Apple presenting "secret" at Final Cut meet; Radiohead on iTunes

[AppleInsider]

Apple will present a product it has yet to announce at a Final Cut Pro user group event just a day after the Macworld keynote. Also, longtime digital music holdout Radiohead has officially released its first album through iTunes.

Final Cut Pro group meet provides clues to Apple's MWSF plans

When a collection of Final Cut Pro user groups assemble to hold a meeting at Macworld San Francisco later this month, Apple will have a surprise presentation for its guests, AppleInsider has learned.

The January 16th gathering, which follows a day after Apple chief Steve Jobs' Macworld keynote, will feature "something super secret" from the Mac maker, according to the announcement.

Despite the nature of the group, the Apple unveiling is unlikely to include an update to the Final Cut Studio video production suite, which was updated in April and has rarely been updated during the San Francisco show in the past.

Historically, Apple has at times used professional audiovisual industry gatherings to discuss its high-end computers, including the MacBook Pro, Mac Pro, and Xserve.

Radiohead makes its iTunes debut

Scoring a minor coup in its fight against Amazon, Apple today announced that the iTunes Store now carries In Rainbows, its first album offering from the British rock group Radiohead.

The deal places Apple's catalog on a more even level with its competitor. Amazon MP3 struck a blow against its older rival in September by securing Radiohead's back catalog for its September launch. Apple is selling the album in its unprotected iTunes Plus format, largely matching Amazon's MP3 files in quality, but also offers a free podcast with videos of several songs performed live in a recent web event held by the band.

The availability confirms previous reports that the musicians were in talks with Apple to bring their music to iTunes in earnest. Despite Radiohead's popularity, the group has remained almost entirely divorced from Apple's service outside of a few singles on compilation albums and the brief appearance of OK Computer in the store's catalog upon its launch in April 2003.

Radiohead recently revealed to Wired magazine that its apparent slowness to bring its music to digital stores has stemmed from an EMI contract that excluded digital sales from Radiohead's income. The band launched its first direct-download sales in October by offering its album from its own website, using a set-your-own-price approach.

iPhone 1.1.3 validated by earlier Apple patent?

Although debates are still ongoing as to the legitimacy of the iPhone 1.1.3 media posted over the weekend, enthusiasts note that a recently published patent may support the rumor.

As noted by Hrmpf, an August filing for a reconfigurable touchscreen interface patent contains virtually the same interface behaviors as the bootleg iPhone 1.1.3 video. This includes both the "wiggle" that indicates icons are movable as well as their automatic separation to indicate where an icon will land once dropped into place.

Not all elements of the patent have translated over to what appears to be a shipping product. To date, the leaked iPhone firmware does not allow users to "toss" icons to or from the bottom icon tray.

Study: notebooks seen outselling desktops in 2008

For the first time, an American shopper picking up a new computer in 2008 is most likely to buy a notebook than a desktop, the analyst group IDC predicts in a new report.

Both platforms were nearly on par in 2007 in terms of shipments but told very different stories in terms of growth, the researchers say. While US desktop sales were stronger at 35 million, this represents a 4 percent drop from year to year. By contrast, notebook sales soared by 21 percent to reach 31.5 million and are expected to continue this growth into the new year.

In 2009, this trend should be far-reaching enough to affect the entire world, IDC adds. Longer-range forecasts would also have 66 percent of businesses and 71 percent of regular consumers buying notebooks in 2011.

Fujitsu, Hitachi quit micro hard drive business

An increasing shift to flash-based, solid-state hard drives is pushing two Japanese electronics giants out of the ultra-small rotating hard drive business, according to a new report.

Fujitsu had been developing a compact 1.8-inch disk of its own and intended to release the product in 2007 but has since canceled the project; in turn Hitachi has announced that it will halt production by mid-2008. The latter company had already stopped producing one-inch microdrives.

The move parallels Apple's own shift towards flash storage, which leaves the iPod classic as its only handheld with a conventional hard drive. Hard drives in the 1.8-inch form factor are still being produced by firms such as Toshiba.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[Neruda]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Apple will present a product it has yet to announce at a Final Cut Pro user group event just a day after the Macworld keynote.

Apple's successor to Shake, Phenomenon.

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Also, longtime digital music holdout Radiohead has officially released its first album through iTunes.

Great news. I've been waiting for this for a long time. I Love Radiohead. But Amazon's price is better..

[danbedford]

Originally Posted by Neruda

Apple's successor to Shake, Phenomenon.

That's possible, but I was thinking along the lines of Final Cut Server. Though I would REALLY like to see a freakin' update to the Xserve RAID already!!!

Originally Posted by Neruda

Great news. I've been waiting for this for a long time. I Love Radiohead. But Amazon's price is better (and no DRM).

Yeah, the price is lower, but there's no DRM on the iTunes tracks either. They're released as iTunes Plus files.

