Some news from earlier this week: according to the rumor mongers at loyal Apple fansite AppleInsider, the first batch of the much-awaited Intel-based Macs may arrive well before late 2006/early 2007, as originally forecast, possibly at the Macworld show in January. The article is based on comments made by Ben Reitzes of UBS Investment Research, who believes there is a fair likelihood of an Intel Mac introduction in early ’06, quite possibly the Mac mini (even the analysts think Power Macs and PowerBooks will be stuck in the labs until later in the year).

Given Apple’s penchant/desire/obsession with creating a media frenzy, we need to take this with a fairly hefty level of skepticism, at the same time realizing that the likelihood for such an announcement is relatively unquantifiable.

Those Scandinavians and their hacking. First it’s Norwegian über-hacker DVD Jon making headlines (instead of cracking DVDs he’s now working in the States), now it’s some Swedish Master of Science students carrying the “Doom to the iPod” torch a bit further, making it available on the iPod nano. I did play around on their site for a few minutes, watching some vids of the game in action, and I must say that I’m really surprised at how good the framerate is. Then again, Doom was released back in 1993. Keep in mind that iDoom still comes w/o sound and uses controls that aren’t, well, exactly designed for gameplay, but it’s still cool to see this in action. I’m not sure I’m ready to slap this sucker on my ‘pod just yet, but anyone who’s done so is more than welcome to talk a bit about their experience.

[Warning: this is NOT supported by Apple, and installing or attempting to install it will void your warranty. I know, I know…YOU know that already, but maybe some people don’t. Just covering our bases here.]

Truly inventive. The development log indicates that this has been in the works for several months, but a guy/gal/person (TehDiplomat) has created a playable version of Risk using Google Maps. Available with 2 – 6 players (only humans at the moment), go get a few buddies to huddle around your computer and start conquering the world from the likes of the pleasant-tasting, multicolored, do-no-harm Google environment.

ABC is still the only major network making shows available via iTunes, but the other two television giants are being forced to do the same slowly getting in the game. CBS will be partnering with Comcast to offer cable subscribers past episodes of CSI/NCIS/Survivor/The Amazing Race through the provider’s video-on-demand service, while NBC is partnering with DirecTV to offer episodes of Law & Order: SVU/The Office/Monk(from USA Network)/Battlestar Galactica (from the SciFi Channel).

It seems fair to say that we honestly couldn’t expect the networks to go hog wild with their content-on-demand offering, and the distribution partnerships are obviously hamstrung; starting in January, the CBS content will only be available in markets where the network owns the local CBS affiliates (independently-owned affiliates likely whined about how such a service would reduce the pool of those viewing their content). On the flip side, DirecTV subscribers interested in downloading NBC programs will only be able to do so with digital video recorders that go on sale this month.

This is my favorite part of the New York Times article dealing with the announcements:

This is the first time the CBS and NBC broadcast networks have tried to be paid directly for newly broadcast shows rather than just rely on advertising revenue.

Scary. To think that it’s taken a half-century of televised broadcasts to get us to the point where the producers actually make money from the content, rather than by force-feeding advertising down the throats of viewers. Sometimes progress really takes a long time, and there’s still more ground to cover on this one. Sick of hearing from the RIAA about distribution rights/costs/etc.? Get ready, because I’m sure we’ll be able to devote an entire book to the same issues as they apply to TV.

It’s official: WiFi doesn’t stand for anything. Building on a post from last week discussing the fact that the acronym “WiFi” (or Wi-Fi, or 802.11, or whatever you choose to call it) BoingBoing has an interesting follow-up post today that includes a letter from Phil Belanger, a founding member of the WiFi Alliance (responsible for choosing the name):

Wi-Fi doesn’t stand for anything.

It is not an acronym. There is no meaning.

Wi-Fi and the ying yang style logo were invented…We needed something that was a little catchier than “IEEE 802.11b Direct Sequence”…

…The only reason that you hear anything about “Wireless Fidelity” is some of my colleagues in the group were afraid. They didn’t understand branding or marketing. They could not imagine using the name “Wi-Fi” without having some sort of literal explanation. So we compromised and agreed to include the tag line “The Standard for Wireless Fidelity” along with the name. This was a mistake and only served to confuse people and dilute the brand…

…”Wireless Fidelity” – what does that mean? Nothing. It was a clumsy attempt to come up with two words that matched Wi and Fi. That’s it.

