Okay, I’m a fan of amazing, over-the-top home theatres, mostly because it takes a lot of time, energy, love, and probably money to build some of the more excessive ones I’ve seen. Over at DeputyDog, there’s 10 of the finest home theatres I’ve ever seen; themed movie theatres that could put actual movie soundstages to shame with the amount of detail and work that was put into them.

It’s not surprising there are a bunch of sci-fi inspired ones, with at least two of them being Star Trek based, but because I’m that kind of geek, I appreciate those ones too. The one with the actual bar on the side is a winner in my book, even if the one with all the black furniture is a little sleeker. But the Trek fans aren’t alone – there’s a remarkable Batcave theatre, and the pirate cove theatre is really cool too.

[ Deputy Dog :: 10 Stunning Ultra-Geeky Home Cinemas ]

Over at UneasySilence, the author just got his hands on a new toy; a shiny new Macbook Air! I know, I know, I’m not too thrilled about it myself outside of the fact that it’s gorgeous, but unboxing photos are always fun to look at, and this set is pretty cool to look at.

One question though; if the Macbook Air doesn’t have an optical drive, why does Apple ship it with optical media…that you can’t use? I know, I know, there’s a utility that allows you to share the optical drives of other Macs in the vicinity, but that just reinforces the notion that the Macbook Air will never be a primary Mac. And still, isn’t that kind of backwards? Why not ship your media on bootable USB keys or something?

[ UneasySilence :: MacBook Air in the House, Unboxing Photos ]

A lot happened at MacWorld 2008, without a doubt. And as usual, some of the best and most important announcements (in my opinion anyway) didn’t get nearly as much coverage as they probably should have. A lot of press is obviously focused on the Macbook Air, which is kind of natural; it was definitely the show stopper. But announced at the same time was the Time Capsule, a wireless base station that can store up to a terabyte of data. Also announced were updates to the iPhone that will bring true GPS, SMS messaging, and more to the device, iTunes movie rentals were unveiled, and a new AppleTV was released that doesn’t need to be tied to an iTunes library on another computer and can download movies from iTunes independently.

There were certainly enough announcements to keep everyone busy, but let’s cover the highlights.

Macbook Air

Let’s start with the obvious, the Macbook Air. The smallest, tiniest notebook ever, the Macbook Air is absolutely gorgeous, and an amazing piece of hardware design. Wireless is integrated, you can get either an 80GB PATA hard drive or a 64GB solid-state drive, the features are pretty solid for a device that fits into a manilla envelope easily. All that and it’s only three pounds. Perfect for the on-the-go traveler, or the person looking for a mac but who also wanted an ultraportable device.

The downside is that it sacrifices a great deal of functionality in order to make that gorgeous form factor. The battery is completely non-replaceable, the RAM is soldered onto the board so it can’t be upgraded, there’s only one USB port, no built-in ethernet, the list goes on. The lack of functionality – the fact that you can’t connect the USB port to a 3G cellular wireless device, the fact you can’t change the battery without sending it to Apple, the fact that literally nothing in it is upgradable or easily swappable, and the fact that there’s no optical drive, have made some people nervous about the Air, calling it the Macbook Err instead. I don’t totally blame them; the Macbook Air wasn’t designed for power users like me, or the people who would want a lot of I/O on it; it was literally designed for people who care about size over all else.

At my last job, researchers and government officials who traveled around the globe often would ask me to reccomendations on ultraportable laptops. I’d tell them about the Sony Vaios that I knew about, and those were still too bulky for their tastes. They vastly preferred the micro-laptops that companies like Sony and Samsung make for Asian markets; the type that are full computers but are small enough and light enough to fit in a woman’s purse. They’re also the type of user who isn’t concerned with the fact that there’s no optical drive on the Macbook Air, for example.

