June 1st - Something big from Sun! June 6th from Apple

[suziedemocrat]

From: http://www.sun.com/june1st/flash.html

"Twenty-three years ago, we at Sun recognized that something very basic was, in its simplicity, profound.

And ever since, this idea has guided our path to many achievements. We've helped enable the collaboration of everyone from automakers to health care providers. We've assisted educators and innovators in shaping the future.

On June 1st, we'll tell you what this simple idea can accomplish next. After all, the stakes have never been higher. The information Age has taken society as far as it can. It's time to move to something bigger.

Something with the potential to involve everyone.

June 1st. Participate, won't you?"

Also!!! June 6th - Steve Jobs will give the keynote address at the Apple World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco. He usually introduces big new products here - and since he just introduced a new operating system - Tiger OS 10.4 - we know that won't be the big bang that everyone is expecting.

Apple, Sun and Sony have been collaborating for a while - what could they be up to?????

Two quotes:

"The third phase in personal computing is about the desktop machine becoming the digital hub that connects and manages all of your computing devices, from music CD players to TVs.

-Steve Jobs Jan 2002

The next wave of the Internet is going to be huge, and the companies that create products that work together can all be winners.

-Kunitake Ando (President and COO of Sony) Feb 2002

http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/editors/2005/01/highdefreax/index.php

Also - Ando made an appearance at MacWorld 2005 where Steve Jobs declared 2005 "The Year of High Definition Video." And way back in January of 2000 Jobs announced his intention to make Apple "one of the 10 most profitable Internet companies in the next few years."
http://www.techweb.com/article/printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=29112320&site_section=

Here's what people are expecting. http://www.macsimumnews.com/index.php/archive/the_next_wave_of_the_internet_rolls_in_on_june_1/

- Grid computing to use your computer as a digital hub. Internet, Telephone, Music, Video, etc.

- Apple's iTunes store branching out to include Movies and TV shows. They just recently added music videos to the store - so this may not be that much of a stretch.

- Air Port Express currently allows people to play their entire iTunes library on speakers throughout their home by attaching the speakers to a tiny little white box. The Air Port Express box communicates wirelessly to your Mac.
http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/
You can attach a number of different speaker systems to your mac by buying additional air ports for $129.
The bummer about this - you have to set and/or change the play list from your PC. So no flipping through your song collection from the couch.

- People expect Air Port Express to soon allow streaming video as well and hook up to your TV monitor. But - hey - I want a way a remote control don't you?

- Apple was granted a patent for a "electronic device" on Tuesday, May 10th, 2005. http://www.macobserver.com/article/2005/05/10.18.shtml
People initially thought it might be some sort of tablet PC - but now many speculate that it will be that remote control device we all need to remotely control iTunes from our couch and then select the output for the streaming audio/video from the long list of stereo systems and/or TVs in our house.

All in HD of course! Look at this post from "As Seen On TV" - a supposed Apple Insider who leaks information to slashdot.org. http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=148958&cid=12485267

"What exactly we offer depends on whose content you're talking about. Some content will be provided to us in 720-by-486 anamorphic, which we'll encode in H.264 at between 1 and 2 megabits. (Did you notice that QuickTime 7 has additional support for anamorphic video? I knew you would.) Other content will come in at HD, and for the time being we'll scale that down to half-HD at 2 Mbps. Doing full 1080/24p at 8 Mbps just isn't practical right now given that even the fastest cable modems in the US top out at 4 Mbps; in order to get real-time streaming of full-HD content, you'd need one of those new-fangled fiber optic Internet services that the telcos are starting to roll out. That's too forward-thinking for phase one. But we can do 2 Mbps now to the same customers we're shipping iTunes songs to."

Other Sources: Neo from MacSimumNews.com
http://www.macsimumnews.com/index.php/archive/the_next_wave_of_the_internet_rolls_in_on_june_1/
Cringely from PBS
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20050512.html

[NV Whino]

1. Apple's always been the harbinger of good things.

This sounds exciting.