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Photo Courtesy Gizmodo

We’re getting ready here for Steve Jobs to take the stage and woo us with all the goodness he’s about to introduce.  If you’re here early - like we are, stick around - grab a coffee or something and come back at 10:00AM Pacific (12:00PM Central, 1:00PM Eastern).  Then, you know the drill, punch your F5 key (or the refresh button in your browser) and get frequent updates of the keynote.  Now we play the waiting game.

9:45 PST - As of right now the Apple store as well as the iTunes music store are closed.  This as a very good indication that within the day we will see the unveiling of Apples rummored Movie Store.  We will keep you up to date as the stories unfold, so stay tuned.

10:00 PST - Almost everyone is seated and ready to go.  Now we wait for Steve. 

10:04 PST - The event has begun.  Steve starts us off with the iPods.  The iPod Sports Kit had an amazing 450,000 in sales in only 90 days.  In addition to this he announces that today the iPod will receieve some new features.

10:08 PST - The iPod videos will be enhanced with a 60% brighter screen with a new brightness control, it will also boast a 3.5 hour battery life as opposed to the previous 2 hours, comes with new headphones, and gapless playback.

10:10 PST - In addition to the new features the iPod software has been updated.  These updates include Instant Searching, as well as some new games: Bejeweled, Cubis 2, Mahjong, Mini golf, Pac Man, Tetris, Texas Holdem, and Zuma.  These will be on sale on iTunes for $4.99 and work with all 5G iPods!  Pricing for the iPods are as follows, $249 and $349 for 60GB and 80GB capacities.

Click on for more live coverage…

10:12 PST - The iPod nano has been given a facelift.  As rumored the nano will be avaliable in aluminum as well as several colors (green, silver, black, blue, and pink) very similarly to the iPod minis of past generations.  These nanos will also feature the new software and will be compatible with the new games.
    8GB is $249 in all colors
    4GB is $199 in all colors but black
    2GB is $149 in silver only
All three models are now 52% smaller in volume than the previous nanos and come with a new charger, new armband for you gym goers, as well as a lanyard.

10:18 PST - Next is the Shuffle.  The new Shuffle is the size of the iPod Radio Remote and features a new metal body.  It will only come in one model, 1GB, and will cost $79.  Look for it in October.

10:23 PST - iTunes 7 is avaliable today.  The source list on the left side now features seperate folders for all media types and the store, devices, and playlists all have their own sections.  Another addition is that iTunes will now retreive any missing cover art for free, so no more excuses for not having pictures to look at while you listen to your music.

10:26 PST - iTunes 7 has an added View Switch to allow you to, you guessed it, view you library in 3 different views (List view, album view, as well as “Cover Flow View” which allows you to quickly find the music you are looking for by album cover).  The iPod updater has been integrated into iTunes itself, so no more downloading and installing those pesky programs.

10:28 PST - All h.264 encoding has been kicked up a notch from the previous 320x240 to 640x480 which produces a very nice picture at 4x the resolution.  It also includes seamless playback for video built-in.

10:30 PST - iTunes 7 now allows you to sync music between multiple iPods as long as both are authorized on the same account.

10:36 PST - “One more thing…” Movies.  iTunes originally started with TV shows, with one network and 5 shows.  Today there are films from Disney, Pixar, Touchstone, and Miramax ... all Disney owned of course.  As of today when version 7 goes live we can expect 75 films avaliable for download with more coming every week.  New releases will cost $12.99, preorders, and first week films will cost up to $14.99.  Most titles will be $9.99.  Every movie is nearly DVD quality and offers Dolby surround sound. It will take approx. 30 minutes to download a single movie on standard broadband.

10:45 PST - Bob Iger from Disney takes Steve’s place to recap iTunes.

10:51 PST - Steve is starting to wrap things up… but offers a sneak peak to the future.

10:53 PST - Apple is releasing its extremely long rumored set-top box within the first quater of 2007.  You will now be able to take your content, be it music, pictures, or now movies wirelessly to your TV! (cool!)  It has been codenamed iTV but hasn’t been finalized.

10:56 PST - The “iTV” is about half the size of the Mac Mini, which contains a built-in power supply, USB, Ethernet, 802.11 “Wireless Component Video”, optical audio, and HDMI ports.  And for those of us stuck in the past, it also has the old RCA audio ports.  The quality is pretty amazing as it looks like you are watching a DVD, not to mention the access to the video is instantaneous.  Oh yeah, it works with the Apple Remote.

And heres a picture of the interface…

11:01 PST - Steve searches through the menu to find The Incredibles, obviously his favorite movie, and plays some of it.  After some footage Steve declares that the video isn’t running at 640x480 .... it’s HD!

11:05 PST - The “iTV” will work with iTunes 7 on both PC and Mac and will cost us $299.

11:09 PST - Steve - “Apple is now in your den, living room, car, and pocket!”

11:10 PST - “One more thing ... again”
 
“It all comes down to the artists”

And with that Grammy-winning musician John Legend slides onto the stage and gives a live performance.

11:15 PST - The even has ended.  Everything announced today has been updated on Apple’s website, so go grab iTunes 7, go buy a 5th iPod, and get ready for the “iTV.”  Thanks for tuning in and be sure to check back as news unfolds on everything tech related here at Gadgetell!

All Photos Courtesy Gizmodo