As I write this, we’re only 2.5 hours away from an announcement of the Beatles on iTunes. I’m guessing it’ll be announced on a commercial at the first break. Come to think of it, tonight’s show was already taped. So I bet Seacrest didn’t make the announcement. (That would have leaked by now, unless they laid it in afterwards.)

It has to be a commercial.

Update: It’s 9:32 and we have no Beatles on iTunes yet.  I’m beginning to think it’ll be announced during the results show tomorrow.  That’s live, so there’s no need to keep things a secret during the taping of the performances.

Yeah, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Failing that — yeah, the Beatles songs ARE on the iTunes store.  They’re just sung by the IDOL contestants. . .

Today, Apple signed the deal with Paul McCartney (rumored to be at about $400 million) to carry the complete Beatles catalogue on iTunes.  (I presume it’s an exclusive.)

Tomorrow, American Idol’s Top 12 perform Beatles songs.

Apple is a major sponsor of American Idol.

Apple traditionally releases new products on Tuesdays.

As I predicted a couple of weeks ago, the math on this is too good NOT to be true.

So how will it work?  Will Apple announce the Beatles on iTunes tomorrow morning?  Will they wait until Tuesday night and have Ryan Seacrest announce it?  Would Steve Jobs appear on Idol via satellite to help pad out a two hour show that only needs to be 90 minutes?  Or will Apple stay quiet and product a single 30 second commercial during Idol to make it official?  (Picture a Beatles song playing for 30 seconds with a montage of pics of the Beatles from their prime, followed by a card, “Only on iTunes” followed by the Apple logo.  And cut.)

Make your predictions now!

• Viveza is now available! Click here for a 15 day free trial. Unfortunately, the final program will set you back $250.

• Bad Microsoft! Bad! This kind of behavior isn’t exactly unique to Microsoft, though, and the end result isn’t too surprising, but that doesn’t excuse it, either.

• There’s at least two reasons I knew that Apple wouldn’t be introducing Blu Ray drives into their laptops last week. First, it’s too soon. Those units that went on sale probably started production BEFORE the war was over. Second, battery life. I can’t imagine that Blu Ray doesn’t suck the life out of batteries, given the way Flash and every other video playing bit of software does at a faster rate than most everything else. Here’s confirmation on the battery life. I still think you’ll see Blu Ray drives on the Mac Pro first. It’s always plugged in, so battery life isn’t an issue there. You’ll likely never see Blu Ray in an Air.

• How to make a better Twitter. First step: Better uptime. Most important step: Get all the people on Twitter to migrate there. It won’t be easy.

• Unbelievably, SCO still hasn’t gone away.

• Happy March, everyone!

It was announced today that AMERICAN IDOL acquired the rights to the Lennon/McCartney songbook for the first time in its seven seasons. And what does that mean? BEATLES WEEK!

IDOL has said that they’re focusing on the contestants more this season and only planning on four guest mentors. Surely, scoring McCartney or Ringo would be a huge “get” and one worth doing.

Now, hold onto your hats:

Apple is a major sponsor of IDOL this year. Besides selling all the audio and videos of the show performances on iTunes, they’re also advertising their computers and iPods during the show.

Wouldn’t “Beatles Week” be the perfect time to release the Beatles catalogue to iTunes, with an original Beatle appearing on the show and everything?

It’s corporate synergy. It’s the biggest TV show of the week. It’s masterful marketing and promotion. You don’t need Steve Jobs to make the announcements to a few hundred journalists when you have Ryan Seacrest telling tens of millions of people, after weeks of advertising the iPod Touch on the show.

Discuss.

• And Wal-Mart drives the final stake through HD-DVD’s heart. It’s now officially dead, and we’re all just waiting for the press release from Toshiba to make it official.

• Michael Bay takes the credit. ;-)

• News item my mind is incapable of comprehending: SCO Rises From The Dead. Someone is throwing $100 million at it, and will likely restart the lawsuit machine. It is, after all, the only thing SCO knows how to do — and it fails miserably at it every time. Feh.

• Today’s ‘24′ news: A Special Edition DVD Set of Season 1 is coming.

• Nintendo’s Super Smash Brothers Brawl: The Trailer. This is supposed to be the greatest thing since sliced bread.

• A little late by now, but still funny: Geeky Valentines.

