I’m a big proponent of having some kind of “Media Center” device hooked up to home entertainment systems–being able to view digital photos, movies stored on computers & network attached storage (NAS) devices has been a big part of my digital lifestyle for a long time.

The problem is that all the existing solutions out there are deficient in some way–lets be honest, they all pretty much suck.  I have been working a round-up review of about 10-15 so-called “Media Center” solutions that I’ve tried, and pretty much all have their flaws.  Most of the vendor provided solutions were too locked-down, with limited codec or network protocol support.  Most software-based solutions had overscan, UI and reliability issues.  XMBC (Xbox Media Center) was by far the runaway best solution (excellent file format & codec support, great UI), but it only ran on first generation Xboxes–and only hacked ones (soldering required).  Frankly I still use my original Xbox more than my 360 because XBMC is pure genius!

A while back they started working on a Windows/Mac/Linux port.  Today they announced Atlantis Beta 2 version, which is a fantastic, if buggy, product.

Lets change gears for a second and talk about the AppleTV.  The AppleTV is an interesting, but short-sighted and deeply flawed device.  If you were to be perfectly honest, the right name for the device would be iTunesTV, and the right price would be about $100.  It is essentially desiged to be a hardware interface to the content you view and purchase from the iTunes Store, period.  If you want to watch a video you created on your Mac, you’re pretty much out of luck.

Come to find out that earlier this month some guys were able to get the XMBC running on the AppleTV, which converts essentialy converts an overpriced iTunes to TV adapter into a really slick Media Center (which is what Apple should have created from day one).

How To Install XBMC On AppleTV

The problem in the past with doing custom stuff on the AppleTV is that it is somewhat difficult to build a ‘patchstick’ that will unlock the device.  Enter ATVUSB-Creator, a Mac application that takes all the difficulty out of making your own USB patchstick.

• Download AppleTV USB Creator
• Plug in USB Thubdrive/Memory Card
• Launch AppleTV USB Creator
• Select the additional software you’d like to install (SSH, bin tools, XBMC and Boxee)
• Select your USB Target Device (typically default).
• Click “Create Using”.

Took me 4:02 to do on my iMac.  Now it is time to update your AppleTV:

• Plug the USB drive into the back of the Apple TV
• Reboot AppleTV
• Wait for patch to be applied
• Reboot AppleTV again

When AppleTV is booted back up, you should see an XBMC menu item–this is the XMBC/Boxee launcher.  We need to update the launcher and then install XBMC

• Select the XBMC -> Update -> XBMC Launcher, which will download and install the latest version of the launcher tool.  This enables the support of the Apple IR Remote.
• Select XBMC / Boxee -> Update -> XBMC to download and install XBMC onto your AppleTV.

You can also install Boxee if you’d like by

• Select XBMC / Boxee -> Update -> Boxee

Launch XBMC and go to Settings -> Apperance -> Screen to change the screen resolution.  Once you pick your resolution (1280×1080 for me), go down to ‘test resolution’ to make sure it works.  If it looks good (not to blurry or flickering), but looks like it is cropped–no big deal, just go to “Video Calibration” on same screen to adjust your overscan settings to match your TV.

That’s it.  Whole process takes about 10 minutes.

So Apple posted their 1st quarter numbers today.  58% growth in net income (to 1.58 billion), and sales by 35% (to $9.61 billion).  They sold a record 2.32 million Macs (a growth of 47%–to $3.55 billion) and 2.3 million iPhones.

Sounds like a great quarter, right?   So what happened?

The stock price dropped by about $15 / 10% (at one point today it had dropped almost $30/20%) down to  $137 a share.

Why?  Because Apple is predicting that profit this quarter will rise to 94 cents a share, but some analysts on the street were predicting that Apple would predict $1.09 per share of profit for the next quarter.

Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, does it?

Most analysts though still give Apple an Outperform/Buy/Above Average rating, and a stock price targets of $165 on the conservative side up to $225 or higher.

What does this mean for you?  This is a great opportunity to buy!  It will probably be back up 50% or more by the end of Apple’s fiscal Q2.

It is also a good time to buy other tech stocks, as many others have also taken a sharp hit today including Google (-5%).

From earlier in the week, I looked deep in my crystal ball and make the following MacWorld Predictions:

So to wrap up, here are my predictions in a concise format:

• Several New iPhone Apps
• Major iPhone OS Update
• New Apple TV
• New Apple HDTV Cinema Display for Home Theater
• New Wireless capabilities in the portables (and possible desktops)
• Portables will get Speed Bump / Price Drop
• iMacs will get Speed Bump / Price Drop

So I was pretty close. I think that it is a matter of time before the Apple TV has a display companion–my prediction is on or before the next MacWorld (SF).

The Mac Book Air is pretty interesting, probably will be my next notebook. I wouldn”t miss having an optical drive for reading, but I do write a fair bit of CD’s/DVD’s on the go (for work).

