Wednesday, October 20, 2010, 10:00 am

Apple to stream today's 'Back to the Mac' event live [u]

By AppleInsider Staff

Apple has announced that it will offer a live Web-based stream of today's "Back to the Mac" event from its Cupertino, Calif., campus, where the company is expected to introduce new MacBook Airs and an updated version of the iLife suite [updated with live link].

Today's event will begin at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, 1 p.m. Eastern. It can be streamed from Apple.com on a Mac running Safari and Mac OS X 10.6. Snow Leopard. It will also be available to users of an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad running iOS 3.0 or higher.

Apple noted the event will be broadcast using its "industry-leading HTTP Live Streaming" technology, based on open standards.

This will mark the second straight event that Apple will stream live to users around the world. The company also offered a live broadcast of its iPod-centric event on Sept. 1, where the holiday lineup of iPods and new Apple TV were introduced.

Apple previously provided a webcast of its keynote events years ago, but stopped doing so in 2005. The change in for the last two events may have been inspired by the Wi-Fi meltdown that occurred at the iPhone 4 unveiling, when Chief Executive Steve Jobs had difficulty showing off the company's latest handset because there were too many Wi-Fi hotspots in the Moscone Center.

Jobs asked members in the audience if they could turn off their Wi-Fi devices, but many did not comply, and Jobs was unable to demonstrate some of the features of the iPhone 4. The CEO said there were 570 Wi-Fi base stations within the auditorium, disrupting connectivity.

For those who can't access the stream, AppleInsider will have full, live coverage of today's event.