One more mini link dump tomorrow. Then, it’s some actual writing on Sunday. Promise! (It’s already done, so that’s how I know. . .)

$100 price drop on iPhones and iPods coming in the next two months | 9 to 5 Mac

We just got a tip that Apple is planning on dropping the prices again on the iPhone and iPod line within the next month or two - perhaps at the late February event, perhaps as late as mid-April. Our tipster says that Apple will drop the prices $100 on both the iPod Touch and iPhone lines.Also, the 8Gb iPod Touch will be dropped from the lineup according to the source.

My favorite story of the weekend remains the one about 3G never happening - AT&T just bought a huge chunk of the spectrum at the auction and will instead offer more wireless access across the country with it. With that, there’s no need to spend more money on 3G, though (contrary to the rumor) AT&T is working on that, too. Confusing, but fun to theorize.

Don’t forget the other rumor about the upgrade touchpad MacBook Pros being announced on Tuesday.

• They’re going to throw a boomerang in space to see if it works. Cool!

• The next version of Safari sounds lightning fast.

• There’s a band that creates a new song every week to tell you what happened on LOST last week.

• “That ain’t a camera lens. THIS is a camera lens!“

• No, wait, this one beats that one out. (I think you all have Kottke to blame for those last two links.)

• CNet has a photo gallery of the greatest computer of the 80s, the Commodore 64. The modem in the middle of image #14? That’s what I used back in the days of local BBSes and Q-Link.

• Reading up on that Q-Link link, I found this wonderful nugget:

In the summer of 2005, Commodore hobbyists reverse engineered the service allowing them to create a Q-Link protocol compatible clone called Quantum Link Reloaded which runs via the Internet as opposed to using telephone lines. Using the original Q-Link software as a D-64 file, it can be accessed using either the VICE Commodore 64 emulator (available on multiple platforms, including Windows and Linux), or by using authentic Commodore hardware connected to the Internet by way of a serial cable connected to a PC with internet access.

As expected, the howls of disappointment I hear after yesterday’s SteveNote are coming from people not disappointed by what Apple is offering, but rather by how Apple isn’t giving them their imaginary dream machines and products. The disappointment is fueled not by poor products, but by the the failure to live up to impossible standards.

Look, the MacBook Air is a nice concept computer. (I may be the only one who likes the name.) Only the real die-hards are going to spend $1800 on a laptop they can fit into a manilla envelope. It’s just way too expensive for too little computer. The form factor is beautiful and the machine is a marvel of engineering. But is it necessary? Does it really fill a gap in the marketplace?

I know it’s been rehashed before, but the true gap in Apple’s product line is in a more entry-level computer for under $1000 that would plug into someone’s existing keyboard, mouse, and monitor. Picture a Mac Mini, but in a tower form or a pizza box form. Picture the kind of box that businesses would buy, or that home users familiar with a specific PC format would feel more comfortable with. If you want growth, that’s where you want to go.

Tangent: I’m not saying that growth is the be-all and end-all of business. It drives me nuts that companies on the stock market need to grow, grow, grow to keep investors happy and their stock price rising. Note that Apple’s stock price dropped dramatically during the SteveNote today. Of course, I believe it did during the iPhone announcement last year, which has been a money-printing factory.

The real star here is the Apple TV 2.0, which is just a software upgrade and a price drop. This is the set-top box we’ve all been waiting for. This is Apple TV done right. HIGH DEFINITION delivered from the cloud over the air to your TV directly. No intermediate computer way station. You order it up from your TV and it gets delivered to your TV. True, it’s only 720p instead of 1080p, but for a $5 rental of a chick flick, who’s going to mind?

My favorite conspiracy angle on the Next Gen DVD wars is the one that Don Reisinger repeated on TWiT this past weekend — that Microsoft threw hundreds of millions of dollars into HD-DVD to create a war that nobody would win, because Gates and Company knew that the real money would be in digital downloads, not more DVDs.

The funny thing is, if he’s right then Apple just won the first battle on Microsoft’s dime. I do think digital downloads are the future. And the Apple TV 2.0 is the first winning salvo in that war. Yes, the XBox 360 has offered something like this for a year, but it’s been hidden under a gaming box and a cheap HD-DVD player and — well, it’s too much for the average consumer. And it’s too expensive.

