New Time Capsule with iTunes library sharing…

The pre-Macworld Expo rumour mill has not been as mad as usual – probably due to Steve Jobs not delivering the keynote – but 9to5Mac reckon there will be an internet-based media server from Apple.

The rumoured Apple media server, would be based on Apple’s existing Time Capsule, an ARM-based 802.11n WiFi base station and backup system. To which would be added AFP-based file sharing, iTunes library sharing, a MobileMe tie-in for remote access (possibly with personal MobileMe subdomain), and the ability to share media with a Mac, AppleTV, iPod Touch, and iPhone “both over the Internet and while at home.”

Of course most of us with an Apple TV and an iPhone and a Time Capsule have been trying to get this to work with third party applications since they got them so it’s nice to see Apple finally listening. Shame they will no doubt want us to shell out more for them as I doubt there will be a TimeCapsule software/firmware update to allow the extra functionality.

Apple shares drop as Stevie pulls out of Macworld

Fears have grown about the health of Apple CEO Steve Jobs who will not deliver his customary keynote address at the Macworld trade show next month.

Apple shares were down 3% on the news as Apple sites buzzed with speculation that Jobs decision not to address one of the highlights of the Mac calendar was related to his health and possibly that Apple was behind on product delivery.

I’m hoping as a by-product the price of macs will also plummet as I’ve been coveting a new MacBook and I know Andrew would love one to replace his rather temperamental windows laptop.

Apple Store

Robert Peston on why Vista is evil

Dear Bill Gates

Give me back my weekend. I bought a new Windows Vista laptop – and that’s when the trouble began.

My dislike of your new user interface you can put down to the conservatism that comes with advancing years. However having loyally stuck by the galumphing, unaesthetic functionality of your operating systems over the past 15 years, while faced with ridicule from pretentious Mac-loving types, I resent your attempt at an elegance transplant.

But what really grates is that your system is incompatible with two of the vital tools of my trade. Vista refuses to load the software for my newish Olympus digital recorder. And here’s what takes the biscuit. Vista rejects my HP IPAQ handheld device – even though the software for that was created by Microsoft!

So in order to put Vista at the centre of what I do, I would have to buy hundreds of pounds of new hardware. Which may be great news for your industry, but makes me regret never having defected to Steve Jobs. Perhaps now’s the time.

more on the BBC website