Boom! Samsung Sells 1 Million Galaxy Tabs

Samsung’s 7-inch tablet isn’t “dead on arrival” after all. In fact, Samsung has sold over a million of them in less than two months.

Released in mid-October, the Galaxy Tab is the first serious contender to Apple’s iPad. It sports a 7-inch touchscreen and runs a modified version of Google’s Android operating system.

“I can confirm 1M Galaxy Tabs sold globally,” a Samsung spokeswoman said in an e-mail statement.

Holy moley. That’s not too far away from the iPad, which sold 1 million units in just 28 days. And it’s a number that should have Steve Jobs eating his hat after he ruthlessly derided 7-inch tablets during a recent earnings call.

“7-inch tablets are tweeners: too big to compete with a smartphone and too small to compete with the iPad,” Jobs said. “These are among the reasons that the current crop of 7-inch tablets are going to be DOA — dead on arrival.”

So much for that.

The Galaxy Tab’s hot sales show that the tablet category has plenty of room for competition and growth. 2010 was truly the year the tablet became mainstream after several flops in the past, thanks to the success of the iPad.

The New Flip HD Pocket Cams: Like the Old Flips, But Smoother

When a product's sole tenet is simplicity, revisions can be tricky. The new Flip MinoHD and UltraHD cameras play it safe: the video's still 720p, but it's 60fps and image-stabilized, and the devices look familiar but the Ultra's now accessory-friendly.

Flip's four new cameras—an 8GB and 4GB UltraHD ($199 and $149) and 8GB and 4GB MinoHD ($229 and $179)—give all the existing models (besides the odd-man-out Slide) a nice little update. And in some ways it is just a nice little update. There's no 1080p video, something that could've set the the line apart from the encroaching threat of smartphone video cameras. But that doesn't mean nothing's changed under the hood: all the new models have new sensors, shooting 720p video at 60fps with a newly developed, always-on image stabilization (all, that is, except for the $149 4GB UltraHD, which is the cheapest of the bunch and still shoots at 30fps without image stabilization.)

I've only had the new 8GB UltraHD for a few days—cosmetically, it's a bit slimmer than the old Ultra and has a nicer matte-ish finish—and I haven't yet had the chance to test it extensively against its predecessors or its competition. But so far the new footage looks great. The image stabilization is immediately noticeable (always in a good way, though sometimes, after reviewing footage you know you just shot with a super shaky hand, in a kind of freaky good way) and it goes a long way to elevate Flip footage from something thatlooks like it was shot with a single-purpose "good enough" pocket cam to a product that turns out a bit more polished. The new, stabilized clips look good enough that you might feel compelled to edit a few together for a little Suzie's First Soccer Game narrative, as opposed to just picking the least-shaky one of the bunch and uploading it straight to YouTube as you might have done before.

Here's a clip comparing the last generation MinoHD to the new UltraHD, shot simultaneously with one in each hand as I twirled around like a ballerina (old and busted first, new hotness second).

As seen in the clip, in addition to the richer colors afforded by the new sensor, the image stabilization does a decent job of correcting not only the tiny movements caused by my shaky hands, but also some of the unevenness of my broader circular movement.

The other big feature found on the new UltraHDs (but not the Minos) is the FlipPort, a new connector located next to the standard HDMI that allows for the attachment of a variety of proprietary Flip accessories slated to arrive in coming months.

Some such add-ons I saw included an external mic by Blue, a wireless lapel mic by Scosche, a battery pack, and a pico projector. Fun stuff! That line of accessories, Designed for Flip, will also include non-FlipPort products like a waterproof case and a magnetic Wide Angle lens. Some of these sound quite cool, and they'll be a nice way to offer some additional functionality for budding videographers while keeping the core Flip device itself as simple as ever.

You can pick up the new Flips TODAY at TheFlip.com—where they can all now be customized with thousands of designs—as well as Amazon and Best Buy. [Flip]

Cisco Debuts All-New Flip Video Lineup

New Line Delivers Next-Generation Video Quality, Expanded Personalization Capabilities, and More Options for Fun

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – September 20, 2010 – Cisco's Flip Video®, the world's leader in shoot-and share video cameras, today rolled out an exciting all-new line up of affordable UltraHD™ and MinoHD™ video cameras with a host of compelling features: signature Flip Video simplicity; innovative enhanced HD video quality with always-on image stabilization, expanded product personalization options; and more ways to share video using pre-loaded FlipShare™ software. Flip also announced today Designed for Flip™, a new program offering fun accessories from a wide range of partners that include everything from wide angle lenses and external microphones to battery chargers and a portable projector (see separate release).

