In what's sure to be the "Killer app" for iPhone's release, Apple's App store showcases a free download from Apple titled, "Remote".  The marketing speak says:

Be a mobile DJ. With Remote, you can control music on you Computer or Apple TV from your iPod touch or iPhone.

Play, pause, skip, shuffle. See your songs, playlists, and album art, on your iPod touch or iPhone as if you were in front of your computer.

Remote works with your Wi-Fi network, so you control playback from anywhere in and around your home.

 

Features

- Control the music on iTunes or Apple TV

- See the album artwork on your Remote

- Search the whole iTunes library

- Control your AirTunes speakers

Looks like there may be a function for multi-zone music playback with this feature- something I'll have to investigate.  More screens below:

Update: I've successfully tested the app with both an Apple TV and a massive iTunes library and report that the performance is snappy overall. When the Apple TV was powered off, a notification appeared on the iPhone which was also a nice touch.  Apps like this have existed for years for Windows Mobile-based devices, and most recently percolating to a solution for Windows Sideshow so that's now what's new- what's new is that this is the first time Apple has intimated the iPhone as a control device vs. consumption of media.

As for the Sonos comparison, it's readily apparent that Remote (and iTunes in general) is missing a critical feature IMO - synchronized audio playback.  Sonos' wireless mesh network delivers sync'd playback so flawlessly that I'm hard pressed to think of another CE-device in my stable that has worked so well.  This is a key feature for multi-room audio as we regularly fill the house and yard with music when cleaning, entertaining, celebrating the holidays.  I will say the iPhone fits in my pocket a sight better than the Sonos controller - a complete comparison to come in the future.

Lots of first takes coming out on the Apple App Store that just went live. Overall it appears cleanly laid out with sections for, "New", "What's Hot", "Staff Favorites", and two top ten lists, "Top Apps" and "Top Free Apps".  I'm pleased to see the latter, though you will need to log into your account to download as they count all free apps as "Purchases" as well.  The devil will be in the details on whether Apple releases a stat in the weeks to come that they've had over N purchases from the store when most will likely be free.

Here are my three takeaways:

Apps want to be shared
In order for the app store to take off, they're going to need users to visit, and often.  Apps aren't like music - music is innately more viral a medium than, "Hey I just got this cool weather app". So the "Tell a Friend" feature while basic today, I would expect to start expanding out.  Who knows, perhaps legions of Facebook developers are working on a "Apps on my iPhone" app for Facebook profiles today...

I still can't run any of these apps (yet)
Perhaps the 2.0 software release is imminent, but I can't seem to find it yet.  So I'm happily downloading the software but can't do anything with it. Sure to remedied soon, but goes against the traditional Apple grain of release it all at once.

Apple thinks my four-year old is old enough for an iPhone, shuns ESRB
The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a standardized rating system for determining the age-appropriateness of video games.  Virtually everyone in the industry is a member and supports ESRB but it appears Apple's app store is opting for a 4+, 9+, 12+, 17+ age rating system which also hints that Apple thinks your iPhone/iPod Touch is age-appropriate for a preschooler.  Suuuure.

I just tried to launch Apple's new Mobile Me service and was surprised by this notfication when launching with Internet Explorer 7.  This is something I haven't seen covered in any of the major trades or even Apple's own site until now which has up until now noted that IE would be supported which I guess is technically true.    It's also interesting the ordering of the buttons below.  Normally I'd expect "Get Safari" to be on the far-right.  When other services don't support Firefox, users get up in arms.  I wonder whether Apple will hear similar complaints (or respond) over this decision.  I suspect not since to get the full benefit of Mobile Me, you have to be willing to move your primary email address to a new @me.com domain. In today's day and age, I don't see a lot of people other than the Apple faithful shelling out $90+ a year for email when you can get it for free in so many places. Is Push email worth that cost?  POP3 works just fine thanks.

All of this will be moot with the release of Internet Explorer 8 I suspect, but will you see a "Get IE8" button at the bottom?  Not likely.

Courtesy of Lifehacker, iTunes 7.7 may not show up via "Check for Updates" yet, but it is available on the interwebs for those of us who aren't sleeping. 

Download here and read up on Lifehacker here.  One thing to note- the "Applications" option for the left-hand sidebar appears to be disabled by default.  To enable, go into Edit, Preferences. 

It also looks like the rumors of the iPhone remote control feature are true - stay tuned for more details.  I suspect Sonos could have a run for their money here if Apple decides to do multi-zone playback.

Update: iTunes non-ceremoniously crashed on me after five minutes of non-use in the background.  No explanation on why but it was syncing my Apple TV and iPhone in the background.

