Great catch from the past Rhumgod! I pulled a quote from your link (1998!) :
Quote:
The Apple Media Player
We're sure many of you have heard of the AMP, or Apple Media Player, code named Columbus (exploring new worlds). Many of you are eager to learn more, or to just understand exactly what this piece of hardware makes itself out to be. The truth is, it's all one big sloppy mess right now. The information, not the product. The AMP is, or 'was', one of Apple's top secret developments, until someone at Disney tipped off news.com. Apple had initially hoped to keep this project under wraps.
The AMP is a set top box, that will be portable, and according to unconfirmed reports (and CNBC) will contain a color screen, which we are assuming may be a touch-control screen (for portability reason as well). The box will hook up to the TV, of course...
Since the people in Hollywood will not only be the ones to benefit from the technology the AMP will bring to users homes,.. They need to assure developers that this technology will be top notch on Apple's list. Otherwise Apple may fall short of another opportunity, as another alternative may be chosen to be embraced by the developers. Below are a short list of rumors features/components of the Apple Media Player. Take them, and the rest of this report with a grain of salt. "
So the Apple Media Player (AMP) of 1998 was stillborn, Columbus never set sail. Hopefully the past will be but prologue to the future, and Apple will provide their digital hub with enough spokes to really roll.
I hope that the "AMP" of 1998 will turn out to be the Apple Media Player / Recorder of 2004. The "One more thing" at MWSF to help Apple break out of the "niche" they have been relegated to by Microsoft's monopoly on the desktop.
Of course this product will quickly kill both TiVo and ReplayTV, so my $250 "lifetime" subscription will be short lived. But I can live with(out) that for a killer PVR that I can run from, and view on, my Macs.
dateline April 20, 1998: Mac Opinion by Mark Anthony Collins:
Quote:
I have been waiting for Apple to release a Mac that was powerful enough for my needs yet inexpensive enough that anyone could afford one. There have been rumors about a device that Apple's supposedly working on, code-named "Columbus", that's designed to be a comsumer oriented Macintosh.
Many sources now feel that Apple has dropped such a project if it ever had one. However, I beg to differ. I believe that Apple is planning to release the machine under the name Apple Media Player, and that it will help Apple regain it's former glory by offering an inexpensive, easy to use machine that anyone with a TV & VCR would be able to afford.
The fact that the Apple Media Player is actually a fully functional Macintosh with NC capabilities when subscribed to an online Rhapsody Server service makes these systems extremely affordable. However, the cool factor of the Apple Media Player exceeds it's price/performance. Think Colors.
The Apple Media Player will also reportedly come in six different colors. They include the classic midnight color in the photo above, plus the following colors: blue, green, red, platinum, and black. This helps users pick the AMP that suits their decor needs.
However, there is only one problem with the Apple Media Player: This is all wishful speculation. I really have no idea how Apple will handle the consumer device market. In fact, the Apple Media Player picture above is from Apple Recon, and the colored AMPs were just a little Photoshop trick. However, if Apple wants to completely rule the consumer device market, this is exactly what it needs to do. Sorry for the tease, but I bet that you were really excited for a while. I know I was.
Apple, if you're reading this, please make this happen. Your margin would be less, but your market share would go through the roof. Software sales would go up. Demand for Macintosh apps would go up. And all Mac users everywhere would benet. If you do build it, they will buy!
So... Offered in colors and with a subscription service? This would make it cheap to buy, but expensive to feed. (Just like my TiVo). But. hey, as long as they offer the service as a part of .mac it could be a great bargain. Count me in either way.
One more link - The C/Net News article that broke the story on the Apple Media Player - and probably caused it's withdrawal (Steve'd)
The article you linked to seems to have summed up the iMac which was released instead of the AMP. Colors, when every other Apple product save Newton and Powerbooks were beige, net bootable to an OSX server, and low cost. Columbus was all the rage in 1998, but we got the iMac instead and I for one am happy about that.
Steve has driven this home so many times I'm surprised people are still talking about it. PDA rumors have all but died, yet the AMP lives on. What is Apple going to bring to the table that isn't already there? TiVo lets you view your iPhoto collection and listen to your iTunes library via an airport card and rendezvous. It already has a very developed UI. It has a well known brand name. It's users are very loyal to the company. There is nothing for Apple to add except a pretty UI and a white and chrome box.
