A: The built-in backup program in your iMacs, called Time Machine, doesn’t require Apple’s Time Capsule product to work. It will work with almost any brand of directly connected external hard disk.

For instance, I back up my home iMac to a Western Digital drive that’s connected to it via a cable.

As for hard-drive life, it’s my experience that many seem to die sooner or later, especially if they are used heavily. I don’t know if the ones inside the Time Capsule are especially fragile. But, in just the past six months, I’ve had an external hard disk from G-Tech die on me; seen an internal hard disk on my home Dell die for a second time; and discovered that the hard disk on my colleague’s MacBook died.

One way to protect against the failure of a local backup drive is to consider, in addition to using an external disk, backing up your data to an online backup service like Mozy, Carbonite or SugarSync.

My Dell has Microsoft Vista but I can upgrade free to the new Windows 7. However, I was told my antivirus software won’t be compatible and my email will change—the program will no longer be “Windows Mail.” What do you recommend?

A: I regard Windows 7 as much better than Vista, but you are correct that many antivirus programs will require upgrading and Windows Mail will go away during the upgrade. You’ll have to install a new email program, such as the very similar “Windows Live Mail,” which can import your messages. So, the question really is one of trade-offs. If you’re satisfied with Vista, and would rather not perform these program replacements, you should stand pat. If you don’t like Vista, and are anxious to replace it, then the hassles you describe could be worth it.

Will Office 2003 work with the new Windows 7 operating system?

A: Microsoft, which makes both products, says the answer is yes, though I haven’t tested it.

Is it possible that the Verizon Motorola Droid, which doesn’t work in Europe, could be turned into a “world phone” that could work on European cellphone networks via an app somebody might develop?

A: An app wouldn’t be able to do that for the current Verizon Droid. It’s a hardware issue.

Verizon’s Droid, like most Verizon phones, is built to run on a type of network called CDMA that isn’t used in Europe or most other countries outside the U.S., which use a network standard called GSM.

To run on these networks, the Droid, or any other current CDMA phone, would need an entirely different radio, or two radios, one for each type of network.

Verizon offers a handful of so-called “world phones,” which have both kinds of radios inside, but the Droid isn’t one of them. Motorola may well make a new model with two radios, or even a model with one radio that would work overseas, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it did so.

What could be done with an app is to allow the Droid to make so-called VOIP phone calls via the Internet.

In fact, while I haven’t checked, there may already be such an app for Android—the Droid’s operating system—that would do so. But, in many cases, making such Internet phone calls requires the user to be in range of a Wi-Fi network. Some carriers don’t allow such calls to be made over their cellular networks.

You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online for free at the All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

Zzzzzz…

Not exactly a big surprise. Still, quite a piece of machinery. Built around Intel’s (INTC) latest Nehalem Xeon Processors, the new Xserve boasts twice the performance of its predecessor, according to Apple (AAPL). It offers a 128GB SSD boot drive option and up to 3TB of internal storage and RAID 5 support. And it is, according to Apple, the best Xserve the company has ever made. It always is.
“The Xserve is the best workgroup server for our education, business and creative customers,” David Moody, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Mac Product Marketing said in a statement. “With up to twice the performance, better power efficiency and an innovative SSD drive option, this is the best Xserve we’ve ever made.”

Zzzzzz…

Not exactly a big surprise. Still, quite a piece of machinery. Built around Intel’s (INTC) latest Nehalem Xeon Processors, the new Xserve boasts twice the performance of its predecessor, according to Apple (AAPL). It offers a 128GB SSD boot drive option and up to 3TB of internal storage and RAID 5 support. And it is, according to Apple, the best Xserve the company has ever made. It always is.
“The Xserve is the best workgroup server for our education, business and creative customers,” David Moody, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Mac Product Marketing said in a statement. “With up to twice the performance, better power efficiency and an innovative SSD drive option, this is the best Xserve we’ve ever made.”

