"A home media player would be the best thing," says Steve Perlman, co-founder of WebTV and a former Apple scientist who helped launch QuickTime. "People watch videos when they sit down for two hours. Technology won't change that."
Apple's release of the Mac Mini earlier this year only reaffirmed their thinking. The pint-sized £339 computer looks and works more like a media PC than a laptop or desktop. It's small enough to sit near a television, so a person can plug it into the TV and play music videos or movies.
A Mac Mini with a faster processor, linked to a high-definition TV, could play high-definition video, now that Tiger supports HD video. A bigger hard drive would hold more videos, too.
A unit that wirelessly streams video, in the way AirportExpress streams music, could also be built.
A similar unit could be built to handle video signals. LG makes a digital video adapter, and other manufactures are on the verge of releasing similar products, says Kevin Corbett, vice-president and chief technology officer of the digital home group at Intel. Corbett declined to comment on Apple's plans.
The agreement struck earlier this month for Apple to use Intel chips in its computers could pave the way for a Mac home media centre. Besides its fast processors, Intel has been building companion chipsets, such as Grantsdale, that are tailored to the digital home.
Jobs hinted at the benefits of going with Intel earlier this month. "We can envision some awesome products we want to build for our customers in the next few years. And as we look out a year or two in the future, Intel's processor road map really aligns with where we want to go much more than any other," he says after the announcement.
Intel also is making inroads in Hollywood. Earlier this month, Intel and actor Morgan Freeman's movie production company, Revelations Entertainment, says they have formed a new venture aimed at distributing first-run movies over the Internet.
