Is the digital hub doomed? If the Hollywood-driven legislation surrounding digital television becomes law, Apple’s freedom to create innovative products that blur the line between computers and entertainment devices could be shut down. Plus, Simon Spence starts a look at branding, something Apple has excelled at over the years. In the news, we note the iPod 1.2 update, AOL for Mac OS X, and a Mac OS X version of CMS’s ABSplus backup solution.
iPod 1.2 Supports iTunes 3, Jaguar -- After showing off iTunes 3 and the new iPod models at July's Macworld Expo (see our coverage beginning in TidBITS-639), Apple has released the iPod Software 1.2 Updater for owners of existing iPods
CMS ABSplus Adds Mac OS X Restores -- CMS Peripherals has updated its Automatic Backup System Plus backup solution so it can now restore a Mac OS X system to working order, as it has been able to do with Mac OS 8.6 and Mac OS 9 since its initial release at Macworld San Francisco in January of 2002 (see "Macworld Expo San Francisco 2002 Superlatives" in TidBITS-612)
AOL for Mac OS X -- America Online has released America Online for Mac OS X, a native version of the client software used to access AOL's proprietary online services
The Most Important Rule: Build Products People Want.
iMovie, iPod, iPhoto, iTunes, television tuner-cards, composite video out, CD burners on laptops, flat-screen iMacs, Cinema displays, and QuickTime..
Branding is big business at the start of the 21st century. We are constantly drawn to (or repelled from) images and messages from companies who ask us to believe them, join them, or react to their products in a certain way