This isn't even taking into effect Steve's great observations about the drastically different usage habits of TV and the computer. It's not going to happen, go buy a Tivo or one of the other dozen or so PVR's out there.
In January 1998, Bahamut was born on a discussion board inhabited by Mac professionals. Since then, Bahamut has been responsible for a series of predictions regarding the on-again, off-again relationship between Apple and television. To inaugurate Bahamut?s Lair, let?s go back over some of these predictions and see why they are still relevant to Apple today.
Over the first few months of 1998, Bahamut described a mysterious device called the Apple Media Player (AMP) that was intended to interface with your TV. The AMP had a long legacy ? from the Apple/Bandai Pippin venture to the MacTV to the Apple Interactive Television Box of 1995. In regards to the last, the official manual for it stated: ?With the Apple Interactive Television Box (Apple Interactive TV Box) and the services of an interactive service provider, your TV is no longer something to just ?watch.? Now, you can take control of your TV set, using it in many exciting new ways.?
In the purge of projects not directly ?Macintosh? that occurred when Steve Jobs returned and ousted CEO Gil Amelio, the AMP was cancelled (or, as we like to term killed Apple projects, ?Steved?). In interviews in 1998, Steve went on to poke fun at the very idea, saying, ?TV is where you go when you want to turn your mind off?. It?s not surprising that Steve had to go to such lengths to justify himself, for if this last dream of Amelio?s been implemented, the AMP would have established a market in which a DVD-capable device would have been plausible, and Apple might now be on the forefront of this market.
In November 1998, Bahamut (in his alter ego) coined the term ?the Golden Convergence,? which has now become his greatest contribution to computer lingo. As Bahamut found, Jobs was on the way to discovering something a lot more provocative than merely Enhanced CDs. To Jobs?s great credit, when the Mac was born he was absolutely on the ball with the first killer app of the computer age, desktop publishing. With Apple in dire straits in the mid 1990s and Jobs out of the picture, however, the second killer app ? the Internet ? was an opportunity Apple sadly missed. ?Golden Convergence,? however, would be a third killer app ? a final opportunity for Apple to regain its rightful place in the world of computing. This Golden Convergence would be nothing less than the loss of any distinction between the Web, digital video, and the operating system.
Now, over the next few years, the Web will move from mere HTML to the more extensible and flexible XML, Java will grow in power and become ubiquitous, MPEG-4 will come to incorporate QT, and PDF-flavored documents are expected to proliferate across the Internet. The next-generation Mac operating system, OS X, is ideally suited to respond to this new world by incorporating Java, QuickTime, and PDF on top of a stable and versatile flavor of Unix. The result is that OS X could wind up becoming the one OS in which formats would become transparent. A light version of the Mac OS APIs available within QT itself (a long talked-about possibility) could make the OS even more pervasive, fitting it into smaller appliances and handheld devices.
In addition, in early 1999, Bahamut foresaw the creation of iMovie, and then followed up by predicting that a main purpose of QuickTime streaming was to enable an Internet website to be created at Apple that would allow individuals to watch their own movies. The creation of iTools is now, of course, history.
All the above isn?t just an attempt to toot Bahamut?s own horn ? he can do that all by himself. Instead, this history points out that the Steved One is well aware of Apple?s potential advantage in digital video and has been pursuing a cautious but nevertheless clear strategy in repositioning the Mac to respond to the Golden Convergence.
What next? iMovie is clearly being leveraged by Steve, but it is just the tip of the iceberg. Intrinsically linked to the future of OS X, iMovie makes it easy for the average Jolene to make professional-looking transitions between scenes, or professional-looking titles. These transitions, however, are hampered by the speed of rendering them. Quartz (and the Altivec/Velocity Engine chipset) will take care of that, allowing massive increases in the speed of the renderings. With OS X in hand,
There are some important repercussions that all this might have for the hardware side at Apple. The one kludge in iMovie is having to render the video out to a DV camera and then to VHS. Ughh... all that DV quality is lost. As hints of Apple?s negotiations with C-Cube show, Apple is undertaking a project that would allow rendering straight to DVD or to D-VHS. Home DVD writers are clearly on the horizon and Apple is intending to take full advantage of this. But if there will be Macs that can render DVDs, what else can that chipset do? Well, some of the chipsets can also work as decoders for digital cable boxes. The result would be that you may soon no longer just have an iMac in the den for word processing and such, but also a MacOS X-based control unit for the TV set.
