Business-grade machines tend to include DisplayPort; machines and cards targeted at home users might be more likely to include HDMI.

I know that the ThinkPad line has DisplayPort built in, as do our OptiPlex machines from Dell, both of which fall into the "managed product lifecycle" category and are designed for businesses.

Interesting... I wonder if Dolby realizes that "Audio Adrenaline" is a registered trademark. (It is a name of a band, now defunct, but the trademark is still live.)

@Mjayhunt: The station had. Medical practicioners called up the station, advised them that the stunt was very dangerous, and the station essentially blew them off and proceeded with the stunt without properly advising participants of the risk. Hence, the $16.5 mil. judgement.

The video's AUDIO doesn't have a right channel, that is.

FYI - video doesn't seem to have a right channel.

Hmm. I was wondering what that firmware update was (on my LN46-B750) that interrupted my TV watching on Monday night. I'll have to take a look at this and see if this actually was added. Not that I really need this; I already have Amazon and Blockbuster access available to me through my TiVo HD.

@thedman07: It's got Mini-DisplayPort. All you need to add is a $7.50 adapter and you've got HDMI. (Exhibit A: http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10428&cs_id=1042802&p_id=5311&seq=1&format=2)

Hmm. Well, that optical drive sure looks like a typical slim (read: laptop) optical drive. Yeah, I know, there are desktops that use the slim drives as well - I've got one in front of me right now, and nearly 300 more like that around my company - but it's still a drive designed mostly for use in laptops. So, I already beg to differ somewhat with the "desktop parts" thing.

In any case, it really is hard to argue that this is clearly designed with the Mac mini in mind. Comparing the two, the Mac Mini has more graphics options (both mini-DVI and mini-DisplayPort) and has more USB ports, while this has a card reader that the Mac doesn't. They both have external storage options (Mac has FireWire-800, while this has eSATA) so they're basically on par there.

The Mac mini does use a laptop hard drive; I'm not sure that's such a bad thing, other than somewhat limiting the amount of storage you can cram in there. This is slightly larger than a Mac mini, so they might actually have a full 3.5" drive in there.

That DB-9 port is curious though, and the fact that it's unlabeled is even more curious.

@dboobis: "But I promise you, 100%, that Apple does have a monopoly in both PMPs and digitial distribution." Not remotely true in either case. Apple clearly has the largest market share in PMPs... but not a monopoly. There are a TON of other PMPs out there. Looking on Bestbuy.com, I'm seeing Microsoft's Zune, Sansa, Archos, Sony, and a bunch of others right next to the iPods.

As for digital distribution, that's even less true, as proven by the Amazon Music Store, Rhapsody, Napster, among many others.

There are two completely separate issues being jumbled up together here:
- Apple allowing others to sync with iTunes
- Apple allowing others to write software that syncs with an iPod/iPhone

For the first, it's Apple's software, and they have every right to prevent others from syncing with iTunes. You wouldn't expect an old-school Palm to sync with ActiveSync, or a Windows Mobile device to sync with the old Palm Desktop, would you? "But the iTunes Store isn't their music and videos..." No, you're right, and if you buy something from the iTunes store, you're welcome to download it using iTunes, move it over to the syncing program of your choice, at least with the music - it's all DRM free. Or just use one of the competitor music stores, like Amazon. Either way, there's no reason Apple has to allow others to sync with iTunes... and it's in Apple's fiduciary interest to try and sell as many iPhones and iPods as possible, so of course Apple is going to want to keep iTunes only syncing with their stuff.

As for the other thing, Apple not allowing others to write software that syncs with an iPhone or iPod... yeah, that's kind of a questionable move, but a completely separate issue from the Pre/Apple mess.

And for Palm to go to the USB IF and complain that Apple is abusing the vendor ID number, when Apple is just using the number exactly the way it is designed to be used, that's kind of stupid. Not knowing all the technical details, in my earlier example, I wouldn't be surprised if that's how ActiveSync recognizes a Windows Mobile device and syncs with it, and Palm Desktop software recognizes a Palm PDA, and so on, and so forth. Plus, for them to complain to the USB IF, when they are proactively (and quite CLEARLY) abusing the vendor ID system by masquerading as a vendor ID that THEY WERE NOT ASSIGNED... that's brave of them, and REALLY stupid. Frankly, if I were the USB IF, I'd tell Palm to take a hike - then yank their USB certification for abusing the vendor ID system.