Last year at Macworld—the convention that helps consumers figure out how to surround themselves with gadgets stamped with an Apple logo—Steve Jobs announced the iPhone, which created bulges in the pants of technophiles everywhere. At today’s 2008 keynote, entitled “Something in the Air,” Jobs introduced the MacBook Air, an aneroxic laptop that can fit snugly in a manila envelope and is almost half as thin as the already-skinny rivals out there today. There’s no CD drive, but it comes with all the bells and whistles found in a MacBook Pro, weighs three pounds, boasts five hours of battery life, and will be released in two weeks for $1,799.
“You can see how beautiful and thin this product is,” said Jobs before announcing new hardware that will arrive in February, such as the time capsule, a wireless backup appliance (500 gb- $299, 1 Tb- $499). As the Apple boss worked the stage, he demonstrated new iPhone tricks to winning applause. The new software update released today will now offer lyrics support to your iPhone, so you can now sing along on the bus ride home. “I’m really pleased to report that we sold our four billionth song. On Christmas day we set a new record,” said Jobs, “We sold 20 million songs in one day.”
Apple is mounting a new assault on Hollywood by allowing movie rentals for iTunes today. Promising more than 1,000 films at the end of February, Apple’s film database still pales in comparison to their six-million-strong song library. But here’s the rundown: Once you rent a movie, you have thirty days to start watching and then twenty-four hours to finish. You can begin a movie on your laptop and transfer the rest to your iPod/iPhone. A library title will cost $2.99, new releases are $3.99 (HD-quality will be dollar more).
The show ended with Randy Newman at his piano. “I couldn’t understand most of what he said,” Newman admitted, “I’ve mastered the answering machine, which is better than my parents. I’ll always root against corporations, because that’s the way I am, but not this one” and finished out the act with none other than “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.”
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- Portions of Album Content Provided by All Music Guide © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC.
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