Each of these applications, however, is really just a proof-of-concept for the "Web Media Player Framework" that Yanez is trying to create. According to Yanez, the way videos are displayed now is broken. Requiring users to navigate from page to page on multiple sites isn't as intuitive as what we're used to from television. Instead, users should be able to browse multiple videos from multiple sources from within a single player.

Writing about Hulu, Yanez says, "a video player that is capable of multi video plays is necessary for Hulu because the main complaint against embedding individual videos is that it causes the page to have endless scrolling. I believe Hulu needs to have an embeddable player unlike that of a YouTube, mainly because players like that are meant for web page viewing of short length videos and are not scalable to contain large volumes of videos."

His experimental multi video players are a solution for that problem. His goal with the media player framework is to build a single media player that is capable of sucking videos from any online source and display them in a way that is TV-like and familiar to users. Yanez also hopes to create a player that can be used on multimedia devices like the Nintendo Wii.

"My goal is to build a media player that integrates with all web video, be easy to use, have a television style feel and have capabilities to be fully integrated with multimedia devices such as the Wii and mobile phones," he writes. "The television without a doubt was one of the biggest inventions of the 20th century. I believe web video is going to be one of the biggest breakthrough's in the 21st century."

In July, when Yanez first released his Joost player, NewTeeVee suggested that Joost should hire him to create a web-based version of their player. We agree. Even better, Sling Media or Tivo should hire Yanez to create a player for the Slingbox that can suck videos off the web and put them on our TVs.

We all knew iTunes Movie Rentals were coming, all that was left for Jobs to announce were the details.

The iTunes Movie Rental store launches today in the US (later this year for the rest of the world), with rentals costing $3.99 for new releases, and $2.99 for library titles. Renters have 30 days to begin watching a movie, and then 24 hours to finish watching it once they do. Every major studio is on board, and Apple's rental store launches with over 100 titles (1000 promised by the end of February), with new releases appearing 30 days following DVD release (which perhaps indicates some hesitation on the part of studios to embrace a new format -- no surprise there).

At first glance, Netflix would appear to have a leg up on Apple. Unlimited streaming for a little as $8.99 per month is probably a better deal for most consumers than $4 per movie strapped to a 24 hour viewing window. But where Apple's system shines is in its convergence with other devices. Whereas Netflix can only stream to Windows PCs, Apple can stream or download rented movies to both the Mac and PC, as well as to any current generation iPod, the iPhone, and the Apple TV.

Jobs said in his keynote that many companies have tried to figure out how to stream movies from the PC to the TV -- Apple tried, Microsoft tried, TiVo tried, VuDu tried. All of them failed, according to Jobs. In fact, even though Jobs touted the 125 million TV shows and 7 million movies sold so far via iTunes as miles ahead of competitors, he still said they missed their sales goals. That is one of the reasons, according to Jobs, that Apple embraced the idea of rentals, and one of the reasons they revamped the Apple TV so that it could rent and stream video directly from iTunes.

Image via TechCrunch.

Jobs demonstrated the ability to browse iTunes and rent movies with a single button click directly through the Apple TV. The device can also download and stream podcasts through iTunes, sync with computer content (as before), connect to YouTube, and grab photos from Flickr and .Mac.

The Apple TV updates will be pushed to current owners as a free software update. To entice new buyers, Apple lowered the price of the device by $70.

MacBook Air

The other major announcement we all knew was coming: the Macbook Air. Speculation that Apple would release an ultrathin notebook has been flying all weekend, and Apple delivered today with one that redefines the meaning of "thin." Clocking in at just 0.16" (at its thinnest end, 0.76" at the thickest), the 3 lbs. Macbook Air sports a 13.3" LED backlit screen, 1.6-1.8 GHz Intel Core2 Duo processor, 2 GB of RAM, a 80 GB HD (64 GB SSD option), 802.11n + Bluetooth 2.1/EDR, a reported battery life of 5 hours, and no optical drive.

Drawing oohs and aahs from the crowd, the Macbook Air also has a multitouch track pad that allows for a lot of new gestures -- like rotating photos by pivoting your thumb and forefinger.

While Jobs was clearly tickled by just how thin the Air is (he introduced it by sliding it out of an envelope and then showed a TV commercial playing off that quality), he was also clearly proud of the steps that Apple has made to make the production of the machine more environmentally friendly. It is the first Apple product with a fully mercury and lead free display, BFR-free circuitry, and due to its form factor, it can ship with 56% less packaging.

Image via TechCrunch.

All that's remaining is to find out of the MacBook Air can help my vertical leap... (sneaker joke... anyone?).

iPhone/iPod Apps and Time Capsule

Jobs made two other major, albeit less buzzworthy, announcements at Macworld. After briefly mentioning his excitement over the iPhone SDK coming next month, he announced a handful of new apps for the device. These include an improved mapping application (with location finder), webclips (like bookmarks for your phone's home screen), and multi-SMS. The new apps are all available as a free software update for iPhone users.

The iPod Touch also got some love with the announcement of five new applications: Mail, Maps, Stocks, Weather, and Notes. Inexplicably, while the iPhone gets a free update, the iPod apps (which already exist on the iPhone) will cost users $19.99. That prompted engadget's Ryan Block to chide Apple for being, "SO weak." Agreed.

The first new product Apple announced at Macworld 08 was a wireless external hard drive. Time Capsule, as it is called, comes in 500GB and 1TB flavors and syncs wirelessly with OS X Leopard via its 802.11n base station to back up your files. The device will ship in February.