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According to Matthew Mosk, Brian Ross, and Joseph Rhee, "Whistleblower Claims Many U.S. Interpreters Can't Speak Afghan Languages", ABC Nightline 9/8/2010:

More than one quarter of the translators working alongside American soldiers in Afghanistan failed language proficiency exams but were sent onto the battlefield anyway, according to a former employee of the company that holds contracts worth up to $1.4 billion to supply interpreters to the U.S. Army.

"I determined that someone and I didn't know [who] at that time was changing the grades from blanks or zeros to passing grades," said Paul Funk, who used to oversee the screening of Afghan linguists for the Columbus, Ohio-based contractor, Mission Essential Personnel. "Many who failed were marked as being passed."

Here's the video version of the report:

After nine years of U.S. involvement in war in Afghanistan, and with billions of dollars in specific costs for interpreters (leaving aside the costs incurring as a consequence of interpreters who can't interpret), you'd think we could do better than this.

For a sketch of what happened in a different war, in the context of a different society, see here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Here's a way to look at the art and science of thoughtwrestling in a pure Sesame Street style. But, as you'll see, I'm going to need your help with this one. We're missing a few letters

Let's start at the beginning of the alphabet:

Analyze look at a situation carefully; look beyond symptoms to causes; what's different?

Brainstorm generate ideas, possible solutions

Consider keep asking what if

Do there is no try. Actually, yes, there is try. Try is an important starting point for do. But do do.

E

Forge build something new; shape your thoughts in the heat of creativity and passion.

Give thoughtwrestling is about giving great things to the world.

H

Imagine similar to consider; try to think as wildly as possible, without restriction, when it's time to do so

Just be fair and equitable.

Knowledge the more you have, the more you want and the more you need.

Learn learn more, grow more, do more a classic virtual cycle.

M

N

O

Problems as in, the solving of.

Question to find the right answers, you have to ask the right questions, multiple times if needed.

R

Ship as defined by Apple and Seth Godin, shipping is getting stuff done, pure and simple. Finishing projects, getting them out the door.

Think seems kind of obvious, I guess

Understand as Stephen Covey often says seek first to understand, then to be understood

V

Work yup. Thoughtwrestling is work. It can be fun work, but it's work. Just saying

X-Ray look through the surface to see what lies beneath

You because we're doing this for somebody, right?

Zeal (or Zest) ya gotta have the energy and drive to thoughtwrestle, baby.

Now, you may have noticed a big problem with this post: some of the letters are missing words! Oh no! We're missing 7 possible words, starting with the letters:

• E
• H
• M
• N
• O
• R
• V

This is where you can help. Can you provide suggestions for the missing words in the comment section, please? We need your help!

Image by kvanhorn

Related posts:

1. What is thoughtwrestling?
2. Mind Mapping Example Thoughtwrestling
3. Thoughtwrestling interview Gregg Fraley

Kevin Mincio quit his job at Goldman Sachs to join the army after September 11 and he says he'd never go back.

Mincio, who told his story to ABCNews, says he was in a meeting with his managing director at Goldman when the first plane hit. They were discussing integrating the Investment Banking Technology team within Goldman's larger, firm-wide technology division on a conference call.

In the aftermath, when Mincio was assigned to save Goldman's computers, he made his decision to go on unpaid military leave. He told himself he had to save more than computers.

His heartwarming story is at ABCNews >>

Join the conversation about this story

Google CEO Eric Schmidt discusses Google TV live and on television at the IFA (Internationalen Funkausstellung) conference in Berlin, Germany.

BERLIN Google gave a live demonstration of Google TV at Berlin's IFA Tuesday, and CEO Eric Schmidt promised it would be a couch potato's dream come true.

Once you have Google television, you're going to be very busy, Schmidt said. It's going to ruin your evening.

Google TV is the search giant's bid to bring the web to the biggest screen in the house in a big way, something TV viewers and web surfers (often the same person) have tended to resist as distinctly different experiences. But as the internet becomes a more viable delivery system for the kind of content we associate with the Barcaloungers and TV sets, Google, Apple and others are trying to get a piece of that action as well.

Google TV is essentially an interface, blurring the distinctions between programming you get from your cable or satellite provider with that you get web content, with search Google's bread-and-butter. It is set to launch on a Sony HD TV, a Sony Blu-Ray player, and a Logitech set-top box in the U.S. this fall (other countries to follow), each with its own incredible remote control. After tapping a search button, a single box appears for searching the web, live television programming, recorded shows, on-demand programming, pay TV, online video clips, and more.

You would never want to buy a computer without an internet router these days, said Google TV product marketing manager Brittany Bohnet. Soon, you're never going to want to buy a TV without an internet router.