This morning Apple (AAPL) refreshed its desktop line, announcing a new Nehalem-based Mac Pro, a more robust Mac mini and four new iMacs, among them, three with 24-inch screens. All three lines boast fundamental enhancements, but also more affordable prices–a feature Apple touted in its marketing materials the way it would a new technology. Consider this pull quote from Apple COO Tim Cook: “Our flagship 24-inch iMac with twice the memory and twice the storage is now available for just $1,499. The Mac mini is not only our most affordable Mac, it’s also the world’s most energy efficient desktop computer.” And this one from Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing: “The new Mac Pro is a significant upgrade and starts at $300 less than before.”

An interesting change from Apple’s standard marketing language, which typically holds its new machines up as “the most incredible desktop computer we’ve ever made” or “our fastest, biggest and brightest” or “the workstation Mac users have been dreaming about.”

These days, Apple’s new Macs are not simply faster and shinier, they’re a bargain as well. “Insanely great!” has become “insanely affordable!” Anyway, on to the specs.

The new Mac Pro is priced at $2,499 for the quad-core version and at $3,299 for the eight-core version, with Nehalem Xeon processors running at 2.93GHz. All feature an updated system architecture that Apple says delivers twice the performance of the previous model.

The new iMac line starts with the 20-inch iMac for $1,199 with a 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 memory, a 320GB Serial ATA hard drive and Nvidia GeForce 9400M integrated graphics. Its 24-inch brethren features a 1920-by-1200-pixel widescreen display that offers 30 percent more screen real estate than the 20-inch model. It offers up to a 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and starts at $1,499–the same price as the previous generation 20-inch model.

The new Mac Mini has been outfitted with the same Nvidia GeForce 9400M integrated graphics as Apple’s new MacBooks, something the company says will improve its graphics performance as much as fivefold. Available in two models that start at $599, the mini features a 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, up to 4GB of DDR3 1066MHz memory, up to 320GB Serial ATA hard drive, five (!) USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 800 and a SuperDrive.

Also receiving a refresh today: Apple’s Time Capsule and AirPort Extreme, which now offer a “guest networking” feature that allows users to create a separate Wi-Fi network just for their friends and supports for simultaneous dual-band Wi-Fi. “For maximum range and compatibility, Time Capsule works simultaneously on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, allowing all the devices on the network to use the most efficient band automatically,” Apple explains. “And Time Capsule uses the latest 802.11n wireless technology so you can enjoy up to five times the performance and up to twice the range of 802.11g wireless networks.”

If I buy a PC with an AMD processor instead of an Intel one, will I run into any compatibility issues with common software like Vista or Office 2007?

No, as long as the AMD processor, and/or its accompanying graphics and other chips, called a “chip set,” are rated as being able to handle the graphics in the version of Vista you are buying. Each chip company makes some low-end models that handle certain tasks more slowly than their mainstream or top-of-line models. And gamers are often particular about which chip sets they buy. But, in my experience, roughly comparable AMD and Intel processors and chip sets are equally compatible with common software like Office and Windows.

I have been using the Netscape Web browser for years. I am interested in shifting to using the Firefox browser. How do I transfer my extensive list of book marks from Netscape to Firefox?

Firefox will import your Netscape bookmarks automatically during the installation process, just as it can automatically import bookmarks from other browsers like Internet Explorer, Safari and Opera.

Friends who use Macs tell me they have a removable backup device that backs up their entire hard drive, including programs. Is there something similar for PCs?

You appear to be referring to Time Capsule, which is an Apple hardware product that combines a hard disk and a wireless base station and is meant to work with the Mac’s built-in Time Machine automated backup feature. The answer is that there are many backup drives for Windows PCs, and that lots of them work with Macs as well. All the major hard-disk makers sell external hard disks that connect to a PC either directly, or over a network, and which come with relatively simple backup programs. Some of these programs will do complete, automated backups of everything on your PC, including applications. Even Apple’s Time Capsule can be used to back up files from Windows PCs, though it doesn’t come with Windows backup software, and setting it up for Windows is slightly trickier than doing so on a Mac.