This new box would be nothing less than your cable box, provided to you for a premium from your cable company. The result would be seamless interactivity between traditional and digital cable, and would allow the family to play games, browse the web, play DVDs, and make and edit their home videos. For distribution of home movies, it?ll be possible to either record to VHS and D-VHS, burn to DVD, or send to Apple?s iTools web site. Moreover, as long-time tech sector watcher and Recon For Investors head Robert Morgan has pointed out to Bahamut, a chipset capable of writing digital video to DVD or D-VHS will also be able to write digital video to a hard drive, allowing the unit to act as a digital VCR, much like the current TIVO and ReplayTV devices.
Although this whiz-bang little device is a great idea, one caveat must be inserted. The idea of appealing to Joe Six Pack (and the massive consumer market thus represented) is the force behind the set-top Mac... Apple does intend to go back into the ?prosumer? and enterprise market, particularly through DV creation. But that?s a year or two off in the future. One of Jobs?s arguments is that the capabilities of OS 9 took years to evolve. Doubtless there will be desired revisions (based on who screams the most about what) to OS X, but how long will it be before we have a reasonable operating system for enterprise and small-business computing in hand again?
This is a pivotal time, for the possibilities that Golden Convergence makes available to us are great. Only time will tell if Apple will rise to the challenge. If not, we can be sure that others, like TIVO or WebTV, will.
I haven't seen that name in a long time. For all those that can remember RFI and Golden Convergence raise your hand. Basically the gist was that the combination of OSX, QuickTime, and FireWire were going to rule the coming digital media revolution. It's too bad that RFI was either wrong or mislead. Either way, if I paid for their crappy newsletter like I wanted to I would be out a lot of money and still waiting for Golden Convergence.
I haven't seen that name in a long time. For all those that can remember RFI and Golden Convergence raise your hand. Basically the gist was that the combination of OSX, QuickTime, and FireWire were going to rule the coming digital media revolution. It's too bad that RFI was either wrong or mislead. Either way, if I paid for their crappy newsletter like I wanted to I would be out a lot of money and still waiting for Golden Convergence.
As long as golden convergence means devices communicating seamlessly with each other and not devices merging with each other.
Identify all those ports. And look, full sized FireWire that won't only be used to for silly things like Mitsubishi's NetCommand. The device itself has a very specific job. Provide and record HDTV content, function as a cable modem since it uses the same cable anyway, interoperate with other components via ethernet, FireWire or USB. It does not replace your mp3 player, computer, TV monitor, receiver, etc.
... Steve has driven this home so many times I'm surprised people are still talking about it. PDA rumors have all but died, yet the AMP lives on.
What is Apple going to bring to the table that isn't already there? ... nothing for Apple to add except a pretty UI and a white and chrome box.
This isn't even taking into effect Steve's great observations about the drastically different usage habits of TV and the computer. It's not going to happen, go buy a Tivo or one of the other dozen or so PVR's out there.
Like with MP3 players, there is a lot to add that Apple is uniquely positioned to supply. Of course a DVD burner is one thing my TiVo lacks, but others are jumping on that already. Apple could supply it's own killer apps for a much tighter integration with the feature set of such a device.
Making the scheduling and programming of the device part of the .mac web service would insure .mac's success and future. It would also be cheaper than TiVo or ReplayTV's services (now $12.95 a month) so that would be a consumer benefit, even if they didn't own a Mac. Just like the iPod, a device such as this would sell to the masses, not just Apple owners.
Just the same as the iPod, an Apple Media Player / Recorder would have a far wider audience than Apple's computers. It would probably outsell all versions of Apple computers combined. But the tighter integration with Apple's computers would cause many of it's adopters to strongly consider an Apple as their next computer.
As to his Steveness and his "great observations" he is no doubt a visionary, and his return to Apple most likely did save the company. But just because he is a vegetarian doesn't mean that we should all stop eating meat.
Steve Jobs seems to have a blind spot that unfortunately will limit Apple's success with it's version of the "Digital Hub" until he sees that his digital hub is missing an important "spoke" that the rest of the world will demand, and other vendors will supply. Apple will be constrained to the niche that they are in.
