Iljitsch van Beijnum, an avid fan of Apple products, wrote an opinion piece for Infinite Loop journal on Ars Technica which delved into why the next major OS X release's delay shouldn't be taken so lightly. Just last week, the official word on OS X 10.5, codenamed "Leopard," was to be delayed all the way until October 2007.

 

Despite Apple's consistent drive for a "spring release," Leopard won't make an appearance until fall of 2007. This proves that the speculation of the Mac OS revelation at the 2007 WWDC does signify that it's already in its polishing stages.

But Beijnum's concern isn't about its delay - he is far more concerned about the detrimental effects of the delay could do in relation to what Leopard could offer and what the current marketing strategy that accompanies the product. For the most part, the OS - as he says - comes with a feature set much needed by the Mac user community. iLife and iWork are claimed to be coming in Leopard-only versions.

Apple used to be the secretive product shipper: always being able to keep everything safely tucked in their closet until the big release date. This has always allowed Apple to slap giants like Sony and Microsoft with their new product releases. That character has been struggling to retain itself recently, with information leaks left and right before a product could even be put to production.

Unfortunately, the Mac community isn't such a forgiving crowd. There are those that don't even see a need for Leopard, and could care less about the release delays for 10.5. Tiger, according to them, is a safer bet to stay with instead of having to stave off months from purchasing a new Macbook.

It is possible that Leopard could be a disappointment to many once it releases, due to lack of HD support and hardware resolution independent support. Who, after all, is to say otherwise? Demonstrations are only slated for WWDC attendee eyes and most screenshots have either been debunked or unsatisfactorily rumored to many OS X users. So is the delay of Leopard really much of a big deal? Feel free to discuss.

It seems that Sony has finally conceded to the iPod's ever-growing popularity. While checking out some of the new stuff over at the iLounge, we came across news that the electronics giant has finally created their own iPod dock.

According to iLounge, the new iPod dock - called the Sony TDM-IP1 Digital Media Port dock - is designed to connect the Apple iPod to the Digital Media Port on compatible Bravia home theater systems and audio receivers. It's compatible with fourth- and fifth- generation iPods, first- and second-generation iPod Nanos, and iPod Minis.

Apart from playing audio from the iPod through the Bravia systems, it also works as an iPod battery charger. The Sony TDM-IP1 Digital Media Port dock is now available for pre-order and carries a price tag of US$ 100. It's a bit steep, but if you've got the money to spring for a brand-new Bravia system, what's a hundred bucks more?

Newsflash: you might want to upgrade your digital audio player to support the AAC format. After all, this is the format to be used by Apple in selling their non-DRM music from EMI from now on, with lots of major music labels expected to follow suit on the months to come.

AAC is known to be the better digital audio format in terms of sound quality compared to the more popular MP3. Yesterday, Apple and EMI announced that they will be selling non-DRM tracks for US$ 1.29 per song. Such songs will be available in the AAC format.

Will your digital audio player support AAC? As of now, Microsoft, Nokia, Sandisk (e200 line), and Sony already include AAC playback on their devices. Those that don't have AAC format support are players from Creative, Toshiba, Cowon, Philips, etc.

Thankfully, upgrading your digital music player to support AAC can be done via firmware update. Just check your manufacturer's support if you want an upgrade.

Sony may be the next big challenger to iTunes in the UK, but that didn't stop the two giants from striking a deal that will allow past and current Sony TV material to be made available through the mighty online media vendor.

You may never have thought you'd see the day when the old Spider-Man series with cheesy special effects plays on your iPod video. Now, he'll be swinging in with some of Sony's most popular franchises to add a dash of nostalgia to your viewing diet.

  

Immortals such as "Charlie's Angels," "Starsky and Hutch," "The Amazing Spider-Man" and "News Radio" can once again be enjoyed, for a price of course, by downloading them from iTunes. Also, current hits "Til Death" and "Rules of Engagement" will be included in the mix.

Never mind their upcoming London skirmish. In this team-up, the fans are the real winners. It's pleasant to see mature business relationships even among rival outfits. We'll stay tuned.

Orb Networks is priming itself to be a main contender against Apple's Apple TV. The company has just announced that their free MyCasting software now works with the Microsoft Xbox 360, the Nintendo Wii, and the Sony PS3, giving gamers the ability to bring all digital media to their TV screen without any additional costs or hardware requirements.

The free MyCasting software allows users to enjoy all digital media from their home PC, as well as online videos, on any networked device with an internet browser - be it other PCs, laptops, PDAs, mobile phones with support for streaming players, and now, next gen videogame consoles.

"There is a lot of anticipation on who will finally crack the code on opening the PC-to-TV connection - especially on what Apple TV can deliver," said Joe Costello, Chairman and CEO of Orb Networks. "That day is here and 17 million households - right this minute - can download Orb onto their home PC, then go turn on their TV, and using their game console, start enjoying any of the personal media on their PC or anything on the Web instantly - without having to purchase another gadget to make it work."

QJ Blogger Victor B has previously reported on Steve Jobs' suggestion  to abandon digital tunes copy protection earlier this week. Here's a bitter and yet somewhat expected update to that report. Warner Music CEO Edgar Bronfman has rejected that suggestion, saying that they advocate the continued use of DRM. Bronfman explains:

The notion that music does not deserve the same protection as software, film, video games or other intellectual property, simply because there is an unprotected legacy product in the physical world, is completely without logic or merit.

Jobs, in his open letter, has criticised major labels including Warner, EMI, Sony, and Universal for demanding DRM on their music sold online while at the same time selling billions of CDs containing unprotected tracks.

