My friend eagerly waited on Macworld 2008 before buying an Apple TV to make sure they wouldn’t come up a newer model, which they didn’t. Today we decided to go to the local Apple store to pick up a 160 GB Apple TV and an HDMI cable and they where sold out of both. Luckily I’m in the area with five apple stores within 45 mins, so I gave them all a call and they where out of stock too!

We weren’t in any rush or anything because the free update isn’t available yet, so we ordered one online. We just received an email from apple that the order had been back ordered and expect the Apple TV to be shipped in February.

It seems “Apple TV Take 2″ might be a bigger hit than some may think.

The long awaited rentals are finally on iTunes, hours after the keynote (about 12 hours).

iTV / iTV Software update Information

• Update Available in 2 weeks, no new iTV!
• Dropped Prices $70 from $299 to $229
• No computer required, you can do everything straight from the box! Music, Video,Rentals etc..
• Syncs with iTunes as before except you can reverse sync.
• Dolby 5.1
• Hooks into .Mac and Flickr
• All the same older stuff too.

iTunes Rentals

• Touchstone, Miramax, MGM, Lions Gate, Newline, Fox, Warner Brothers, Disney, Paramount, Universal and Sony
• Available 30 days after DVD release BOOOOOOOOOOO, Definitely not a Blockbuster killer.
• Price
  • $2.99 (Standard Def) Older Rentals
  • $3.99 (Standard Def) Newer Rentals
  • $4.99 (High Def)
• 24 Hours to keep when started watching, 30 days to hold if you never watched
• Starting 2 weeks in US, later in other countries

Netflix announced unlimited movie streaming starting monday, the day before Macworld according the to the alternative press. Prior to this announcement, Netflix subscribers were only allowed to watch a fixed amount of “Watch Instantly” movies based on their subscription plan. Video Streaming sill sucks, until streaming devices come available for the TV (mid 2008). I personally would hate to watch movies on the computer, but that’s just me.