The 2008 WWDC Keynote begins in about 15 minutes, and the internet is abuzz with predictions for what Apple is planning. Here are some of my predictions for what we will see at this year’s WWDC 2008 Keynote.

• 3G iPhone: Duh. While the first generation iPhone has only been around for about a year or so, the demand for a 3G iPhone is extraordinary. There has been way too many “leaks” for Apple to deny the fact that they are making a 3G iPhone. My expectations: standard 16GB, maybe a 32GB as well, starting at $199 and $299 respectively.
• “Snow Leopard“: While I’m not entirely sure about this one, I believe there has been enough development for the iPhone in order to necessitate some sort of “developer” edition of Leopard. Maybe it is a less memory-intensive version of Leopard; built for pure developing. Price will be $99, offered at WWDC immediately following the keynote, available across Apple stores starting tomorrow.
• Mac Tablet: It is probable that Apple has been in the works making a Tablet for a while, maybe even before the iPhone. Meant for graphic designers, engineers, etc. Starts (begin extreme speculation) at $1499, 2.4GHz, 2GB RAM.

That’s my short list of predictions. I won’t be liveblogging the liveblogging like I normally do (I’m in Biology class right now) but I will be reading the liveblog at MacRumorsLive and posting important announcements as they are.. announced.

It’s been.. 3 minutes since the keynote has ended and the Macbook Air is already on the Apple Site

10:09: Macbook Air. “The World’s Thinnest Notebook”

10:10: Comparing to Sony TZ notebooks, 3 lbs — too much compromise with other features.

10:12: Macbook Air is 0.16″ to 0.76″ thick. It fits inside an envelope.

10:12: Magnetic Latch, 13.3″ widescreen

10:13: LED backlit, iSight, Macbook-like keyboard but with light sensor, multi-touch trackpad

thanks to Gizmodo for the pic

10:15: Showing off trackpad, moving windows, rotating windows, etc.

10:16: 1.8″ hard drive, 80 GB hard drive standard, 64 GB SSD as an option.

10:17: 1.6 GHz standard, 1.8 GHz option — kinda slow, isn’t it?

10:20: 45 Watt MagSafe, 1 USB 2.0 Port, Micro-DVI, Audio Out

10:21: 802.11n + Bluetooth 2.1

10:22: New feature called Remote Disc for installing things via CDs and DVDs, Macbook Air has no optical drive, Superdrive accessory for $99.

10:23: 5 hours of battery life

10:24: 2GB RAM standard

10:25: $1799, ships in two weeks, preorder today

10:27: Environmentally friendly, recyclable case, mercury and lead free display, BFR free circuit boards, etc.

A quick check shows that the Macbook Air 1.8 GHz with 64GB SSD drive on the Apple Store is $3098. Ouchies. That’s pretty much specced out, besides the addition of a Superdrive (USB plug-in) for $99, and Ethernet Adapter for $49.

An overview of the Air will be written this afternoon. Check in later for it and more overviews on the new iPhone/iPod Touch features, Apple TV features, and iTunes Movie Rentals.

As some of you may know already, I will not be attending the Macworld Keynote this year. Unfortunately, the requirements for a press outfit to attend the keynote does not allow Apple Reporter to attend. Specifically, there must be two writers at Apple Reporter, and it must get at least 1k readers each day. Obviously these aren’t goals that are being met right now, but perhaps next year Apple Reporter will be there.

But onto the keynote. Tomorrow at 9 AM PST (12 PM EST), Steve Jobs will begin the annual keynote that has the entire internet predicting. Since we won’t be there, we will be Liveblogging the Liveblogging as it were, and by that I mean liveblogging what I’m hearing in the Apple blogs around the internet.

It’s going to be a busy morning for the entire blogosphere. I’d like to thank Engadget, TUAW, and Gizmodo in advance, as they will probably be the blogs I’ll be liveblogging. Obviously those sites will have more info since they will be there, but I hope that you will stick around to read it here.

For those uninitiated to the Keynote procedure, it is a good idea to refresh this page every 30 seconds to a minute to get the most up to date announcements. Check back at this page tomorrow before the keynote begins so you can stay on top of the announcements right from the beginning. Overviews of the product announcements will be posted in the afternoon after the keynote. Have fun reading!

MACWORLD LIVE COVERAGE CAN BE FOUND HERE

NetNewsWire, one of the best RSS readers for Mac OS X, has been updated to version 3.1, and along with that, the software is now completely free.

NetNewsWire was created by Brent Simmons, and version 1.0 was released in February of 2003. In 2005, a company called NewsGator purchased Ranchero Software, Simmons’ company, and their application NetNewsWire. In June 2007, NetNewsWire 3.0 was released, and added integration with iLife products and Growl support, as well as a new interface. As of version 3.1 (released January 10, 2008), NetNewsWire is completely freeware, and offers support with Bloglines and NewsGator’s RSS syndication service, as well as a tabbed browser built-in and an interface quite similar to Apple’s Mail client. Brent was also the creator of Marsedit, a popular blogging client for Mac OS X that was purchased by Red Sweater Software in February 2007.