Some quotes from the C/Net article from 1998 that still are relevant today:
Quote:
While its star fades in its traditional computing business, Apple will graft a bold new strategy on its continuing attempt to ward off the Microsoft-Intel onslaught.
The computer maker apparently is gambling on the wide-open market for "convergence" devices. It is an area that neither Microsoft, Intel, Compaq Computer, nor any of the large Asian consumer electronics have figured out yet, leaving it up for grabs.
Generically referred to as a "media player," the device will be the cornerstone of the Columbus project, the code name for Apple's overall consumer strategy. Initially reported as the name for the media player, Columbus also encompasses low-cost Macs, education products, portables, and handhelds that are on the horizon, NEWS.COM has learned from industry sources.
The Wintel onslaught has not been stemmed by the iMac, eMac, or Powermacs (even the mighty G5 towers) all play to a small niche compared to the Wintel cabal. The only breakout product has been the iPod. What Apple needs is another breakout product, and if they choose not to follow up on this particular product it will be a great loss.
Apple was late to incorporate CD-R's into their computers weren't they? Didn't Steve admit that was a mistake at a MacWorld Keynote a few years ago?
Steve said he doesn't think that the TV converge with the computer, but this device isn't really a convergence, it is a stand alone device with connectivity. The connectivity opens the way for a future iMS (Movie Store), which may not be feasible today, but soon will. It also opens up the possibility to control the device via integrated Apple software like iCal at home and over the Web. This does sound like the PVR done right, and with some good DRM they may be able to get the movie studios on board early to help push such a device. If they are able to do that, then that means that Apple might be able to license the technology (format) to the likes of Sony, Samsung, Pioneer, etc. for $ on every consumer device and movie sold and keep a branded product around as a showcase.
could this be yet another catch for apple to force .mac subscriptions? hehehehe
It might help to make it attractive to the many Mac users who don't want to pay $100 a year for services (most of them anyway) that most ISP's offer with their accounts.
You know what I'd like? A tiny little box that hangs off the back of the TV (possibly literally) that is really cheap and allows my TV to read streamed "channels" being broadcast on an Ethernet. My Mac could then act as a DVR and stream out programs to whichever TV in the house requested them. Right now I could turn my Mac into a DVR (with any of a couple of different products), but I'd have to watch the programming on the Mac. Instead I want to be able to stream it on-demand from any of the 3 TVs in the house without having to buy an expensive box for each TV. The house is wired for Ethernet & cable already, but locations that aren't wired could use 802.11g nodes.
Making the scheduling and programming of the device part of the .mac web service would insure .mac's success and future. It would also be cheaper than TiVo or ReplayTV's services (now $12.95 a month) so that would be a consumer benefit, even if they didn't own a Mac. Just like the iPod, a device such as this would sell to the masses, not just Apple owners.
Personal TV. Let the boxes connect to each other like iChat. Any program I produce is then available just as any web page someone puts on a server is available to anyone with a browser. Open up video creation AND distribution to the masses.
Sure, just like the web, 90% of the non-porn content would be crap. But the potential is huge.
Could the box be used for video conferencing over the net? Tivo can't do that. Could it be used to burn DVD's (perhaps even a new Mpeg4 DVD format) to archive shows? Tivo can't do that. Could it allow non-computer owners to buy songs from ITMS? Tivo can't do that. There's a lot of value Apple can add to this category.
Despite the clamoring from users, it took Apple about 5 years to put a firewire port on the front of the machine. And the iMac base has to be turned around to plug in a camera.
Jobs is a great CEO, but he's a neat freak who seems to hate wires more that he hates TV.
There isn't enough bandwidth in 802.11 to start streaming from the mac to TVs in the house (especially if more than one computer shares the connection.)
Therefore, Apple probably won't be introducing any TIVO-like boxes until Wireless Firewire is available. proven and cost-effective.
1394 Trade Association Completes New 1394 Wireless Specification; ?Wireless FireWire? Ballot Set for January 2004
Wireless 1394 Adapted for 802.15.3 WPAN? Can Link Multiple 1394 Devices in a Network
Dallas, December 8, 2003 ? The 1394 Trade Association?s Wireless Working Group today announced that the specification for Wireless 1394 applications is functionally complete and ready for a ballot as early as January 2004. Formal approval of the new Protocol Adaptation Layer (PAL) standard will move consumers one significant step closer to controlling home networks, HDTVs, and other advanced electronics systems wirelessly, just as they now use remote controls to change TV channels or audio output.
