I thought it was funny. I don’t give two Arby’s French Dips about it if you didn’t.

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Today Apple announced, among other things, a second try at the Apple TV. It is just a software upgrade but it has made the product significantly more attractive. Let me give you a quick rundown of this revision based on my initial review last year.

Last year I said:

Likes:
Small (Still the same size)
Relatively Inexpensive (Even cheaper now at $229!)
Has HDMI out (No change here)
Intuitive interface (Possible better with more feature integration)
Syncs to 40 GB local drive (Upgraded to bigger hard drives option at 160GB)
Portable (Still very portable at the same size)

Dislikes:
Needs new Airport or needs hardwire (Same)
No DVD playback (Same)
No DVR (Same, probably by design)
No native media acquisition (Much improved now without the need of a computer)
iTunes software is too bulky but required for use (No longer required)
Minor dislike, no 1080p support (Still likely no 1080p but apparently looks very good)

Overall, I think the Apple TV 2.0 is a great improvement over the first iteration. The price cut makes it even more attractive. But I think it is still too expensive for at the $229 price point. If and when it gets closer to the $99 range, I believe they will have mass adoption. For now, I am saving my money for a MacBook Air…

Amber MacArthur from Citytv’s Webnation V2 abruptly left the Canadian television network after her show was canceled earlier today.

She sent this email to her fellow Roger’s colleagues to announce the news
——-

Hi everyone,

Today was my last day at Citytv (was a surprise to me too!). I just found out this afternoon that Rogers has pulled the plug on our show, Webnation V2, because they do not have the budget or commitment to see it through. It’s been a wild ride. Since hosting tech and web shows is what I do, naturally there is no home for me at Citytv.

Thank you to Andrew, Brian, Chris, Sheldon, Dan, Jason, Vik, and everyone else who knew the show was a success and who believe in the future of new media news (ironically, we just found out that we won the Top New Podcast Award for 2007 on iTunes). Go team.

Much thanks as well to the CNI gang and to everyone else in the newsroom who kept me sane over the past year and a half. Also, since everyone forgets the camera department, a big shout-out to you boys and girl!

As for my next steps, I will find a new home for the show and keep on reporting on the ever-changing web-front.

See you online.

——

I guess this is a perfect opportunity for Revision3 to snatch up yet another TechTV alum into their burgeoning online media network.

This reminds me that its time again to do taxes….

TechCrunch – Already ran out
GigaOm – 1766 left as of posting
ReadWriteWeb – 2207 left as of posting
Ars Technica – All 2500 still available as of posting

The above list ranks the mega bloggers in order of douchbaggy-ness.

Update: Mashable also was graced with their very own 2500 invites.

Throughout the 43 minute show, the same 5 minute commercial played 5 times. That’s 25 minutes worth of commercials with 43 minutes of content where usually only 17 minutes would play on regular TV. The fact that you had to sit through the same 5 minutes 5 times is enough to make you want to pull that ethernet plug out of your computer. On top of that, they cut into the shows at random moments. If this is how they are going to deliver their content online, it is going to discourage a lot of viewers.

It is possible that the networks don’t really want hulu to be as successful as it promises to be due to the lucrative contract they have with satellite and cable providers. But that’s just not the way to launch a product that has so much promise just to be sabotaged by its creator.

Not into wine?

How about Weekend at Bernies?