HD For Indies

Think Secret - Road to Expo: Reborn Mac mini set to take over the living room

Apple's Mac mini will be reborn as the digital hub centerpiece it was originally conceived to be, Think Secret sources have disclosed. The new Mac mini project, code-named Kaleidoscope, will feature an Intel processor and include both Front Row 2.0 and TiVo-like DVR functionality.


Well, it ain't as if I didn't predict this one months ago - that it would be Viiv, that it would be living room friendly, and it would be a serious new thing.

The bit about the iPod dock? Definitely, I've read about the hardware bits that were compatible with that in the past.

I hadn't heard the DVR bit suggested before, but that makes entire sense if we're talking Viiv video friendly platform.

Apple's media center intentions have become startlingly clear in the past year since Apple first delivered the Mac mini and customers first started connecting the system to home theaters


Well, duh, I've been saying that since the Intel switch was announced. And yes, I'm too lazy to go back and find the posts, but trust me, they are there.

These guys tend to predict anything and everything, and if it doesn't happen, they imply Apple backed off of the coolness that coulda/shoulda been.

For me, I'd be delighted if this happens, it would be faster than I originally expected. I think Apple is really taking to heart the lessons learned from the iPod group - get out ahead, get WAY out ahead, and nobody can touch you. Marginal benefits do NOT a market crusher make.

Then, stand by for a summer iTunes Movie Store, as soon as Apple can get the studios on board...

PS-all of this may be a part of why Apple's stock is on an amazing run of late, above and beyond the iPod madness. I predict a phenomenal Christmas of iPods - I know of two being bought just within my immediate family as gifts (don't worry, Mason my seven year old nephew doesn't read the blog!) I also put my money where my mouth is and bought several hundred more shares of Apple well before it hit 70 the other day, and I plan on keeping them for years, after the Move To Video has paid off and gone totally mainstream. I noticed a Bose iPod speaker base ad on the side of a bus the other day - in AUSTIN, not in San Francisco where I'd expect to see such things. When your third party accessories are being mass advertised on buses, you got yerself a MARKET.

-Mike