Comments
Originally posted by Rhumgod :
Yeah, here's more...
Great catch from the past Rhumgod! I pulled a quote from your link (1998!) :
The Apple Media Player
We're sure many of you have heard of the AMP, or Apple Media Player, code named Columbus (exploring new worlds). Many of you are eager to learn more, or to just understand exactly what this piece of hardware makes itself out to be. The truth is, it's all one big sloppy mess right now. The information, not the product. The AMP is, or 'was', one of Apple's top secret developments, until someone at Disney tipped off news.com. Apple had initially hoped to keep this project under wraps.
The AMP is a set top box, that will be portable, and according to unconfirmed reports (and CNBC) will contain a color screen, which we are assuming may be a touch-control screen (for portability reason as well). The box will hook up to the TV, of course...
Since the people in Hollywood will not only be the ones to benefit from the technology the AMP will bring to users homes,.. They need to assure developers that this technology will be top notch on Apple's list. Otherwise Apple may fall short of another opportunity, as another alternative may be chosen to be embraced by the developers. Below are a short list of rumors features/components of the Apple Media Player. Take them, and the rest of this report with a grain of salt. "
So the Apple Media Player (AMP) of 1998 was stillborn, Columbus never set sail. Hopefully the past will be but prologue to the future, and Apple will provide their digital hub with enough spokes to really roll.
I hope that the "AMP" of 1998 will turn out to be the Apple Media Player / Recorder of 2004. The "One more thing" at MWSF to help Apple break out of the "niche" they have been relegated to by Microsoft's monopoly on the desktop.
Of course this product will quickly kill both TiVo and ReplayTV, so my $250 "lifetime" subscription will be short lived. But I can live with(out) that for a killer PVR that I can run from, and view on, my Macs.
dateline April 20, 1998: Mac Opinion by Mark Anthony Collins:
I have been waiting for Apple to release a Mac that was powerful enough for my needs yet inexpensive enough that anyone could afford one. There have been rumors about a device that Apple's supposedly working on, code-named "Columbus", that's designed to be a comsumer oriented Macintosh.
Many sources now feel that Apple has dropped such a project if it ever had one. However, I beg to differ. I believe that Apple is planning to release the machine under the name Apple Media Player, and that it will help Apple regain it's former glory by offering an inexpensive, easy to use machine that anyone with a TV & VCR would be able to afford.
The fact that the Apple Media Player is actually a fully functional Macintosh with NC capabilities when subscribed to an online Rhapsody Server service makes these systems extremely affordable. However, the cool factor of the Apple Media Player exceeds it's price/performance. Think Colors.
The Apple Media Player will also reportedly come in six different colors. They include the classic midnight color in the photo above, plus the following colors: blue, green, red, platinum, and black. This helps users pick the AMP that suits their decor needs.
However, there is only one problem with the Apple Media Player: This is all wishful speculation. I really have no idea how Apple will handle the consumer device market. In fact, the Apple Media Player picture above is from Apple Recon, and the colored AMPs were just a little Photoshop trick. However, if Apple wants to completely rule the consumer device market, this is exactly what it needs to do. Sorry for the tease, but I bet that you were really excited for a while. I know I was.
Apple, if you're reading this, please make this happen. Your margin would be less, but your market share would go through the roof. Software sales would go up. Demand for Macintosh apps would go up. And all Mac users everywhere would benet. If you do build it, they will buy!
So... Offered in colors and with a subscription service? This would make it cheap to buy, but expensive to feed. (Just like my TiVo). But. hey, as long as they offer the service as a part of .mac it could be a great bargain. Count me in either way.
One more link - The C/Net News article that broke the story on the Apple Media Player - and probably caused it's withdrawal (Steve'd)
Apple's Columbus a bold bet
Steve has driven this home so many times I'm surprised people are still talking about it. PDA rumors have all but died, yet the AMP lives on. What is Apple going to bring to the table that isn't already there? TiVo lets you view your iPhoto collection and listen to your iTunes library via an airport card and rendezvous. It already has a very developed UI. It has a well known brand name. It's users are very loyal to the company. There is nothing for Apple to add except a pretty UI and a white and chrome box.