According to an Ars Technica interview, Simmons, creator of NNW, is “totally excited about NetNewsWire going free! It’s an ideal situation, a developer’s dream come true: I get paid to work on software I love, and everybody can use that software. How sweet!” It appears that NewsGator is now offering all of their RSS readers for free, such as NetNewsWire and FeedDemon.

NetNewsWire has been briefly covered before on Apple Reporter in the post “What’s on your Dock?” where it was shown that I myself use NetNewsWire. I use it to gather all my Mac related feeds (my news source for writing), such as Macworld and TUAW.

NetNewsWire can be downloaded at the NetNewsWire homepage at NewsGator.

It was announced today that Andrea Jung, CEO of Avon Products, Inc. has joined Apple’s Board of Directors. Jung is the most recent addition to Apple’s Board of Directors, the previous being Dr. Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google.

The announcement is important because it shows that Apple has diversity in its higher ranks. Throughout the years, Apple has been criticized for their lack of diversity in the higher-levels of their corporation. This addition shows that Apple is not just run by a bunch of shriveled up old men. From the Stevester himself:

““Andrea is a strong CEO and marketer and we look forward to benefiting from her insights and experience as a member of Apple’s board. Andrea will be our eighth board member, and I think she will add a new dimension to our already lively board discussions.”

Here’s a little info about Jung straight from the Apple press release:

“At Avon, Andrea is responsible for developing and executing all of the company’s long-term growth strategies, launching new brand initiatives, developing earnings opportunities for women worldwide, and defining Avon as the premier direct seller of beauty products. She was elected president of global marketing in 1996, an executive vice president in 1997, president and a director of the company in 1998, chief operating officer from 1998 to 1999, chief executive officer in 1999 and chairman of the board in 2001. Previously, she was executive vice president of Neiman Marcus and a senior vice president for I. Magnin.

Andrea is a magna cum laude graduate of Princeton University, is fluent in Mandarin and was the first woman elected chair of the Cosmetic, Toiletry, and Fragrance Association in March 2001, a role she held until early 2005.”

The article at Apple then goes on to praise Avon for its beauty products (iLotion, anyone?) and then of course, praising themselves (”Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s..”).

The current (January 7th, 2007) members of the Board of Directors at Apple are as follows:

Bill Campbell

Chairman and former CEO

Intuit Corp.

Millard Drexler

Chairman and CEO

J. Crew

Albert Gore Jr.

Former Vice President of the United States

Steve Jobs

CEO, Apple

Andrea Jung

Chairman and CEO, Avon Products

Arthur D. Levinson, Ph. D.

Chairman and CEO

Genentech

Dr. Eric Schmidt

CEO

Google

Jerry York

Chairman, President and CEO

Harwinton Capital

Thanks to money.cnn.com for providing the image provided to them by Avon.

Boy Genius Report reports (odd wording) that Jay-Z, who has recently retired as President of Def Jam Records, is apparently entering into a deal with Apple to start an iTunes record label. While the topic of an iTunes record label has been floating around for some time, it would seem that now would be the right time for Apple to launch their own label.

What’s interesting is that until around now, it would’ve been impossible for Apple to start their own label. The debacle between Apple Computer and Apple Corps. has begun to settle, and according to Paul McCartney, The Beatles’ collection of music will be on iTunes in the first quarter of 2008. This decision could be one of many settlements between the Apples, another of which apparently would be to allow Apple Computer to pursue a place in the record industry, at least more of a place then they have made with iTunes. According to Charles in the BGR comments:

“Apple Corps, the Beatles’ company, has an agreement since 1991 with Apple Inc. that Apple Inc. can never get into the music industry. They tried to sue Apple Inc. over iTunes, but the judge ruled in Apple Inc.’s favor. If Apple Inc. were to start a record label, that would be crossing the lines of their agreement.”

If the rumors are true, this would signify an entirely new venture by Apple, and perhaps would trump many, if not all of the other announcements at this year’s Macworld.

Google, without any warning, launched its new interface for the Google homepage for the iPhone. According to Techcrunch, the new version was rumored to be released sometime this week, and yesterday it appeared without any notice.

The new interface is customized with that all too familiar interface that iPhone users are sure to be familiar with by now. The new interface shrinks the Google homepage down to the searchbar and a menu at the top, with a series of Google Apps and Services available with just a click, such as Gmail, Calendar, Reader, and more.

Without owning an iPhone, it is hard to test the new page. Anyone with an iPhone confirming this works? It should look like the picture below.

