Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Apple TV now more useful

Hey, it looks like Apple TV is being touted more than a box sitting on top of a TV gathering dust.

At MacWorld in San Francisco today, Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled plans to make Apple TV into a media on-demand service. New features include (in which current Apple TV owners can download software for):

- Renting movies. So much for making this a Blockbuster night. Jobs unveiled a new online movie rental service, in which users can rent movies directly from the iTunes store on their sets. The service has support from all the major studios, and will offer 30-day rentals for $3.99 (new releases - to be available 30 days after DVD release) and $2.99 (library product.) Viewers have only 24 hours to watch a movie after it's started.

-HD product is available as well, for a dollar more.

- Music and TV programs now can be purchased through Apple TV as well, and can be synced back to your computer via the iTunes software.

- And if you don't have an Apple TV, don't worry: The online rental service is available to anyone who has a Mac, PC, iPod Video and iPhone (HD content however, is only available to those who have Apple TV.)

- The price of Apple TV's 40 GB model has gone down from $299 to $229.

Also today, Apple unveiled a new laptop called MacBook Air, the world's thinnest computer (but not thin on price.)

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