This isn't even taking into effect Steve's great observations about the drastically different usage habits of TV and the computer. It's not going to happen, go buy a Tivo or one of the other dozen or so PVR's out there.
Golden Convergence
In January 1998, Bahamut was born on a discussion board inhabited by Mac professionals. Since then, Bahamut has been responsible for a series of predictions regarding the on-again, off-again relationship between Apple and television. To inaugurate Bahamut?s Lair, let?s go back over some of these predictions and see why they are still relevant to Apple today.
Over the first few months of 1998, Bahamut described a mysterious device called the Apple Media Player (AMP) that was intended to interface with your TV. The AMP had a long legacy ? from the Apple/Bandai Pippin venture to the MacTV to the Apple Interactive Television Box of 1995. In regards to the last, the official manual for it stated: ?With the Apple Interactive Television Box (Apple Interactive TV Box) and the services of an interactive service provider, your TV is no longer something to just ?watch.? Now, you can take control of your TV set, using it in many exciting new ways.?
In the purge of projects not directly ?Macintosh? that occurred when Steve Jobs returned and ousted CEO Gil Amelio, the AMP was cancelled (or, as we like to term killed Apple projects, ?Steved?). In interviews in 1998, Steve went on to poke fun at the very idea, saying, ?TV is where you go when you want to turn your mind off?. It?s not surprising that Steve had to go to such lengths to justify himself, for if this last dream of Amelio?s been implemented, the AMP would have established a market in which a DVD-capable device would have been plausible, and Apple might now be on the forefront of this market.
In November 1998, Bahamut (in his alter ego) coined the term ?the Golden Convergence,? which has now become his greatest contribution to computer lingo. As Bahamut found, Jobs was on the way to discovering something a lot more provocative than merely Enhanced CDs. To Jobs?s great credit, when the Mac was born he was absolutely on the ball with the first killer app of the computer age, desktop publishing. With Apple in dire straits in the mid 1990s and Jobs out of the picture, however, the second killer app ? the Internet ? was an opportunity Apple sadly missed. ?Golden Convergence,? however, would be a third killer app ? a final opportunity for Apple to regain its rightful place in the world of computing. This Golden Convergence would be nothing less than the loss of any distinction between the Web, digital video, and the operating system.
Now, over the next few years, the Web will move from mere HTML to the more extensible and flexible XML, Java will grow in power and become ubiquitous, MPEG-4 will come to incorporate QT, and PDF-flavored documents are expected to proliferate across the Internet. The next-generation Mac operating system, OS X, is ideally suited to respond to this new world by incorporating Java, QuickTime, and PDF on top of a stable and versatile flavor of Unix. The result is that OS X could wind up becoming the one OS in which formats would become transparent. A light version of the Mac OS APIs available within QT itself (a long talked-about possibility) could make the OS even more pervasive, fitting it into smaller appliances and handheld devices.
In addition, in early 1999, Bahamut foresaw the creation of iMovie, and then followed up by predicting that a main purpose of QuickTime streaming was to enable an Internet website to be created at Apple that would allow individuals to watch their own movies. The creation of iTools is now, of course, history.
All the above isn?t just an attempt to toot Bahamut?s own horn ? he can do that all by himself. Instead, this history points out that the Steved One is well aware of Apple?s potential advantage in digital video and has been pursuing a cautious but nevertheless clear strategy in repositioning the Mac to respond to the Golden Convergence.
What next? iMovie is clearly being leveraged by Steve, but it is just the tip of the iceberg. Intrinsically linked to the future of OS X, iMovie makes it easy for the average Jolene to make professional-looking transitions between scenes, or professional-looking titles. These transitions, however, are hampered by the speed of rendering them. Quartz (and the Altivec/Velocity Engine chipset) will take care of that, allowing massive increases in the speed of the renderings. With OS X in hand,
There are some important repercussions that all this might have for the hardware side at Apple. The one kludge in iMovie is having to render the video out to a DV camera and then to VHS. Ughh... all that DV quality is lost. As hints of Apple?s negotiations with C-Cube show, Apple is undertaking a project that would allow rendering straight to DVD or to D-VHS. Home DVD writers are clearly on the horizon and Apple is intending to take full advantage of this. But if there will be Macs that can render DVDs, what else can that chipset do? Well, some of the chipsets can also work as decoders for digital cable boxes. The result would be that you may soon no longer just have an iMac in the den for word processing and such, but also a MacOS X-based control unit for the TV set.
