“Let’s Rock” - Apple Special Event on September 9

Ars Technica writes that Apple has confirmed a September 9 Special Event, which will probably focus on iPods and their music business, and even though I am not in the market for a new iPod (my iPhone rules as an iPod), I am still really excited to see what they have up their sleeves. Is that the measure of a true Apple geek? That you geek out about extended commercials (that’s what the Special Events are, aren’t they?) even when you have no stake in what comes out of them?

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Stream Your Music from Your Home Computer to Your iPhone (For Now)

Simplify Media allows you to listen to your home music library from anywhere (including your iPhone), and, while I think this is a service with amazing potential, I’m sure that I’m not the only one who thinks this application is doomed. Mashable certainly seems to agree. We could be wrong—after all, my friend Leslie wrote about the service last year, and it’s still around—but I think the release of an application for the high-profile iPhone is going to be a nail in their coffin, if not several nails.

With Pandora on the verge of extinction, I’m constantly looking for ways to discover new music. I think Simplify Media’s ability to let me share music libraries with up to 30 friends could be one way to do that, but I hope that it’s not dead and gone before me and my friends get the chance to really try it out.

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War Games for 99 Cents - This Week Only

Attention Geek Forcers! If you use iTunes at all, even a little bit, then click this link and enjoy the Matthew Broderick masterpiece War Games for only ninety-nine cents! It’s this week’s iTunes 99 Cent Rental of the Week, and I’m sure it’s been years since you’ve watched it, so c’mon and snap to it.

Thanks to Apple TV Junkie for pointing the way.

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Worth Your Consideration 007 - A GF5 Linkdump

• News Askew is reporting that NBC will re-air Saturday Night Live’s inaugural episode this Saturday night, an episode which was hosted by the recently departed George Carlin. The classic episode will apparently be aired in its entirety, which, according to News Askew, doesn’t happen all that often on NBC.
• I’m embedding George Carlin’s take on the Ten Commandments above because it’s criminal that I didn’t embed something of his when I posted my initial thoughts on his passing.
• On a much lighter note, Gary Vaynerchuk has posted the episode of Wine Library TV that was filmed in Boston recently, an episode that I made it into the city to see last week. I think it’s a perfect “entrance” episode for anyone who is mildly interested in wine and in seeing what Gary does. There’s a great blend of humor, education, and flat-out thunder here.
• Apple will apparently be releasing a free remote control application for iPhone and iPod Touch users which will allow them to control iTunes from anywhere in their house. This is something I’ve seen quite a few people clamoring for on the Apple boards across the Web. The real key, for me, and for a lot of others, will be if this works with the Apple TV. I loves me my simple two-button Apple TV remote, but it would be nice to have something a little more robust when I needed it.
• Lastly, for the comic book fans out there, be sure to check out Newsarama’s poll of what titles the pros think we consumers are missing. The Walking Dead, which Brandice recommended to me recently is one book that gets mentioned as a must-read.

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Beautiful iTunes Ad Featuring Coldplay

I happen to be of the opinion that the advertising campaigns Apple has used to promote iPod and iTunes are genius. And lately they’ve been taking the classic silhouette concept and evolving it by leaps and bounds. The latest ad, which features the band Coldplay, also happens to thematically resemble the packaging and advertising campaign used to promote the release of Leopard, the latest version of Mac OS X. The Unofficial Apple Weblog calls this theme space-esqe, and I suppose that’s a pretty accurate description, but I’ll just stick to calling it beautiful.

And kudos to Apple and their advertising agency for subtly trying to influence potential switchers even in ads for their platform-agnostic products.

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