I loaded it and clicked on a Star Trek Original Series episode ("Menagerie"). There I was show six 8-minute segments that constituted the whole episode, and it was playing within seconds over wi-fi. It was not so fast when it switched to cell service, which was inexplicably at EDGE, but at least there was a status bar indicating how much of the clip had loaded, and it did, after less than a minute, play just fine. (That said, I wouldn't recommend spending too much time on this if all you have is a first-gen iPhone with no local wi-fi network.) I did not notice any advertising during playback.

There are a massive number of shows from the CBS family of channels, including Showtime, the CW and even CNET TV—all those video reviews. You can create a feed with your favorite channels and shows, but it's actually pretty easy to get around if you don't have any preferences, thanks to a well designed interface.

The bummer for now is that though there are CSI, Gossip Girl and Trek full episodes, most shows aren't there yet. My guess is that it's just a matter of time before more come on board. Except Big Bang Theory, which apparently isn't down with the new tech. What I really want is Hulu, Netflix and Amazon VOD, but at some point, that's gonna start eating into Apple's iTunes revenue, and AT&T's data allowances. Viva la content revolution! [iTunes link via NYTimes]

Bill appears and after a brief state-of-the-industry intro, notes that this is his final CES appearance. He'll look back on some of his previous experiences, noting how far we've progressed since he declared the "Digital Decade" in 2001 for three reasons:
1. The promulgation of lower-cost HD displays and soon interactive surfaces.
2. Mobile intelligence - cellular and GPS enabled products that help us get through the day
3. Interaction with technology increasingly mirroring the way we interact with people

First announcement: NBC Universal is making MSN the exclusive home for NBC's coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics in China. It's the first "long tail" Olympics: there will be thousands of hours of content available at nbcolympics.com, ranging from the most popular sports to the most obscure—from basketball to badminton. The video will be both live and on demand, with over 30 simultaneous live broadcasts; 2,200 hours of live broacasting and 3,000 hours of on-demand content. All of the video will be shared in Silverlight format in "near HD" quality.

Hands-on: Never-before-seen demo of the Surface table. In this demo, Bill designs a snowboard for himself—yes, a snowboard—using multitouch technology to try out different designs, then save them to his Windows Mobile phone and share with his friends. I only wonder what his insurance company thinks about his snowboarding plans.

Robbie Bach, Microsoft's President of Entertainment & Devices Division, will take the stage to cover the bulk of the presentation, talking about:

• Xbox's banner year - 17.7 million Xbox 360 units sold; 7 titles surpassing 1 million sales mark; U.S. users spent more on Xbox 360 in 2007 than more on any other game console ever

• TV show deal with ABC Television and Disney Channel for Xbox Live programming, available for direct download to Xbox 360. It includes 500 hours of content, in standard and high def, available at the end of the month, with shows such as Desperate Housewives, Lost, Grey's Anatomy, plus Disney shows including Hannah Montana.

• Movie deal with MGM - Xbox will offer MGM films in standard def and high def including the entire Rocky series, Terminator, Dances With Wolves, Silence of the Lambs, Legally Blond, Barber Shop and the Bond franchise.

• New application for Microsoft's Media Room IPTV, distributed by AT&T U-Verse: On TNT, NASCAR fans can choose a view of the race from the camera inside their favorite driver's car via their set-top box; Showtime boxing will let you choose camera angle and audio feeds from the trainer, ref, or the commentators; in CNN's coverage of US presidential campaign, viewers can vote on issues, gauging voter opinion in realtime.

• Media Center Extender support is growing in the consumer-electronics industry, led by Samsung, which will be working on a connected TV with MCE capability.

• Zune 2 off to a good start, with 1.5 million people starting Zune social fan pages since the service began in November. Bach will announce the availability of the Zune in Canada, the first distribution outside the US.

When Bill takes the stage again, he will demonstrate a "device of the future," something that won't necessarily become a product sold by Microsoft, but still a good glimpse of things to come. The device will ostensibly store and catalog all of Bill's memories so that he can pull up a reel of all his past CES keynotes. At one point, he will snap a picture of the Venetian auditorium and the gadget will recognize the venue, proposing various recreational activities he might enjoy after the keynote.

This is a rough sketch of the proceedings, one that's bound to change considerably. I'm told there will be some surprises—maybe a celebrity guest or some farewell treat. Who knows? That's why we plan to catch the whole event, and fill in any gaps that may be missing from this otherwise thorough digest. (You're welcome.) [Microsoft at CES]

Right now, the only problem is that the video is saved in a raw format, without compression, you won't be able to pass it to your computer and your recording time will be very limited by the onboard iPhone memory. Fortunately, they are working on the compression and the faster capture now. "Updates in progress will convert the video to Motion JPEG, and we are working on increasing the frame rate" says Layton from Polar Bear Farm, "15 frames per second should realistic soon." They have tried with H.264 compression, but at this time"it's too unstable, and there is a lot of IO software missing, which makes it hard going."

