Appletell

Like a media extender but worse, the Apple TV has been highly criticized several times this year. Recently, rumors have been spreading regarding the discontinuation of Apple’s media center in a box. And what a better time for Yahoo to include the product on their tech “Worst of 2007” list. What, you may ask, caused Yahoo to place this device on their list? Actually, Yahoo gave a few decent reasons. Videos aren’t purchasable over the box, Apple has failed to provide ample software updates, and the video selection is slim.

Yahoo is surprisingly right. I’ve never desired to own one, and for a couple of hundred bucks more, I can go out and purchase a full featured Mac Mini, with Front Row running on it for the same interface. Microsoft seems to have made their way to the living room quicker than Apple did. Their Media Center and Media Center Extenders are nearly full featured, with DVR functions included. Apple’s first-gen living room product seems to have failed to make it, and may not be seen ever again if discontinued.

Read [Yahoo] Via [TUAW]

Apple has traditionally had Black Friday sales across all of their Apples Stores. This year, it is rumored, they are preparing something extra special. It is being kept under tight wraps, but Looprumors seems to have gotten some leaks out of a source that is probably fired now. Apple is preparing to open it’s retail stores early, and has been telling employees to arrive ready to work at 4:00 AM. Also, beginning today, employees are expected to be wearing three different red holiday t-shirts this year advertising it’s three main product lines - iPod, iPhone, and iMac (no AppleTV, surprise surprise). Apple Stores are also expected to put up new Nutcracker displays. Apple is very quiet of specific pricing and discounts, however, it seems that they will be offering one-day discounts on select items.

Via [Looprumors]

At last Monday’s WWDC keynote, Steve Jobs surprisingly released the Safari 3 beta to not only Mac users, but Windows users as well, in an attempt to increase the amount of Safari users in total on both platforms. In the presentation however, John Lily, of Mozilla, noticed that Steve basically indicated that he plans to wipe out all PC competitors to leave only Internet Explorer and Safari standing a chance.

“But make no mistake: this wasn’t a careless presentation, or an accidental omission of all the other browsers out there, or even a crummy marketing trick. Lots of words describe Steve & his “Stevenotes”, but ‘careless’ and ‘accidental’ do not. This is, essentially, the way they’re thinking about the problem, and shows the users they want to pick up,” says Lily.

In short, Jobs has made plans to knock out Firefox, Opera, and any other PC or Macintosh browser aside from Internet Explorer. Can it be done? Obviously Steve seems to be blinded by power, thinking that Safari for Windows will be a common application for consumer Windows users.

Read [ZDNet]