So we were smart to hire Interbrand to come up with the name and logo. We were dumb to confuse and water down their efforts by adding the meaningless tag line…

*sigh*

To think that some people earn their living promoting completely nonsensical things simply because they sound catchy and will get people to buy a product. It’s that damn marketing jargon again!

Video iPods are out, and they’re hot. So how does one make something so hot, even hotter? Spice it up with some 2.5” pornography that’s how!

Apple probably won’t say that they’re for or against the many sites that are now catering to specialized video file downloads aimed at iPod use. But experts say that it can only help all of the involved parties. Apple sells more video iPods, the adult film industry gets another check in the bank, and people on the go can now get their jollies with video and audio. The only loser I see here is the trashy novelist writers, and Fabio, who poses for the covers.

iPod porn is a great idea: nobody but the viewing party sees and hears what’s going on. For people on the go, those costly hotel “premium” channel subscriptions don’t have to linger on your expense account. Yet, I can see an issue when wanting to show your mom pictures of your last trip to Hawaii, and then BAM there’s Jenna doing her thing in full motion.

It looks like embattled TiVo scored a sweet deal: according to the New York Times, the DVR pioneer is gettin’ chummy with Yahoo!, resulting in some nifty additional features available to TiVo owners. Finally making use of TiVo’s built-in (and until now, largely unused) networking, the first fruit of the partnership lets TiVo owners program their units via the Yahoo! television listings page. Yeah, so this is only a few steps above the gimmick stage, but NYT says it will be followed by the rollout of additional services, including the ability to view images from the Yahoo! Photos site and see local weather/traffic information. I know I’m always willing to endorse ways to facilitate meteorologist avoidance.

At least the NYT mentions the elephant in the room: so where’s the location switching? Yeah yeah, Slingbox and Orb have that down, you say? Y’all know a little more competition makes the party interesting, and with TiVo’s market penetration, the sooner they get to the point where this can be done, the better for them. Combine that with the ability to view online content on your television (sadly, I’m still waiting for my 56-inch widescreen monitor) and you truly have a sweet piece of hardware.

I can recall not so far back in the past, making fun of myspace.com for being a friendster knockoff. “Basically, they just stole the friendster idea, and improved where friendster falls apart” I said. I can’t say that I’m a philosopher, but many shared similar thoughts. The folks at myspace, “Tom”, decided to do just that. Make something better that what was available.

Musicians took a hold of that, and myspace welcomed them with open webspace. There’s approx 550,000 musicians/bands on myspace.com, with 35 million total registered users –yes I’m one of them.

So what does myspace do? Sell, keep things the same, and start a record label! Why not? A community of 35million is plenty enough to start up a record label. There’s also half a million bands just dying to get signed. Foreseeing this one was about as easy as foreseeing lance take the tour one more time, Steve showing us a video iPod, and me spending my next 4 paychecks at newegg.com, yet I’m surprised to hear this.

“Radio has become less and less important” –Chris DeWolf Myspace CEO

A fear years back, the internet was the scariest thing to the “big three” television networks. After all, file trading was about to ruin the music industry as fast as you coud download Napster. Except that Napster didn’t, and iTunes now is making a bundle. Earlier this week, NBC News announced the bright move (and reported on this web site) to allow their evening news cast to be seen in its entirety on its web site. I personally can’t wait because I often miss the news, and would definitely take the opportunity to see it over the internet later. The other networks are not standing by though.

ABC has episodes of “Lost” available for download from the iTunes store, and ready for the new Video iPod. I suspect that a fair chunk of the videos downloaded so far were this content. I like the show, but some folks are downright obssessed.

Now the latest is that CBS is offering episodes of their show “Threshold” for download off their website. This is kind of a surprising move, but then again, don’t they give it away when its broadcasted anyway?

I see this as timid steps in a brave new distribution model. Let’s hope this is profitable for them, because its great for folks. Maybe one day I can dump my VCR and just catch up on my shows via the internet!