So it is a demo, just for a different reason.

If they’re testing their servers now, I guess we can strike off a streaming iTunes from the list of potential announcements for tonight then?

My first pair of jeans in half a decade has reinforced my belief in the superiority of cargo pants.

Ad for Mini’s Clubman, by Maximilian Pinegger and Justin Salice‑Stephan from Miami Ad School.

(via The Cool Hunter)

It could just be as simple as “because we felt like it”, but I think/hope Apple’s doing this because they are trying to strike some deals with content producers for live programmes — sports, news, current events — on the new Apple TV. They just need a large-scale, real-world demo to show that, ta‑da, HTTP live streaming is a viable method, and therefore, yes, Apple TV can provide them a truly international, hybrid live + on‑demand platform that bypasses local TV companies, broadcasters and distributors, and breaks down time zone restrictions. If this is the case, boy, I hope whoever’s responsible for putting this live stream together gets things right.

Crossing my fingers that FOM is one of the parties they’re trying to entice. And hasn’t MLB been doing this for a while with baseball games via their At Bat app on iOS, albeit only in America?

P.S. I wonder if they’ll show it on the big screens at the Covent Garden Apple Store.

What I want out of tomorrow’s Apple event in no particular order:

• Improved iOS 4 performance on iPhone 3G
• iOS 4 for iPad
• Over-the-air iPod syncing, including play counts and play states
• Podcast-fetching on the iPad/iPhone, possibly via pubsubhubbub
• Support for custom fonts on iOS; build a Font Store if you have to
• ID3 tag editing directly on the iPad
• HD movies for purchase from iTunes in the UK, preferably in 1080p
• Store iOS app data — game saves, documents and preferences — via MobileMe, so you’re device is constantly being backed up, rather than having to wait until the next time it’s plugged into the computer
• Streaming à la Spotify via iTunes on Mac and Windows, and the iPod app on iOS
• Integrate Last.fm into iTunes and iOS
• A cleaner iTunes, and preferably have the media files stored in ~/Library rather than ~/Music
• Live programmes on Apple TV
• iPhoto on iOS

I say I want iTunes to emulate Spotify rather than let Spotify become iTunes because Spotify doesn’t have the same management features. I carefully tailor my iTunes library — using tags in the Comments field, smart playlists, ratings etc. — and I’m not ready to give those up.

Finally! Although I wonder why they chose to put this out the day before an Apple event.

And judging by Just Type, I think Palm/HP is going to stick with physical keyboards.

Lukáš:

My simple desk, is 4 meter long…

My kinda desk: wide and deep. Although if it’s going to be this wide, I’d probably like it to wrap around slightly, rather than be completely straight. And not have those shelves in the middle.

Booked a Genius Bar appointment for my MacBook Pro. White City, see you next Monday.

Now if I can just have Max and Pro/E on OS X as well. Then give me a quad-core, hyper‑threaded MacBook Pro.

Make fun about how the Dell breathes “asthmatically”, then find out that the MacBook Pro has insomnia.

I don’t know if this started to happen after I got it back from the Geniuses a month or so ago or if this is a recent development — haven’t had a need to put the laptop to sleep all this time — but I’ve only just recently found out that it’s impossible for my MacBook to sleep. And I’ve checked that the battery hasn’t swollen, so it’s not because the trackpad button is being constantly engaged. Another visit to the Genius Bar?

mariakonstantinov:

Buildings in Manhattan being cleaned after decades of building up street pollution.