You pop in the special Digital Copy disc, and on a Mac, a window automatically pops open telling you to launch iTunes. In iTunes, you are directed to a page where—get this—you enter a code printed on a slip inside the DVD case. The “download” completes, and you have a copy of the show that’s identical in file format to anything you get from iTunes, and it’s locked to your account in the same way. Only you copied it over from a disc. This just feels wrong.

As you might expect, the disc and code are useable just once. So why the hell was there a disc at all? I imagine this whole thing would be simpler if Fox would just print the slip and let you redeem it with a bonafide over-the-net download via iTunes.The version itself looks great, about equal to the DVD, quality wise, and far better than the downsized legal version that Toast 8 lets you move to your iPod if you recorded it when it originally aired. (In case you’re wondering, the DVD is good too, with a Seth MacFarlane/George Lucas interview and a reel showing all of the Family Guy Star Wars references throughout the years.)

I am a fan of this concept. DVD sales aren’t doing so hot, and something like this could really perk them up. Think of all the TV series box sets that would be way more desirable if they came with an automatic iTunes version. Yes, I know there are ways to do it yourself, but those ways are time consuming, not to mention of legal dubiousness. (I think ripping a DVD for yourself is well within the fair-use doctrine, and that Roxio and Nero, not to mention iTunes, should be all over that, but I still worry that the legal squabbles will continually make it hard for mainstream software to embrace it. The music biz may be casting off DRM, but Hollywood is a much more organized, high-tech beast.)

Fox doesn’t appear 100% committed to this. Maybe it was just the need to keep it hush-hush before the Jobsnote, but the case bears a single little sticker saying “Digital Copy,” with no mention of iTunes anywhere. Nor was there a reference to this clearly valuable bonus feature anywhere on the case itself. Even on Amazon, there’s no mention of the fact that you can rip it to your iTunes. That’s why it was all the more surprising when I found the second disc inside: a whole disc wasted for something that they didn’t even mention on the label. That’s strange marketing, Fox. Very strange.

AU: It’s good to know that the system works, but as we reported yesterday we’ll not be seeing a free and legal copy of a Fox program on our DVDs here in Australia for a while just yet

[Official Site]

]]> http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2008/01/gizmodo_live_at_macworld_2008-2/feed/ 0 http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2008/01/handson_axiotron_modbook_tablet_mac-2/ http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2008/01/handson_axiotron_modbook_tablet_mac-2/#comments Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:32:59 +0000 Mark Wilson http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2008/01/handson_axiotron_modbook_tablet_mac-2.html
On the floor of Macworld today, we scored some hands-on time with Axiotron’s Modbook—the tablet Mac pieced from the the carcass of a MacBook. While the system already made a splash at Macworld 2007, we had the opportunity to test the final shipping model. Our 3-second verdict: it’s an absolute joy to use. Here are our full impressions:

The pressure-sensitive display feels perfect for SketchBook Pro, as pressing harder draws bolder, thicker lines, just like the now hideously-antiquated analogue sketching. But we were more surprised by how fluid it felt to navigate OSX with a stylus. From about half and inch away from the screen, a cursor tracks your position. Opening programs by clicking icons and skimming through iTunes selections never seemed so intuitive, and it makes you realize, wow, OSX is a tablet-ready package without modification. (And then wonder, why the hell does Axiotron need to fill this void, Mr. Jobs?)

Look for a full review of the hardware in the not-so-distant future (that will hopefully give us the opportunity to test the Modbook’s GPS capabilities, but for the moment, Axiotron’s little Frankencomputer is looking pretty fantastic.

It turns out that, surprise surprise, you pay a premium for a tiny form factor. The MacBook Air is seriously expensive for the guts you get inside, but Apple isn’t the only company guilty of charging insane amounts for smaller computers. Just look at the Sony Vaio TZ150N, for example. $2,999 for a 1.06 GHz processor? Are you kidding me? I don’t care how small, it’s still a rip-off.

