As anyone who has visited the internet within the past week knows, today was another of Steve Job's famous product announcement conferences. The event which has seen the same ridiculous level of speculation as past events, took place today at 10:00 Pacific time and brought us two new Apple products.

The long-rumored and highly anticipated new iPods play video on a 2.5-inch, 320 x 240, 260,000 color TFT display. The new iPod features realtime decoding of MPEG 4 and H.264 video at 30 frames per second (FPS). The video iPods come in two configurations. A 30GB model with a $299 price tag, and a 60GB for $399. The new iPod holds up to 15,000 songs, 25,000 photos or over 150 hours of video and is available in either white or black designs. Users can connect the new iPods to a television via the Apple iPod AV cable.

The 30GB model is 31 percent thinner than the 20GB model it replaces, according to Jobs. And the 60GB model is 12 percent thinner than the 20GB model, he added.

Apple also unveiled an updated iMac G5.

The new iMac ships with a remote control that allows users to view video content, listen to music and view videos without needing to be right in front of the computer. It also ships with a built-in version of Apple’s iSight, a video webcam that up to now has been available only as an add-on peripheral.

The new iMac G5 has a more slender profile than its predecessor — up to 1/2 inch thinner and 15 percent lighter. It also features new software as standard issue: Front Row and Photo Booth.

Front Row is what interacts with the simple remote control Apple now includes with the iMac. Front Row can control DVD and iMovie playback, and gives users a way of watching QuickTime movie trailers, as well as music videos and television shows purchased from the iTunes Music Store using iTunes 6, also announced today.

The new iPod represents just the begining of Apple's assault on portable media convergence. There are many people disappointed by the lack of HD on the new pod, but realistically, HD doesn't fit with the iPods form factor. As nice as it would be to see everything (such as downloadable movies and such) available right now, this is just the first step and we have to understand that.

Apple today has released a solid, albeit basic entry into the as of yet muddled personal media player segment. Not everything everyone wants to see is there yet, (and it's still not even on the basic audio side) but for the price, the new iPods offer exceptional value and beat out anything any other company has on offer.

Once again, the mad scramble by everyone else to catch up will ensue.