"This is without question the best line of Flip Video cameras we've ever created," said Jonathan Kaplan, senior vice president and general manager of Cisco Consumer Products. "The new line combines Flip's signature simplicity and affordability with truly breakthrough video quality, unlimited personalization options, and an array of creative new accessories – all of which add up to more fun, and an even better video experience for our consumers."

Building upon the acclaimed Flip Video user experience — which makes it easy and fun for anyone to capture and share video — Flip Video's new line has raised the bar again, by delivering amazing video quality without compromising Flip's hallmark simplicity. By combining its innovative, always-on image stabilization technology with 720p resolution at 60 frames per second (fps), Flip now offers the consumer stunningly clear and steady video that's both simple and affordable. The new Flip Video line is available nationwide starting at just $149.99, offering a video camera for every budget.

In addition, the entire Flip Video family is now available in personalized designs so Flip owners can express their own personal style with every Flip they buy, at no additional cost. Consumers can visit the Flip Online Store (TheFlip.com) to choose from thousands of designs from artists, celebrities, and iconic brands, or upload an image to create their own one-of-a-kind Flip video camera.

The new Flip video cameras also come pre-loaded with the latest version of FlipShare, which helps consumers easily organize, edit and share their videos. FlipShare upgrade now includes direct posts to Twitter™— joining the convenient direct-share options already popular with Facebook™ and YouTube™. Flip users can count on stunning video no matter how they choose to view or share it – on a computer, their HDTV or using the simple direct uploads to social media sites.

New UltraHD Family
The world's best-selling shoot-and-share video family – the Flip Video UltraHD – now offers two new models with even more reasons to own one. For the first time, the UltraHD line offers personalization through the Flip Online Store (TheFlip.com) with thousands of designs for users to create a video camera showcasing their own personal style. Along with always-on image stabilization and newly enhanced 720p/60 fps video quality, the new Flip Video UltraHD 2 hour also features a new design that fits easily in a pocket or purse. The UltraHD 2 hour is the first Flip video camera to feature FlipPort™ – a proprietary Flip-designed connector enabling new add-ons options as part of the newly announced Designed for Flip™ accessory program.

The new Flip Video UltraHD 1 hour is the first-ever HD Flip Video camera priced at $149.99. An industry top-seller and consumer favorite, this Flip offers more for less: one hour of high-quality HD video; Flip simplicity, no-hassle built-in memory; plus a choice of magenta, blue, white or thousands of unique designs.

New Flip MinoHD Line
The new MinoHD 1 hour and 2 hour video cameras are sleek and stylish with enhanced HD video quality. Like the new UltraHD line, the new MinoHD video cameras now feature the built-in image stabilization and 720p/60 fps combination allowing consumers to capture incredibly clear and steady video. Flip customers can opt for black, silver or from thousands of designs at the Flip Online Store (TheFlip.com). To express their own personal style, consumers can easily upload their own image to create a one-of-a-kind Flip MinoHD video camera.

Product Specifications
Model UltraHD 8 GB/ 2 Hour UltraHD 4 GB/ 1 Hour MinoHD 8 GB/ 2 Hour MinoHD 4 GB/ 1 Hour
Color Black, White and personalized White, Magenta, Blue and personalized Black and personalized Silver and personalized
Recording time 2 hours 1 hour 2 hours 1 hour
Memory 8 GB 4 GB 8 GB 4 GB
Video Resolution High Definition; 1280x720 (60fps) with image stabilization High Definition; 1280x720 (30fps) High Definition; 1280x720 (60fps) with image stabilization High Definition; 1280x720 (60fps) with image stabilization
Suggested Retail
Price:
$199.99
$149.99
$229.99
$179.99

The new Flip line-up promises to build on the success of the Flip Video family, which includes American's best selling camcorders, with nearly 5 million Flip video cameras sold to date.

Availability
The new Flip video cameras will be broadly distributed and are available starting today at the Flip Video Store (www.TheFlip.com), Best Buy and Amazon.com and coming soon to Wal-Mart, Target and Staples.

If browsers were women

Zombie mode confirmed for COD Black Ops

Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops will feature a multiplayer zombie mode when it arrives on November 11th on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

The "Nazi Zombies" mode was a prominent feature of Call of Duty: World At War, which was released in 2008 and Activision's latest sequel in the Call of Duty series will see a new zombie mode implemented in the game by its designers, Treyarch.