Right now, you can record 5 second clips for free, but for anything longer it's a $10 donation for a license. I asked Layton about what they will we do if Apple introduces video in the next firmare release. "We'll move on to the next thing. We've got other software under development, and like our other publicly released application (Search), we expect Apple to release a firmware update which includes these features at some point."

If you are going to MacWorld 2008, you will be able to check these yourself: the company will be there showing their software all the way from New Zealand, with their own booth. [Polar Bear Farm]

Apple made four releases and one announcement in San Francisco today, as you probably saw if you visited Gizmodo at all in the last 12 hours. Here's a roundup of all the stuff that went down in San Francisco.

First up is the updated iPod. The Apple iPod 5.1G has a screen that's 60% brighter than the 5G, and is available in two models, a 30GB and an 80GB. The 30GB model gets 14 hours of music playback and 3.5 hours of video playback, whereas the 80GB gets 20 hours of music playback and 6.5 hours of video playback—both increased from the 5G models. The 30GB costs $249 and the 80GB costs $349, lower than the previous $299 and $399 prices.

The iPod 5.1G and the older 5G can both play the new iPod Games, which are "Bejeweled", "Cubis 2", "Mahjong", "Mini Golf", "Pac-Man", "Tetris", "Texas Hold'em", "Vortex", and "Zuma". You can buy these for $4.99 each from the iTunes store. We also have a mini guide on how to get iPod games working on your 5G iPod.

Jump to see the rest.

Next is the second generation iPod Nano, which got a redesign and looks quite like the discontinued iPod Mini. The iPod Nano 2G has an aluminum body, 24 hours of battery life and is available in three sizes. The 2GB iPod Nano is silver and costs $149, the 4GB versions are silver, pink, green and blue and cost $199, and the 8GB is only in black and costs $249.

These Nanos fit into older docks, but the dock connector is a little bit offcenter, so they may not work with all accessories. There are also new accessories made just for the Nano, including lanyard headphones ($39), an armband ($29), a new dock ($29), and a USB power adapter that's smaller than the previous USB power adapter ($20). Also take can see our iPod Nano Hands On.

Both the Nano and the 5.1G iPod have the updated search and quick scrolling that makes browsing faster by displaying what the current letter you're scrolling through is, and letting you input alphabetical letters to jump to a certain place. The letter display is already in 5G iPods after you perform a software update, but I'm not sure about the character searching.

The last iPod is the iPod Shuffle 2G, which has 1GB of storage, costs $79 and has a built-in clip on the back. It weighs half an ounce, measures only a half cubic inch in volume, and is still screen-less like the old iPod Shuffle. Its battery life is 12 hours, and includes a dock to connect to your PC (no longer has a USB-connector like the iPod Shuffle 1G). This is only available in the one color, grey.

The iTunes software has also been updated to version 7, which has new album and cover browsing views including a Cover Flow view to scroll through your music, movies and TV shows by its cover. There are also new iPod management screens to manage your iPod preferences from inside iTunes, instead of in iTunes preferences. The iPod games are also purchased through the iTunes store for $4.99. The Cover Flow features look really awesome, and you can try it out for yourself now.

The iTunes Movie Store has just launched with 75 movies from Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar, Touchstone Pictures and Miramax Films. Among them, "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl", "Shakespeare in Love", and "Toy Story". These movies can be downloaded in 640x480 resolution, which is near DVD quality, and can be played on your iPod or iTunes software. Prices will be $12.99 for pre-orders and first week sales, which then jumps to $14.99 afterwards. Older titles will be $9.99.

The last item is the iTV, a set-top-box-like device that can connect to your home network through 802.11 wireless or ethernet, and streams your iTunes movies to your TV. The power supply is internal, and the connectors are USB, HDMI, component video, optical audio and analog audio. It's wider, but flatter than a Mac Mini, and has a UI similar to Front Row. This will be $299 when it's released in Q1 2007. More iTV Pictures and iTV Screenshots for your enjoyment. – Jason Chen

iTunes [Apple]

It's over! Thanks for tuning in. To read all our coverage in one place, click over to the Showtime tag page. Wrapup coming soon. Peace!

p.s. Blam's running for the bathroom.
Complete Showtime Coverage [Gizmodo]

Blam really has to pee right now, seriously. His leg is going nuts and I think one of his hands is in his pants. I'm afraid he's going to just let it fly. Legend, could you hurry it up a little? Blam is going to go Blam all over me.

Oh boy, another song. I don't think his bladder can take this...my leg is feeling warm. What the hell is that?

The new product: a box to connect to your TV to play all these iTunes Movies and iTunes TV shows on it.

