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MWSF 02: Time Canada 'Spoils' Keynote – iMac Revealed

At midnight tonight, Time Canada prematurely released its January 14 issue, revealing the design of the new LCD iMac and the release of iPhoto. (Time subsequently disabled its Canada homepage.) Time also hit newstands before the keynote. Forget ‘one more thing’ — Mac faithful are likely to know all the major revelations of this keynote before it even starts.

This just in: buzz in the press line is currently that there will be an iBook speed bump, but no updates of the Power Mac. Sources have also personally seen Apple’s new iPhoto application.

Jobs tells Time in their exclusive look “it’s the best thing we’ve ever done.” The new iMac, says Time, has a screen that “floats in the air, attached to a jointed, chrome-pipe neck . . . rimmed by a ‘halo,’ a translucent plastic frame . . . The chrome neck is articulated and bends while maintaining the angle of the screen; it connects to the computer, an improbably small hemisphere at 26.4 cm.” In a nod to the computer’s resemblance to Luxo Jr., the swing-arm lamp mascot of Pixar, John Lasseter whas made the first ad. The iMac will finally make the leap to G4 — although this makes the lack of new PowerBooks and PowerMacs with higher-end G4s all the more painful; let’s hope for a surprise, folks. An $1800 model (apparently in US$; this appears to be a US Time story) will incorporate the SuperDrive with DVD burning capability. Entry level will be $1299.

Time also reveals the details of iPhoto: the software will use a film ‘roll’ metaphor, automatically presenting thumbnail images of what’s on your digital camera with instant enlarging (a la the zoom feature in the Dock?). This completes Apple’s entry-level photo editing, movie making, DVD burning suite, making the $1800 iMac extremely appealing, especially when compared to less-elegant solutions on the PC for the same price.

On a day in which surprise has died, take comfort in this: Jobs hints at the end of the article that more noncomputer devices like the iPod are in the works. So, rumor mongers who favored a pen-based device, you can weep over your beer tonight AND speculate about an iPDA. And if there is one more thing, our ‘man on the floor’ Vic Orly will bring it to us live starting at noon eastern today, with live text updates from the floor and photos within minutes of the end of the keynote. Stay tuned, and hope Steve didn’t tell Time everything.

Latest updates on the Go2Mac Live! page!

By Jason O'Grady

Founded the PowerPage in 1995.