You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox and my other columns online free at the All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

Time Machine is a key selling point for Leopard and the Mac. It is more complete, and yet simpler, than the built-in backup feature in Vista Home Premium, the most popular home version of Windows.

But Time Machine has a major drawback: It works much better on desktop Macs than on laptop models. That’s because it’s primarily designed to operate with backup hard drives you connect directly to the computer. And it’s a pain to plug a backup drive into a laptop, which can move around the house. While Time Machine will work with a remote hard disk under certain circumstances, that option requires a second Mac running Leopard, a costly condition.

Now, Apple (AAPL) has attempted to fix the problem with an unusual new companion product called Time Capsule. This is a $299 stand-alone networked gadget that packs both a giant hard disk and a speedy Wi-Fi wireless router into one slender case. It just plugs into your existing home network, and any laptop within wireless range can connect to it. It can back up multiple computers.

Time Capsule is designed to seamlessly work with Leopard’s Time Machine. But it can also be used as a wireless Internet connection, and/or a remote hard drive, for manually storing and retrieving files by Windows PCs running either Vista or Windows XP, or by Macs running Apple’s older Tiger operating system. And you can also use it with certain other backup programs, such as the ones built into Windows XP or Tiger.

In my tests over the past week, Time Capsule worked well in all of these scenarios. However, Time Capsule isn’t meant to do as many different tasks as some other networked drives.

Apple stresses that Time Capsule is a limited, targeted device meant primarily for backup — especially with Time Machine — and as a wireless base station. Unlike some other networked storage devices, like Hewlett-Packard’s MediaSmart home server, Time Capsule doesn’t allow users to simultaneously stream music or videos to multiple PCs, to easily access its contents via the Web or to stream videos to TV sets.

The $299 Time Capsule model comes with a 500 gigabyte hard disk inside, and there’s also a $499 model with hard disk that can hold one terabyte of data, or roughly 1,000 gigabytes. Both models use the same “n” class of Wi-Fi, the fastest version with the longest range. Both also work with computers equipped with the older “g” and “b” versions of Wi-Fi.

You can buy networked hard disks in these sizes for less money and simply use them with your existing Wi-Fi router. However, Time Machine won’t work with them, according to Apple. The company says the only standalone networked hard disk Time Machine can use is Time Capsule.

In my tests, Time Capsule performed perfectly with Time Machine. It also was easily recognized by several of my Windows machines running Vista and Windows XP. On all of these machines, I was able to speedily access the Internet via Time Capsule. Time Capsule can be set up to either replace or supplement your existing Wi-Fi router.

All the machines, even the Windows ones, also could recognize the Time Capsule as a remote hard disk, and save files to it and retrieve files from it. For instance, I manually copied a song, a photo and a Word document from a Mac laptop running Leopard onto the Time Capsule. On a Dell running Vista, I then opened the Time Capsule and launched that same Word document in the Windows version of Word, opened the photo in Vista’s Photo Gallery program, and played the song in Windows Media Player. This same process worked in reverse.

Apple doesn’t guarantee that Time Capsule will work with all backup programs. But it says it will work with the backup software built into Tiger and will likely work with some other backup software.

In my tests, the built-in backup program in Windows XP Pro worked fine with Time Capsule. But the built-in backup program in Vista failed. Microsoft said the problem I encountered was due to a new Vista security feature for backups that foils some remote hard disks, not just Apple’s.

Setting up Time Capsule was easy, using a step-by-step utility program that Apple supplies in both Mac and Windows versions. The device has a USB port that can be used to add either an additional hard disk or a networked printer. And it can be connected to a network via a wired connection if you don’t want to use its wireless functionality.

If you use Time Machine on a Mac laptop, then Time Capsule’s $299 price is money well spent. If you don’t, there are cheaper or more versatile solutions to the backup problem.