Similarly, the other people who might be interested in the Macbook Air are people who were in love with the 12″ Powerbook and were unhappy with the fact that Apple discontinued it. The Macbook Air is lacking when compared to the 12″ Powerbook – so those people, if they enjoyed the power and I/O available on the 12″ Powerbook they’ll be dissapointed with the Macbook Air. Still, if the size was the most important, they might be impressed. The Macbook air starts at $1799 and goes up to $2499.

The Macbook Air is starting to hit consumers, so if you’re looking for a good review, check out MacWorld’s analysis.

[ MacWorld Review :: Macbook Air ]

Time Capsule

The item unveiled at the show that makes me the happiest is the Time Capsule. Essentially a wireless NAS that you can stash anywhere in your home that holds up to a terabye of data. The lower end model sports 500GB of storage for $299, and the higher end model gives you 1TB for $499.

The Time Capsule works as a wireless base station using 802.11n, and will back up your system wirelessly as well. It’s a fire-and-forget backup device; it sits in a corner and gets information wirelessly from your Mac via Time Machine. You don’t have to think, all you have to do is let Time Machine back up your Mac to your Time Capsule, and the little thing will even extend your wireless network. Seriously, for $499 you can get similar products with 1TB drives, but none of them are wireless and none of them function as base stations. This one’s a winner.

iPod Touch and iPhone Updates

Both the iPod Touch and the iPhone got software updates at MacWorld 2008. The iPhone got real GPS mapping after working with Google to make the iPhone location aware; now you can fire up a Google Map and see what’s nearby using your iPhone. You can also customize your home screen with links to your favorite websites and blogs. The iPhone also got a proper SMS client, which allows you to send messages to multiple people at the same time. There’s a firmware update for the iPhone as well, and both the new apps and the firmware update are available for free for iPhone users.

iPod Touch users get some of the same apps, but their update costs $20. Yowch! My money’s on that update being out there on the web any time now for free. Their apps on the other hand are a mail client (woefully missing at launch), maps with wi-fi sensitive locations, and a few other handy widgets for your iPod touch, like a weather app and a stock tracking tool.

AppleTV Updates and iTunes Movie Rentals

Perhaps one of the most expected announcements was that Apple was planning to announce movie rentals via iTunes. After updating iTunes, users can buy movie rentals, download them directly to their Macs or AppleTVs, and watch them within 24 hours. You get 30 days to start the movie, but once you start you have to finish in 24 hours. Add to this the fact that the movie rentals are affordable at only $2.99 for regular def and $3.99 for HD movies, and you’ve got a strong model for movie downloads.

The trouble, Steve Jobs says, that once you have a good model for delivering movies to the desktop, you have to find a way to get them to your TV. That’s where the new AppleTV comes in. The device works wirelessly and you don’t need to sync it up with a computer running iTunes to get your rented and downloaded movies. You can, of course, but you can also download and rent movies directly from the AppleTV, download them right to the AppleTV, and play them from the AppleTV. This is functionality that a lot of analysts wanted in the AppleTV when it launched originally, but it’s good that it’s there now and makes the AppleTV a far stronger device than it was even when it was launched.

[ PC Mag :: Macworld: Jobs Unveils New Apple Movie Plan, Notebooks ]

==

So that’s about it. This year’s MacWorld Expo was definitely interesting (I’m sad there were no Macbook Pro updates! I guess I have to wait a little longer before buying a new one), although I don’t think the Macbook Air is going to change the game or anything. The iPod Touch and iPhone updates are a long time coming, and owners of those devices will definitely enjoy them, and it’ll make them more attractive products for people considering buying one – especially the iPod Touch.

The real winners here in my opinion are the Time Capsule and the new AppleTV, especially considering their price points (and the fact that the AppleTV got a price break) and their feature lists. Add iTunes movie rentals into the mix and Apple is really stretching out. The company isn’t just interested in your desktop or laptop anymore; the iPod proved that, but what’s also coming into focus is that Apple’s interested not just in your ears and your computers, it wants to be a part of your entire computing experience and be a live in your living room.