Google, which demonstrated the service on a generic Logitech box with a DishNetwork DVR, is working on custom remote control hardware for the Chrome-powered Google TV in conjunction with Sony and Logitech that will likely include as did Bohnet's wired demonstration keyboard a full QWERTY keyboard, a pointing mechanism, and television-specific buttons (volume, etc.).

But you'll also be able to use your Google-powered Android phone or even an iPhone as a Google TV remote. In addition to being convenient, this adds the ability to control the set using voice commands. Screaming at your TV may still have the same ineffectual result, but now, at least, you could say a channel name and your television would switch.

Perhaps more to the point: Google believes that keyboard-less search reduces the friction for web-based inquiries that it thinks people want to make concurrently with watching TV and on the same screen instead of the tablet you have on your coffee table or the smartphone in your pocket. In Bohnet's example, someone watching a show about Ferraris can price them via web search, although shopping is not (yet?) directly incorporated into shows.

Looking even further out, things like Google TV could make it more palatable to get mainstream TV shows over the internet just as we have become used to streaming and downloading movies. It should be noted that, perhaps not coincidentally, that Google's YouTube itself plans on offering mainstream movie rentals this year. It's no surprise that Google's own YouTube already works pretty well on Google TV via a new version of LeanBack, which defaults to the high-definition versions of YouTube videos.

And if you can watch TV shows on your TV delivered up by Hulu, who needs a cable company?

But the mainstream content part of the equation is still somewhat elusive. Though there are not exactly comparable, Google TV invites comparisons to Apple TV, which was slimmed down, simplified and cut to $99 in an upgrade announced last week. Apple TV doesn't actually contain much TV only Fox and ABC signed on to offer 99 cent TV show rentals and Google said nothing at IFA about any content deals. The Wall Street Journal reported three weeks ago that talks with the networks were not going as well as Google had hoped.

It will also not act like a DVR, so for pausing and fast-forwarding you'll still need your cable company's box (or the vastly superior TiVo).

But that said Google plans to add Android apps in early 2011, they said here. Apple TV is not running iOS, so it can't one of the five reasons we found it still boring.

What Google won't do is get into the content creation business. There's a line that we decided not to cross, said Schmidt. We want to work with content providers and we're very unlikely to do any content production.

Follow us for disruptive tech news: Eliot Van Buskirk and Epicenter on Twitter.

See Also:

• Networks Proving A Tough Sell for Google TV (Surprise
• YouTube's Leanback' Wants to Friend Your Television Remote
• Google, Dish Network Reportedly Test Android-Based Satellite TV
• Why You (Still) Can't Cut the TV Cord: It's Not Technical, It's

As a longtime Apple TV owner, I'll admit a dirty little secret: I really like the device. Sure, it has been one of the rare flops for Apple in recent years. And it could be so much more with say, a Blu-ray player or a web browser. But it is really good at its core functionality: bringing iTunes content into your living room. And that's why this new version of the Apple TV makes sense at least for now.

When I first bought the Apple TV, there were two varieties: a 40 gigabyte version and a 160 gigabyte version. I was torn between which one to get, but I ultimately went with the 160 GB one thinking I could put most of my movies on it. Big mistake. I basically never use the hard drive on my Apple TV, so it's a 160 GB hard drive sitting there doing nothing. Instead, I stream everything to the Apple TV.

In fact, the only time I do use the hard drive on my current Apple TV is when I rent a movie on it. Currently, even when renting, you download a movie to your hard drive where it sits for up to 30 days (or 24 hours after you start playing it). But with the new iTunes rentals (both TV and movies) everything is streamed no hard drive is required (besides a small one for buffering purposes). Thanks to that, and undoubtedly the knowledge that most owners were using it for streaming, Apple removed the hard drive from the device, and cut it down in size and price.

Now, at one-forth the size and less than half the price, it's an even more attractive way to get your iTunes content into your living room. And it has a few very nice bonuses. The mixture of the new Netflix functionality with Apple's new release rental movies makes this an excellent in-home movie machine for the masses. For those who pay $9 a month to Netflix, you get access to tens of thousands of older movies. For those interested in newer movies, they're $4.99 a pop from Apple.

Yes, Apple removed the option to buy movies on the Apple TV itself. But you can still do this through iTunes on your computer or on your iPad/iPhone/iPod touch. And guess what? With the forthcoming AirPlay feature, you'll be able to stream any of those purchased movies right from any of those devices to the Apple TV. In a way, it sort of does make the Apple TV a $99 iPad accessory.

Further, the removal of the option to buy (as well as the removal of the SD options) make Apple TV much less complicated for general consumers. Now there is no question about whether you should rent or buy. There is also no question about whether you should do rent or buy in HD or SD. I suspect most people were renting in HD on the device, which is why Apple made the move it did to eliminate the other unnecessary options. They're keeping it simple, stupid.