[elroth]

"Amazon's price is better and no DRM."

Apple will also be selling it with no DRM (iTunes+), at somewhat better quality (AAC vs. MP3), plus the extra tunes.

[Lebowski]

It's about time...

[Neruda]

Originally Posted by elroth

"Amazon's price is better and no DRM."

Apple will also be selling it with no DRM (iTunes+), at somewhat better quality (AAC vs. MP3), plus the extra tunes.

You guys are quick. You responded before I could correct my post.

I don't think that the Final Cut related announcement will have anything to do with Final Cut Server, since this would not qualify as a super secret product/announcement. My money is on Phenomenon.

[quinney]

Originally Posted by Lebowski

It's about time...

duuuuuude

[quinney]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Radiohead recently revealed to Wired magazine that its apparent slowness to bring its music to digital stores has stemmed from an EMI contract that excluded digital sales from Radiohead's income.

Individual songs are for sale for .99.
I thought I read somewhere that they objected to selling songs individually???????

[mdriftmeyer]

Perhaps they will reveal software from a hidden 3rd party purchase?

[Joe_the_dragon]

Is this when we will see a new mac pro?

[mrpiddly]

Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer

Perhaps they will reveal software from a hidden 3rd party purchase?

oh please let it be luxology





But a new mac pro, with nvida qfx 5600, would be very nice.

[DCJ001]

Originally Posted by quinney

duuuuuude

sweeeeet

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by Joe_the_dragon

Is this when we will see a new mac pro?

I think it's possible, the timing is good. I think Penryn is supposed to be available in volume this month.

I don't think you'd like it though.

[rols]

Originally Posted by JeffDM

I think it's possible, the timing is good. I think Penryn is supposed to be available in volume this month.

I don't think you'd like it though.

why won't I like it?

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by rols

why won't I like it?

I don't think Joe would like it. You might, I don't know that. My guess is that it very likely won't use plain DDR memory and doesn't have all the PCIe lanes that he wants.

[Guartho]

Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer

Perhaps they will reveal software from a hidden 3rd party purchase?

I'd be happy with Blu-ray authoring.

[bsenka]

Originally Posted by Neruda

Apple's successor to Shake, Phenomenon.



Great news. I've been waiting for this for a long time. I Love Radiohead. But Amazon's price is better..

The price direct from Radiohead was even better, and the tracks were higher quality.

[BRussell]

THe surprise also could be a close-up look at something being introduced at MacWorld, rather than a new product introduced at the FCP meeting itself.

[warnergt]

Blu-ray!
Blu-ray!
Blu-ray!

I've been waiting for Blu-ray authoring for 18 months. It's due.

[aegisdesign]

Surely anyone who wanted a digital version of In Rainbows would have bought it via Radiohead's website by now for possibly quite a lot less than iTunes or even free.

[Joe_the_dragon]

Originally Posted by JeffDM

I don't think Joe would like it. You might, I don't know that. My guess is that it very likely won't use plain DDR memory and doesn't have all the PCIe lanes that he wants.

The new chip sets have a lot more pci-e lanes and 2.0 pci-e slots and only uses the higher cost FB-dimms but if apple moves to 2gb base 512x4 or 1gbx2 then that should be ok for users.

A mid-range system with out the sever parts would be better.

The chip set with DDR2 ECC has no pci-e 2.0 slots and just about the same number of pci-e slots as the old chipset has.

[sennen]

Originally Posted by warnergt

I've been waiting for Blu-ray authoring for 18 months. It's due.

i'm sorry to say that i expect that you'll be kept waiting. sonic's scenarist is the only pro solution (outside of sony), afaik, and it's not $1500....

[Tracker]

Could this be tied to the OS? Could this be the feature Steve was talking about?

[TuberMagPico]

Originally Posted by Tracker

Could this be tied to the OS? Could this be the feature Steve was talking about?

Excuse me for my ignorance but what was steve talking about?

[jennyg]

Also, longtime digital music holdout Radiohead has officially released its first album through iTunes.

Not to be pedantic, but I read that as releasing the first album they'd recorded, not the most recent album as their first thing on iTunes....

I'd be happy with either or both, considering I've been wanting to flesh out my Radiohead collection and I still have a big chunk to burn of that $100 iTunes gift card I got for Christmas.

[Unicron]

My money is on new Mac Pro towers. Steve doesn't like to split attention at his Keynotes between several products -- especially if they have a new product to announce at the Keynote.

But the secret thing? Well, technically all Apple products are secret until they are released... even if everyone knows about them

[thebigapple]

I can't imagine the big "secret" being a small software upgrade for Final Cut or the mac book towers, which are really for pro use anyway. Apple is always in line if not one step ahead of the trend. My prediction is that this is going to have something to do with how social networking sites and people like YouTube and Google operate. Something having to do with streaming content...