Treyarch studio head Mark Lamia said: "Zombies have been such a hit with our community that we were committed to bringing brand new zombie experiences to Black Ops."

Last year's instalment of the Call of Duty series, Modern Warfare 2, eventually went on to become the "biggest entertainment launch ever" and was accredited as the Most Successful Entertainment Launch of All-Time by the Guinness Book of Records in April 2010.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 generated $401m (£254m) of income in its launch week, which set a new record for the highest sales for a piece of entertainment media.

Apple repackages the Ipad as Apple TV

IT SEEMS THAT Apple CEO Steve Jobs decided to laugh at Ipad users by flogging the same device without a screen for less than a quarter of the price.

As the guys at Ifixit ripped into Jobs' hobby device, the similarities with the Ipad were there for all to see. Apple decided not only to use the same A4 processor that it slotted into the Ipad and Iphone, but even gave the Apple TV exactly the same 8GB Samsung flash chip that is found on the Ipad.

It doesn't stop there, with the WiFi and Bluetooth chip being a carbon copy of the one found on the Ipad. And as for the 256MB of RAM, well, by now you should know where that came from. Of course the Apple TV has things that the shiny Ipad doesn't, such as a USB port, which makes you wonder why it's priced so keenly against Apple's shiny tablet plaything.

There's a slot for a second flash chip in the Apple TV, so perhaps when Apple realises that it can milk even more cash from its faithful followers, it can slot in some more memory and present the device as the second, or perhaps that should be third, coming.

There are obviously some differences between the two devices. After all the Apple TV doesn't have a 9.7-inch screen, but primarily the difference is in the price. Even with Apple shafting Brits by using a 1 to 1 conversion rate from the US Dollar to the British Pound, essentially punters are paying £330 for an 8GB memory chip, a 9.7-inch mirror and less connectivity.

The chaps at Ifixit comment that there are "Lots of expensive electronics housed on one singular board means that if one fries, the board is toast unless you can attempt or know how to do component level repair." Sorry lads, you are being far too rational here. The correlation between cost and value goes out the window when it comes to Steve Jobs' creations.

For all Apple's perceived engineering prowess, in the past six months we've found out that it can't even design an antenna nor code a social notworking site, and now it has moved into regurgitating the same old technology into different sized containers.

It's surprising that Apple even bothers to update its operating systems, but then we recall that is the firm's preferred method for covering up hardware faults.

The breakdown of the Apple TV shows just hard Jobs must be laughing as he hears about fanbois everywhere buying Ipads. After all, The INQUIRER reported on Steve Jobs' magical rip off formula when the Ipad hit the shelves. Now it seems he is using one of his cheapest devices to show just how low he can go.

iPod touch 2G vs 4G Speed Test (Video)

Flip Ultra HD vs iPod touch 4G Camera Test (Video)

iPod touch 4G Unboxing (Video)

Apple Announces The New iPod Touch: Dual Cameras, Retina Screen

Apple unveiled the new iPod touch today at their special event, along with several other music- and media-related devices. Of course, we’ve been hearing murmurs and leaks about it for some time now, and the new device pretty much tallies with our expectations.

The two big improvements are the Retina screen and the dual cameras. The screen is the same found in the iPhone 4: 960×640, 3.5″, all as expected. The cameras are also the same as the iPhone; I’m thinking they got a bulk deal on the 5-megapixel sensors The rear camera does 720p, but only takes pictures at 960×720 (?!); the front-facing VGA camera is the same. Steve went so far as calling the iPod touch the “iPhone without a contract.”

It’s running an A4 processor, and is available with up to 64GB of space. It seems to have all the same internals, including gyro, but we’ll check the specs once the store goes up. Historically the iPod touch has had a different PCB layout, that sort of thing; we’ll find out when we see the first teardown. FaceTime will work between the iPod touch and iPhone, by the way.

Here are the price points:

• 8GB:$229
• 32GB:$299
• 64GB:$399

The styling is a bit of a cross between the old iPod touch and the new iPhone 4. It’s very thin and chromey, but without the flat sides. It’s a tenth of an inch thinner, and has an ever-so-slightly smaller footprint.

Steve mentioned that they’re outselling both Nintendo and Sony in gaming. Believable, but I’d like to see the actual numbers. Most of the games sold on the iPhone and such are less than $5.