Apple also removed the option to buy TV shows which never really made much sense to me. There are some shows that people would like to own, but most are definitely watch-once programs. Previously, there was no rental option, you had to buy. Worse, even if you did want to own a lot, the old Apple TV didn't have nearly enough storage to handle them all some HD TV show seasons take up 30 GB of space or more. The model just didn't make a lot of sense.

Granted, Apple's current $0.99 TV show rental option is pretty weak. They only have shows from ABC and Fox and only some shows from Fox. But obviously, just as happened with iTunes music and movies, Apple is hoping all the studios eventually get on board. And if they do relatively soon, the Apple TV will be a very interesting device to consumers as both a movie box and as a potential cable replacement. Sure, most people aren't going to feel comfortable totally killing cable just yet but at $99, this will be a very interesting experiment for a lot of people.

All that said, let's be clear: this Apple TV is not the killer device in the living room. This will be more popular than the current Apple TV, but it will not be iPod/iPhone/iPad-big. And Apple seems to know that, which is why they're still talking cautiously about it.

The problem Apple faces is the same problem that everyone faces: content agreements. Hollywood is proving much harder to convince than the music labels were. In a few years, if DVD sales keep falling and cable revenues start decreasing, they'll be more receptive to new options.

The killer Apple TV would have TV network subscription packages. It would offer live events. It would have every movie ever made available on-demand.

And on-demand is the big key to all of this. All of this content is going to move to the cloud. It has too for storage purposes and given how many devices we all have. Rentals just completely made the jump, but eventually purchases will too. At first, you'll have the option to download certain movies you've bought to take on the go, but when you're at your home, even movies you own will be streamed they'll simply be streamed for free. And then one day, all of this stuff will be in the cloud entirely as mobile devices will always be connected by high-speed wireless.

This is the future. It's Apple's future along with everyone else's. This Apple TV is one small step in that direction, and at $99 it makes sense for now at $229, it never did. This is a stepping stone to the cloud age. Right now it's a mixture of the internal cloud (streaming from within your house) with the external cloud (streaming rentals from the cloud). Soon it will all be external.

If this half-step isn't your thing, if you want more functionality, buy a Mac mini. There's a reason Apple just added a HDMI output to it. But that device is too complicated and way too expensive for most consumers to use as a set-top box. The Apple TV is simple.

Oh, and one more thing: the true killer Apple TV device will have apps. I'm still absolutely convinced (as many people are) that it's only a question of when they make the jump to the living room. The fact that this new Apple TV is running iOS seems to be all the proof one should need that this will come eventually.

When that happens, the Apple TV will become a hell of a lot more than a hobby.

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Oh look. An agreement was reached. Surprised?

Disney/ABC Television Group, ESPN and Time Warner Cable today entered into a long-term, wide-ranging agreement that will provide Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks cable customers the programming of ABC Family, Disney Channel, Disney XD, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPNU, ESPN Classic, ESPN Deportes and SOAPnet, as well as WABC in New York, KABC in Los Angeles, WTVD in Raleigh-Durham-Fayetteville, WTVG in Toledo, and associated HD cable networks. Subscribers will also have unprecedented digital access to online content and expanded Video On Demand services.

This extensive and expanded rights package, Disney Media Network's most expansive content agreement to date, provides for:

• The recently announced Disney Junior, a new 24-hour basic channel for preschool-age children, parents and caregivers. Available to Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks cable customers upon its debut in 2012, the new channel will feature animated and live action programming which blends Disney's unparalleled storytelling and beloved characters with learning, including early math, language skills, healthy eating and lifestyles and social skills.
• The addition of ESPN3.com, ESPN's live sports broadband network, which will be available to all Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks subscribers who get ESPN. ESPN3.com gives Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks fans a 24/7 online destination that delivers more than 3,500 live, global sports events annually as part of TV Everywhere. This addition also gives Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks the right to feature cleared content from ESPN3.com on its sports tier.
• Access to a new authenticated service, which will give Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks subscribers the opportunity to watch the linear networks ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU through their broadband services, as well as mobile Internet devices like an iPad. Details on the launch will be forthcoming.
• A new service, developed with Time Warner Cable, called ESPN Goal Line, a super-highlight channel that will be available only to Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks sports tier subscribers as early as September 4. ESPN Goal Line will take fans around the best matchups each Saturday during the NCAA football season. The once-a-week network will include live look-ins to game action, focusing on scoring drives and up-to-the minute commentary from analysts and experts. A similar service called ESPN Buzzer Beater will be available for the college basketball season.
• Inclusion of a variety of content from across the Disney Media Networks' portfolio on Time Warner Cable's and Bright House Networks Start Over and Look Back features.
• The addition of ESPN Deportes HD to Time Warner Cable's larger footprint.
• The launch of ESPN 3D to Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks' systems.
• A Time Warner Cable/ESPN Deportes co-branded, Spanish language sports website in Los Angeles.
• Availability of ESPN Radio feeds in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas to Time Warner Cable's video platform.
• A plethora of ESPN-branded content made available on Time Warner Cable's and Bright House Networks' sports tier.

