This evening's entertainment was supplied, briefly, by trying to catch the latest announcements from Apple... you know, the "fun" stuff they've been working on.
The product cycle from Cupertino seems to be getting faster (Macworld was less than two months ago) but this year's bound to be packed with relaunches, since Jobs promised that the company would refresh its entire line of computers this year.
That being taken into account, not all of the 2006 events this year are likely to stand up in the excitement stakes to big-time new product launches. Indeed, when I spoke to Apple earlier today they said not to over-expect.
And they were right: what did we get? A new Mac mini and an "iPod Hi-Fi". They both do pretty much what you'd expect: the Intel mini comes in two flavours (Core Solo or Core Duo) but I can't confirm UK pricing right now. The Hi-Fi is erm, a big speaker that your iPod plugs into.
The latter, billed as the star of the show judging by its last-on-stage billing, doesn't seem like much more than an accessory to me (after all, you can already buy these products, albeit not from Apple). Instead, I find the idea of the mini much more interesting, especially now that it can stream using Bonjour - so your desktop could act as a server for your underneath-the-TV mini box.
As many of us have been predicting, that's clearly the aim for this little tyke (until today Apple rarely countenanced the idea in public) although I still think it's overpriced and underserved for that right now.