The new 4.1 update should ship with these, including the new Game Center and other goodies.The new iPod touches will be shipping next week, but you can pre-order them now.

Update: the specs on Apple’s page note that the new iPod touch only takes still pictures at 960×720. That’s nonsense. If the sensor can capture 1280×720 video at 30FPS, surely it’s capable of better stills. If the sensor is only capable of 960×720 images and they’re just stretching it to 1280×720, I’m going to have an image quality hissy fit.

Apple Shrinks the iPod Nano But Manages To Add A Touchscreen

Today, Apple announced the next iteration of the iPod nano. Just as leaked, the new version is smaller and squarer. The rumored touchscreen is also onboard – though it appears pretty small (46% smaller – 42% lighter), Apple thinks it is very usable.

Similar to nano’s of past, the new nano will have FM radio + Live Pause and iTunes tagging, something Apple refers to as the “smarter way to radio.” Also, the new nano will not have a camera – not sure how many used the camera, nonetheless we hate to see features taken away.

The new nano is incredibly small, we’re talking shuffle size – no wonder the new shuffle wasmade even smaller. It’s all gesture based and runs iOS4, meaning it’s going to be fast and easy to use – very slick. Storage capacity for the nano is kept stagnant, again, with 8GB and 16GB, priced at $149 and $179 respectively and comes in seven colors. Pre-order today, available next week.

For those more into the athletic lifestyle, the new nano is going to be great – now with a built-in clip and pedometer, and as before, support for the Nike+ Sport kit comes standard. The battery life is 24 hours.

Hurry up and pre-order, you may have a shot at getting it for free. (Apple is still running the free nano with a Mac purchase for it’s back to school program until the 7th.) Regardless, this new nano truly is nano-scale.

The iPod Shuffle Goes Retro

Apple is announcing a complete new iPod line up today with the iPod shuffle up first. The new version might look familiar because it’s basically the second and third generation combined. Fine by us. It’s the best of both.

The front controls are back while a clip is located around the other side. But just like the 3rd generation, this model features voice controls. You can actually talk to it. Either use the controls or simple tell the shuffle what playlist you wanna play. It has a 15 hour battery life and comes in silver, blue, green, pink and orange. $50.

Live from Apple's fall 2010 event

We're inside the event and getting ready to get underway -- stay locked here for up the minute live coverage! Follow along after the break to see what's what, and make sure you're around at the times below for the start.

07:00AM - Hawaii
10:00AM - Pacific
11:00AM - Mountain
12:00PM - Central
01:00PM - Eastern
06:00PM - London
07:00PM - Paris
09:00PM - Moscow
02:00AM - Tokyo (September 2nd)

9:53AM We're in our seats and... Alanis Morissette is on?

9:54AM Now a little Eric Clapton. An acoustic version of 'Layla.' Smooth. Real smooth.

9:57AM Okay, we think this is Jack Johnson now, but we don't know his catalog well enough to be sure. It's extremely mellow and smooth though. Does that sound like him?

9:58AM The gist so far is mellow, acoustic music. We're sure that has nothing to do with that gigantic acoustic guitar hanging outside the venue. Nothing at all.

9:59AM We just got the warning message to silence our phones. Things should be getting underway soon!

10:00AM The lights have dimmed and the music is off! And Steve is out!

10:00AM Wow -- huge applause for Steve. And... is he wearing a different outfit!?

10:00AM Slightly modified turtleneck.

10:01AM "Thank you very much... my partner in crime Steve Wozniak is here. Stand up!" Huge applause.

10:01AM "Thank you for coming, we have a lot of cool stuff to show you. I want to start with an update about retail. We've been opening some amazing stores lately. I want to fill you in on three on them."

10:01AM "The first one is in Paris, it's a gorgeous store... great skylight. We spent 18 months restoring it... and here it is with people in it." Laughs for that one.

10:02AM "We're also really excited about our second store in China which we opened recently in Shanghai. It is a 40 foot high glass cylinder -- it's kind of a landmark in glass engineering."

10:02AM That is one crazy Apple store. "We think it's going to do really well."

10:03AM "The third big store we opened has been in London. We got the whole building here right in Covent Garden. This is our second really large store in London."

10:03AM "Right in the heart of Covent Garden. It's fantastic. A lot of restoration was required."

10:03AM "And here it is with people." Ha.

10:03AM "We now have 300 retail stores. We've come a long way. We're in 10 countries."