Expanded VOD services in many markets will include:

• ABC On Demand, ABC's fast forward-disabled VOD service which currently features a selection of primetime programming, including episodes of such popular ABC shows as Castle, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice and Desperate Housewives. Anticipated newcomers include No Ordinary Family and My Generation. Additionally, episodes of ABC News' Good Morning America are available each week.
• Disney-branded On Demand offerings for kids, including Disney Channel On Demand and Disney XD On Demand. Refreshed each month, the Disney Channel VOD offering will include episodes from such series as Handy Manny, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Special Agent Oso for preschoolers, as well as variety of episodes from Wizards of Waverly Place, Hannah Montana, The Suite Life on Deck, Good Luck Charlie and other popular series for older kids. Select episodes featured on Disney Channel On Demand will be available in multiple languages. Disney XD On Demand features a variety of episodes from such series as the Emmy Award-winning animated hit Phineas and Ferb and Kick Buttowski Suburban Daredevil, as well as the upcoming sitcom Pair of Kings.
• Locally relevant sports content from ESPN in several Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks markets, including Los Angeles, New York, North and South Carolina, Tampa, Orlando, Texas and Ohio.
• The subscription VOD service Disney Family Movies which features a selection of classic and contemporary films and animated shorts from The Walt Disney Studios.
• A new transactional VOD service for select content from the Disney/ABC Television Group.

Co-chairs of Disney Media Networks George Bodenheimer and Anne Sweeney also commented on the announcement, stating: The successful conclusion of this wide-ranging deal demonstrates our commitment to our distribution partners and our ability to work with them to provide consumers with an unmatched portfolio of national and local entertainment, news and sports content while continuing to strengthen both of our businesses.

We are pleased to have reached an agreement without any interruption in service, said Glenn Britt, Time Warner Cable's Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. We thank our customers for their support, and we look forward to launching these new and innovative products and services.

We're pleased that an agreement has been reached with no disruption in programming for our customers, said Steve Miron, Chief Executive Officer, Bright House Networks.

[Daniel Romero is a Ph.D Candidate at Cornell Univeristy in the Center for Applied Mathematics. He works with Hewlett-Packard's Social Computing Lab Bernardo Huberman and colleagues.]

By Daniel M. Romero

The importance of mainstream news has changed with the advent and immense popularity of online social media.

The mainstream media is now aware that they have to be involved in the social media in order to keep their audience engaged. They understand that they no longer have complete control on what information people will attend to.

With social media channels like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc people can find the news they want even if the mainstream media may not be providing it to them. This is why today we see all major broadcast networks present and active on Twitter.

But are they as successful at social media as they are at mainstream media? Are they as influential as they are assumed to be in the offline world? Who are the most influential ones?

To answer these questions, we measured the influence of all the news media accounts on Twitter. We used the Influence-Passivity Algorithm discussed in a previous post at SVW: HP Twitter Study: Weak Link Between Popularity And Influence.

The data includes all tweets containing a URL from June 15^th through July 22^nd of 2009. You can find the list of the 100 most influential news media accounts here (and below).

Most of the major news broadcast networks are present in this list. However, they do not fully dominate it. We see blogs such as@mashable, @bigpicture, @gizmodo, @harvardbiz, among others with very high influence ranking and above major players from traditional media such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

The list also includes the number of followers each account has. The same observation about the weak link between popularity and influence made in the previous post can be made here.

Having a large number of followers does not imply having influence in news social media. Furthermore, not having a large number of followers does not mean lack of influence.

A particularly interesting example is @bigpicture, a photo blog for the Boston Globe; with a mere 23K followers it is the 3rd most influential account on the list. After taking a look at some of the very high quality photographs tweeted by this account it becomes clear why people are willing to re-tweet them and why this account has so much influence.

This demonstrates that to be influential on Twitter news media networks have to keep their audience engaged through valuable tweets and not simply convince people to "follow them on Twitter".

