Think Secret says at Macworld in January Apple will unveil an online media distribution system for streaming tons of content to the living room, including feature-length movies.

One of the analysts interviewed wondered whether the Mac mini, which Think Secret says will be revamped, could be based on Intel’s new Viiv platform, a set of branded chip technologies for home entertainment devices.

Among other things, Viiv (which rhymes with “five”) provides a secure platform for sharing copy-protected media among devices in the home, as well as out of it — like loading TV shows on handhelds and laptops, for example.

Intel has been busy signing up dozens of partners in consumer electronics, as well as Hollywood and the music biz, according to the WSJ (registration required). Tivo is a partner, as is British Sky Broadcasting and Movielink, a joint movie-download service from five major movie studios.

Viiv works with Microsoft’s Media Center and the upcoming Windows Vista, but could Apple also be involved, basing the new Mac mini on Viiv?

Either way, publications like the Enquirer and Hardware Analysis, think Viiv is bad news for consumers.

The technology will allow content to be locked down, limiting what consumers can do with movies or music they buy in digital format, even if it’s within their “fair use” rights.

In addition, “unauthorized” hardware like homebrew Linux boxes will be locked out of the legitimate digital content market. As I suggested before — this is the real reason Apple is switching to Intel — so that it can sell copy-protected digital entertainment securely online.

It may not be all doom and gloom. Intel says Viiv will play unprotected content.

According to the WSJ: “With Viiv, Intel tried to make sure that consumers can still use unprotected content — such as CDs they rip — as they can now, Mr. Corbett said.”

But note the telling phrase: “Intel tried to make sure that consumers can still use unprotected content.”

Tomorrow afternoon, I’ll be giving the first of three short talks in the Bay Area about my new book, Cult of iPod.

The talk will be a brief intro to the book and what it’s about: fast-growing iPod culture.

The other appearances will be at the Stanford Bookstore in Palo Alto on Dec. 8 at 2pm — where there’ll be a raffle of an iPod Shuffle — and Borders San Rafael on Dec. 10 at 7pm.

Here’s the details of Saturday’s event:

LOCATION/TIME
Borders Books (Stonestown) Details and MAP
415.731.2025
255 Winston Dr.
San Francisco, CA 94132

Sat 12/03/05 (4:00pm)

Hope to see you there.

Skwat is a Belgian T-Shirt designer who sells a range of Apple-themed “Wear Different” t-shirts featuring Japanese anime-style characters.

The shirts depict chibi iPod users giving the thumbs up, and Steve Jobs holding an iMac. There’s even Jobs and Steve Wozniak holding an early Mac.

The site (Flash — eugh) allows you to send some of the images as e-cards.

(Thanks Michael Agustin)

This bed from New Zealand has a built-in iPod dock. It’s billed as “the world’s first iPod compatible bed.”

Of all the attributes of a bed, iPod compatibility is about the last thing you’d look for, I’d think. But it’s actually quite handy if you use the iPod’s sleep timer and alarm.

Most of all it illustrates the iPod’s incredible impact on audio — the bed is now another iPod accessory!

Says the website:

“Optional accessories include a minimalist side lamp and aluminium tray, but perhaps the most exciting feature is how the shelves can seamlessly accommodate an iPod and Bose speaker system.”

(Via MacFeber)

If you’re worried about iPods selling out over the holidays, consider the alternative: a fantastic book about iPods and iPod culture — Cult of iPod.

And if you order it here, I’ll autograph the book and write a personal inscription to its lucky recipient. Just fill out the “Your Inscription Here” box on the Paypal order page.

Author Jim Heid has just posted a very nice review.

Earlier this week marked 20 years since the premiere of Windows 1.0.

Microsoft has been surprisingly quiet about the anniversary, except for a couple of things in Japan.

Over at Download Squad, there’s a list of 20 things you didn’t know about Windows 1.0.

One of the things on the list is that Bill Gates wanted to call the operating system “Interface Manager,” but was persuaded by marketing exec Rowland Hanson that Windows was the way to go.

(Via Maximac.se)

Coverbuddy is a program that lets you navigate your iTunes library via album artwork rather than lists of songs or artists. It’s nice, but pretty useless.

But now a new version of the software allows iTunes to be accessed via any web browser, including the browser on the Sony PSP, which turns the little game machine into a remote for iTunes.

The FluffPod is now available for the iPod nano, its NYC manufacturer announced:

Slip into something more comfortable.

Fluffpod nano comes in two silky bright colors, a fabulous white and luscious pink. Both feature super silky soft satin lining and a poofy soft fur top.

If you don’t get an iPod this Christmas because they’re all sold out, download and print out this gorgeous paperPod.

This Japanese site also has a charming classic Mac.

LaCie’s newest hard drive is a 500GB brick — literally.

