Live coverage of Apple’s “Let’s Rock” event

Yep. That’s it. Thanks for join us. Head back to the home page for in depth articles and images.

and that’s all she wrote!

Oh man, the editor from Mac|Life just threw his underwear on the stage!

Apple store still not up, iTunes 8 not available yet.

Looks like that’s it. We’ve already got some articles up at Appletell, though, with images-a-plenty, and more in the works. Even better? You won’t have to listen to Jack Johnson while reading them.

Johnson admits that he’s not used to people who have heard real music before.

Is this “rock?” Allow me to suggest that it is, in fact “sway.”

Steve is apologizing now, “I’m sorry, I had no idea who Jack Johnson was.”

Steve still has mojo, though.

Jack Johnson = restroom break. In fact, I’m going to start referring to public restrooms as Jack Johnsons.

Man, Steve looks like the preacher for Poltergeist 2.

Because when you think “rock,” you think “Jack Johnson.”

And there’s a stampede to the exits! Oh, the humanity!

The least he could’ve done was got that girl who sings about kissing other girls. It’s a terrible song, but it was on iTunes for…like…EVER.

There’s a really great song by Mitch Benn called “Everything sounds like Cold Play now.”

The only thing I’m more sick of than John Mayer and Cold Play? Jack Johnson.

Who?

Improved battery life, fewer call drops, iTunes backup speeds, crashes, etc.

Is that it?

iPhone update to 2.1 on Friday. Free. Fixes many things.

iPhone update is free and will be available this Friday

Paying for firmware? That’s something Dell would do.

Free upgrade to 2.1 from 2.0 for iPod touch owners. .99 from 1.x.

Oh boy… more firmware updgrade confusion.

And with the new “funnest iPod ever” catchphrase, English teachers across America will hate them more than when they launched the “Think different” campaign.

“Funnest iPod ever” Wow, that’s… pretty lousy, actually.

They’re going after the DS? Well, heavens…

8GB, 9, 16GB for 9, and a 32GB for 9. all available today.

Didn’t Pong have arrows? What game was I playing?

I was speaking of Pong, but I got the reference.

Same “Greenness” as the nano.

A block with an arrow, Bill. A block with an arrow.

Battery on the touch: 36 hours music, 6 hours video

Can I take a moment to point out that 30 years ago, cutting edge computer graphics were a block hitting another block? Ah, youth…

The graphics look great. Seems to surpass DS quality and push up towards PSP.

Need for Speed: Undercover. Well, we’re getting there.

Well, San Francisco is the Latvia of California…

But, an on-screen D-pad and A/B buttons. That opens up a whole lot of possibilities.

Both games use the Touch’s motion controls, but Soccer also has a virtual D-pad.

Real Soccer? Spore? Is this event in San Francisco or Europe?

“Real Soccer 2009″ shipping today.

Phil Schiller likes Spore. He must know something we don’t.

Steve and Phil are now fighting over who’s “turn” it is… gentlemen, please!

And…it’s Spore.

Sporing!

Phil’s onstage, talking ’bout games while Steve runs off to wash his mouth out.

Odd that they’re pushing the Genius feature so hard when they don’t make that much money on music sales.

Hendrix is to Green Day as Genius is to Green Day. That’s all I’m sayin’.

Mario Teaches Typing for the iPhone!

Holy crap, did Steve Jobs just say “games” during an Apple event!?

That is a LOT of Tetris clones and tip calculators.

App store had 100 million downloads in 60 days.

Weird. Anyway, Steve’s really pushing the “Genius” feature. I think we’re going to see a lot of ink about wacky suggestions this thing makes.

The touch isn’t most mobile of all the iPods, so why build it in here?

Weird.

iTouch comes with built in Nike+ ???

Because we’re all tired of the previous moron playlist creation.

And Genius playlist creation.

Also has a volume control on the side.

Touch is now thinner, has a speaker.

You’ll get to see a new add soon. Colorful. Nice, because I was tired of white/black/aluminum.

Moving on to the iPod touch… this thing has got to come down in price.

“Ha ha ha! Remember the hocky puck mouse? Why did you guys buy that crap?”

As always, Steve finally admits a product stinks (earbuds) when they’ve got a new one to sell.

Hey, nice. New in-ear headphones instead of the crappy earbuds. And headphone manufacturers everywhere weep openly.

New earbuds:

9 for the 8GB model, in stock today. 9 for the 16GB model, in stock next week.

The screen isn’t a touch screen, but it does detect when you’re holding it sideways and shifts the image from portrait to landscape.

