With less than one month to go (and counting), we are beginning to sketch out our plans for event coverage (particularly the Keynote) online. As of today, I can say we are definitely offering two services for staying informed — an AJAX web application that will update with text and pictures as they’re uploaded, and an SMS updater.

The SMS updater (yet to be named) will allow you to sign up to be text messaged with the most urgent announcements from the Keynote. To sign up, you’ll simply enter your phone number, select your carrier, and verify that it’s your number by entering the verification code sent to you. There are no fees or catches — just standard text messaging rates.

The AJAX application (also yet to be named) primarily allows you to get live text updates via a web browser, no refreshes needed. But next to the text updates, photos will appear as they are uploaded. All, of course, with a slick and shiny implementation. Look for some screenshots coming your way soon.

Of course, this is the first preview of our Macworld plans, so expect more coming your way soon. We hope to have everything up and running at least a week before the Keynote. Of course, we always appreciate comments and emails from our readers, so feel free to pass on any ideas!

To contact one of theiLife staff members:

Matt Dodd, Administrator – matt[at]theilife[dot]com

Sidney San Martin, Administrator – sidney[at]theilife[dot]com

Matthew Hamilton, Writer – matth[at]theilife[dot]com

Matthew Rosenhien, Writer – mattr[at]theilife[dot]com

Dan Spiers, Writer – dans[at]theilife[dot]com

General Inquiries – webmaster[at]theilife.com

We read every one of your emails, so feel free to email us with any questions, comments, concerns, bugs or news tips- we will take them all! If you want to contact us on AIM, feel free to Instant Message us at “theilife” (no quotes).

Apple has just posted a new Christmas-spirited Get a Mac commercial on their hompage, just in time for the holidays. Check it out in the Videos section or subscribe in iTunes to our Daily iLife Podcast for a daily Mac video. Happy holidays!!

Since its induction on April 28th, 2003, the iTunes Store has been the internet’s most popular digital content source (that is, legal source). Yearly selling over 3 billion songs, not to mention millions of television shows, music videos, and movies, the iTunes Store easily holds the lion’s share of the market and has set the standard for digital media stores today.
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Today, my brother showed me the back of Sports Illustrated, and there was a cool iPod Touch Advertisement.

I’ve put together a quick video showing off the loot we pulled together at the Apple Store opening. Made mostly late at night, so it came out a bit strange, but feel free to comment.

Here at TheiLife, we are beginning to plan some tutorials (ie, Screencasts) for release in the future. Before we make a move on some subjects that we think our readers might like- it would be awesome to actually hear from you! You can email us, or leave a comment below.

For reference, some subjects we are currently considering are:

-iPhone Unlocking
-Terminal and Mac OS
-Pro Apps (ie moving from iMovie to Final Cut)

Help us help you! Thanks!!

The speculation is now behind us: the Apple community has confirmed that the Apple TV was not a success this year, selling approximately 400,000 units. Some blame it on the hardware or the lack of iTunes video content, but the real issues with the Apple TV and other “Media Centers” are the consumers.

At this point in time, television is in a different arena from computers and the internet’s digital content. Television has dominated home entertainment for decades and not until recently, the last 5 years or so, are computers beginning to play a large role in media consumption. Like MP3 players in 1999 that attempted to bring digital music away from the computer, ‘Media Centers’ haven’t taken off. So where is the iPod of the ‘Media Center’ industry?
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All the recent rumors and hype surrounding replacement of Steve Jobs have prompted me to start thinking about the inevitable again. The day Steve Jobs leaves Apple, Inc. will be a sad day in technology. While I think we have a couple more years (hopefully more) left, Sir Steve himself will eventually have to let go.

I used to ponder that inevitable day, years back, and would always come to the conclusion that we still had many years to come and that it was too hard to tell where Apple would be. Those years have disappeared in a cloud of iPods, iPhones and Macs, and Apple is on an upsurge. It’s making more money than ever before. All of this, from the creation to the rebirth can be attributed to Steve Jobs. No one needs me to remind them of that.

I think everyone at Apple knows this, and are doing something to keep Apple from repeating what it did when Steve Jobs left the first time. Frankly, he can’t return to save Apple again, though I’m sure the when the time comes Steve isn’t going to be out the door like last time. The process will probably be similar Bill Gates being removed phasing himself out of Microsoft: slowly, and over a period of years. This gives Jonathan Ive Eric Schmitt Tim Cook Phil Schiller whoever takes over a chance to become accustomed to how Steve sees the company, how to handle things internally and externally, and to get guidance from the one and only. Who knows, Steve Jobs might even stick around on the Board of Directors, or pull a Woz and just linger (didn’t you know that he is still an Apple employee?).

However it happens, we should be confident that the right choice will be made. As daunting as it seems, eventually it will happen, and we will have to face it. We will most certainly never forget Steve Jobs or his contributions to Apple, Pixar and NeXT. After all these years of searching for the answer, the best man for the job, instead I have found faith in Apple — faith in Steve Jobs. For whatever reason, be it the recent success of Apple or just time (and age), I feel confident that the right choice will be made for Apple’s next CEO

New: A video of the loot has been posted (click here)!

Some people are wondering what was given out in those black tubes, or what the T-shirts look like. Some still think that the first 2,000 people in line got free iPhones (I wish!). Lets just set the record straight. This is how it went down.

Pictures after the jump.

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