No video iPod, no magic home media system (unless you count the updated Mac mini), no movie downloads over the web.. if you are one of those people who believes all the rumours ahead of an Apple event, you'll have a familiar feeling after Apple's latest announcement.
So what has Apple done? Shifted the Mac mini to an Intel-based version, both single- and double-core, which Steve Jobs claimed are respectively between 2.5-3x and 5.5x faster than their PowerPC ancestors. Prices however have gone up slightly. Jobs also said that Apple is on track to convert its entire line of Macs to Intel-based processors by the end of the year. Since there's only the iBook (MacBook?) and PowerMac (if the PowerBook became the MacBook Pro, will this become the MacMac Pro?) to go, and it's not yet March, that seems to leave some headroom.
And on the iPod front, you can - now try to stay calm - get an Italian leather case for your video iPod and iPod nano (funny how much Apple is into cases for the iPod since all that scratching stuff).
Plus, ahah, Apple has itself put a toe into the $1 billion (reckons the New York Times) market for iPod accessories, launching the iPod Hi-Fi, which Jobs called a "reinvented home stereo". It's a single-unit white system with three speakers and an iPod dock on top (which accommodates all iPods apart from the shuffle, which can use an auxiliary input). There's also SPDIF optical audio in; and it can run on batteries. Basically, it's an iPod boombox, with a remote. It costs £249 in the UK ($350 in the US if you're going there soon).