• Email me at mossberg@wsj.com. Find all my columns and videos online, free, at the new All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

After a week of rumor buildup and speculation, Apple CEO Steve Jobs’s Macworld keynote seemed almost subdued. He gave the crowd what it expected in terms of new iPhone apps and additional iTunes features, and then finished with the announcement it had been primed for: the MacBook Air, the world’s thinnest laptop computer.

Jobs began his keynote a few minutes past 9 a.m. For the barely contained crowd (Moscone West was packed), the aura of anticipation was heightened by rock and hip-hop music blaring over the speakers. After the lights came down, the crowd hooted and yelped. Then, after a Mac Guy/PC Guy video (about what a terrible year it was for PC guy, who finishes by telling Mac Guy he’s “gonna copy everything you did in 2007″), Jobs took the stage in his uniform black turtleneck and blue jeans, declaring: “Clearly something is in the air today.”

After noting that 2007 was an “incredible” year, an “extraordinary” year, capped by the “revolutionary” iPhone, Jobs announces that he will address four things:

1. Leopard:

   This was the most successful release of Mac OS X, Jobs notes, with 5 million units sold. He quotes reviews from Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal (and co-executive editor of this site), David Pogue from the New York Times and Ed Baig of USA Today.

   As for Time Machine: For backing up files, it works great, he says. Today, he’s announcing a companion product: a backup appliance called Time Capsule. Plug it in, turn it on, enable Time Capsule on all your machines: one with 500 gigabytes ($299) and another with one terabyte ($499). “We want people backing up their content,” he says. “[This] is a perfect companion to Leopard.”

2. iPhone:

   “Got some great news for you,” Jobs announces. “Today is the 200th day the iPhone is on sale. Sales of 4 million so far. What does this mean for the smart-phone market?” He quotes research: RIM had most sales (39%); Apple had 19.5%; Palm 18%. First 90 days, iPhone equaled Palm, Motorola and Nokia sales combined, Jobs says.

   SDK for the iPhone is coming in late February, Jobs continues, but: “We wanted to give something today.” He lists “great new features”: maps with location; Webclips to customize home screen; SMS messaging to multiple people; chapters capability for video; and support for Lyric.

   Map app looks much more localized, customizable; drop a pin, move a pin. Developed in conjunction with Google, Jobs says.

   SMS more than one person: With the new app, you can message multiple recipients–one click and you can send multiple messages.

   Webclips: We worked with Google on this app, Jobs notes again. The icons can be added to screen of iPhone. Jobs demos a “jiggle” function to edit Webclips and rearrange them. This feature can add up to nine home screens to the iPhone.

   How do we make maps work? Jobs asks: Skyhook Wireless, which mapped Wi-Fi hotspots and located 23 million of them. “Isn’t that cool? It’s really cool,” Jobs enthuses. Triangulation is the key, he says, noting that’s what Google is doing.

   “All of this is available today as a free update to all iPhone users,” he proclaims, to applause.

   Then, almost as an afterthought: iPod Touch. “We’ve decided to add five apps”: maps with Wi-Fi location, mail, stocks, notes and weather–all of which will be built in to new models, with a upgrade available to existing users for $20.

3. iTunes:

   “We sold our four billionth song this month,” Jobs notes, adding that on Christmas Day, iTunes sold 20 million songs. It has sold 125 million TV shows and 7 million movies.

   But, he adds, we think there’s a better way to deliver movies: iTunes movie rentals. Not like music, which you buy to listen to a thousand times. You watch a movie once. Touchstone, Miramax, MGM, Lionsgate, New Line are all on board, plus (big applause): 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Disney, Paramount, Universal and Sony. “We have every major studio supporting us: really, really great films…We’re gonna launch with 1,000 films by the end of February.” And you can watch them anywhere, Jobs notes: Mac, PC, iPhone–anywhere with broadband. When you rent, you get a 30-day window to watch a movie, with a 24-hour start/stop time frame. Plus, he notes, you can transfer them around your devices, too. Cost: $2.99 for library titles, $3.99 for new releases.

