Apple ships its streaming audio, printer sharing, portable base station: Apple announced today that it is shipping its $129 AirPort Express, a 7-ounce base station that has no external power cord in its default configuration, and which combines a single Ethernet port, an audio output jack for streaming music from iTunes (Mac and Windows), and a USB port for sharing printers across Mac OS X, Windows XP, and Windows 2000. This is Apple's most Windows-friendly hardware, ever.
The company said it has 80,000 pre-orders for the unit, which is listed as shipping in 3 to 4 weeks from the Apple Store online. Amazon.com says their stock will be available July 20.