO, Jim Gianupulos, to take the stage. Gianupulos talks about movies and business.

10:09: Fourth thing is the “something in the air” — MacBooks. (CLICK on the Air image on right for full resolution image.)

10:12: The MacBook Air. Jobs says this is “the world’s thinnest notebook.” It is .16 inches to .76 inches.

10:16: Jobs pulls the MacBook Air out of a manila envelope. It is silver (possibly aluminum?) and has a black keyboard with back-lit keys. The trackpad is multi-touch allowing for gestures and other effects. It is a 13.3-inch widescreen laptop with an LED screen. It includes an iSight camera.

10:18: Inside the laptop is a 1.8-inch hard drive, like in the iPods. There is also an optional 64-gigabyte solid state disk. Check out a Gizmodo photo here that shows just how thin the MacBook Air is. The laptop includes an Intel Core 2 Duo inside that is 1.6 GHz standard with a 1.8 GHz upgrade available. Jobs invites Intel’s CEO Paul Otellini on stage to talk about shrinking the Core 2 Duo processor to 60 percent its normal size.

10:23: Jobs retakes the stage. The laptop also includes: 802.11n Internet, Bluetooth 2.1/EDR, a 45-Watt MagSafe and one USB 2.0 port. The Air has a remote disc — allowing it to use the optical drives on other computers – Macs or PCs. Jobs says that with Wi-Fi on, browsing the web, you get five hours of battery life.

10:24: The Air is available for pre-order today. Shipping is in two weeks. Price is $1,799.

10:28: Jobs highlights the environmental quality of the Air — fully aluminum case (good for recycling), first fully mercury- and lead-free display, circuit boards are free of BFRs (brominated flame retardants) and retail packaging is 56 percent less volume than on the MacBooks. Perhaps this will raise Apple’s ranking by Greenpeace, read the news about its latest electronic green report here.

10:33: Jobs recounts his announcements today. Will there be one more thing?

10:34: Maybe no “one more thing.” Jobs announces the entertainment is Randy Newman.

10:35: Apple’s press releases on today’s announcements now available. Click here to read them all; they will be listed at the top under Jan. 15.

10:44: Macworld writes that Newman is rolled out on the stage on a piano and he says “I was in Europe about a year ago, and I noticed that they don’t like us very much. I wanted to do something to explicate what America is. Just sum it up in about 2 minutes and 20 seconds.” Gizmodo writes of the song: “Randy’s singing a song about America, the president, and comparing them to Hitler and Stalin.”

10:46: Macworld writes Jobs last words: “So, we can’t wait for you to get your hands on these new products. They’re out there in the booth. Thank you so much for coming, and we look forward to a very innovative 2008.” Jobs leaves the stage to U2′s “Pride (In the Name of Love).”

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