John Markoff of The New York Times speculates that the Mac mini and Apple’s focus on HD video are the company’s next steps toward the digital living room. “Onstage at Macworld Expo last week, Apple’s chief executive, Steven P. Jobs, proclaimed 2005 as ‘the year of high-definition video,’ a strange declaration from someone who was not trying to sell television sets… The Mac mini, which sells for $499, is intended to woo Windows iPod users who have been leaning toward a Mac but have been put off by the Mac’s higher prices. That did not stop speculation that, with a minimum of modification, the Mac Mini would make a compelling interactive television set-top box, placing Apple squarely in competition with TiVo and Windows Media Center from Microsoft… In an interview after his presentation, Jobs demurred. The problem, he suggested, was not that Mac TV was not a good idea, but that the cable companies are monopolies. But he did not close the door entirely.”