While there has been a lot of rumors flying around about having unlimited music on itunes for a fee, there hasn't been any talk at all about video.

What Apple should be pushing is free portable video that has commercials put in it. You could download your video in the same manner that you get and watch the itunes video rentals. This means you would download a show and have 24 hours to watch it then it would expire. The purpose for having it expire would be a way for Apple to control the commercials in the video and would be a way to sell it to the industry as a way for them to sell advertising.

Apple would still continue to sell television shows that are commercial free, but that would be what you are paying for. You would also be paying for the ability to keep it. What I think Apple is missing the boat on are sites that already offer television shows online for free with commercials like hulu.com.

Apple iTunes unlimited music: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080319-apple-may-bundle-unlimited-itunes-with-ipods.html

Apple iTunes DVR?: http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/19/switched-on-apple-dvr-could-find-its-calling-in-iphone/

Here's what you need to know about Remote Disc for the MacBook Air, top to bottom:

* The Remote Disc installer is 42.3MB for Mac, and takes almost 86MB of space! AND it requires a restart of the host Mac. (Windows, ironically, does not require a restart to begin sharing media.)
* You have to ask permission to use the drive every single time, there's no client whitelist or anything like that. Even if you've already asked permission on that drive and disc, if you stop using it and come back to it, you have to ask permission again.
* Every time you ask permission as a Remote Disc client, the host gets a popup asking if it's cool to share your drive. You can, of course, accept or decline (but the only way to stop getting prompts is to turn off disc sharing). * Ejecting the disc on the client side does not eject it on the host side.
* Ejecting it on the host side, however, gives a host-side prompt about the disc being in use. You can override and eject, however.
* To reinstall or boot from CD using Remote Disc, the host must use the installed Remote Install Mac OS X application. It's a fairly simple process, but sharing an install CD over a wireless network is asking for trouble. It took an absurd amount of time (nearly 10 minutes) to boot over 802.11g. You need bandwidth.
* To remote boot from a shared CD, hold the option key while starting up. You'll be presented with a BIOS-level WiFi / network selection that looks surprisingly unpolished for Apple (but works with WPA and advanced WiFi crypto all the same)

Bummer for media:

* You can browse the file contents of DVD discs, but you cannot actually play that media back over the network.
* You can't rip DVDs over the network using a tool like Handbrake.
* You can't even browse a music CD or listen to tracks. Don't even think about burning a disc remotely.
* Remote Disc appears only to be able to share CD / DVD drives and CD / DVD discs, not high capacity / HD optical drives.
* We tested sharing a regular DVD over an HD DVD drive, no luck. Data CDs on DVD drives worked fine though.

While it is a cool looking machine on the surface, it is a flawed design. The fact that it doesn't have a removable battery will be the death of this machine. Why? How many of us carry around extra batteries and how many of us have batteries for our laptops that don't hold as much of a charge that they used to? There are times that having that extra battery is crucial.

I think that this typical of Apple being short sighted and not thinking about their consumers. So with this failure you will have to send your entire computer in to get the battery replaced. Seriously? And you want me to pay 300 less than a regular Macbook pro?

Problem #2 with the Macbook Air is the lack of any optical drive. For $1799 you had better be damn sure that it has any optical drive included. They want you to pay extra to get any external superdrive. Again, I ask why? What are you guys thinking? One thing I would think a ultra portable laptop would have is a cd drive.

Problem #3 is the price. Sure it is small, but that doesn't explain why they are charging so much money for a product that is less capable than the 1000 dollar Macbook. In true apple form they will probably slash the price on this just like they did with the iphone. It too was way overpriced when it was released.

I am not a complete Apple hater. I own 2 Macbook Pro's and use them everyday. I just think that this new Apple Air isn't ready for prime time until the problems are fixed.

We just got done seeing all the new updates from the Macworld Keynote. While there were other new products and updates I am going to be focusing on Apple TV.

Apple TV was just updated to include the ability to purchase music, rent standard definition videos and to rent HD videos. That is a great addition to a product that has been severely struggling in my opinion to find a market. While this is a huge leap forward for Apple TV, I don't think it is quite far enough to convince me to buy it. I think the thing that Apple is missing the boat on is having a DVR.

Having a DVR built into the Apple TV would be a boon for the market. It would be exactly what we need to get our media portable and take it where we want.

Just picture this scenario... You record a show last night on your new Apple TV DVR. You don't have time to watch it and transfer it to your iPod and watch it on the go. It would be the ultimate way to create your own content for the ipod and itunes. The files could still have DRM, the same way the movie rentals do and the shows you record could be set to only save for 30 days.

The tremendous upside to this for the networks is that it preserves all of the commercials that they put on their shows and gives them another stream of revenue. If they could go to an advertiser and say, "Your show XYZ was viewed by 3 million people on the air and it was recorded and watched later by another million". I think that would give them more money than selling commercial free versions of the shows.

I have always supported free ad-driven versions of television shows that people could download and watch when they wanted and on what they wanted to. Building in a DVR into Apple TV would free the networks from trying to deliver ad-supported content on their own sites, since the commercials are already in the shows.

The iTunes movie rental option is the first major step towards this since it gives you the ability to watch that rental on your ipod. The next step is to give users the ability and freedom to record and watch what they want. Just like the set top DVR's already do.