This is another site that I reviewed for AppScout, (so head there for a comprehensive review) but I have to show some love for it here as well – I really can’t express how much this site has gotten me interested in finding new and independent music again. That’s right children, I was happy for the longest time with the musical contents of my various hard drives, but TheSixtyOne changed all of that.

Suddenly, without even knowing what happened, I have a profile, I’m bumping songs, I’m listening to jams, and I’m hoping the songs I did well get more bumps so I can bump even more songs. Yup – listening to music at TheSixtyOne is something of a game: you start with a certain number of points, and bumping songs (as in, rating them highly – think how you Digg articles at Digg) costs points. If the song you bumped does well and other users bump it too, you get points. If not, the song falls down the listings and you just flushed your points away. You can always listen to songs on “the rack” to earn free points and hear something new though, so don’t worry that there’s a “game over” anywhere in your future.

At the same time, as you rate songs and collect points, you make yourself eligible to do everything from submit discovered music to buy certain available DRM-free tracks from Amazon if the artist has made them available, and download others totally free!

So don’t blame me if you sign up and get addicted to new tunes in the genres of your choice. Trust me, there’s plenty of music to go around, and a hot member community willing to steer you in the right direction. One of the cool things I noted in the AppScout article was that while members can register as individuals and add musicians they like as friends, musicians who register as musicians can add their favorite fans to their profiles to return the favor. Pretty cool, huh? If you like your indie friend, they just might like you back.

Oh yeah – and the “pop-up video” style comments you get periodically while you browse the site and listen to music just adds to how awesome the entire experience is. Look for me, I’m (as usual), phoenix. I’m sure my profile will fill up quickly, as will yours. Honestly, where else are you going to find a band called the “Hot Bitch Arsenal?” And make no mistake, they rock the hell out.

[ TheSixtyOne ]

I wrote about this site for AppScout, so head over there for a complete and total review, but I had to highlight CookThink again over here.

When I think about what I want to eat, I usually look for a flavor that I’m in the mood for, or a particular craving that I’m trying to sate, and CookThink is designed for people like me. I can type in a mood that I’m in, or a type of flavor that I’m looking for, and the service will guide me to complementary flavor ideas or taste sensations before spitting out a recipe from its database that matches the mood I’m in. Type in “umami,” and then “saucy,” and get a recipe for mouth-watering chicken masala. Type in “apple,” then click on the “mood” icon to choose “soothing,” and you’ll be presented with a delicious looking recipe for white gazpacho With mint And apple.

The site’s managed to improve a bit in stability and ease of use since I reviewed it for AppScout, and added a ton more recipes. I’ll warn you though, some people seem to think that any site about food has to be a massive database of recipes, and Cookthink isn’t that. The idea is to guide you to flavors and meal ideas that match the mood you’re in or the tastes that you enjoy; and it does that spectacularly well. If you”re looking for an all-inclusive list of recipes that you simply can’t stump even with the wildest requests, you might try Epicurious.com or someplace similar. CookThink is a completely different animal, and considering its goal, it’s an animal I want to keep around to help my girlfriend and I decide what’s for dinner.

[ CookThink ]

I absolutely love Woot!, the one-day-one-deal site that posts a new item for sale at a usually incredible price every day at midnight central time. I’ve bought a few things from the service here and there over the years, and never been on top of my game enough to grab a bag of crap, but I’m happy with the stuff I’ve bought.

But there’s a little problem. I used to subscribe to the Woot! RSS feed back when I used a desktop RSS reader, then again when I used Bloglines, and then again when I finally gave up and added it to my Livejournal friendslist. Then, before the holidays in 07, the Woot folks apparently decided that not enough people were reading their oh-so-witty blog posts, and changed the site’s RSS feed to include them, instead of the way it was before – only the daily product.