The new Time Capsule is also pretty interesting. It is a no-brainer backup solution for multi-Mac environments. It would be awesome if someone came up with a way to also backup Windows PCs using a time-machine like system to the Time Capsule. There has to be a better way to back up Windows machines.

Disappointingly, it looks like the iMacs did not get a price drop, so I’ll be looking at buying a refurb if they are a good enough deal.

I know its a bit late, seeing as the MacWorld Keynote is tomorrow morning, but figure I’d get my MacWorld predictions in under the wire.

With the announcement of the upgraded Mac Pro’s coming last week–just the sort of thing they normally annouce at Mac World–I’ve been scratching my head a bit about what WILL be annouced next week.

Furthermore, I’ve been wondering what the several hundred iPhone and Leopard engineers have been working on lately. I’m surprised it has been so quiet, and I suspect that it will be something pretty big.

In general though, I think it will be “All About the iPhone”. The SDK will be released, I expect that a number of developers have been working with Apple behind the scenes to insure that there will be a couple really cool applications that are launched to give people and idea of what is possible.

I also think that they will be announcing (and probably releasing) a MAJOR iPhone OS update that will include a lot of improvements and refinements of the 1.0 stuff that was released over the summer.

I suspect that part of the iPhone SDK, and part of the effort to help adoption rates, and allow people to test-drive the iPhone apps, we will be able to run the apps on Leopard-based Macs, possibly as dashboard widgets.

I am thinking that the Apple TV will probably get a major facelift–and it needs it. The home-theater / media center marketplace is almost exactly in the shape now that the cellular phone market was last January. There are a smattering of product offerings from various vendors–all of which are too technical or just don’t work well. Microsoft has a product that is decent, but not fantastic, and is encumbered with a lot of DRM BS (check back for a future blog posting about this).

I think Apple has been thinking about the living room quite a bit, and probably will be making big efforts to tie in the digital lifestyle components. Perhaps even a Cinema Display for the home theaters–perhaps even with a built-in Apple TV unit.

A lot of folks are talking about an ‘ultra-portable’ Mac. I’m not 100% sure it is going to be announced or released. I give it a 50-50. I do think that all the portables will get a speed bump, at a bare minimum.

More likely (and perhaps more interestingly) I think that all the portables will have either Edge or perhaps WiMax wireless capabilities built-in. This ties in a bit with what I’m predicting about the iPhone apps working on the regular Macs–access your stuff anywhere! There is even a possibility that the desktops will support the enhanced long-distance wireless stuff as well, but more likely it will be optional upgrades on the new Macs.

The iMac line will also get speed boosts, and probably price drops as well. I certainly hope so as I’m planning on buying a new iMac within the next 4 weeks.

So to wrap up, here are my predictions in a concise format:

• Several New iPhone Apps
• Major iPhone OS Update
• New Apple TV
• New Apple HDTV Cinema Display for Home Theater
• New Wireless capabilities in the portables (and possible desktops)
• Portables will get Speed Bump / Price Drop
• iMacs will get Speed Bump / Price Drop

We’ll see how I do next week!

On a side note: Apple stock is down a bit lately (170 this weekend, ~179 today), now is the perfect time to buy some stock if you have the means. I think that it will be back to 200+ by the end of the month and probably at 220 by the end of Q1.

I have a 15″ Powerbook G4, 1.25GHz with 1GB of RAM and an 80GB hard drive. Also known as the “Aluminum” PowerBooks. I recently got a Mac Book Pro for work and am going to be getting a new iMac for home, so its time to sell the notebook that was my primary computer. Looking to get $725 for it. Located in Issaquah, WA.

Apple PowerBook G4 15-inch w/ SuperDrive $725
Model M8981LL/A
1.25GHz PowerPC G4
512MB PC2700 (333MHz) DDR SDRAM
80GB Ultra ATA/100 Hard Drive
15.2-inch (diagonal), 1280×854 resolution, TFT widescreen
ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 with 64MB of DDR SDRAM videocard
SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)
Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Network Card
Built-in Bluetooth
Built-in 54-Mbps AirPort Extreme (802.11 / WiFi)
Built-in 56K V.92 modem
Keyboard is full size, illuminated with ambient light sensor

Comes with original software, manuals and boxes. Includes power adapter with the long power cord and the S-Video to Composite video adapter.

Includes a Targus notebook case. I’m trying to find an extra 512MB of RAM around here somewhere. Everything on it works.

Comes with a fresh install of Mac OS X Tiger–boots up just like a brand new mac, ready for your personalization information.

There is only one issue with this machine: it has some “screen blotches”, which are bright spots on the screen that occurred shortly after I bought it brand new from Apple. It was recalled, but I couldn’t spare the machine long enough to have the screen replaced. They are now refusing to replace it under the recall, so I’m having to sell it as it is. Selling it at a bit of a discount for this reason.

I am selling because I have a new Mac Book Pro.

Please only serious buyers. Cash or PayPal only (no foreign cashiers checks, money orders, etc.).

Interested? Email me.