This new box would be nothing less than your cable box, provided to you for a premium from your cable company. The result would be seamless interactivity between traditional and digital cable, and would allow the family to play games, browse the web, play DVDs, and make and edit their home videos. For distribution of home movies, it?ll be possible to either record to VHS and D-VHS, burn to DVD, or send to Apple?s iTools web site. Moreover, as long-time tech sector watcher and Recon For Investors head Robert Morgan has pointed out to Bahamut, a chipset capable of writing digital video to DVD or D-VHS will also be able to write digital video to a hard drive, allowing the unit to act as a digital VCR, much like the current TIVO and ReplayTV devices.
Although this whiz-bang little device is a great idea, one caveat must be inserted. The idea of appealing to Joe Six Pack (and the massive consumer market thus represented) is the force behind the set-top Mac... Apple does intend to go back into the ?prosumer? and enterprise market, particularly through DV creation. But that?s a year or two off in the future. One of Jobs?s arguments is that the capabilities of OS 9 took years to evolve. Doubtless there will be desired revisions (based on who screams the most about what) to OS X, but how long will it be before we have a reasonable operating system for enterprise and small-business computing in hand again?
This is a pivotal time, for the possibilities that Golden Convergence makes available to us are great. Only time will tell if Apple will rise to the challenge. If not, we can be sure that others, like TIVO or WebTV, will.
Originally posted by Aphelion
"If you want to see the Future, look to the Past" ~ anonymous
Golden Convergence
I haven't seen that name in a long time. For all those that can remember RFI and Golden Convergence raise your hand. Basically the gist was that the combination of OSX, QuickTime, and FireWire were going to rule the coming digital media revolution. It's too bad that RFI was either wrong or mislead. Either way, if I paid for their crappy newsletter like I wanted to I would be out a lot of money and still waiting for Golden Convergence.
Originally posted by HOM
I haven't seen that name in a long time. For all those that can remember RFI and Golden Convergence raise your hand. Basically the gist was that the combination of OSX, QuickTime, and FireWire were going to rule the coming digital media revolution. It's too bad that RFI was either wrong or mislead. Either way, if I paid for their crappy newsletter like I wanted to I would be out a lot of money and still waiting for Golden Convergence.
As long as golden convergence means devices communicating seamlessly with each other and not devices merging with each other.
Inklings of golden convergence:
http://broadband.motorola.com/dvr/dct6208.asp
Identify all those ports. And look, full sized FireWire that won't only be used to for silly things like Mitsubishi's NetCommand. The device itself has a very specific job. Provide and record HDTV content, function as a cable modem since it uses the same cable anyway, interoperate with other components via ethernet, FireWire or USB. It does not replace your mp3 player, computer, TV monitor, receiver, etc.
Originally posted by Eugene
Inklings of golden convergence:
http://broadband.motorola.com/dvr/dct6208.asp
I love it...and would buy one immediately except for this:
Jesus. If I gave that thing to my mother I'd see her in Target the very next day shopping for bubble bath and razor blades.
Originally posted by HOM :
... Steve has driven this home so many times I'm surprised people are still talking about it. PDA rumors have all but died, yet the AMP lives on.
What is Apple going to bring to the table that isn't already there? ... nothing for Apple to add except a pretty UI and a white and chrome box.
This isn't even taking into effect Steve's great observations about the drastically different usage habits of TV and the computer. It's not going to happen, go buy a Tivo or one of the other dozen or so PVR's out there.
Like with MP3 players, there is a lot to add that Apple is uniquely positioned to supply. Of course a DVD burner is one thing my TiVo lacks, but others are jumping on that already. Apple could supply it's own killer apps for a much tighter integration with the feature set of such a device.
Making the scheduling and programming of the device part of the .mac web service would insure .mac's success and future. It would also be cheaper than TiVo or ReplayTV's services (now $12.95 a month) so that would be a consumer benefit, even if they didn't own a Mac. Just like the iPod, a device such as this would sell to the masses, not just Apple owners.
Just the same as the iPod, an Apple Media Player / Recorder would have a far wider audience than Apple's computers. It would probably outsell all versions of Apple computers combined. But the tighter integration with Apple's computers would cause many of it's adopters to strongly consider an Apple as their next computer.