(thanks to Techcrunch for the image)

Dear Apple,

We love your products. Some of us get our paychecks writing because of you and your products. The amount of care you put into your products is visible, sometimes, but other times it just feels like you build the products that we so graciously buy half-heartedly.

I myself have had numerous problems with my Apple purchases. I received my Macbook Pro January of this year, and from day one I had a problem. I realized that it would not play DVDs. I promptly sent it in to AppleCare, and within two weeks I had it back. Since then, I have not experienced much problems with it, until recently, when a slew of problems have all shown up instantly.

The Macbook Pro, since its creation and release in early-2006, has experienced numerous issues, and I myself have fell victim to a few of them. About 4 months after I purchased the Macbook Pro, the fan began to act up. After the installing of a third-party application to detect the fans’ speed and temperature, and it was then that I discovered that one of my fans was completely unresponsive, and that the entire computer was relying on only one fan.

The next issue I can’t blame on Apple entirely. In the Northwest during the Fall, we are victim to strong winds and along with that, power outages. As I left for school in the morning, I left my Pro plugged in to the Magsafe adapter, while it was asleep. Throughout a series of power outages, my Pro stayed charged, but asleep. When I used it on a Friday night, in my bed while it was unplugged, I shut it off. The next morning, I realized my Macbook Pro was completely inoperable unless plugged in. I, for the second time, called AppleCare and began the lengthy process of sending my Mac in for repair. I’m not blaming this issue on you, however, this event spawned a new set of problems.

My grandmother, who is quite tech-savvy, let me borrow her white Macbook while my Macbook Pro was in repair. I have had it for roughly 10 days, and already there has been a problem. I have treated it excellently, almost exclusively keeping it in a case when it was not sitting on my desk. But the plastic trim at the end of the Macbook, near the trackpad, is slowly coming off, leaving a disfigured area near the trackpad.

Around the same time, I also noticed that the Magsafe adapter that came with the Pro, which as you will remember I have had less than a year, is beginning to malfunction. I have discovered that I am not the first to experience problems with it. The wiring around the Magsafe end of the power brick is now exposed, and is only functional around 33% of the time.

Note, as I mentioned earlier, that people receive their paychecks from writing about you and your products. I am one of those people. I blog about exclusively Apple news at applereporter.com. But my experiences with Apple products have been less than satisfactory, to say the least. My next item on my Wish List, which I am vigorously saving up for, is an iPhone. But will I be subject to the same problems on the iPhone as I have been with my Macbook Pro? I hope not, because both are beautiful and quite functional products, but based on my previous and current experiences, I’m not sure I can safely trust that my iPhone would be durable enough to last even past a few months.

I urge you Apple, please take the time to actually work on your products. Do not be so eager to ship things out quickly, think back to the original Macintosh, which Apple spent years on creating before they released it. I am not saying that the products right now are horrible, on the contrary, I believe them to be some of the most useful and aesthetically pleasing products I have ever seen in my life, but instead, I ask that you think about the quality of your products and how, with a little bit of time, your consumer model could change from the generic fanboy who will buy your products, regardless of the quality of the products themselves, to the regular computer user, who should not have to be afraid of bad quality.

Sincerely,
Kristian Freeman
http://www.applereporter.com

Microsoft’s long in the making Office 2008 suite has been previewed a little bit more on the Microsoft site, and there are some new features that have not yet been seen. One of these is iPod and iPhone integration with Powerpoint, for easy sharing of presentations using the photo viewer. Also announced is compatibility with the Apple Remote, and other features, all of which can be viewed here.

Aspyr, primary porter of popular PC games to the Mac, has announced that the ported version of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock will be coming to the Mac December 10th. No word on system requirements yet, though I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the best features are Leopard only.

The game will come with a USB-operated guitar controller, similar to the ones used for other systems. The price has not yet been announced either. Is anyone planning on purchasing it?

Update: The article has hit the front page of the Apple section of Digg, and along with that a lot of new information from assorted people has come in.

Apple covertly released the newest version of Final Cut Express this morning. Boasting 4 main new features, the video editing software is now available for the low price of $199. The new features advertised are:

Google is, at this moment (9:41 AM PST at time of post), announcing their new OS, “Android”. The rumors of a new gPhone are false, but Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google says,

“Imagine not just one Gphone, but a thousand Gphones as a result of the partnerships… the many other people who will be joining the open initiative. We forgot to tell you that it’s available next week, and the terms are the broadest in the industry.”