The work on this project was done in collaboration with: Wojciech Galuba (@wgaluba); Sitaram Asur (@SitaramAsur); and Bernardo Huberman (@bhuberman)

Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/DanielMRomero

- - -

Number	@name	Name	Followers	Influence Rank
1	@mashable	Pete Cashmore	2037840	59
2	@cnnbrk	CNN Breaking News	3224475	71
3	@big_picture	The Big Picture	23666	92
4	@theonion	The Onion	2289939	116
5	@time	TIME.com	2111832	143
6	@breakingnews	Breaking News	1795976	147
7	@bbcbreaking	BBC Breaking News	509756	168
8	@espn	ESPN	572577	187
9	@harvardbiz	Harvard Business Rev	219039	227
10	@gizmodo	Gizmodo	111025	237
11	@techcrunch	TechCrunch	1402254	319
12	@wired	Wired	547187	322
13	@wsj	Wall Street Journal	366133	358
14	@smashingmag	Smashing Magazine	224333	360
15	@pitchforkmedia	Pitchfork	1494896	384
16	@rollingstone	Rolling Stone	133999	436
17	@whitehouse	The White House	1794544	448
18	@cnn	CNN	1196719	473
19	@tweetmeme	TweetMeme	52386	515
20	@peoplemag	People magazine	2099081	565
21	@natgeosociety	National Geographic	274851	603
22	@nytimes	The New York Times	2502914	705
23	@lifehacker	Lifehacker	62302	708
24	@foxnews	Fox News	260081	710
25	@waitwait	waitwait	32895	824
26	@newsweek	Newsweek	1250884	844
27	@huffingtonpost	Huffington Post	632555	849
28	@newscientist	New Scientist	144355	852
29	@mental_floss	Mental Floss	68975	874
30	@theeconomist	The Economist	311109	902
31	@emarketer	eMarketer	30235	906
32	@engadget	Engadget	135418	999
33	@cracked	Cracked.com	110611	1037
34	@slate	Slate	71091	1040
35	@bbcclick	BBC Click	1749470	1041
36	@fastcompany	Fast Company	148292	1056
37	@reuters	Reuters Top News	194429	1119
38	@incmagazine	Inc. Magazine	109256	1143
39	@eonline	E! Online	2271026	1227
40	@rww	Richard MacManus	1037907	1232
41	@gdgt	gdgt	20556	1315
42	@instyle	InStyle	1716786	1330
43	@mckquarterly	McKinsey Quarterly	90981	1354
44	@enews	E! News	279737	1540
45	@nprnews	NPR News	270561	1572
46	@usatoday	USA TODAY Top News	62790	1628
47	@mtv	MTV	648014	1714
48	@freakonomics	freakonomics	124751	1784
49	@boingboing	Boing Boing	48649	1811
50	@billboarddotcom	Billboard.com	63766	1818
51	@empiremagazine	Empire Magazine	33335	1905
52	@todayshow	The Today Show	620413	1927
53	@good	GOOD	414956	2003
54	@gawker	Gawker	37980	2027
55	@msnbc_breaking	msnbc Breaking News	59375	2088
56	@cbsnews	CBS News	1575638	2090
57	@guardiantech	Guardian Tech	1592067	2139
58	@usweekly	Us Weekly	228728	2233
59	@life	LIFE.com	1270303	2277
60	@sciam	Scientific American	88336	2373
61	@pastemagazine	Paste Magazine	64642	2379
62	@drudge_report	Drudge Report	100558	2468
63	@parisreview	The Paris Review	22127	2599
64	@latimes	Los Angeles Times	71287	2625
65	@telegraphnews	Daily Telegraph News	17325	2629
66	@abc7	ABC7 Eyewitness News	36343	2638
67	@arstechnica	Ars Technica	82051	2692
68	@cnnmoney	CNNMoney.com	219552	2777
69	@nprpolitics	NPR Politics	1801871	2882
70	@nytimesphoto	New York Times Photo	79443	2927
71	@nybooks	NY Review of Books	89827	2966
72	@nielsenwire	Nielsen Wire	13840	2994
73	@io9	io9	12152	3023
74	@sciencechannel	Science Channel	82514	3064
75	@usabreakingnews	USA Breaking News	13987	3120
76	@vanityfairmag	VANITY FAIR	76282	3182
77	@cw_network	CW Network	70031	3183
78	@bbcworld	BBC World News	262857	3202
79	@abc	ABCNews.com	1119958	3411
80	@themoment	The Moment	1580569	3413
81	@socialmedia2day	Social Media Today	34516	3510
82	@slashdot	Slashdot	29011	3527
83	@washingtonpost	The Washington Post	149617	3636
84	@tpmmedia	Talking Points Memo	15438	3678
85	@msnbc	msnbc.com	41155	3696
86	@wnycradiolab	Radiolab	9591	3776
87	@cnnlive	CNN Live	39260	3793
88	@davos	World Economic Forum	1508772	3891
89	@planetmoney	NPR's Planet Money	81309	3965
90	@cnetnews	CNET News.com	75730	3981
91	@politico	POLITICO	83729	4048
92	@tvnewser	TVNewser	12301	4427
93	@guardiannews	The Guardian	75198	4665
94	@yahoonews	Yahoo! News	37154	4668
95	@seedmag	Seed Magazine	9898	4696
96	@tvguide	TV Guide	586240	4757
97	@travlandleisure	Travel + Leisure	84029	4767
98	@newyorkpost	New York Post	43334	4790
99	@discovermag	DISCOVER Magazine	71913	4816
100	@sciencenewsorg	Science News	75665	4888