As to his Steveness and his "great observations" he is no doubt a visionary, and his return to Apple most likely did save the company. But just because he is a vegetarian doesn't mean that we should all stop eating meat.
Steve Jobs seems to have a blind spot that unfortunately will limit Apple's success with it's version of the "Digital Hub" until he sees that his digital hub is missing an important "spoke" that the rest of the world will demand, and other vendors will supply. Apple will be constrained to the niche that they are in.
Some quotes from the C/Net article from 1998 that still are relevant today:
While its star fades in its traditional computing business, Apple will graft a bold new strategy on its continuing attempt to ward off the Microsoft-Intel onslaught.
The computer maker apparently is gambling on the wide-open market for "convergence" devices. It is an area that neither Microsoft, Intel, Compaq Computer, nor any of the large Asian consumer electronics have figured out yet, leaving it up for grabs.
Generically referred to as a "media player," the device will be the cornerstone of the Columbus project, the code name for Apple's overall consumer strategy. Initially reported as the name for the media player, Columbus also encompasses low-cost Macs, education products, portables, and handhelds that are on the horizon, NEWS.COM has learned from industry sources.
The Wintel onslaught has not been stemmed by the iMac, eMac, or Powermacs (even the mighty G5 towers) all play to a small niche compared to the Wintel cabal. The only breakout product has been the iPod. What Apple needs is another breakout product, and if they choose not to follow up on this particular product it will be a great loss.
Steve said he doesn't think that the TV converge with the computer, but this device isn't really a convergence, it is a stand alone device with connectivity. The connectivity opens the way for a future iMS (Movie Store), which may not be feasible today, but soon will. It also opens up the possibility to control the device via integrated Apple software like iCal at home and over the Web. This does sound like the PVR done right, and with some good DRM they may be able to get the movie studios on board early to help push such a device. If they are able to do that, then that means that Apple might be able to license the technology (format) to the likes of Sony, Samsung, Pioneer, etc. for $ on every consumer device and movie sold and keep a branded product around as a showcase.
Originally posted by whoami
could this be yet another catch for apple to force .mac subscriptions? hehehehe
It might help to make it attractive to the many Mac users who don't want to pay $100 a year for services (most of them anyway) that most ISP's offer with their accounts.
Originally posted by Aphelion
Making the scheduling and programming of the device part of the .mac web service would insure .mac's success and future. It would also be cheaper than TiVo or ReplayTV's services (now $12.95 a month) so that would be a consumer benefit, even if they didn't own a Mac. Just like the iPod, a device such as this would sell to the masses, not just Apple owners.
Good Call!
Personal TV. Let the boxes connect to each other like iChat. Any program I produce is then available just as any web page someone puts on a server is available to anyone with a browser. Open up video creation AND distribution to the masses.
Sure, just like the web, 90% of the non-porn content would be crap. But the potential is huge.
Originally posted by HOM
too drunk post again later
Heh, too bad most don't have this awareness - sloshed or not!
Jobs is a great CEO, but he's a neat freak who seems to hate wires more that he hates TV.
There isn't enough bandwidth in 802.11 to start streaming from the mac to TVs in the house (especially if more than one computer shares the connection.)
Therefore, Apple probably won't be introducing any TIVO-like boxes until Wireless Firewire is available. proven and cost-effective.
http://www.1394ta.org/Press/2003Pres...er/12.08.a.htm
1394 Trade Association Completes New 1394 Wireless Specification; ?Wireless FireWire? Ballot Set for January 2004
Wireless 1394 Adapted for 802.15.3 WPAN? Can Link Multiple 1394 Devices in a Network
Dallas, December 8, 2003 ? The 1394 Trade Association?s Wireless Working Group today announced that the specification for Wireless 1394 applications is functionally complete and ready for a ballot as early as January 2004. Formal approval of the new Protocol Adaptation Layer (PAL) standard will move consumers one significant step closer to controlling home networks, HDTVs, and other advanced electronics systems wirelessly, just as they now use remote controls to change TV channels or audio output.
Edit: 1394 Trade Association Chair:
Eric Anderson, Apple
1 Infinite Loop, MS 306-3FW
Cupertino, CA 95014
Phone (official business only): 1/408-974-1394
Customer information: www.apple.com/firewire
I love this rumor. It is all about connectivity which is what the digital hub is all about.