Silver, black, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, violet

And when you shake it, the song switches. Is that a feature or a bug?

Battery life: 24 hours music, 4 hours video

Steve’s listing the nano’s “eco friendly” traits: no mercury, no BFRs or CFCs

There will be plenty of colors from which to choose.

new Nano also has the “album view” feature.

The only band I’m more sick of than John Mayer? Cold Play.

Well, it has to have a microphone attached to it…

Voice recording is built into the new nano, and third party accessory manufacturers everywhere weep openly.

The oval shape on the nano is actually kind of nice. Looks much better here than in the leaked images.

Thanks for clarifiying the iPod classic size, Bill. I glossed over that.

80GB being upgraded to 120GB

160GB iPod Classic being discontinued.

And you can create Genius playlists directly on the device.

Accelerometer!

Seems the rumors were right on. Thinnest iPod ever. Back to its portrait shape.

Ooh, here we go. New iPod nano for holiday season. Oval shape.

Stone cold dis, Steve.

iPod classic up to 120GB. And that’s it on the iPod classic. I feel slighted.

iTunes 8 includes HD support.

iPod = 73.4 percent in US market. Zune’s = 2.6 percent.

If you like Elvis, you’ll like the Doors? That’s a bit of a stretch.

iTunes 8 will be available today.

I suppose Apple can only get away with this while Pandora can’t because Apple makes you pay.

And, there’s you John Mayer. Maybe he’s Steve’s son.

New feature: Apple will automatically add John Mayer to your library, free of charge… or else…

We’ll have images of all this in a bit, by the way. Until then, I’ll describe it for you thusly…it’s nothing big to see.

Recommendations work for TV shows, too. I wonder if they’ll seek out obscure indie bands for recommendations or just play it safe with big name RIAA artists.

You can opt out of it, though. Which I will. Now. Before I even get the update.

Your music tastes are stored “in the Cloud.” I’m a little frightened.

We had “Genius” in the 70s: they were LPs produced by K-Tel… and we liked it that way!

I’m guessing this request was from the RIAA, not music fans.

Genius will even recommend playlists for you. In case, you know, you don’t have your own taste in music.

Genius music recommendation. News to Apple, just because I like Queen, that doesn’t mean I like Marillion.

There are 3,000 apps in the app store, and Appletell review every single one of them.

iTunes 8 out today.

Wal-Mart, however, sells Slim Whitman, who had more hits in Europe than Elvis and the Beatles combined.

HD TV shows for .99. SD for .99, and NBC was wisened up and will return.

Steve’s giving stats about iTunes and apps available for iPhone.

And hey, iTunes sells more music than Wal-Mart. Added bonus, no people in motorized go carts driving around the store.

We’re going to be talking about music, music, music.

Steve Jobs is not dead. So that’s one against MacRumors.

Steve looks thin. Announces he’s not dead, though. People laugh.

First liveblog victim: Silicon Ally Insider is 404ing…

Here we go.

Wait…Apple’s here?

Rumor confirmed: Apple will announce something at this event!

Turn off your cell phone, Bill.

If Eric Clapton comes out in flip flops and surfer shorts, I’m just going home.

Well, apparently they’re playing CCR and Cream, to get the audience really juiced for a new, cutting edge product. I think Steve’s tired of pretending to like John Meyer. As are we all.

I wonder how many words I’ll drop from my sentences today in order to get the news out quickly.

I wonder if bands seek out Apple to play their songs before an event as a new method of promotion…like into Guitar Hero or Gossip Girl. Or Gossip Hero. Or Guitar Girl.

Or “shaped case” for those of you in our English-speaking audience.

Wild speculation: new product: iBusk. A guitar-cased shape amp that also keeps track of the change you collect.

There is if Verizon is covering the event.

Do you suppose there’s any chance that Steve’ll announce that they really haven’t sold any iPhones, and then passes a hat around for donations?

I just got a press release about Hohner / Bob Dylan collaboration. Don’t these people know what’s happening today? Even that guy creating the black hole that’s going to eat our planet knew to do it AFTER the Apple event.

Half an hour away…I’d better finish my lunch.

One more rumor to add to the mix at this late hour; seems we may be getting a AppleTV update as well.

No mention of the event anywhere on Apple’s site.

The Apple Store is now offline. There’s your final proof that at least something is being announced today. But, of course, we all already knew that.

For a recap of what to expect today, be sure to read Mark Rowland’s Let’s Rock rumor summary.

Just under six more hours to go. The tough thing about living on the east coast is we have to get up and wait three hours earlier than our west coast friends.