Hardcore geeks and Apple fanboys aren't the only ones preparing to watch Steve Jobs announce whatever he is going to announce today. Why else would I have been on NPR's "Morning Edition" discussing the possibilities of cloud-based music services this morning?
If you want to tune in to Apple's announcement, you'll need to do so with a Safari browser running on a Mac computer with OS 10.6 or later installed; an iPhone or iPod Touch running at least iOS 3, or an iPad. To confirm that you have the right set-up, you can watch Apple's test video here.
The title of that test web page is "Bit Bop All" -- and if the video runs properly on your computer, you'll see the words "Bip!" and "Bop!" accompanied by beeps.
So, what is "bip," or for that matter "bit bop all?" As anyone who follows the mobile video streaming market can tell you, BitBop is the mobile video solution of News Corps' Fox Mobile Group. Could it be that Apple will use Fox's technology to stream this event? Or is this some coded reference to Stephen Colbert's God Machine, which makes sounds like "beep boop bop"?
We've asked Apple, but have yet to hear back. Such a partnership is conceivable, although unlikely. According to former Wired.com managing editor and Cult of Mac writer Leander Kahney, Apple will stream today's announcement using its homegrown HTTP live streaming technology, which supports the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and "desktop computers" -- by which it apparently means "Macintosh computers."
In addition, says an anonymous source cited by Kahney, Apple is using today's video broadcast to test a massive new data center -- itself a strong indication that even if Apple fails to launch a cloud-based music and/or video service today, it could do so in the near future.
Is the medium the message? Is Apple's delivery mechanism for this announcement indicative of its content?
We'll have to wait and see. Tune in at 1pm ET to find out -- or, if you lack compatible hardware and software, as the majority of potential viewers will, follow along with our live blog.
Update: Apple's stream is loading, sort of, and it looks like Akamai's Edge Suite technology is involved (the URL includes "edgesuite.net").
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