$229 for the Apple TV? That’s pure gold. That should just about put the Vudu player out of business, because it does something just as well for a much smaller price. $229 is a great price for this thing. It can replace Netflix and Blockbuster in one fell swoop, creating a product that’s easier to use and more fun, honestly, than anything the rest offer. Add onto that the free HD video podcast potential — we’ve been talking about that for a YEAR now — and the home network possibilities — showing off your pics, playing iTunes music, etc. — and you’ve got a winning product in an affordable form factor without another monthly fee.

Apple TV is the big winner here today. (I’ll be pushing future Amazon Associates points towards its purchase.)

I also really like the Time Capsule for its simplicity. Sure, you can do NAS yourself, and quite possibly for less. But the simplicity and the form factor and the ease of use of Time Capsule should make it a winning add-on for Leopard, too.

On the other hand, this might all be the Reality Distortion Field at work. Give it a week and we’ll see.

For now, I’m thinking that the Apple TV is within my reach. It has a small enough price point and a big enough upside that I think I might be able to get it past the Finance Committee in the relatively near future. And the longer the Writers Strike continues in Hollywood, the better the Apple TV and more movie rentals looks.

Related Links:

• Last Year’s SteveNote Note (09 Jan 2007) (HDTV is no longer a problem for me. Yay)
• Follow-Ups, Updates, and Corrections (11 Jan 2007)
• Other Apple Rumors That Haven’t Panned Out (22 June 2007) (Two of them have come true since)

I won’t be able to update this site until later tonight, but in the meantime, I’ll leave this thread open for you to all comment on whatever it is Steve Jobs is announcing Right This Very Minute.

For your amusement, I now provide a link to my on-the-fly coverage of the iPhone announcement last January. Ah, memories. . .

I didn’t hear any serious Beatles rumors this year, unlike last. . .

Is Steve Jobs still interested in gaming for the Mac?

Coming to the Mac in 2008: ‘Spore’ | CNET News.com

In its early stages, Electronic Arts’ forthcoming and much-anticipated game Spore was code-named Sim Everything, a play on its heritage as the newest game by The Sims creator Will Wright.But now, “sim everything” has another meaning for the company: EA is set to announce Tuesday it will release Spore later this year simultaneously for PCs and Macs.

They’ll be showing it off on the show floor this week.

Finally, a dose of sanity:

Macenstein | So, remind me again why we want an ultra portable?

With Macworld just ’round the corner, the rumor mill has pegged an ultra-portable Mac as a near certainty. Usually, once 3 or more semi-reliable Mac rumor sites say we’re going to see something at Macworld, odds are we’re going to. The problem is, the ultra portable Mac, in ANY of the iterations I’ve heard thrown about, is the last thing I want to see Apple release. For some reason I am just missing the allure of a wafer thin MacBook, and I would like someone out there to set me straight. What am I missing here?

Steve Jobs makes his keynote tomorrow. And once again, we’ve reached the point where the rumors have been repeated so often that they’re now a given fact. And when Steve Jobs doesn’t confirm these Plucked From Thin Air rumors and make them into products to be purchased at the Apple Store Right This Very Minute — what, wasn’t there a story on Digg yesterday that Apple Stores received special weekend shipments they’re not allowed to open? — people get ticked off.

They saw all those patent filings done in defense just in case one day one of them happens to be useful, and they’ve combined them in their mind to create one uber-device, capable of solving all the world’s computer ills and saving the lives of starving children somewhere in Central Africa, right about where Bono recently forgave a whole lot ofdebt or something.

They’ve laughed at the obvious Photoshop jobs on Saturday, started believing in the made-up device on Sunday, and then sold stock on Wednesday when the product that never existed didn’t ship out.

Get a grip.

MacWorld is tomorrow. Steve Jobs will likely announce some cool things. The only thing I’d bet on right now is movie rentals through iTunes. I’m guessing we’ll hear more about the iPhone SDK, but he might make that a special event next month. I don’t know. My mind is open. I’m hoping for cool things, but I’m not expecting anything.

It’s much more fun that way.

