Jack is back in the thrilling 6th season of 24. If you missed the first few episodes, find someone who taped 'em (or look on the iTunes Store) and catch up. It looks like this will be a great season and the action is just getting started.

For those who haven't seen 24, you should pick up the first 5 seasons and watch them all as fast as you can. Without commercials, you can speed through a season in a day (as long as you have no job/watch on a weekend). If you like well-thought-out action movies, you'll love 24.

For everyone who knows (and those who don't know) what a woot-off is, I've been running a woot-off checker that'll play an annoying sound when a new item appears. It is written in Flash (you need flash player 7 or higher) and will work will all major browsers. You don't have to reload the page (flash is magic like that) and it'll show you the product, how much is left, and provide a buy link. Check it out. Over 17000 served.

Just look at the picture and wonder how it's snowing in Vegas and people are walking around in t-shirts in North Carolina. Clearly it's a cruel joke that some mad scientist is playing on us with a weather machine.

Steve Jobs kicked off the 2007 Macworld Expo today with his keynote address. He started by talking about how well the iPod and the iTunes store is doing. Apple is now #4 in music sales, between Target (#3) and Amazon (#5). They sell 5 million songs per minute and boast a 2 billion song library. They have new iTunes+iPod ads and a new Mac ad.


Steve then spoke of the 'iTV' (now called 'Apple TV') device that will allow you to stream your iTunes videos to your TV. The box, looking like a thinner mac mini, will have a 40GB drive, HD video, wi-fi, and will work with the Apple remote. The Apple TV will stream trailers from the Apple website (at 720p HD) as well as playback your purchased media, both audio and video, from the iTunes Store. Steve shows its streaming capabilities as well as showing downloaded iTunes Store content. Further, the Apple TV will show your photos on your TV and stream videos from up to five computers; it's integrated with iLife. When can we own this box and how much will it cost? Order it for $299 today, and get it in February.

Steve shocked the audience with three 'revolutionary' products: a widescreen iPod (with touch controls), a mobile phone, and an internet communicator. And why is it 'revolutionary'? Because they are all one device. Steve is calling it 'iPhone' (which is odd because I thought Apple didn't hold that trademark). The iPhone, at only 11/16in thick, is one, large, touchscreen that uses multi-finger gestures for input. The only button on the device's face is the power button. It runs OS X, so all the things you want (mail, web, etc) are included. It has sensors that let the device be smarter. A proximity sensor turns off the display and sound when you put it up to your ear. The ambient light sensor helps save power by regulating the backlight. The device can also detect it's orientation (landscape/portrait) automatically. Steve showed general phone use, and it's pretty sexy. It syncs via a docking cradle and will store all your contacts, videos, photos, music, email, and notes. Cingular will be the first to carry the GSM+EDGE phone and it'll cost you $499 (4GB) or $599 (8GB) (compare to the usual $200-$400 with 2 year contract) to own it in June. Oh, and did I mention the touch-to-add callers conference feature, the 2MP camera, and the 5 hour battery (16 hours just for audio)?

So 2 hours had flown by at this point and then Steve drops the bomb: Apple Computer, Inc is no more! They're changing to Apple, Inc. Now, that may not sound like much, but the name that they've been using for 30 years is no more. It's not a huge change, but it's just enough to reinvent the company. Jobs has been looking to make some history since he returned to Apple in 1998, and he's on his way to doing just that (or has he already?).

The wind down was nothing special, just John Mayer (he's there every year).

And that wraps it up. Well done Steve and co, you've left us all with our mouths watering, wanting more.

And for those of you keep tabs, Apple's stock is now up over $5.50.

Of note, Apple also slipped in an update to their AirPort Extreme wireless base and didn't mention it during the keynote.


New Apple Web Pages:
Apple.com
iPhone
Apple TV
iTunes+iPod ads
Mac ads

Only an hour and a half into Steve Jobs' keynote address at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco, and Apple stock is up $4. Let's hope it keeps going up and we'll all get rich together (well, all the Apple stock holders). Huge update to follow the keynote and highlight all the new Apple stuff.

Vanishing Point is a game (run by Microsoft) where puzzles are scattered across the globe. Solving puzzles (even just signing up) gets you points, and each point you earn enters you once for the prize drawings. The grand prize is a trip to the edge or our atmosphere with other prizes including high-end computers. While I don't think Microsoft products are generally well made, they have amazing marketing skills. Before the XBox 360 release, Microsoft scattered hidden messages across the US such as crop circles to get people excited. This is no different, as Microsoft is looking to get people excited for Windows Vista. The first event has ended, but the video is on the Vanishing Point site. Check it out, and who knows, you may win a trip into outer-space.

If you sign up, please use my email (UnbiasedBias @ gmail) as your referrer.