“The rumor mills are abuzz about an Apple-branded digital video recorder. According to a couple of sources who claim to know, the next Mac Mini — that’s the small metallic computer that sells for $499 and up — will have the ability to record TV shows,” Arik Hesseldahl writes for BusinessWeek. “A DVR Mac wouldn’t exactly put Apple Computer on the cutting edge. Microsoft and its PC-making partners, including Hewlett-Packard and Gateway, have been down this road already with the Media Center PC. Chipmaking giant Intel grabbed headlines Nov. 30 with its Viiv (rhymes with ‘five’) technology that’s designed to transform the PC into a home entertainment hub.”

“Having built success on the audio front with the iPod family of products, Apple clearly has designs on the video-entertainment business, as the latest iPod already shows. But if the rumors are true, then I have a suggestion for how to make an Apple-branded DVR truly shine: Make it fully wireless,” Hesseldahl writes. “Ultrawideband (UWB) technology is good at transmitting a lot of data at a very high speed. It’s not very good at doing it over long distances, but within close range, it’s a gem… Imagine how much better the iPod would be if you didn’t need a dock or a USB cord to transfer songs to it: All you’d have to do is bring the iPod into the same room as the PC to sync the latest version of the playlist on your computer with the player. How cool would it be to easily and wirelessly take video stored on your PC in the den and play it on a TV in the living room? In both cases, the data could fly across your home without restrictions on where you have to place the hardware.”

Hesseldahl writes, “To say nothing of the aesthetic improvements that would result from eliminating the rat’s nest of data cords — USB, FireWire, and the bulky, clumsy hubs for each — which is only compounded by the cords connected to the power strip. I’ve got just such a mess under my desk at home, connecting my PowerMac, a couple of external storage drives, and a USB hub for my digital camera. It’s not pretty.”

Full article here.

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Related articles:
Analyst: Microsoft should be concerned about Apple’s rumored Mac mini DVR – November 30, 2005
Is Apple working on a DVR or not? – November 30, 2005
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Apple’s brilliant, deceptively simple Front Row software has a bright future and raises questions – October 28, 2005