Or, read Apple Insider’s report from last Friday. It says that though the tablet computer is an on-going concern, it’s not going to be ready for MacWorld. (But I’ll take a guess and say that if it does, it’ll come bundled with the same kind of connectivity Amazon’s Kindle has. That would explain that whole “Something In The Air” slogan being paraded around. Or maybe that just means Phil Collins is going to bang on the drums at the end of the Stevenote instead of John Mayer flailing on the guitar.)

If you happen to be attending MacWorld, don’t forget to bring your MacWorld Expo Celebrity Checklist with you!

Next year, you won’t have to wait so long. MacWorld is scheduled for January 5th - 9th.

GAMES:

How to win at Rock Paper Scissors.

McDonalds boss blames video games for fat kids. Hunh.

Forget Guitar Hero. All the cool kids want to play Turntable Hero.

Announced at CES this week: The first third-party Guitar Hero III guitar for the Wii.

TECH:

Funniest ThinkGeek prank ever? A new alarm clock that donates money to a cause you hate for every time you hit the snooze bar.

Belkin’s Podcast Studio: It’s not a joke, but I wonder how useful it can be, particularly with the iPod’s poor audio recording quality.

Apple announced a new Mac Pro yesterday. The thing is a behemoth of power and awe-inspiring bullet points. You know it’s huge when the lowest RAM setting offerd by Apple is 2 GB. The most basic configuration is still $2300.

Noah Wyle imitates Steve Jobs at MacWorld NYC 1999. He’s got the mannerisms down. I wish they still had MacWorld in New York City. I could go, then. . .

• You’ve heard plenty about HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Here’s an interesting blog post on the problems with the HD-DVD player and the overall experience. It’s slow and prone to damage, basically. But I still want to have it on my home theater.
• The RIAA is so desperate now that they’re suing people who rip their CDs into iTunes. (Update: Or maybe not. . . )
• Pro Darts player barely wins a tournament and blames his new Wii, joining a rich tradition of pro athletes hurting themselves on new videogames.
• Dissecting the donut.
• Target finishes with Christmas, immediately starts Easter. Wha–?!?
• When will Amy Winehouse die? Dot com.
• Zed Shaw flames out of Ruby on Rails. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how it should be done.
• Andy Ihnatko talks Twitter! But I really only link to it to show off the screen shots he’s using. heh heh

• Check out this great video review of the new 12 inch Wacom Cintiq.
• Warner Music goes DRM-free at Amazon’s MP3 store! (Click on the Amazon link above to go to the store.)
• Meanwhile, Apple is about to announce movie rentals from Fox. Could this be the rebirth of Apple TV?
• One of the happiest endings to a tech story of 2007: NASDAQ delists SCO. Good bye and good riddance.
• Photo Attorney makes the comparison between copyright law and car theft law. Scathing satire.
• How to solve the book clutter problem. I’ve been working on my DVD clutter problem through the Amazon Marketplace for the last four months. I’ve sold 40 DVDs that way.
• This guy sings a song backwards. Can you guess the song? Halfway through the video, it reverses and shows all. Most impressive.

• Internet Explorer sucks. And they have the charts to prove it!

• Metallica is premiering their next single as a Rock Band download.  Just a rumor at this point, but pretty clever, if true.  No, it won’t last that way for long.  People will figure out how to rip it, share it, and pass it around.  That’s not the point, though.  Video games are now music industry promotional vehicles.  Pretty interesting.

• Thinking about the Apple TV. . . I’d still like one. I have video podcasts I’d LOVE to watch on my TV, and I know there are HD podcasts that would look great up on there, too. But, in the end, I just don’t need it. Can’t justify it. I’m doing fine with a DVR and a TiVo, thanks.

• Dilbert’s Scott Adams realizes his blog is detrimental to business. Sad. I do have to wonder, as a blogger and a ten year columnist, if he isn’t being a tad touchy with regards to those who tell him they’ll never read his stuff again. This is the internet — someone says that every week. Then they come back the next week to tell it to you again. And the following week, and the week after that, etc. etc.

• Every now and again, an idea so obvious is explained in such striking detail that you slap your forehead and wonder why you didn’t think of that before. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: Jack the Ripper is Lewis Carroll. Yes, the guy who wrote Alice In Wonderland.

• Nintendo is having a very good month. Insanely good. Best Month Ever for Nintendo. They sold more than a million units between the DS and the Wii, last week. I wish I bought that stock a couple years ago now.