B. Mann Consulting

Ever since the Airport Express came out, I've been speculating about what else could be done with it. Surely that USB port wasn't just for something as mundance as printer sharing.

Well, there's another Apple Special Event coming up. They might be announcing the bundling of the Google Toolbar with Safari....or it might be a video version of the Airport Express to coincide with the opening of the iTunes Movie Store.

Yep, put me down for not believing in the fabled video iPod. Well, actually, I do believe in it, but Travis figures the Airport Express Video edition is a safer bet. Travis said I *had* to blog about this, so I am.

So, the special event will announce the opening of for-pay video downloads via the iTunes store, at the same time as they announce how to connect it to your TV via Airport. Apparently, there has been no new music video content in iTunes for the past couple of weeks, perhaps indicating a build up of new content. With Google announcing streaming of UPN shows, Apple's timing is probably about right.

On quality: well, this is meant to be the year of HD, but this probably just means a crisper, clearer version than regular cable TV. Could an Airport device have anything more than an SVideo interface? I can't picture it, although I suppose a component output is possible. 

A dock that streams video content wirelessely directly from your iPod to this Airport device is a potential as well, but I can't quite picture the price point on it. Bundling it with the Airport might be interesting, to catch all those people that only have iPods but no computer at home? Not sure...

According to Eris, the special event is probably the next version of Keynote :P