The $400 hard drive is shaped like a Lego brick, and is stackable to boot.

Available in late December, the USB 2.0 drive will be available in a range of capacities, starting at 160GB for $120.

Crafted by the world-famous designer Ora-Ito, the new Brick expresses a ludic playfulness in a user-friendly high-performance hard drive. Stack & Play multiple LaCie Bricks together to brighten your desktop and your mood.

Microsoft’s MSN site suggests websurfers using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer for the Mac switch to another browser!

Fire up that dusty old copy of Explorer and — if you haven’t changed the default homepage — you’ll be greeted by a message at MSN that says:

“If you are using Internet Explorer for Mac, we recommend that you use another browser to have an optimal experience of MSN.”

Of course, Microsoft stopped updating Explorer in 2003, shortly after Apple released Safari.

It looks like Microsoft’s done an Apple with the XBox 360. Of all things, the standout feature in early reviews is not the graphics, but the user interface.

That’s surprising, given Microsoft’s reputation for astonishingly crappy interfaces.

In a discussion of the UI, BusinessWeek concluded: “Microsoft certainly seems to have done just about everything right.”

Wired News said: “What’s impressed me most thus far about the 360 is how it streamlines and refines the user interface.”

And Columnist John Dvorak said: “The Xbox 360 explores new menu structures with a unique and pleasant GUI… I have not seen a hardware/software system this well thought out for a decade or more.”

According to a press release, the UI was developed by a UK consultancy, Akqa, and was perfected using good-old usability testing:

To arrive at the new Xbox 360 player interface, Microsoft and AKQA formed a multidisciplinary team of user experience, interaction design, user insight and behavior specialists, who built several functioning prototypes, working hand-in-hand with the Xbox 360 industrial design team. In-depth testing of the prototypes followed, with immersive workshops, usability sessions and interviews with customers taking place worldwide. The prototypes were then refined and re-tested.

BetaNews has a bunch of screenshots, and it does look surprisingly clean and uncluttered.

This is a new player for Windows called Songbird. Recognize the layout?

It seems that they copied iTunes — and there are even links to music stores like Amazon in the player. A wild guess is that it works, and is intended for players other than the iPod.

Songbird.

London’s Victoria and Albert Museum has launched an illustrated podcast showcasing art in its paintings collection.

The podcasts feature reproductions of the art with commentary from curators and other art experts. The first episode tells “all about Botticelli and his wombats.” The V&A claims it’s the first podcast published by a UK museum or gallery.

“There are often audio guides for special exhibitions, but there tends to be a paucity of guides for existing collections, so this is a way to bring them to life,” Susan McFarland, editor of the V&A’s PR website, told 24 Hour Museum.

(Via MacWorld UK)

On Kroll’s Blog:

While I was at the Apple Store last night with my girlfriend getting my nano, some guy brought his old Mac in because he thought it was time to “upgrade”. He had been doing his banking on that machine since he got it, using quicken or something. This mac classic came out in 1990, had 1meg of RAM, and a 8mhz processor!

The machine appears to be a Mac SE, which came out in 1987 — making it almost two decades old. That’s a long time to be using the same computer.

When I was in New York a few years ago, I spent an afternoon at Tekserve, a big Mac repair shop in Chelsea.

While there, a couple of people bought in classic Macs for repair, and there were several on the shelves waiting to be picked up. I was surprised there were so many. Tekserve’s owner said they belonged to the many writers in the neighborhood, who considered them perfectly functional for scribbling on.

Philip Torrone has some friends who own a $20,000 laser-engraving machine. So he gave them his PowerBook and a 19-Century etching of a nocturnal creature (from a book by O’Reilly, who Torrone works for).

The result is this amazingly-detailed etching.

In one of the episodes of Futurama there was a parody of the classic Apple commercial “1984”.

For those who missed it, or wants to see it again, mac TV has published a short clip of it. Enjoy!
live.watchmactv.com/featured/futurama

It’s pretty common that people buy a Mac mini and connects it to their big plasma screens and use the mini as a media center.

But where to put the mini?

Put it on the wall! Of course! Maybe easiest with a mount like the one to the right. “Mini mount” is the name and you stick it to the wall with two screws. Something nice for the cords and you are game.

50 dollars, 70 if you want it with backlighting. But you don’t want that.

Reports the Religion News Service:

A leading Catholic cardinal is warning Catholic parents to be careful when buying iPods and other wireless devices as Christmas gifts because they could be used by minors to access pornography.

Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore, who co-chairs the Religious Alliance Against Pornography, said iPods, PDAs and video cell phones can easily send and receive pornography, much of it unsolicited.

“Sadly, unwanted pornography often leads to wanted pornography,” Keeler told members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on Tuesday.

(Via MyAppleMenu)

PodDater.com is a new dating service that allows members to download videos of potential dates to their video iPod.

