MacWorld 2008 Recap

This has to be one of the most substantial sets of announcements that I can recall at MacWorld. Here’s a short recap of what was announced:

1. Time Capsule is Apple’s answer to personal/small business back-up needs. It’s basically an Airport Extreme with a built in “server grade” hard drive. It will be available in two versions $299 for 500GB and $499 for 1TB
2. Updates to the iPhone software. Apple has added:
   • Maps with locations—no GPS needed. Apple is using a combination of Google and Skyhook to pinpoint your location via cell towers and Wi-fi spots.
   • Webclips—basically shortcuts to webpages.
   • Customized home screens w/drag-and-drop to move items around.
   • SMS multiple people.
   • Chapters, subtitles, and languages for movies.
   • Lyrics support for music.
3. iPhone SDK coming in Feb 2008.
4. Updates to the iPod touch software ($20 for existing, free w/new iPod touch). Apple has added:
   • Mail
   • Maps
   • Stocks
   • Notes
   • Weather
5. iTunes Movie Rentals—watch it anywhere: Mac, PC, iPod, and iPhone. 30 days to start viewing and 24 hours to finish. Start watching on your Mac and finish it on your iPhone on the plane. $2.99 for old releases and $3.99 for new releases.
6. Updated Apple TV—order rentals w/o a computer. Now you can order rentals directly from Apple TV. The interface has also been updated w/a focus on movie rentals. You can also view photos from Flickr and movies from YouTube. This is just a software update, which is free. So, there’s no need to purchase a new Apple TV. The new price for the Apple TV is $229 (originally $299).
7. MacBook Air—the world’s thinnest notebook. This thing is ridiculously thin—thin enough to fit inside a vanilla envelope. The thickest part of the MacBook Air is thinner than the thinnest part of the Sony TZ series. The specs include a 13.3″ widescreen LED backlit display, built-in iSight, full-sized backlit keyboard, trackpad with multi-touch gesture support.

First off all, congrats to Jobs, Ives, and company for the MacBook Air—that thing is an amazing feat of engineering—absolutely amazing. I’ll be writing more on this later.