Apple Responds

Seriously, The Black Eyed Peas? Ugh.

What immaculate timing. No less than 24 hours after I happened upon CoverFlow, Apple unveiled a new version of iTunes that incorporates, among other things, the exact same cover-browsing technology under the exact same name. And rather than being simply "inspired" by CoverFlow, it looks like Apple bought the technology outright. I don't know, though—iTunes 7 seems to be taking its sweet time downloading my missing art. And where are my Wikipedia links!? Maybe I'm missing something, but for now, I'm sticking with the original.

Other news from Mr. Jobs today included underwhelming iPod updates (although the tiny new clip-on Shuffle is pretty cool), an iTunes Movie Store, and a sneak peek at the long-rumored Apple set-top box, dubbed the iTV and available early next year. Is it just me, or are these Apple events getting a little eh. —John Mahoney