I didn’t care too much until they started posting incredibly image-heavy (not that I care about loading times, it just clogs up a list of posts in a feed reader) and generally uninteresting blog posts. I went searching their site for a products-only feed to soothe my pain, but found nothing. Eventually I turned to the rest of the Web, hoping that I couldn’t possibly be alone in my predicament, and sure enough, I’m not!

I found someone else with the same complaint; and they had actually contacted Woot about it where I hadn’t. Woot’s reply was…lacking. Essentially without being dismissive, but without being helpful either, they told him to get lost and go Google it. He didn’t like that, and when I read their response, I didn’t like it either. So he went ahead and wrote an app that parses Woot! blog feeds for just the products, and adds them to a custom Feedburner feed. Hallelujah! Trevor saves the day!

I commented to let him know how indebted I am to him for creating the feed, and now I’m telling the world so no one has to deal with what we dealt with. Check it out for yourself:

[ DailyWoot FeedBurner Feed ]

And let Trevor know he’s freaking awesome:

[ Trevor Fitzgerald :: Daily Woot Product Feed ]

Considering I’m just as addicted to World of Warcraft as I’ve ever been, this doesn’t come as any real surprise; I had been watching the numbers creep from 8 million to 8.5, then to 9, and waiting for this announcement. But still, it’s amazing to force that shift in thinking away from World of Warcraft being a video game that’s inhabited mostly by gamers and geeks and people familiar with those subcultures to the fact that everyone and their mother (yes, my coworker’s mother actually plays religiously) plays WoW.

WoWInsider asks the important question as to whether or not WoW has reached market saturation: I don’t think so. The game is still enjoying relative strong growth in Asian markets, and the holiday season brought a lot of people back to the game and new people to the game as people who weren’t too keen on the game finally decided to get on board with the expansion, The Burning Crusade. Now that Wrath of the Lich King is announced (although in traditional Blizzard manner, no dates have been provided for its release), the game could stand to bring even more people into the fold. Just wait – there’ll be “World of Warcraft Battlechest” boxes on store shelves not long after the expansion comes out.

But let’s take this into consideration, since WoWInsider also offered up a global population chart for comparison. There are more paying World of Warcraft players than the entire population of Switzerland. Or Sweden. Or Denmark. Or New Zealand. If you put all the paying WoW players on an island, that island would have about half the population of Australia, or Taiwan. That’s an incredible achievement.

[ WoW Insider :: World of Warcraft Hits 10 Million Subscribers ]

Sponsored by TravelPod, How Well Do You Know Your World is an addictive and educational little Flash game that should probably be mandatory in geography classes. I have to admit, the game gets really really hard around level 6 or 7, and I like to consider myself something of a whiz at geography and world history. You get a map of the world, and the game gives you a location somewhere in the world, and you have probably the tiniest crosshairs in the world to use to select where that landmark, city, or historic location is on the map.

Sure, the game starts you off easily, with things like “London, England,” which should be easy enough for anyone, or even “Fenway Park, USA,” which should be easy as well. But in the next few levels, you quickly move to locations that are a little more difficult, like “Battle of Gettysburg, USA” and “Red Square, Russia.” Around level 4 or 5 you get to point out “Ayer’s Rock (Ularu).” Around level 7 and 8 you get to the doozies, like “Comoros” and “Seychelles.”

You get points based on how close to the actual location on the map you clicked, and how quickly you clicked. So speed and accuracy both count, and you need a certain number of points to progress to the next level, so make your clicks count!

Seriously though, the game is a lot of fun, and I learned more about some of the locations on the map I was unsure of in the 5-10 minutes I spent playing the game than I could remember from high school world history classes. Give it a try, and don’t get caught like poor Ms. South Carolina, who explained why it’s difficult it is for Americans to find places on maps.

[ Travelpod :: How Well Do You Know Your World? ]
[ How Well Do You Know Your World :: Facebook App ]