Members create video profiles, search for matches, and synchronize the ones they’re interested in to watch later.

The free service, launched on Wednesday, has about 130 registered users so far. Predictably, few are women.

Potential mates can be sorted by “tags,” which include “mac,” “sports” and “beer.”

Wired News has a profile of one of podcasting’s first stars — an obscene, gay drag act from Chicago called Madge Weinstein.

A performance artist and one-time aspiring filmmaker who lives in Chicago, Bluestein appears to have successfully traded his former job in tech support at a local hospital for a life of spouting off on air.

He sees himself as one of those people for whom the new medium of podcasting has created opportunities where none existed. He had sporadically posted video blogs online and had performed as Madge around Chicago since 2000. Then, last November, stuck in a funk over President Bush’s 2004 re-election, Bluestein stumbled over (ex-MTV VJ Adam) Curry’s show and became obsessed with podcasting. Soon thereafter, Yeast Radio was born as an outlet for performing as Madge and for obscenity-laden political venting.

Curry, the ex-MTV VJ turned self-styled “podfather,” says he thinks Bluestein’s act is a scream and hired him in September as a member of Curry’s PodSquad stable of talent. Yeast Radio has been heavily promoted on Curry’s programs and Madge has subbed for Curry on his Sirius radio program from time to time.

…

“Richard is just the sweetest guy and he’s really spearheading this qPodder community with over 150 gay and lesbian podcasters (on the site), which is remarkable,” Curry said. “I mean, come on. Is this some big secret in advertising, that gays and lesbians are a good market? I don’t think so. If that’s not a market, let me go eat my shoe.”

Here’s one way to resolve the spat between Lugz footwear and Apple over the copycat Eminem iPod ad — combine them.

iPodz is a seamless mashup that advertises two products in one ad – the iPod and urban streetwear. It’s actually not a bad idea. The products and target audience are complementary.

(Via Fscklog)

Nitrozak and Snaggy, the lovely people behind the Geek Culture website and the Joy of Tech comic, are giving away three of copies of Cult of iPod — as well as Geek Culture beanies, t-shirts and books.

Cult of iPod contains several JoT cartoons, like the iPod madness comic above. (Click the link for the full cartoon).

Entering the contest is easy — simply post a reply in the forum thread. The contest closes Friday November 18th at 8PM Pacific. Winners will be chosen at random.

Cult of iPod by Leander Kahney

The Best of The Joy of Tech by Nitrozak and Snaggy

There’s a lot of criticism of Apple’s copy-protection scheme, Fairplay, in the news today.

Tidbits Adam Engst describes the headaches he encountered trying to make an audio book, which had been split into four chunks, into one easy-to-use file — a perfectly legal and reasonable thing to do.

Newsweek columnist Steven Levy chastises Apple for refusing to license Fairplay and allow consumers to play iTunes songs on other devices.

Ex-Wired News columnist Adam Penenberg, now writing for Slate, wraps it up with a cogent explanantion of why we, the consumers, have to put up with limiting copy-protection schemes. It has little to do with protecting content, and everything to do with protecting business models:

While Apple stands alone and Sony self-destructs, Microsoft is practically giving away its digital-rights-management tool in an effort to pick up market share against Apple (so far with little success). We may even see a replay of the Apple-Microsoft battle over the desktop, which ended with Apple holding on to a tiny sliver of the computer market. There is, however, a big difference between then and now. Steve Jobs has a hefty market share and a massive content library made up of millions of songs at a price that people like. As long as the record companies license their content to Apple and consumers flock to the iPod, Apple is in a powerful — some might say Gatesian — position.

What’s hardest for the consumer to swallow, then, is that anti-piracy schemes like DRM look like the subtle tactic of the monopolist. Neither Apple nor Microsoft is hurt by music piracy. Instead, they use it as a marketing ploy to force people to use their products. It doesn’t have to be this way. The companies could agree on one standard that allows people to play the music they lawfully purchase on whichever player they choose. The music industry is supposed to sell music, not the medium it comes in, right?

The iPod “Mega Helmet” was made by duct-taping a loud Radio Shack megaphone to an old motorcycle helmet, allowing its wearer to broadcast their taste in music to everyone in earshot. It also includes a microphone in the chin strap.

Its makers advise: “Go play softball wearing the helmet. It is very good for antagonizing the pitcher, and trash-talking in general. The helmet allows both for amplification of your voice, and playback of mp3s from the iPod.”

In the comments, someone else notes: “I’m Loving it! At the movie theater, not only can you block the view of the person sitting behind you but you can also make clever comments about the actors on the screen. Perhaps you could duct tape an egg timer to the side of the helmet to see how long it takes before you’re kicked out of the theater. I give it the maximum five star rating.”

(Via TUAW)