The best deal—if you don’t mind an extra pound of weight and half-inch of thickness—is the Dell XPS M1330. It bests the MacBook Air in nearly every single category, delivering about 30% more processing power, 50% more memory, over 300% more hard drive space, plus a dedicated graphics card. All of this, for $500 less. But also, two hours less of battery life, thanks to the new smaller and more efficient Core 2 Duo processor in the MacBook Air.

But it’s really no surprise that a form factor as striking as the MacBook Air’s warrants a premium price. Super-slim and light laptops as a category have yet to come down from the stratosphere, dollar-wise. It’s a form factor that SSD just makes loads of sense for, lightening them up and cutting down on battery life, but that drives the price up even further for the time being. Chips are still getting smaller and screen technology keeps improving. In a couple of years, these form factors will be reasonably priced with great specs, but until then, prepare to pay a huge chunk more for a bit less power, just so you can brag about having the thinnest computer on the block.

[Gizmodo's Macworld 2008 Full Coverage]

“We’ve built the world’s thinnest notebook—it’s pretty,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO and famed giant carrots horticulturist. “But it didn’t feel… complete. So I said to Phil, hey! Phil, yo! I think we need a motherflippin’ case for this motherflippin’ computer. And Phil saw that it was good, so he pulled out an empty box of Oreos and said: ‘what about this?’”

Phil Schiller, senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing and really nice cuddly guy, explained the arduous engineering behind the product: “Steve thought the Oreos box was okay, but wasn’t good enough,” he said. “So then he looked at this envelope on my table, with my lunch inside and he said: ‘Is that a Reuben sandwich? Boy I miss those.’ And that was it: Manila Case. Right there.”

The Manila Case ultra-thin surface allows for an extremely light weight, the smallest in its class, and can be easily customized using any kind of materials, from stickers to Crayola. Prices start at $300 for the base model.

Build-to-order options and accessories include the ability to upgrade the regular white string to a Red Kabbalah String, a 2B Apple Pencil and Woz’s One Big Honky Eraser for easy note-taking on the Manila Case surface, a drawing of a landscape by Rob, the guy from supplies, and a aircraft-grade aluminum clip.

* Standard size at Carnegie Deli, 854 7th Ave. New York, NY 10019. Other Reuben sandwiches, with or without IEEE 802.11n support or additional mustard, may vary.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. In the middle, a lot of LSD, tofu and grass were consumed. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, the OS X operating system, iLife, professional applications and a guy called Rob. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone. And Rob too.

[Yes, in case nobody has got this one, it's fake. File it under "Comedy" or "Too many drinks." Image by Richard Blakeley]

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you’re viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

Here’s the beef on the $US99 Superdrive:

• Slot-loading
• Built-in short USB cord
• Works with DVD±R DL, DVD±RW, CD-R/RW
• Slightly bigger than a CD case at 5.47 x 5.47 x 0.67
  inches
• 1.09 lbs

The $29 Ethernet adaptor specs:

• RJ-45 socket for 10/100BASE-T Ethernet
• Built-in 4.6 in USB cord
• Bus-powered USB 2.0

Both, unsurprisingly, are shipping in 2-3 weeks from the Apple
store.
width="466" height="311">

[Apple
and
AppleInsider]

Because the MacBook Air’s coolest feature—other than its anorexia—is the multitouch trackpad, and Jobs knows it will probably pop up in a MacBook Pro refresh in just a few months. It’s a simple formula:

Multitouch trackpad + green components + PowerBook-like black keyboard + redesigned case = dream machine.

Let’s not forget Penryn chips, either, which mean more speed and less power suckage. Actually, since the inevitable MBP update is now at least a few months out, we’ll probably see it launch with Intel’s Montevina platform, the successor to Santa Rosa which is expected in May.

Though these are all reasons to wait for the next wave of MacBook Pros, I can’t help but worry that a smaller MBP may never come. Apple likes to keep things nice and differentiated. I want a tight little beast of a machine, but there’s already a small MacBook and now here comes the Air, with its feather-light weight and fairy specs. This reminds me of the iPod crisis last fall: Apple, why can’t you give us one machine that does it all?