This box supports wireless—no stringing cables—and is the missing piece.

iTV looks like a small Mac Mini. It's just an internal codename, and will be renamed later.

There's a power supply inside, USB, 802.11 wireless, Ethernet, HDMI, component, stereo audio, and optical audio out to your TV.

Whatever setup you've got, you can hook up to this iTV box. It can go out to your TV, stereo, whatever.

Steve's holdiing one. It's wider than a Mac Mini, but flatter.

iTV looks faster than Front Row. Looks similar to Front Row—has movie covers, TV covers.

When you're browsing your movies, it gives you the synopsis of the movie, stars, and the cover.

Demo of watching TV on the iTV. Steve's showing The Office clip. I would have preferred 24, but whatevs.

He's controlling everything with the little remote.

Steve's browsing music now. Browsing through artists, now albums, picking the songs. The album art is on the left, reflected, very pretty.

Podcasts, photos can also be viewed through iTV. Similar to how Front Row works. Browse through your photo album (iPhoto, no doubt), and view a slideshow with music.

iTV should be out sometime in Q1 2007. Works with iTunes on PCs OR Macs. Priced at $299.

"Apple's in your den", "Apple's in your living room", "Apple is in your car", "Apple is in your pocket".

Steve says this should give you an idea of where they're going. TAKING OVER YOUR LIFE!

Wha? One more thing?

Ok, Steve's coming back.

One last thing!

Sneak peek at something. Product will be launched in Q1 2007. What is it??

Your library section has Music, Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, Radio and Audiobooks. Find things easier.

iTunes store has its own section, Devices has its own section, playlists, smart playlists has its own section.

Three view displays on the top right. List view (old view), Album view (album art, scroll through music library by album. Free Album art for all your music just if you have an iTunes account), Cover flow view (Rapidly find what you're looking for by the album. Scroll throgh your album covers horizontally. Works in your library and playlists. Works for TV shows as well.)

Comes in an aluminum case, and a built-in clip so you can wear it on yoursef. It's really tiny, the size of a matchbox, give or take. Still has the switches for shuffle and linear, but no screen still.

Comes with a dock, USB 2.0 compatiiblity, and comes in one model with 1GB storage.

"The world's smallest MP3 player", they claim.

$79, available October, taking orders today.

Battery life increased from 15 to 24 hours, gapless playback, instant search like the big iPod, and quick scrolling. Comes with the new headphones.

Comes in three models, 2GB model in silver, 4GB in silver, pink, green, blue, and 8GB in black.

$149 for 2GB, $199 for 4GB, $249 for 8GB model. Double the storage for the same price.

New packaging is 52% less volume than the old iPod nano. It's more "environmentally friendly".

All three are available today.

The new nano works with the charger, the armband, lanyard, and works with the Nike Shoe (I don't know if it works without the adapter or if that's still in there. I think it's still necessary.)

There are over 3,000 iPod accessories. They had a picture of the iCarta toilet device!

70% of the cars sold now have some kind of iPod connection.

The Nike + iPod sports kit was also launched recently. Sold 450,000 Nike + iPod in just 90 days.

The iPod Video is now 60% brighter and up to 4.5 hours of battery life up from 2.0 hours.

Gapless playback is now in for all iPods. Instant searching so you can input letters with the wheel. And a letter display as you're scrolling past the songs/artists.

Games. All designed for the wheel. Bejeweled, Cubis, Bahjong, Mini Golf, Pac man, Tetris, Texas Hold'em, Vortex, Zuma. Showing off the bejeweld gameplay now. These games will work on all 5G iPods. You can buy them off the iPod store. $4.99 each.

60% brighter display, 75% longer battery life, gapless playback, games, new headphones.

Lowered price to $249 for the 30GB version and a new 80GB. Both white and black. $349 for the 80GB.

Hell, we've posted every other damn mockup and rumor about today's Showtime event. Why stop now? This little flyer dropped into our inbox last night and appears to be in French. Anybody fluent enough to give us a little translation?

Our unofficial schedule has no mention of the iPhone, but this mock-up is on crumpled paper, and in French! So it has to be true! – Travis Hudson

Apple has temporarily disabled access to its iTunes Music Store, greeting would-be users with its now famous tag line, "It's Showtime." It looks like reports that today's special media event having something to do with had some truth to them after all. Only a few hours to go until that "one more thing" (not that we might not already know exactly what's going to happen anyway)! – Nicholas Deleon

iTunes [Apple]

We've been speculating about the touchscreen video iPod for months—is it finally here? Honestly I was only expecting nano upgrades, and the true video iPod wasn't going to come until MacWorld in January, but I'll take this. Unfortunately, it could be a fake. – Travis Hudson

Banner for September 12th event? [tuaw]

The event starts at 10:00 AM PDT, but we'll no doubt have lots of Apple-related content all morning as news and pictures from Apple Expo Paris come streaming in. Ciao!