10:04AM "Remember when Macworld used to get 30k people coming to it? Well we have days were over 1m people visit our stores."

10:04AM "We do 80,000 one to one classes a week. And of all folks buying Macs, over half are new users."

10:05AM "Now I want to talk about iOS.

10:05AM "iOS is our operating system that powers our mobile devices. For us, it's made the iPhone, the iPad, and the iPod touch possible. So, how many iOS devices have we shipped since we launched the iPhone? 120 million." Huge applause here.

10:06AM "People are throwing around a lot of numbers as to how many of their OS they're activating per day. We're activating 230,000 iOS devices a day. We think some of our friends are counting upgrades as well. We think we're ahead of everybody."

10:06AM "And iOS apps -- over 6.5b apps downloaded. Over 200 every second... whoa! There's another 200!" Big cheers for that one.

10:07AM "We've got over 250k apps, and 25k of those are iPad apps. Today we're introducing iOS 4.1. What's it all about?"

10:08AM "We've fixed a lot of bugs, proximity, Bluetooth, iPhone 3G. Secondly, we're introducing high dynamic range photos, HD uploads over WiFi, TV rentals..."

10:09AM "So what are High Dynamic Range photos? Well, when you take an image, it actually takes three separate photos, one with highlights, shadows, and midranges... and it combines them together to make HDR photos."

10:09AM Steve is showing some examples of HDR photography -- some pretty big differences here for sure.

10:09AM It appears to be matching a set of different white balances to make detail pop more.

10:10AM "Another thing we're adding is Game Center. Game Center is all about multiplayer games. You can challenge your friends or they can challenge you, and if you don't have any friends we'll match you with someone." Ha!

10:11AM "So here's Thor, he's one of my 73 friends, and I've got these games that use Game Center and I can look at leaderboards and achievements and everything I've done with my friends..."

10:11AM Steve is running through some of the Game Center challenge features. "So that's Game Center."

10:11AM "Here's Mike Capps from Epic games to show us a tremendous new game using Game Center."

10:12AM "I'm happy to be here to introduce a new game using Game Center." "Project Sword is a gorgeous action packed RPG adventure. Everything you see is in realtime."

10:12AM Wow -- extremely impressive graphics in this game. Very Fable II-esque.

10:13AM They're showing off multiplayer battles in the game -- knight versus knight. "I'm just dragging moves on my screen... here I'm going to drag my boot on your face." Big laughs for that one.

10:14AM "Okay, I'm gonna take the gloves off -- let's see what you've got. I may be little but I'm really fast. The bigger they are, the harder they fall." Well, the smaller knight won, and the crowd here loved it. What does that say about this audience? The world may never know.

10:14AM "Thanks everyone!"

10:14AM Steve is back.

10:15AM "That's on a phone! That's pretty remarkable."

10:15AM "So that's a peek at many of the things in iOS 4.1... and that is available next week for the iPhone and iPod touch."

10:15AM "Now I have a surprise for you today -- a sneak peak at iOS 4.2"

10:15AM "This is all about iPad. All of it is coming to iPad. Wireless printing for iOS."

10:16AM "We're adding something really cool called AirPlay. So let me give you a feel for printing. We're in a doc and we want to print, we hit tools, and we hit print..." Pretty simple... it's printing!

10:17AM "Sow we get a Print Center icon in the dock -- and we can see what job is happening. Now what is AirPlay? Well you know how AirTunes works -- we're changing the name from AirTunes to AirPlay, because you're going to be able to stream video and audio over WiFi to your devices. More on that in a little bit. Let me show you how it works."

10:19AM "So I have Pandora here, here's some Jack Johnson, multitasking here, let's look at these emails... now multitask over to the web. We can go here (music controls) and stop and start our music. So let's see folders. I can get into jiggle mode here..." Ha! Now Steve is throwing apps into folders, just like it works on the iPhone.

10:19AM "So all of us that use iPhone know and love these features, and we can't wait to get them on our iPads. So when is this coming out? November, and it will be a free update."

10:20AM "We're really happy with iOS. So that's the iOS update. Now I'd like to get on to the entrée today -- the iPods. This our music event where we unveil the cool new music products we have for the holidays."

10:20AM "So how many iPods have we sold? 275 million." Big cheers from this crowd.

10:21AM "This year we've gone wild. We have all new iPods this year for every single model of iPods. The biggest change in the lineup ever."

10:21AM "So let's start off with the iPod shuffle. We thought we could make a really affordable player that is super easy to use. The second generation was even better. The third generation we took off the buttons..."