   Jobs repeats point that all movies can be moved to a different device: e.g., iPod or PC. But what about flat-screen TV? “All of us have tried,” Jobs says of that hurdle, “and we’ve all missed.” But now, he adds, we’re back with Apple TV, Take 2: No computer, but it still syncs with TV.

   The iTunes movies can also be rented in high definition with Dolby 5.1 sound. You can get podcasts, photos from Flickr and .Mac. Finally, Jobs mentions a YouTube connection: 50 million videos. So you can buy TV shows and music and play this iTunes content on TV too.

   The HD-quality option is $1 more, Jobs says: $4.99 for new releases. (Demo: Jobs shows free preview function for “Blades of Glory,” as well as an almost instantaneous download and play of movie). Full DVD quality. Then, he gives an HD demo of “Live Free or Die Hard”: “Very strong,” Jobs opines.

   TV shows: Over 600 shows, he notes, at $1.99 per episode. All can sync with PC or Mac.

   Podcasts: lot of HD podcasts, very cool. “HD content streaming free.” Shows “incredible” clip from Teton.

   For Apple TV: free software upgrade for current owners. But because “We want to make Apple TV even more accessible,” starting today, Jobs says, the new price is $229 (from $299).

   “I think we’ve got it all together,” Jobs says, noting Apple has a great working relationship with Fox. He then introduces Jim Gianopulos, chairman and CEO of 20th Century Fox Filmed Entertainment: “When you get down to it, there are two things,” Gianopulos says. “Make great movies, and give them to audience in as many ways as they want.” People want choice, he adds, viewing options, access, control and availability.

   “This is the coolest thing we ever heard,” Gianopulos says. “Music, then iPod. Phone, then iPhone. Apple does things in innovative ways. We’ve been working on DVD…[his Blu-ray mention draws applause]…But we also don’t want to deny the viewer the option of having a copy”–a physical copy of the movie. He shows first one, a take-off on “Star Wars.” “It’s an exciting beginning with Apple,” he concludes.

4. MacBook Air.

   Jobs is back: “There’s something in the air,” he repeats. “As you know, Apple makes the best notebooks on the planet. Today, we’re introducing a third kind of notebook: MacBook Air.” After comparing all subnotebooks, he announces: “There was room for improvement.”

   So, MacBook Air stats: .76 of an inch at thickest part to .16 of an inch at thinnest. “We’re talking thin here; let me show it to you now.” He picks up a manila envelope and produces the aluminum device; crowd oohs and ahs at its size. Yet it has a full 13.3-inch display; “gorgeous” Jobs says. It also has a built-in camera; full-size back-lit keyboard; multi-touch gesture function–in short, Jobs says, “We’ve taken things we’ve learned from iPhone and now they’re in our computers.”

   How did Apple do it? Three things: battery; 1.8-inch drive; 80GB hard-disk drive (or 64 SSD, as an option). The laptop’s board is the size of a pencil. “An amazing feat of engineering,” Jobs notes. “And we didn’t compromise on performance: speedy processor: Intel Core 2 duo.” Jobs mentions Apple’s great relationship with Intel; “We asked them to consider smaller packaging on their chip: They came up with the same chip in a package that is 60 percent smaller, and that’s why we were able to build the MacBook Air,” Jobs remarks.

   Then Intel CEO Paul Otellini comes onstage and delivers his take on how the two companies collaborated on meeting the challenge. In short, a commitment to innovation drove the effort.

   Bottom line: After more discussion of the MacBook Air’s features, Jobs mentions price: All these features–along with a battery that gives five hours per recharge–for $1,799. Audible “wow” from the audience.

   One other side of MacBook Air, Jobs adds: environmentally conscious: aluminum case; arsenic-free glass; mercury-free and bromide-free components, plus less packaging.

So, Jobs concludes, “The thinnest notebook in the world joins MacBook and MacBook Pro, the best in the industry.”