[rosstheboss]

oooh...i hope it's a new plug-in that means the software is actually usable and doesn't need a 20 minute "sit and think" after capturing an hour of DVCam tape...

[Neruda]

Originally Posted by thebigapple

I can't imagine the big "secret" being a small software upgrade for Final Cut or the mac book towers, which are really for pro use anyway. Apple is always in line if not one step ahead of the trend. My prediction is that this is going to have something to do with how social networking sites and people like YouTube and Google operate. Something having to do with streaming content...

No:
1. I don't think Apple is interested in that market or business. 2. Notwithstanding no. 1, this would not warrant an announcement at MacWorld and would not be appropriate for the announcement at the FCP user group meeting.

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Apple will present a product it has yet to announce at a Final Cut Pro user group event just a day after the Macworld keynote.

IMO, Final Cut server would not qualify as super-secret, and any new hardware will probably be announced at MW. It is too soon for FC studio to be updated again so that is doubtful. That leaves the successor to Shake, OR a completely new product that no one knows about.

[thebigapple]

The business I am talking about is media distribution. Right now youtube needs all sorts of software to be able to stream efficiently. If Apple can streamline this into Final Cut, you will see a game-changer...

I see this plus the massive increase in storage capacity on .mac plus the music label deal with Jay-Z all positioning Apple to be in the entertainment and media distribution business more so than selling great laptops.

Originally Posted by Neruda

No:
1. I don't think Apple is interested in that market or business. 2. Notwithstanding no. 1, this would not warrant an announcement at MacWorld and would not be appropriate for the announcement at the FCP user group meeting.



IMO, Final Cut server would not qualify as super-secret, and any new hardware will probably be announced at MW. It is too soon for FC studio to be updated again so that is doubtful. That leaves the successor to Shake, OR a completely new product that no one knows about.

[Neruda]

Originally Posted by thebigapple

The business I am talking about is media distribution.

Apple is already in this business (iTunes).

Originally Posted by thebigapple

Right now youtube needs all sorts of software to be able to stream efficiently. If Apple can streamline this into Final Cut, you will see a game-changer...

Media distribution and streaming are not necessarily the same businesses. Akamai, for instance, is in the streaming business and handles the streaming of Apple's Quicktime content. This is not the type of business that Apple is interested in (streaming infrastructure), while it is already a leader in media distribution (online music).

As as the Jay-Z record label launch with iTunes, this is definitely a possibility, though.

[thebigapple]

Thanks for the link - that's exactly what I'm talking about - they don't just use Akami, they bought 5% of the company. They wouldn't do this just to make their trailers faster. This tells me they are gearing for something more encompassing than we think...

Originally Posted by Neruda

Apple is already in this business (iTunes).



Media distribution and streaming are not necessarily the same businesses. Akamai, for instance, is in the streaming business and handles the streaming of Apple's Quicktime content. This is not the type of business that Apple is interested in (streaming infrastructure), while it is already a leader in media distribution (online music).

As as the Jay-Z record label launch with iTunes, this is definitely a possibility, though.

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Apple will present a product it has yet to announce at a Final Cut Pro user group event just a day after the Macworld keynote. Also, longtime digital music holdout Radiohead has officially released its first album through iTunes.

Final Cut Pro group meet provides clues to Apple's MWSF plans

When a collection of Final Cut Pro user groups assemble to hold a meeting at Macworld San Francisco later this month, Apple will have a surprise presentation for its guests, AppleInsider has learned.

The January 16th gathering, which follows a day after Apple chief Steve Jobs' Macworld keynote, will feature "something super secret" from the Mac maker, according to the announcement.

Despite the nature of the group, the Apple unveiling is unlikely to include an update to the Final Cut Studio video production suite, which was updated in April and has rarely been updated during the San Francisco show in the past.

Historically, Apple has at times used professional audiovisual industry gatherings to discuss its high-end computers, including the MacBook Pro, Mac Pro, and Xserve.

The organizer of the LAFCPUG Supermeet in question claimed he started this rumor. I'm not sure if he was joking or not.

[AloysiusBear]

I have a feeling Apple may be combining the applications inside Final Cut Studio into one standalone app, called OneTrack.

[TripleCore]

Here is the agenda. Doesn't look like any unannounced products to me though:

http://www.lafcpug.org/macworld_08.html

[bevision]

Has anyone heard anything about what hte announcement was? I have been waiting with Baited breath.... I can't find any news on this anywhere. Where better than the Insider?

[Royboy]

Originally Posted by bevision

Has anyone heard anything about what hte announcement was? I have been waiting with Baited breath.... I can't find any news on this anywhere. Where better than the Insider?

Maybe you are using the wrong kind of bait? Jobs used the right kind of bait to keep you on edge and interested. I'm still waiting with bated bated breath, but I think all the excitement is over for the average Mac consumer.

[paprochy]

yeah, what the hell happened with that. I'm still waiting on that news.