10:22AM "But people clearly missed the buttons... so what are gonna do? The new iPod shuffle." Wow! It's tiny, but has buttons.

10:23AM "You can clip it on and go. It's got some great features. Small and wearable, easy to use with the buttons. It's got playlists. It can speak the playlists. You can pick one that you want, you can have multiple playlists on your shuffle. We're adding genius playlists."

10:23AM "And voiceover... and 15 hours of music. This little tiny thing. THis is what the packaging looks like... it's really cute! And it comes in 5 colors. And it sells for just $49."

10:23AM "We're just getting started. So now let's look at the iPod nano. Here's the first gen."

10:24AM "The next generation we took it to aluminum, third generation..." Nothing? "The fourth generation... so what can we do to make this better? We'd like to make it smaller, so we eliminate the clickwheel, so we need to make it touch based, and then we make it multitouch." "The new iPod nano has multitouch" It's like a tiny iPod touch!

10:25AM "It's super easy to use, and so small, we're able to put a clip on it too. It's 46% smaller and 42% lighter. It's got a clip so no more armbands. Hard volume buttons. Nike+. It works in 29 different languages. And 24 hours battery life."

10:26AM "So take a look at some of these screens. You've got all different ways to access your music, you've got Nike+, this is what it's like to scroll through it... that's what albums look like..." Steve is literally just listing off the screens. It does look like a super tiny iPod touch.

10:26AM Demo time!

10:27AM "This is the iPod nano. So, let me just flick some of the screens here. I can go right into music. I go into artists. I want to find Ella Fitzgerald, and I can just find a song."

10:28AM "I can swipe right and go through, or I can hold down any place and go to the home screen. Here's some other screens -- radio, podcasts, photos... now I listen to albums a lot, let's say I want that on the front page -- I can just move it like other iOS devices..."

10:28AM Nice, Tom Petty!

10:28AM "Thank you." Steve stopped Petty. Why Steve, why?

10:29AM "Let's say I clip it on upside down... I just take my two fingers and rotate it. Now I'd like to show you some photos on it..." He's still upside down. "I live a lot of my life upside down." Some laughs for that. "So that gives you an idea of the iPod touch."

10:30AM Six colors total. "It's still amazing to hold this much music in your hands. It sells for $149 for the 8GB version, $179 for the 16GB version... so that leaves the iPod touch."

10:31AM "The touch has been a remarkable product for us. It's become the most popular iPod. People call it an iPhone without the phone -- it's also an iPhone without the contract!. But it's also become the #1 portable game player in the world."

10:31AM "The iPod touch outsells Nintendo and Sony portables combined! It's got over 50% marketshare for portable gaming worldwide. And over a billion and a half games and entertainment downloads have been made just for the iPod touch alone."

10:32AM "So what are we going to do with this? We're going to make it even better. It's even thinner! It's even more beautiful."

10:32AM "The new iPod touch has our amazing Retina Display in it. 4x the pixels at 326 ppi, 24 bit color, LED backlit."

10:33AM "It is now in the iPod touch. The A4 chip, the same that powers the iPhone. 3 axis gyro, iOs 4.1... and a front facing camera and FaceTime." Big applause.

10:33AM "A rear camera as well with HD video. 40 hours of music playback."

10:34AM "Here's the forward facing camera, here's the rear. You can trim movies on your phone, you can use iMovie. And of course you can do FaceTime -- not just with other touches, but with iPhones too."

10:35AM "So all of this on an iPod touch -- we're very excited about this. An 8GB model for $229, 32GB for $299, and 64GB for $399. And they're available next week."

10:35AM "It wouldn't be Apple without some news ads..." Ads!

10:36AM Wow, Cake! Cake is back, in an Apple commercial.

10:36AM New iPod touch ad -- focus on gaming. Of course!

10:38AM "Now, as you know iPods are part of a great duet with iTunes. iTunes is pretty remarkable. People have downloaded 11.7b songs from iTunes. Over 450m TV episodes. 100m movies, 35m books. 160m accounts with credit cards and 1-click. It's the number one online media store in the world."

10:38AM "Today we're really excited to launch iTunes 10... now this is the logo we've been living with for a decade. We thought it was appropriate that since we're about to surpass CD sales... it may be time to ditch the CD. So here is the new logo."

10:39AM "So what's new? We've made it more elegant and simple. Here's list view, now you notice that in list view, the album column just repeats the name -- now we have a hybrid view where it shows album art in place of that."