After a week of rumor buildup and speculation, Apple CEO Steve Jobs’s Macworld keynote seemed almost subdued. He gave the crowd what it expected in terms of new iPhone apps and additional iTunes features, and then finished with the announcement it had been primed for: the MacBook Air, the world’s thinnest laptop computer.

Jobs began his keynote a few minutes past 9 a.m. For the barely contained crowd (Moscone West was packed), the aura of anticipation was heightened by rock and hip-hop music blaring over the speakers. After the lights came down, the crowd hooted and yelped. Then, after a Mac Guy/PC Guy video (about what a terrible year it was for PC guy, who finishes by telling Mac Guy he’s “gonna copy everything you did in 2007″), Jobs took the stage in his uniform black turtleneck and blue jeans, declaring: “Clearly something is in the air today.”

After noting that 2007 was an “incredible” year, an “extraordinary” year, capped by the “revolutionary” iPhone, Jobs announces that he will address four things:

1. Leopard:

   This was the most successful release of Mac OS X, Jobs notes, with 5 million units sold. He quotes reviews from Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal (and co-executive editor of this site), David Pogue from the New York Times and Ed Baig of USA Today.

   As for Time Machine: For backing up files, it works great, he says. Today, he’s announcing a companion product: a backup appliance called Time Capsule. Plug it in, turn it on, enable Time Capsule on all your machines: one with 500 gigabytes ($299) and another with one terabyte ($499). “We want people backing up their content,” he says. “[This] is a perfect companion to Leopard.”

2. iPhone:

   “Got some great news for you,” Jobs announces. “Today is the 200th day the iPhone is on sale. Sales of 4 million so far. What does this mean for the smart-phone market?” He quotes research: RIM had most sales (39%); Apple had 19.5%; Palm 18%. First 90 days, iPhone equaled Palm, Motorola and Nokia sales combined, Jobs says.

   SDK for the iPhone is coming in late February, Jobs continues, but: “We wanted to give something today.” He lists “great new features”: maps with location; Webclips to customize home screen; SMS messaging to multiple people; chapters capability for video; and support for Lyric.

   Map app looks much more localized, customizable; drop a pin, move a pin. Developed in conjunction with Google, Jobs says.

   SMS more than one person: With the new app, you can message multiple recipients–one click and you can send multiple messages.

   Webclips: We worked with Google on this app, Jobs notes again. The icons can be added to screen of iPhone. Jobs demos a “jiggle” function to edit Webclips and rearrange them. This feature can add up to nine home screens to the iPhone.

   How do we make maps work? Jobs asks: Skyhook Wireless, which mapped Wi-Fi hotspots and located 23 million of them. “Isn’t that cool? It’s really cool,” Jobs enthuses. Triangulation is the key, he says, noting that’s what Google is doing.

   “All of this is available today as a free update to all iPhone users,” he proclaims, to applause.

   Then, almost as an afterthought: iPod Touch. “We’ve decided to add five apps”: maps with Wi-Fi location, mail, stocks, notes and weather–all of which will be built in to new models, with a upgrade available to existing users for $20.

3. iTunes:

   “We sold our four billionth song this month,” Jobs notes, adding that on Christmas Day, iTunes sold 20 million songs. It has sold 125 million TV shows and 7 million movies.

   But, he adds, we think there’s a better way to deliver movies: iTunes movie rentals. Not like music, which you buy to listen to a thousand times. You watch a movie once. Touchstone, Miramax, MGM, Lionsgate, New Line are all on board, plus (big applause): 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Disney, Paramount, Universal and Sony. “We have every major studio supporting us: really, really great films…We’re gonna launch with 1,000 films by the end of February.” And you can watch them anywhere, Jobs notes: Mac, PC, iPhone–anywhere with broadband. When you rent, you get a 30-day window to watch a movie, with a 24-hour start/stop time frame. Plus, he notes, you can transfer them around your devices, too. Cost: $2.99 for library titles, $3.99 for new releases.