Going from a pc to a mac was fairly easy. What I miss are applications like picasa. I know that the mac has iPhoto, but I think as far as features you can do far more with picasa from google. I think that part of iPhoto is tied too much to the web hosting that apple tries to push. The dude at the apple store could understand why I wouldn't get the service. I would rather have more choices with what to do with my photos.

Wake up google and make a mac version of picasa.

Tagging Downloaded Applications

Protect yourself from potential threats. Any application downloaded to your Mac is tagged. Before it runs for the first time, the system asks for your consent -- telling you when it was downloaded, what application was used to download it, and, if applicable, what URL it came from.

Signed Applications

Feel safe with your applications. A digital signature on an application verifies its identity and ensures its integrity. All applications shipped with Leopard are signed by Apple, and third-party software developers can also sign their applications.

Application-Based Firewall

Gain more control over the built-in firewall. Specify the behavior of specific applications to either allow or block incoming connections.

Stronger Encryption for Disk Images

Give your data even more security. Disk Utility now allows you to create encrypted disk images using 256-bit AES encryption.

Enhanced VPN Client Compatibility

Connect to a broader range of VPN clients. Leopard supports Cisco Group Filtering as well as DHCP over PPP, which allows you to dynamically acquire additional configuration options such as static routes and search domains.

Sharing and Collaboration Configuration

Share any folder on your Mac by setting it up as a shared folder in the Get Info window or in the Sharing pane of System Preferences. You can also create and edit access control lists, share with individuals in your network directory, or contacts in Address Book.

Sandboxing

Enjoy a higher level of protection. Sandboxing prevents hackers from hijacking applications to run their own code by making sure applications only do what they're intended to do. It restricts an application's file access, network access, and ability to launch other applications. Many Leopard applications -- such as Bonjour, Quick Look, and the Spotlight indexer -- are sandboxed so hackers can't exploit them.

Multiple User Certificates

Have more flexibility in choosing a digital certificate for encrypting email messages. With support for multiple user certificates, you can use the Keychain application to associate your certificates with various email addresses.

Enhanced Smart Card Capabilities

Let your smart card do more. Now you can use a smart card to unlock FileVault volumes and your keychain, and configure your Mac to lock the screen when a smart card is removed. Leopard supports the PIV standard for Federal employees and contractors.

Library Randomization

Defend against attackers with no effort at all. One of the most common security breaches occurs when a hacker's code calls a known memory address to have a system function execute malicious code. Leopard frustrates this plan by relocating system libraries to one of several thousand possible randomly assigned addresses.

Windows SMB Packet Signing

Enjoy improved compatibility and security with Windows-based servers.

• Introduces over 300 new and enhanced features to OS X, including a new desktop and updated finder enabling easy browsing and sharing between multiple Macs
• Take advantage of the latest developments in processor hardware with full native 64-bit support, multi-core optimization, and new Core animation
• Preview files without opening an application using Quick Look
• Easily and automatically back up and restore lost files or a complete Mac with Time Machine
• Create groups of applications and instantly switch between them with Spaces

Click Here to pre-order your copy Now!!

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I just finished reading an article on PC World that was talking with Steve Jobs about how demand will outstrip the supply of iPhones. Down at the bottom of the article I read this interesting quote from Jobs about the EDGE network and the use of wifi:

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I have had my new macbook pro for about a week now and I thought I would give my general impressions so far. It is a much faster machine than I thought it would be initially.

I used macs all the time in college as a part of the communications department and the one thing that I always remembered was how slow they were compared to windows machines. The new intel chipsets are amazingly fast. The macbook pro boots very fast and isn't sluggish at all.

The battery life is also very good. This is especially true with the addition of the led backlight to the lcd screen. This little feature buys you another 45 minutes of battery time.

There are other features like the Sudden Motion Sensor and some of the functions on the keyboard that are just icing on the cake. The first app I tried out my mac was the macsaber app that uses the Sudden Motion Sensor and turns your macbook into a lightsaber.

Now given all that praise, here are my negative points. The single button trackpad is horrible. It really takes a lot of getting used to. Luckily for all of us windows users there are bluetooth mice we can get that have the 2 buttons. I think it is way past time for apple to wake up and smell what they are smoking and put a 2 button trackpad in. The second annoyance is with the magsafe power adapter. While it is a great concept and it works great, there are no 3rd party adapters available. This keeps the price on the adapters higher than they should be and the only place to buy them is at an Apple approved store or vendor.

This all being said I am very happy with my purchase. I just need to get a new copy of windows to install on here with bootcamp and I will be set. Given the performance of windows using parallels and with bootcamp, the macbook pro is a very versatile platform. Without the bootcamp option I wouldn't have even considered a mac.

Ok, I just got back from the apple store and I am the proud owner of a new macbook pro.... Yeah... The salesman wasn't too happy when I told him that I was getting it to just put windows on, hahahaha. Seriously though since a lot of my software I have is only for windows, I will probably be splitting the drive for each OS. I can't even afford to buy any software for the mac, lol.

Does anyone know if the EPP (Employee Purchase Plan) discounts are good in the store as well as online? I am buying a macbook and I am trying to find out. I called the store, but they didn't have a clue. I guess I will end up having to go to the store to actually find out.

If anyone does know, let me know.