Quick update for Apple TV owners who heart Boxee. You can now update your Boxee Alpha release to the latest Boxee Beta via ATV’s Installer/Launcher, according to Boxee Blog today. However, if you’ve never installed Boxee using ATV USB Creator, download atvusb-creator from the project page and then follow these instructions to get Boxee up and running — just don’t tell Steve J. that you went AWOL from his walled garden, ’cause he might not like it.

Uh, oh. It looks like Apple will soon be the only tablet manufacture able to produce a device with a touch sensitive bezel control interface. (Now it’s starting to make sense why version one the Apple iPad has such a thick bezel, instead of going flush with the display.) According the USPTO website, Apple Inc. filed for the patent (7,656,393) in 2006 and was just granted it today. I must admit… the detailed examples of how the “intelligent bezel” will work are sound — especially given the fact they work universally no matter if the tablet is in a portrait or landscape position. Elements of the bezel include: power (always top-center), menu (always in one of the four corners), up (on left/right side mid-screen), down (on left/right side mid-screen), left-click (center-bottom), select (center-bottom), right-click (center-bottom). What’s more, the touch bezel is able to ignore areas after it has been touched and held in place for a certain amount time. I’m guessing this bit is probably the trickiest part of the technology to get right. Note: the patent is not exclusive to “tablets,” but can be applied to just about any portable consumer electronics device with a bezel and display. Ouch…. I’m wondering how this will affect devices like the Palm Pre which has a bezel finger swipe control? I’m hoping not at all if the functions a touch bezel provides are significantly different than what Apple has diagrammed in its patent. [via] MORE »

Good news for Apple iPhone and iPod touch users. Logitech has added a new app to the iTunes App Store called Touch Mouse. The FREE app turns your handheld into a wireless remote for your Windows or Mac computer (requires installation of the Touch Mouse Server software). Touch Mouse’s feature highlights include: multi-touch trackpad, keyboard (including CTRL, ALT, super key), left/center/right 3-button mouse setup, two-finger scrolling, on-screen text display while typing, and landscape and portrait operation modes. Not bad, Logitech! Alternative Logitech product: diNovo Mini.

Image credit: OhGizmo!

I don’t know if the Apple reps from Cupertino were smoking dope at today’s event in San Francisco or what — with all their magical and revolutionary references? In any case, there was a mix bag of reactions from folks in the Twitterverse. I might be going out on limb here… but I got the sense from most of the Technorati following the event, via live blogs, that they were underwhelmed by the new Apple iPad and its capabilities (many saying it’s just a larger version of the iPod with scalable apps). A few heckled its name. Pricing isn’t too bad, though. Steve Jobs said Apple wanted to “aggressively price” the device and made the starting price $499 (16GB) — add $130 more for 3G connectivity. My guess all the tablets showcased at CES had something to do with that. Spec-wise… the iPad is decent. It has a 1Ghz Apple A4 processor, one month standby / 10 hours continuous use battery, a 1024×768 9.7-inch IPS touchscreen, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR, 16/32/64GB flash drive options, weighs 1.5lbs, is 1/2-inch thick. The Wi-Fi version will be available 60 days from today, while the 3G version will be available in 90. Also, Apple plans on introducing iPad accessories like a charging dock (doubles as a photo frame stand), keyboard dock, and camera connection kit (USB/SD card reader). MORE »

The phrase, “Truth is stranger than fiction,” I believe applies here. I don’t think anyone saw this coming. Apple has filed for a patent (USPTO: 20090265214), which Steve Jobs has signed off on, that will enable its operating system on a variety of devices to display ads which users must act on to signal they’ve viewed an ad, else the application (or even the device) in use will lock down. MORE »

AllThingsD has posted a story that has been generating some buzz this morning. According to Peter Kafka, “multiple sources” tell him that Apple is trying to woo content providers to join a $30 a month subscription plan that will provide iTunes users a variety of TV shows at a flat rate. But don’t get too excited… so far no networks have signed up, nor have the details of what the subscription plan content-wise will provide (i.e. select shows, entire catalog, limited number of shows). What do you think? More Apple rumor mill hype or is this a legitimate plan that can succeed with the right partners? Seems to me that Apple would have a better shot at getting an unlimited music subscription plan going with their established partners than jumping straight to TV.

So here’s what you need to know.

The iMac now has two HDCP-compliant 16:9 display format models to choose from (1920×1080 21.5-inch and 2560×1440 27-inch) with the option to upgrade their graphics to the ATI Radeon HD 4670 / 4850 from the default NVIDIA GeForce 9400M. Moreover, Apple has equipped their iMacs with Intel’s latest Core i5 and i7 processors, a standard SD card slot, a mini DisplayPort for video out  (video output &  input available only with the 27-inch model), Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11n + Bluetooth, and the company’s new multi-touch Magic Mouse and wireless keyboard [Press Release]. MORE »

You’ve got to give Apple credit for their studio negotiation skills. Today they are announcing that they will be providing iTunes users with a new feature called iTunes Extras. Extras for movies essentially works like DVD extras (except with more interactively) while LP music extras include video interviews, photos, and song lyrics. In addition, iTunes will soon be sporting “Home Sharing” functionality, a new feature that will allow users to copy songs, movies, and TV shows among 5 authorized PCs. [via] MORE »

A while back Apple released the Remote app for iPhone and iPod touch that allowed users to wirelessly control iTunes on their Mac. Now, Apple has added finger gesture control functionality to Apple TV — requires Apple TV software update 2.4 and the latest version of Remote. Another nice feature of Remote, users have the ability to search for media using the handset’s QWERTY keyboard. [via] MORE »

Back in Janauary Phil Schiller announced in his keynote at Macworld Expo that Apple would soon be moving to a variable pricing model and provide their entire music collection to a DRM-Free, 256Kbps AAC music format. Well, today is the day that all of that has come to pass. Apple is now selling music on iTunes for 69¢, 99¢, and $1.29. Unfortunately, no one knows exactly how Apple and the studios go about pegging price points to individual songs, but it looks like most of the music listed in the iTunes’ “Top Songs” list will be selling for $1.29. iTunes users with existing lower-quality, DRM-encumbered music libraries, of course, can now “upgrade to iTunes Plus” at a 30¢ per song premium (music video upgrades are 60¢ and entire albums can be upgraded for 30 percent of the album price).

UPDATE: Ars Technica – Variable pricing spreads to Amazon, Lala, Rhapsody, Wal-Mart (4/8/09)