10:40AM "Of course we have Cover Flow, and we have the iTunes store. Now one of the biggest things we focused on with iTunes is discovery. How do you find out about new stuff? People are always asking, what are my friends listening to? What are my favorite artists up to? There must be a better way."

10:40AM "In iTunes 10 we're announcing Ping -- it's a social network for music. It's like Facebook and Twitter meet iTunes. It's all about music."

10:41AM "Built right into iTunes is Ping -- you see all your recent activity. Here's a post from an artist -- Lady Gaga. You can find people just by typing in their name. If they've said 'you can follow me' you can follow them with just a click."

10:42AM "You can get customized top ten charts of just what people are downloading that you follow."

10:42AM Wow, this looks a LOT like Facebook!

10:43AM "Super easy to use, and again, most of us will live in our feed right here. So, Ping is for social music discovery. You can follow people and you can be followed. Most artists will hold their hand up and say 'you can follow me' -- you can hold your hand up and say that as well, or you can say 'people can follow me but I have to approve who follows me.' Then you can set up a circle of friends. You can have you and your 10 buddies but no one else."

10:44AM "You can get as private or as public as you want, and it's super simple to set up. You can post your opinions and thoughts when you want to..." Will Apple be policing this? We'd like to know. If this is going to be App Store style... well... uh...

10:44AM "I'd love to show it to you right now."

10:45AM Demo time!

10:46AM "So here's my new hybrid view... it doesn't take any extra space. So I'm going to click Ping. This is my feed. I'm following Jack Johnson, he posted some photos. I guess he's on tour. And Philip has written a post -- I can write a comment too. I don't know how to spell.... and I can post a comment."

10:46AM "Here's a song, Eddie has posted a song, I can preview it. And I can just buy it if I want to -- I can see all the songs on that album, listen to anyone that I want... real simple."

10:47AM "Here's a post from Katie." Ha! It's Apple's PR honcho Katie Cotton. "So below Katie is Lady Gaga, here's a video..." Wow, a Gaga vlog. Scary? Yes.

10:48AM "There we go. There's concerts down here." Oh, Steve is going to a Paramore / Tegan & Sara concert. Weird.

10:49AM "Here you can see that it says Steve is going to this tour... all the activity I've done is available to my family or circle of friends, or anyone I want to see it. It's a social network for music... make sense?" Big cheers for that one.

10:49AM "Now, Ping is not just available on your computer. It's available on your iPhone and your iPod touch. It's showing up right in the iTunes store. Ping, it's a social network for music, created by Apple, and it's built into iTunes. iTunes 10 is available today."

10:50AM "So, iOS, iPods, iTunes... not bad for one day. But we've got one more thing. Actually it's one more hobby." Boom!

10:51AM "Of course I'm talking about Apple TV. Now, it hasn't been a big hit, but people who have them, love them and they use them a lot."

10:52AM "So what have we learned from our users? They want hollywood movies and TV shows whenever they want. It's not complicated. They don't want amateur hour. They want HD -- everyone wants HD. They want to pay lower prices for content. They don't want a computer on their TV -- they have computers. They go to their TVs for entertainment."

10:52AM "They don't want to manage storage. They don't want to think about -- they just want to watch movies and TV shows. And they don't want to sync to a computer. And they want whatever hardware we have to be silent, cool, and small."

10:53AM "So this is what we've learned. It's different than what a lot of companies think..."

10:53AM "So we made something new."

10:53AM "This is the new Apple TV."

10:53AM It's small -- a 4th of the size of the current ATV. It looks like a small hockey puck.

10:54AM Matte black. Around back it's got HDMI, USB, optical audio and Ethernet.

10:54AM Wifi 802.11n

10:54AM "It's got a great remote. It's about movies and TV shows -- it's all HD when the content is available. We've gone to the rental model for this -- you rent everything."

10:55AM "It's all rentals and you don't store anything on it -- you just rent them."

10:55AM "You stream content from your computer if you want to. There's no syncing required. Stunning photo slideshows. And, it's silent cool and tiny."

10:56AM "So what about content? iTunes has the largest online library of movies and hd movies iin the world. You can rent them for $4.99 the day they come out on DVD. Now, to buy TV shows it used to be $2.99 -- people said that was too expensive. Now they're going to be $.99"

10:57AM "Remember, these are commercial free. Now this is a big step for some of the studios to make. So we have ABC and Fox. We think the rest of the studios will see the light."