Device:	AppleTV	Roku XR	Pop Box	LG BD550
Price:	$99	$99	$129	$130 - $150
Form Factor/Size:	3.9 x 0.9 x 3.9	5 x 5 x 1.75	8 x 1.4 x 6 inches	16.9 x 1.8 x 7.9
Available Content:	HD TV shows from ABC & Fox ($0.99), HD Movie rentals ($4.99/$3.99), Netflix, iTunes, YouTube	Netflix, Amazon VOD (now with $0.99 HD TV show purchases from Fox & ABC), MLB.tv, UFC, NBA GameTime, YouTube, Pandora	YouTube, Revision3, Blip.tv, h.264 / XviD / MPEG-4, MKV / AVI / WMV	Blu-ray discs, VUDU, Netflix, CinemaNow, YouTube, Pandora, Napster
Apps / SDK:	N/A	Roku Channel / SDK available	Popapps Store / SDK available	NetCast widgets
Connectivity:	WiFi N, Ethernet	WiFi N, Ethernet	Ethernet, optional WiFi adapter	Ethernet, Disc
Video Quality:	720p, 5.1 audio	720p (1080p upgrade coming soon), 5.1 audio	1080p, 5.1 audio	1080p, 7.1 audio, DTS-HD MA / Dolby TrueHD audio

Continue reading Apple TV vs. the competition -- how does it stack up?

Apple TV vs. the competition -- how does it stack up? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Whoa, this came out of left-field. Amazon just announced that its Video on demand service will be serving up $.99 ABC and Fox rentals just like Apple wait, no, these are $.99 per episode like you actually own the content rather than just having a short window to watch. Plus, it's not just limited to one platform as Amazon Video on demand is widely available a bunch of products. This could be huge and might take some sales away from the new Apple TV.

Steve Jobs, with the new Apple TV. Photo: Michael Copeland

This is the spot for our live coverage of Apple's (AAPL) Sept. 1 music event.

In sum, Steve Jobs delivered on most of the rumored new products and services. The headlines:

• A new $99 Apple TV that streams (rather than downloads) $4.99 movie rentals and 99-cent TV rentals from ABC and Fox.
• A new lineup of iPods, chief among them the iPod touch equipped with two cameras, one a front-facing camera that can do Facetime video chats
• A new version of iTunes with a social networking feature called Ping that tracks the downloads of friends and celebrities
• A new version of iOS 4.2, promised for November, that will bring multitasking, folders and other goodies to the iPad.

No Beatles. No Apple-branded TV set. No updated iPhone 4. But all-in-all, a solid fall product launch with more news to chew on than we've seen since 2007, when the iPod touch first appeared.

Coldplay's Martin. Photo: Michael Copeland

11:11 Wraps up by introducing this year's musical guest: Chris Martin of Coldplay.

11:08 Steve Jobs' review. "Strongest lineup of iPods ever." Shuffle, nano, iPod touch, with Facetime. New iTunes, with Ping, a social network for music. iOS 4.2 with HDR photos, GameCenter. Apple TV for renting movies and TV shows. "I hope you're as excited as we are."

11:07 Apple TV price goes from $229 to $99, as rumored. Available later this month, pre-orders open today.

11:05 Something else that's "really cool": AirPlay. Streams "Up" from his computer to the family room Apple TV. That's what AirTunes used to do with music. Lets you start a movie on your computer, watch the rest of it on your Apple TV.

11:04 Demos a photo slideshow, with music and professional editing.

11:03 Jobs demos Netflix. He has a long list of instant movies. Claims its "by far the best implementation of Netflix" (that gets laughs).

10:02 TV shows.You can set up favorite TV shows. The interface shows you how many episodes you haven't seen. Orders up an episode of Glee. For what it's worth.

Ironman 2. Photo: Michael Copeland

10:58 Jobs runs through the Apple TV interface, which seems much improved. Orders Ironman 2. It's ready in a few seconds.

10:55 Largest library of movies in the world $4.99 the day they come out on DVD. To buy TV shows, now 99-cents, as widely reported. Commercial free. ABC and Fox. We think the rest of the studios will see the light and get on board pretty fast.

In addition, Netflix subscribers can stream content from their collection. Also can watch anything on YouTube. Photos from flicker and mobileMe.

