Mac Speculation and Fantasy by James Duncan Davidson Jan. 7, 2002

I have to admit that part of me was disappointed that there was not a "One More Thing" at Steve Jobs' keynote this morning. After all, Apple's PR had said that whatever was coming was "Beyond the Rumor Sites. Way Beyond." But, everything announced had already been speculated on at one time or another. Don't get me wrong, this keynote was a feature packed as I could as I could hope for from Apple. New iMacs, iBooks, and iPhoto software as well as the news that should matter most for Macintosh developers: OS X is the default OS on all new Macs. But that one tease line promising something beyond the rumor sites had me hoping for something more.

Since we didn't get that something more this morning, there are really only two things we could do. The first is to feel cheated. I'm sorry, I can't feel cheated. The new iMac is just too good. And even though iPhoto won't meet the needs of heavy duty photographers, it is perfect for all those people replacing their point and shoot film cameras with point and shoot digital cameras. That product alone deserves some kudos. So that leaves option two: engage in more rampant speculation!

What would I run off and design next if I could direct Apple's R&D team and wanted another to make another accessory for the Digital Hub? Easy. I'd turn my home theater setup (as humble as it is compared to that of some of my friends) into one big audio-video output device for any Airport enabled Mac.

Imagine if you will a gleaming white box sitting on top of the TiVo plugged into the "Video 1" jacks on the back of the A/V receiver. There's an Airport card inside the white box that lets it show up as a device on the local wireless network. And there's a set of system extensions to Mac OS X that let it be treated as an audio/video output device by any Macintosh.

Now, sit on your couch with your PowerBook and fire up iTunes. Click on the option to output to the remote device and all the sudden your MP3 collection is playing through real speakers. Click on the visualizer and tell it to send the visuals out as well so that you can enjoy them on your television. Invite all of your friends over for an impromtu party.

When you get bored of that, download some QuickTime clips from the Internet and pipe those to your home theater set up. Or, when your friends finally make it over, fire up iPhoto and have your photographic slide show display on your television.

Sound far fetched? Maybe. But maybe not. I can't think of any technical impediment though. Current wireless networks should be able to support NTSC video streams (with a little help from QuickTime). After all, all you need resolution-wise is something like 320 x 200. Positively postage-stamp size on your LCD monitor. And the next generation 50Mbit+ wireless networks should enable HDTV quality streams to be flung around the living room with abandon.

Put a remote on it and it could become a set-top box with access to your music, movies and other files on any Macintosh anywhere in your home. It doesn't have to be a full fledged Mac, just a smart accessory for one. Maybe even smart enough to overlay an icon on live TV telling you that you have email.

Sure, it's a fantasy, but if I could have one more device to plug into my Digital Hub, I think I'd want something like it.

James Duncan Davidson is a photographer, author, and software developer living in Portland, Oregon. He is the co-author of O'Reilly's Running Mac OS X Tiger and a contributor to Mac OS X Hacks, among others.