10:57AM "In addition to renting, you can also stream Netflix."

10:57AM "You can also watch anything you want on YouTube. You can get photos from Flickr and MobileMe. And you can stream content from your computer."

10:58AM "So this is what the UI looks like. It's really simple. Here's top movies, here's what you see. You want to rent -- single click and you're renting."

10:58AM "And you can see the tomato meter up there for the first time." Oh nice, Rotten Tomatoes integration, including reviews!

10:59AM "TV shows, again, top TV shows. Click a button, $.99, you've rented a show. You can start watching in seconds. So that's TV shows. On the internet you can watch Netflix, YouTube, Podcasts..."

10:59AM "This gives you a feel for Netflix. And, my own computer, I can get in there and listen to my content or anything else..."

10:59AM Demo time!

11:01AM "I have one right here. You can see the kind of slideshows you can get on it. Let me go into top movies... this is all live. Let me go rent one. Iron Man. I can watch a free preview of course. I can just scroll down -- I can see what other movies the actors were in."

11:01AM "So I can rent for $4.99. And within a few seconds it's going to tell me it's ready. So let's get started."

11:02AM Steve just skipped ahead a bunch of chapters, no lag whatsoever. Video quality looks pretty good.

11:02AM "So that's movies, let's go onto TV shows. They all show up in one place here. In each season it shows me how many episodes I haven't seen."

11:03AM Now streaming TV. An episode of Glee. It looks really, really good.

11:03AM We're loving this... but we need more networks! Hello, HBO.

11:04AM Now Steve is demoing Netflix. "I can watch any one of these movies. This is by far the best implementation of Netflix too. It's easy to use and the quality is great."

11:04AM Now we're seeing some streaming content from "Steve's" computer.

11:04AM Ever seen an Apple photo slideshow? Yep. Just like that.

11:06AM "So that gives you an overview of Apple TV. Now let me show you something else that's really cool. We talked about AirPlay before. One of the things we can do with AirPlay is stream content from an iPad to an Apple TV."

11:06AM Wow! You can push the video you're watching from your iPad to your TV. Really slick.

11:07AM "You're going to be able to be watching a movie, push it to your TV, and finish watching it there. You're going to be able to push photos from your iPad to your TV... it's going to be pretty cool."

11:07AM "The price of Apple TV was $229... users said they'd like to see it more affordable. So we're gonna lower the price, from $299... to just $99."

11:08AM Oh snap! We called it!

11:08AM The Apple TV will be available in 4 weeks.

11:10AM "So here's what we talked about today. New iPods. New Shuffle. New Nano... so small and compact that it's wearable. New iPod touch. The strongest iPod lineup we've ever had. And a new iTunes, with iTunes Ping. We think this is going to be very popular, very fast. And, it's on your iPhone and iPod touch."

11:10AM "iOS 4.2, HDR photos, Game Center. And Apple TV -- a phenomenal way to watch movies and TV. So those are the products we have to launch today. They're all rolling out, some today, most within 4 weeks."

11:11AM Somber moment. "Now, we started doing this music stuff because we love music. Whenever we have these events, we like to remind ourselves of why we do this, and there's no better way to do that than to ask one of our favorite artists to perform. We did that and he accepted."

11:12AM Whoa, Chris Martin from Coldplay is here?

11:12AM "We asked Chris Martin if he had the time to come out and perform for us at this event -- and he graciously accepted. Please welcome Chris Martin." Wow.

11:12AM Piano and everything!

11:13AM "This is probably the toughest closing gig we've ever had -- I don't have any products to reveal, and we don't have nearly as many downloads. I'll just play a song, and another and another if you feel like it -- until you feel like lunch."

11:13AM Well go figure -- he's playing "Yellow"

11:17AM He's doing another one! Viva La Vida.

11:20AM Well -- it looks like the Apple TV won't get that name change after all. Curse you REAL ITV!

11:21AM We'd love to hang out and party with Chris Martin of Coldplay, but we've got product to handle (hopefully!). Stay tuned for hands-on!

11:21AM Thanks to our devs Dan and Justin and the Blogsmith team for keeping us up and running! And thanks for reading!

11:23AM Ha! Chris Martin: "This is a new song we're doing, it's called Coldplay 2.6. It features 7 chords. None of our competitors have it. Jony Ive designed it. It's in the key of iMinor." We THINK we got all of that. The audience was in hysterics.