10:53. Introducing second generation Apple TV today. Same shape, much smaller. 1/4 the size. Black, palm sized. No power brick. HDMI. Ethernet. Wi-Fi built in. Comes with a remote. It's real easy. Music, TV, Movies. All HD, when available. All rentals, no purchases. No storage. Can stream content from computers, no syncing. Photo slideshows. Silent, cool and tiny.

10:50 One more thing. Actually it's one more hobby. Apple TV. Never been a huge hit. But users love them. What have we learned from our users? They want Hollywood movies and TV shows, cheaper. They don't want amateur hour. They don't want another computer. They don't want to manage storage. Don't want to sync to a computer. Want it silent, cool and small.

10:45 A reader watching the livestream writes: "The video stream quality is amazing, much better than what I'm used to seeing when Apple posts something after the fact. Whether this has anything to do with today's announcements, I dunno, but it is noteworthy in my book."

10:44 17,000 concert listings. open to over 160 million iTunes users in 23 countries immediately. Demo. Uses his PR aide Katie Cotton as an example. Big applause from team Apple. Video from Lady GaGa in hotpants.

10:43 You can be as private or as public as you want.

10:39 What's new in iTunes 10. New hybrid view for albums. Big focus on discovery. How do you find new songs with 12 million songs in store. What are my friends listening to? How do I tell my friends what I like.

Adding "Ping." A social network for music. Facebook and Twitter meet itunes. Follow your favorite artists and friends. Find out what they are listening and downloading. Custom chart of what the people you follow are downloading. Uses Lady GaGa as an example.

10:37 iTunes. 11.7 billion songs downloaded. 450 million TV episodes. 100 million movies. 35 million books. 160 million credit card accounts. No. 1 online media store in the world. iTunes 10 launching today. New logo. Because iTunes on track to surpass sales of CDs in the U.S. next spring.

10:35 Jobs plays new ads. These will sell some product.

10:32 What's new: Retina display, like iPhone. 326 pixels per lunch. Apple A4 chip. 3 axis gyro. iOS 4.1. Front-facing camera and Facetime, as rumored. And a rear-facing camera too. 40 hours of music playback. Shipping next week. Three models: 8 GB $229, 32 GB $299, 64 GB $399
iPod Touch prices that I missed. Three models: 8 GB $229, 32 GB $299, 64 GB $399. (Thanks CA.)

10:30 iPod touch. Now the most popular iPod. iPhone without a phone. Or a contract. Now the No. 1 portable game player in the world. Outsells Nintendo and Sony combined. Over 50% of marketshare for portable game player market share in U.S. and worldwide. Over 1.5 billion games and entertainment titles downloaded.

Photo: Michael Copeland.

10:23 iPod nano. Shows generations. How do we make this better? 46%s maller. Eliminated click wheel with multitouch. It's very tiny. Comes with a clip, no more armbands. FM radio. Nike Plus. 24 hour audio playback. 7 colors. $149 8GB, $179 16GB.

10:21 Shuffle. Shows the generations. People missed the buttons in the third generation. New one smaller than second generation with buttons, voice over and playlists. Cubic packaging. Five colors. $49.

10:20 iPods. Sold 275 million. Never rested on our laurels. This year we've gone wild. New design for every single model. Biggest change in the iPod lineup ever.

10:19 iOS coming out in November.

10:16 AirPlay. Used to be AirTunes. Stream video and photos over Wi-Fi to other devices. Demo. Launches Pandora. Goes to mail via multitasking. Goes to Web. Stop and starts music.

Also Folders. Works on iPad like it worked on the iPhone.

10:15. Jobs gives sneak peek at iOS 4.2. It's all about iPad. Coming later this year. Wireless printing. (Big applause.)

10:11 First guest speaker. Mike Capps of Epic Games. Demos Project Sword, a violent high-res multiplayer game in development. Jobs: "It's on a phone! That's pretty remarkable."

10:10 More detail on Game Center. Play with friends. And if you don't have any friends it will match you with some. (cue the laughs).

10:09 Explains HDR. Takes 3 photos in rapid succession. Combines the three to make the best photo.

Photo: Michael Copeland

10:05 iOS. 120 million devices. 230,000 new activations per day. "We think we are aheady of everyone. 6.5 billion apps downloaded. 200 apps every second. Over 250,000 apps, 25,000 for iPad.

Today introducting iOS 4.1. A lot of bugs fixed. Proximity sensor, Bluetooth. Added HDR photos. Ability to upload HD video over WiFi. TV show rentals. Game Center debut.

10:02 Slideshow of new stores. Paris. Shanghai. London. 300 stores. 10 countries. days where there a 1 million visitors.