   Jobs repeats point that all movies can be moved to a different device: e.g., iPod or PC. But what about flat-screen TV? “All of us have tried,” Jobs says of that hurdle, “and we’ve all missed.” But now, he adds, we’re back with Apple TV, Take 2: No computer, but it still syncs with TV.

   The iTunes movies can also be rented in high definition with Dolby 5.1 sound. You can get podcasts, photos from Flickr and .Mac. Finally, Jobs mentions a YouTube connection: 50 million videos. So you can buy TV shows and music and play this iTunes content on TV too.

   The HD-quality option is $1 more, Jobs says: $4.99 for new releases. (Demo: Jobs shows free preview function for “Blades of Glory,” as well as an almost instantaneous download and play of movie). Full DVD quality. Then, he gives an HD demo of “Live Free or Die Hard”: “Very strong,” Jobs opines.

   TV shows: Over 600 shows, he notes, at $1.99 per episode. All can sync with PC or Mac.

   Podcasts: lot of HD podcasts, very cool. “HD content streaming free.” Shows “incredible” clip from Teton.

   For Apple TV: free software upgrade for current owners. But because “We want to make Apple TV even more accessible,” starting today, Jobs says, the new price is $229 (from $299).

   “I think we’ve got it all together,” Jobs says, noting Apple has a great working relationship with Fox. He then introduces Jim Gianopulos, chairman and CEO of 20th Century Fox Filmed Entertainment: “When you get down to it, there are two things,” Gianopulos says. “Make great movies, and give them to audience in as many ways as they want.” People want choice, he adds, viewing options, access, control and availability.

   “This is the coolest thing we ever heard,” Gianopulos says. “Music, then iPod. Phone, then iPhone. Apple does things in innovative ways. We’ve been working on DVD…[his Blu-ray mention draws applause]…But we also don’t want to deny the viewer the option of having a copy”–a physical copy of the movie. He shows first one, a take-off on “Star Wars.” “It’s an exciting beginning with Apple,” he concludes.

4. MacBook Air.

   Jobs is back: “There’s something in the air,” he repeats. “As you know, Apple makes the best notebooks on the planet. Today, we’re introducing a third kind of notebook: MacBook Air.” After comparing all subnotebooks, he announces: “There was room for improvement.”

   So, MacBook Air stats: .76 of an inch at thickest part to .16 of an inch at thinnest. “We’re talking thin here; let me show it to you now.” He picks up a manila envelope and produces the aluminum device; crowd oohs and ahs at its size. Yet it has a full 13.3-inch display; “gorgeous” Jobs says. It also has a built-in camera; full-size back-lit keyboard; multi-touch gesture function–in short, Jobs says, “We’ve taken things we’ve learned from iPhone and now they’re in our computers.”

   How did Apple do it? Three things: battery; 1.8-inch drive; 80GB hard-disk drive (or 64 SSD, as an option). The laptop’s board is the size of a pencil. “An amazing feat of engineering,” Jobs notes. “And we didn’t compromise on performance: speedy processor: Intel Core 2 duo.” Jobs mentions Apple’s great relationship with Intel; “We asked them to consider smaller packaging on their chip: They came up with the same chip in a package that is 60 percent smaller, and that’s why we were able to build the MacBook Air,” Jobs remarks.

   Then Intel CEO Paul Otellini comes onstage and delivers his take on how the two companies collaborated on meeting the challenge. In short, a commitment to innovation drove the effort.

   Bottom line: After more discussion of the MacBook Air’s features, Jobs mentions price: All these features–along with a battery that gives five hours per recharge–for $1,799. Audible “wow” from the audience.

   One other side of MacBook Air, Jobs adds: environmentally conscious: aluminum case; arsenic-free glass; mercury-free and bromide-free components, plus less packaging.

So, Jobs concludes, “The thinnest notebook in the world joins MacBook and MacBook Pro, the best in the industry.”