You could have cut the tension with a knife at MacWorld yesterday, when the reporters and fans filed in to see Steve Jobs give the keynote speech, and Steve wasn’t one to dissapoint. Starting off the day by unveiling a new wired remote for the iPod with video that includes an fm tuner (now the folks that have been all uptight about the iPod not having one can’t complain, but similarly it’ll retail for 49 dollars and not come with your new iPod) and unveiled more television shows that will be available through the iTunes video store.
Moving on to the Macintosh, everyone had all but expected Apple to make the Mac Mini the first intel-powered Macintosh, as was promised last year, but Steve has other things in store. After unveiling the 2006 versions of iLife and iWork, as well as Mac OS 10.4.4, which is immediately available and runs natively on intel platforms, Steve presented us with an all new iMac that hides a pair of intel processors under the hood, called the Intel Core Duo. But no sooner than he unveiled the iMac did he unveil the next Apple portable, called the MacBook Pro, which is destined to replace the Powerbook altogether and also runs a set of Intel Core Duos under the hood. The Intel Core Duo is based on Pentium M technology, which makes them run cool and run fast.
(more on that here: [ http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,124243,00.asp ] )
The MacBooks are shipping in February, and the new intel iMacs are shipping immediately. More information on Apple’s announcement and the new lineup is here:
[ http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,124323,tk,dn011006X,00.asp ]
[ http://www.wirednews.com/news/technology/0,69998-0.html ]