10:00 Steve Jobs walks on stage. Loud applause, even from some in the press. Gives a shout out to Steve Wozniak, "my partner in crime."

9:51 We're in. A huge photo of the guitar with the apple-shaped hole hangs over the stage. There's the usual scrambling for seats. It looks like standing room only. Cellphone silence. Lights dimming.

Photo: Michael Copeland.

9:30 The crowd in the plaza outside the entrance of Yerba Buena's auditorium is considerably smaller than it was for the iPad announcement, the last Apple event in this venue. It also boasts considerably fewer celebrities. No Al Gore. No John Doerr. No Walter Isaacson (Jobs' biographer). Not even Walt Mossberg, the Wall Street Journal's chief tech columnist, who is off vacationing in Paris. [CORRECTION: Doerr is here. Spotted in a corner talking on white earbuds plugged into a BlackBerry. And Isaccson too! No sign of the former vice president, however.]

The relatively sparse crowd. Photo: PED

8:53 Ten minutes before media check in was scheduled to start we counted 45 press types dutifully queuing up for a good spot. The guys carrying heavy camera equipment were at the head of the line. Circling around the outside, shaking hands and giving interviews, were various tech celebrities. Steve Wozniak, Apple's co-founder, was getting the most attention.

The press queue. Photo: PED

8:15 The Street seems to be betting on good news. Apple shares opened at $247.50, up $4.40 from Tuesday's close, and is now trading at $250.40, up 3% for the day.

8:00 Two hours before the event and an hour before press registration, there were only six TV satellite trucks stationed on the perimeter of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, down from the usual 11 or 12 a Steve Jobs video op usually draws. With Apple live streaming the event on the Web, there is probably less demand for the video feed the cable networks used to messenger out by DVD every few minutes.

CNBC's Fortt. Photo: PED

Perched on a white suitcase in front of the venue, right where where CNBC's Jim Goldman used to stand, we found his replacement -- and our former Fortune colleague -- Jon Fortt, looking dapper in a blue striped suit, no tie.

7:00 The first analyst report of the day has come in, from Alex Gauna at JMP Securities. He's raising his earnings and revenue estimates for Apple's fiscal 2010 and 2011. For the year that ends Sept. 25, for example, he's calling for earnings of $14.51 on revenue of $62.782 billion, up from $13.97 and $59.482 billion, respectively. He also has nice things to say about Apple's "uncluttered strategic and engineering vision, crisp execution, and unique ability to integrate software and hardware development." He illustrates that last point, as it applies to the smartphone business, with the handy chart reproduced below:

Source: JMP Securities

5:45 The sun hasn't yet risen in San Francisco, but we've filed our first piece of the day. See here.

See also:

• All eyes on Apple
• Battle for the future of TV
• Enter, stage right: Steve Jobs
• Handicapping Apple's special events

[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]

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Not a bad price.

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Continue reading The new Apple TV for $99

The new Apple TV for $99 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Steve Jobs showed off a new version of Apple TV today. The device plays movies on your TV and it is a fourth the size of the original version and it can stream movies from the Netflix movie service.

Apple introduced the first version of Apple TV in 2006 and it was one of its few duds. Jobs said that Apple learned that the No. 1 people want is Hollywood movies and TV shows anytime. They want it all in high-definition, low prices, and don't want a computer on the TV. They don't want to manage storage or sync content. They want it silent, small and cool.

The new version has a power connector, is Wi-Fi enabled, has a simple aluminum remote control and connects via a high definition multimedia interface (HDMI). Now movies can be rented for a smaller amount of money, just $4.99 each; there are no sales anymore. There is no storage management. You can stream data such as photos and music from your computers. You can show stunning photo slide shows. It operates silently and is cool. The first run movies will be available the same day they come out on DVD disks. To buy TV shows, it used to cost $2.99. That was considered too expensive. So now they will be 99 cents to rent.

So far, only ABC and Fox are participating in the low-priced rentals. Jobs said. He said he hopes the other TV show owners will come on board once they see the light. Movies and TVs will start streaming within seconds of when you select them. The interface is pretty similar to the old once, with enhancements. You can see reviews of movies and TV shows. Jobs showed a demo of Iron Man 2, which started within seconds of a click.

The new version of Apple TV has a lot of the advances that Apple has made in user interfaces since the last launch. The photo viewer is more intuitive and has more options for viewing slide shows. With a feature called AirPlay, you can stream the Apple TV video from the living room to another Apple TV device in the house or an iPad. You can start watching in one room and move to another and watch at the same place in the movie where you left off. The same goes for an iPad. It is launching in six countries for $99, far cheaper than the original $299 price.

Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay, closed the event by singing songs solo.

Tags: Apple TV

Companies: Apple

People: Steve Jobs