Leander Kahney of Wired insists in his latest article that Hollywood requires Apple to use the Pentium D processor (which has onboard DRM) for an upcoming movie service:

I guess Apple will move to Intel, and they’re relying on a fast, seamless emulator to do it.

But it’s really about Hollywood: Apple’s looking to transform the movie industry the same way the iPod and iTunes changed the music business.
[...]But why would Apple [move to Intel]? Because Apple wants Intel’s new Pentium D chips.

Released just few days ago, the dual-core chips include a hardware copy protection scheme that prevents “unauthorized copying and distribution of copyrighted materials from the motherboard,” according to PC World.

Apple—or rather, Hollywood—wants the Pentium D to secure an online movie store (iFlicks if you will), that will allow consumers to buy or rent new movies on demand, over the internet.

Deep Thought’s Take: And the award for “Pure speculation being passed to readers as pure fact” goes to Leander Kahney!

Seriously, though. How about that? Kahney combines one rumor--Apple to Intel--with another--Apple Movie Store--to create an article in which he seems to treat both as something that will happen without a doubt. I’d like to see his crystal ball. “Could” should be used in place of “will” in this piece. “Will” implies concrete confirmation. There may be some confirmation of the Intel rumor, but there’s never been anything confirming the movie store one. Ever.

[article revised 8:36 PM PDT, tweaks to wording; 8:40, another tweak. Too much keyboard mashing today; I’m having trouble being coherent right now ]