Macworld Roundup

For the five people out there unaware that there was a Macworld conference today, here are the highlights. I'm not going to pretend to have coverage and analyses on the level of Engadget or MacRumors, but there were some intriguing products introduced today and I do have some thoughts.

• Time Capsule. A logical companion to Time Machine, it's an Airport and hard drive combined. Available as 500GB - $299 and 1TB - $499.
• iPhone/iTouch firmware updates. iPhone update is free, iTouch is $20 (w/new apps). Ouch.
• MacBook Air. Thinnest notebook computer ever. 13.3" widescreen with a magnetic latch. 5 hours of batter life. No user replaceable battery. $1799.
• iTunes movie rentals and the new Apple TV. This by far is the most interesting reveal today, all six major movie studios have teamed with Apple to introduce a movie rental system for iTunes. That statement alone is a shocker, the last time they all got together behind a single product was in 1996 for DVD. Movies will be available in DVD quality or HD, catalog titles will be $2.99, new releases $3.99, about what you pay at the video store. They have come up with a 30 day + 24 system, you have 30 days to start a movie rental and 24 hours to finish it. 1000 movies are already available as of today, and movies can be watched on either your iTunes 7.6 equipped PC, your iPod device, or on your living room screen via the new improved Apple TV. Jobs finally seems to have the computer to living room connection figured out, as the Apple TV connects directly to iTunes, no computer required. Reasonably priced at $229, Apple seems to be ready to give video rental stores and competing systems like Vudu a run for their money.