OK, so it's not nearly as exciting as a shiny new iMac or a Mac mini server, but the Airport Extreme Base Station and Time Capsule also received a mild update today. Both are now certified to the 802.11n specification (not draft-n), and along with this certification come improvements in antenna design, which promises 50% better Wi-Fi performance and 25% better range.

So, not earth-shattering, but for those of us who rely on complex Wi-Fi setups, having the extra range and more optimized antenna design may make or break the setup. And with many more non-geek homes adding devices that stream media in places where they never thought they'd ever need a wired network connection, better throughput can make all the difference.

Price is still $179 for the AEBS, $299 for the 1TB Time Capsule, $499 for the 2TB Time Capsule.

In the wake of our earlier post on possibly time-bombed Time Capsules, there was some confusion as to whether or not the Time Capsule would be covered under any AppleCare Protection Plan you might have. The suggestion was made in the comments to Mel's post that extended coverage would apply, but we decided to double-check.

In short, it's true. if you have an AppleCare Protection Plan that is currently in-force for a Mac that you own, your Time Capsule is covered under that agreement. In fact, there is no need for the Time Capsule to be on the same receipt as the computer you purchased. As long as the Time Capsule is owned by you and "in use" along with the covered Mac system, it is covered along with the product for which you have an existing AppleCare Protection Plan.

Of course, this does not cover any damage you inflict on the Time Capsule, and it must not be hacked or used in any way other than it was intended. In other words, don't use your Time Capsule as a doorstop and expect to get AppleCare coverage on it when it breaks.

In addition to the Time Capsule, this "in use" coverage extends to the following products:

• AirPort Extreme Card
• AirPort Express
• AirPort Extreme Base Station
• Apple-branded DVI to ADC display adapter
• Apple RAM modules
• MacBook Air SuperDrive

And, naturally, while coverage does not extend to products that are subject to their own AppleCare Protection Plans (such as an iPhone, iPod, or, of course, another computer) it does extend to a single Apple-branded display if the display was purchased at the same time as the computer you're using it with. Otherwise you need to purchase a separate AppleCare Protection Plan for the display. Clear as mud?

All of the above is contained within the terms and conditions of the AppleCare Protection Plan for North America. In addition to those actual terms, an Apple Genius I spoke with said that coverage also typically extends to Apple-branded hardware on the same receipt as the covered computer purchase, and in general he and his colleagues endeavor to extend the best courtesy they can to their customers when the situation permits. So you may, in fact, receive coverage better than the terms within the agreement itself if you are pleasant, don't yell at the nice Geniuses and say "pretty please." Complimenting their shoes is always a nice touch. They also like chocolate.

If you'd like to check to see what agreements are current, you can click here to check them out, see when they expire, and read the terms and conditions yourself. If your agreement is not registered or is not listed under your Apple ID, you can check by agreement number and computer serial number. Also, if you are not in North America, you can read the terms specific to your agreement here -- many European countries have stronger consumer protections than the US does, and longer warranties may be standard where you live.

Over at Macworld, Glenn Fleishman has an initial hands-on report about Apple's new Time Capsule combination Airport Base Station and NAS, and he's confirmed something folks were wondering about: "you can also perform Time Machine backups to drives attached to the Time Capsule via USB." This is interesting, because Apple originally said that Time Machine backups would be possible to an AirDisk (that is, an USB external drive on the regular AirPort Extreme Base Station).

Just before Leopard shipped, that feature quietly disappeared, leaving some early-adopters who had counted on that capability in the lurch. The obvious questions now are whether there's any technical reason why Time Machine to AirDisk wouldn't work on the AEBS, and whether Apple is holding the feature back just to promote the Time Capsule. In any case, it's good to know that if you get a Time Capsule you're not limited to the internal storage, perhaps making the smaller 500GB model that much more attractive.

Apple has released a 2007-001 update for the AirPort Base Station for Mac which "includes general fixes and compatibility updates for the following applications":

• AirPort Utility
• AirPort Admin Utility for Graphite and Snow Base Stations
• AirPort Disk Utility
• AirPort Disk Agent

While Apple's Support Doc says the update covers a range of AirPort Base Station software, MacUser is reporting that this one apparently only updates the latest 802.11n version (AirPort Utility 5.1, to be exact). Either way, I'm about to install it for my 802.11n-enabled station now, and I'm keeping as many fingers crossed as possible that AirPort Disk begins to actually work.

[Update: Apple's support doc is titled "AirPort Base Station Update 2007-001 for Mac" (hence my own post's clever title), and I tried specifying that this only updates software in the post, what with the bulleted list that contains nothing but software and the lack of the term 'firmware' anywhere, but to clarify: despite the mention of "AirPort Admin Utility for Graphite and Snow Base Stations" in Apple's announcement, this update allegedly only affects current software/utilities (the stuff that gets installed on your Mac) for the latest 802.11n Base Station.]

Last September we showed you how to keep your iTunes library on an external hard drive. While doing the same thing over an AirPort Disk with Apple's new AirPort Extreme Base Station sounds like it should more or less be the same situation, there are a couple of new catches to be aware of. Never fear, though - we'll outline what you need to know to truly snip the wires on your iTunes library.

First, in order to do this right, we recommend backing up your library before snipping any cables (we also don't recommend actually snipping any cables; they can be expensive to replace). If you haven't gotten into the backup habit yet, Scott's How to Back your music using iTunes 7 tutorial is a great place to start.

Now, on with the show.

I decided to jump on one of the new AirPort Extreme Base Stations primarily because both my wife and I now own MacBooks, and we both have varying levels of success at maintaining any kind of steady backup schedule. Now when I say 'varying level of success,' I mean: my wife pretty much doesn't, and I did a fairly good job back when I had an Intel iMac set up on the network to which I used ChronoSync to do incremental over-the-air backups. So what does a new AirPort Extreme Base Station have to do with our backup habits, you ask? Well, aside from the new 802.11n speeds (for which I have not quite gone ga-ga just yet), I am most interested in the new AirPort Disk feature, which allows you to plug a USB hard drive into the station for automatic mounting whenever connected to the network. Now I can have one large drive to which I can back up both mine and my wife's essentials, as well as a repository for my iTunes library to free up space for Final Cut Studio and even tinkering with Linux and (yes, sadly) Windows in Parallels for my work at our sister blog, Download Squad.

I picked up the new base station Wednesday night, which I set up to relieve our trusty AirPort Express from its duties in the living room (now we have 'tunes in the basement office! hooray!). Since it's only been a few days and I'm still waiting for UPS to bring me a bouncing baby external hard drive, I thought I would post some general first thoughts on the setup experience thus far. A more detailed report is pending, and I plan on writing up how-tos for wireless backups and using this setup for a wireless iTunes library. Until then, read after the jump for some general thoughts on my initial experience with Apple's slick new base station.

While I still need to drop $180 to get an AirPort Extreme Base Station for 'review' from Apple, Engadget just put theirs through its paces. Overall, they found that the obvious upsides were Apple's sleek design and easy-breezy setup thanks to the revamped AirPort Admin Utility 5.0. In the drawbacks category, however, were a bizarre lack - in fact a back-step for the AirPort base station - of gigabit ethernet, and less-than-optimal transfer rates, though Engadget concedes your mileage may vary, as it so often does with wireless hardware.

Engadget has also posted a hands-on gallery, which includes their own screenshots of the new Admin Utility. Strangely, they didn't say anything about some of this base station's new found abilities, such as the new AirPort Disk, one of the key features making me count my pennies in anticipation of affording one of these.