PC World reports that Bronfman is the first executive of a major recording company to respond to Steve Job's open letter. Bronfman reportedly urges Apple and the music industry to continue working with each other. Bronfman adds, "Frankly, manifestos in advance of those discussions is counter-productive."

So, how are we today? Still clutching your pitchforks, waiting for the next wave of attacks on your living room, eh? The Battle for the Living Room chronicles is still under full swing. Three set top boxes - Sony's PS3, Microsoft's 360, and Apple's Apple TV (iTV) - are vying for that oh-so comfortable spot in your living room. Digital download services have been around for quite some time now, but with these three new factions on the battle field, how can one survive through the media format wars?

Indeed there are a lot of interesting elements, features, and other factors involved when comparing these three set top boxes (again, we are stressing that we are viewing these as set top boxes with the "gaming console" aspect stripped out). Some might even say that, what with all the tech specs thrown into the equation, choosing your Living Room King can be a task left for the gods.

We here at QJ aren't gods (aaaw, sadness) but we can still enlighten you! When you're in a war, you'd definitely want to be on the winning side. And as of now, there isn't any clear-cut winner just yet. We can just assess the tipping scales as the battle changes every so often. Time to rip open the reports in the case file!

Cry: "Havoc!" And let click the "Full Article" link of war!

  

Streaming television is a growing market that features industry giants like Apple, Microsoft, and Sony vying for a place right in your living room. But all the hype has left you stumped: the Apple TV has come out and you're wondering if you should change plans on purchasing a brand new Mac Mini with a cheaper, more dedicated Apple TV.

Well, it's really about what you think is right for you. Cost aside, the Apple TV and the Mac Mini are not in the same product category. The Apple TV is an appliance, while the Mac Mini is a compact computer. The compact and sleek Apple TV box shovels video from your computer to your television, while the slightly larger Mac Mini can run a full instance of Mac OS X, allowing you to view movie content encoded in DivX, XviD and VIDEO_TS.

The Apple TV can play anything an iPod can, though it does not fully support 5.1 surround sound. A Mac Mini has 20 GB more of hard drive space, 256 MB more of system memory, three more USB ports, a Firewire port, and room for a decent DVD-writer. The Apple TV does have NVidia-powered video compared to the Mini's Intel integrated feature, and does sport the 802.11n wireless connectivity, making streaming large files smoother.

Aside from all the technical specifications, you might also want to consider that the Apple TV is pretty easy to use. A user-friendly GUI menu and intuitive interface can get you streaming television in no-time. But some people have discovered that the HD capability of the Apple TV is slightly so-so, having problems keeping up the proper frame rate while streaming HD TV in some cases. The Mac Mini, being a computer, requires maintenance, though it is more useful in other things such as serving as a backup file storage.

An Apple TV or a Mac Mini? It's a tough one, but you could probably do with either. On a personal note, you couldn't go wrong with a Mac Mini, if you can afford it.

While people are rallying around with pitchforks and flaming torches to take part in the unending console wars, it's time to take a step back and view things differently. The gaming industry is aggressive and sometimes even rabid - there's no secret there. But gaming aside, another campaign being fought is that of the next-gen media format: the digital download.

The "movie download" industry has actually already started for quite some time now. You've got companies like Cinemanow and Movielink that are pretty well-established and successful already. New in the game would be the services provided by Starz's "Vongo" and Amazon's "Unbox".

Of course, this whole service wouldn't be just as booming without the specialized setup methods and software needed to download the content. What you need in your living room is a set top box to which content can be quickly transferred and is easily accessed by the user.

Cue in Sony, Microsoft, and Apple. Cue in props: PS3, Xbox 360, and Apple TV. Three new players in the game and it looks like it's going to be one fierce battle to be reckoned with.

Helm's Deep hasn't seen a battle this intense. Just before you pick up your pitchforks once again, click on the "Full Article" link below to see the 411.

We really don't want to start a flame war, but offending comments like this is just too news-y to pass up. Time has a report on the launch of the Apple's iPhone, and within that lengthy report is this paragraph:

To witness the iPhone launch from behind the curtain (or under the towel) is to see the controlling hand of Steve Jobs, for whom this is an almost mystically significant year. He's 50 years old. It's been 30 years since he founded Apple (with Stephen Wozniak), and 10 since he returned there after having been fired. In that decade Apple's stock has gone up 1,000%. Neither age nor success (nor cancer surgery in 2004) have significantly mellowed him, though some of the silver in his beard is creeping into his hair. All technologists believe their products are better than other people's, or at least they say they do, but Jobs believes it a little more than most. In the hours we spent talking about the iPhone, Jobs trash-talked the Treo, the BlackJack, the Sony PSP and the Sony Mylo ("just garbage compared to this"), Windows Vista ("It's just a copy of an old version of Mac OSX") and of course MicrosoftÂ?s would-be iPod killer, Zune.

The PSP and the Sony Mylo, garbage compared to the iPhone? To be fair, the Mylo might, and we stress, might, deserve a comparison with the iPhone since they're both in the same category of tech products. But to compare the iPhone to the PSP? Really now.

What? Are there supposed to be games of PS1 or higher quality set to be released for the iPhone? Will it be rigged to play DS games?

The iPhone is a very pretty and very savvy multi-functional handheld device that can be used as a phone. (Yes, we want one ourselves.) The PSP is a very pretty and very savvy multi-functional handheld device that can be used (or is primarily used) to play games, or given the homebrew community, used for a whole lot of things.

Garbage? Someone's being a bit too hasty, or a bit too boastful.