Update2: It looks like the Apple App store is up and running.  Once you've enabled Applications, select it and choose, "Get more Applications" at the bottom of the screen. I've included a screenshot here.  No iPhone software update yet though...

Something about these logo/boxshots looks awfully familiar...

"Better Living in the Digital World" Hmm

As Media Center enthusiasts know, www.thegreenbutton.com is a fantastic resource for all things Media Center.  The good news is that the ads are gone.
I'm going to ping the team and get some details but this is fantastic news as we've always been super-supportive of the site and the contributions of the founders, moderators, developers, and community members over the years.  Perhaps it's time for me to re-up my account during vacation and pop into the site.

The TomTom HD Traffic service uses anonymized cell phone traffic patterns to provide up to 5x resolution on traffic speeds on major roads.  Nice.  Does Garmin have anything like this?

Those who know this site also know I'm a fan of the Data Robotics Drobo.  I've caught some heat from product managers for other comparable products because I just don't think they match the capabilities of this little device.  One area I've been disappointed about however is performance.  The Drobo docks massive amounts of storage in a small, rock-solid little unit but it's S L O W when doing large transfers.  That's why I'm keen on today's announcement of the new Drobo 2.0 with a faster processor, faster USB 2.0 and new Firewire 800 performance options.  I recently moved my home Media Center into a single desktop system with a Quad-core and it's been working without a hiccup using my Drobo as the primary storage for all media except for two things:  1) Hard Drive spinup lag when the drives haven't been used in a while, and 2) that pesky data transfer performance.  I have two  HDTV (OCUR) tuners connected via USB as well as sundry peripherals and haven't seen any perf issues fortunately, though I would

I'm eager to try out the new Drobo 2.0 and may pick one up - but if I have to transfer over all of my existing nearly 2GB of Drobo 1.0 content to the Drobo 2.0 via the original's sluggish USB, that may be a deal-breaker.  I'm hoping I can swap the drives out and the new 2.0 device will pick up where the 1.0 left off.  I have email into the folks at Data Robotics to learn more on that topic and a few other - will report back here.  Thomas Hawk also has an excellent review here.

Starting at $450 up to $700, the Acer x1200 is about the size of a large book complete with 4GB of RAM, an AMD Dual-Core processor, up to 500GB in storage, and even an eSATA port to go along with the nine USB ports. While Nvidia has taken some lumps as of late for their mobile GPU issues, this unit has a GeForce 8200 integrated along with two PCIe slots (looks like half-height only).  The Mac Mini has little in terms of performance on this gem if you can spare an extra inch and some cost savings.  I am curious about power consumption and heat though and an HDMI out would seal the deal.

Looking forward to spending the next few weeks recharging with family.

Over the years, I've been stymied when I've wanted to link to an artist, album, playlist, podcast, or just about anything on Zune via the Web.  Prior to this feature, there was just no way to link directly from the Web (a feature iTunes has had for some time).  Thankfully, the Zune team has quietly launched their ZuneLinks service for sharing links to Zune Marketplace and Zune Social.  So if you have a podcast to share or music you like, you can now link up.

http://social.zune.net/links/ZuneLinks.aspx

My personal favorite, the Zune Social experience.  The links take you directly to Zune Social where you preview the songs, see stats on listenership, read a review and more:

• Linkin Park
• Jimmy Buffett
• Alice in Chains
• Collective Soul 

And a few podcast examples linking to marketplace:

• The Chris Pirillo Show
• The Family Guy FOXCast
• The Media Center Show

Feature suggestions I've sent to the team:

• A Copy to Clipboard button
• <img border="0" .> :)
• Convincing the team (or an enterprising enthusiast) to develop an add-in for Windows Live Writer.

How would you improve the experience?

Silverlight 2.0 Beta 2 is out earlier than originally announced.  You'll also find a new Deep Zoom Composer available shortly (link may be broken for some as it propagates across the innertubes.  Brandon has a good writeup here including download links:

The Windows Experience Blog : Silverlight 2.0 Beta 2 and Deep Zoom Composer Update

Trailer for the new X-Files movie in Silverlight here.

Fox - X-FilesT - I Want To Believe

What I really want for Father's Day.  :)

Supercar: Scorpion Supercar Uses Hydrogen Hybrid Engine to get 40MPG

Apparently the Milky Way loses a few arms, gains a bar in the center.

 The Milky Way Gets a Facelift -- ScienceNOW

My faves:  #2, #8, #95, #17, #26(creepy), #79, #82, #89, #86, #57, #42
What, no Star Wars? :)

TCCANDLER.com -- The 100 Best Movie Posters of All Time