More info is being released by the minute, but we know as of now that the “Android” OS is a Linux-based, but is instead:

… the first truly integrated mobile operating system. … What’s particularly notable is that it’s available under a mobile open source license…

Yes, there is now Linux on your phone. Apparently you will easily be able to write apps and completely customize the OS for yourself. No word on all the supporters of the OS yet, but a list has gone out of the speculated ones:

MEMBERS OF GOOGLE’S ALLIANCE

Aplix, Ascender Corp., Audience, Broadcom Corp., China Mobile, eBay Inc., Esmertec, HTC Corp., Intel Corp., KDDI, Living Image, LG, Marvell Technology, Motorola Inc., NMS Communications, Noser, NTT DoCoMo, Nuance Communications Inc., Nvidia Corp., PacketVideo, Qualcomm Inc., Samsung Electronics, SiRF, SkyPop, SONiVOX, Sprint Nextel, Synaptics, TAT - The Astonishing Tribe, Telecom Italia, Telefónica SA, Texas Instruments, T-Mobile and Wind River Systems Inc.

9:58 AM PST: Eric Schmidt in response to “What’s it mean to the average consumer?”, “This is fundamentally a developer platform announcement… the quick way of saying it, as a result of this platform you can do amazing things with mobile devices…” Interesting. Will there be a Android dev team like the iPhone dev team for people to easily customize their OS?

10:01 AM PST: Conference call finishes, Schmidt in response to “Is there any coincidence of the timing with OpenSocial and this?”, “Google announces products when they’re ready; OpenSocial apps will run well on Android…” Thanks to Engadget for the liveblogging so the rest of us know what is going on. A general overview of this announcement will be up soon.

Apple announced that Leopard sold 2 million copies on its opening weekend, far outselling Tiger, which was previously the best selling Mac OS. It’s pretty obvious that Apple is starting to make an impact in the computing world. The interesting bit is that Vista sold 20 million the first month, using simple mathematics, we can compute that Leopard will sell 20 million copies too (2 million divided by 3 times 30). Of course, that’s estimating, but with an 34% growth in Mac sales and 2,164,000 Macs sold this quarter (according to Apple 4th Quarter sales results), it is safe to say that even if Leopard doesn’t sell as well as Vista, it is still doing pretty well.

So if you haven’t heard, Leopard, also known as Mac OS X 10.5, comes out tomorrow. Some of us, I am sure, will be out at the local Apple Store to test drive it and presumably get their own copy.

But onto the software itself. Boasting over 300 new features, Leopard appears to be the most full-featured Mac OS X update yet.

So far, the reviews have been pretty solid. I’ll have my review up soon, I hope.

How many of you are planning to get Leopard?

Also, you may have noticed that I’m new here to the site. I’m Kristian and I’ll be taking over Apple Reporter duties. I hope to meet you all through comments, etc.

Apple announced several additions to the iPod, iPhone and iTunes today at a news conference in Cupertino.

iPods 

The iPod Shuffle retains its storage capacity but ads several new colors.  Price remains $79.

The completely redesigned iPod Nano loses its tall slender look in favor of a short version of the classic iPod, but adds a 2″ screen for watching videos and sharing photos.  Nano also adds cover flow, a popular feature on recent versions of iTunes and the iPhone, enabling users to flip through images of their iTunes cover artwork. Both 4Gig and 8Gig options are available at $149 and $199, respectively.

The 6th Generation iPod, now called iPod Classic offers a smoother design and dramatically increased storage.  The iPod Classic is now available in 80Gig and 160Gig versions, which hold up to 40,000 songs and up to 250 hours of video.  It seems that it will not be long before an iPod that holds the entire iTunes library is introduced. I’d love to hear from any reader who has actually filled a 20Gig iPod with music, let alone 160Gig.  Prices for the 80Gig and 160Gig versions are $249 and $349, respectively.

For everyone who wanted an iPhone for everything but the phone (myself included), the wait is over.  iPod Touch offers many of the same features of the iPhone: touchscreen iPod, brilliant 3.5 inch diagonal screen, video capabilities for movies and TV shows (although not any from NBC), and, most importantly, WiFi access.  The built in Safari browser allows users to access full web pages and web services.

iPhone

The wait is over - for an iPhone price reduction and storage increase.  There is something to be said about being the first to own an iPhone, and I have drooled in envy for every one I have had the opportunity to play around with.  But I knew why I was waiting.  The updated iPhone increases minimum storage capacity from 4Gig to 8Gig, and reduces the price a whopping $200 from $599 to $399.  Take this into consideration:  Apple’s buzz campaign for the iPhone, which began in January and culminated in June with the release of the device netted Apple an extra $200 million in margins.  Not bad. They were obviously able to sell the device for the lower price at launch, but chose to milk the “early adopter” craze of mobile phone contract-breakers, gadget freaks, and even people who didn’t know what the iPhone did - but had to have one anyway.  That strategy paid off, big.

iTunes

The iTunes WiFi Store was launched today, enabling iPhone or iPod Touch users to access over 6 million songs from any WiFi connection.  Users can browse the iTunes catalog, listen to 30 second previews, and purchase and download songs to their device.

Posted by Leigh Fatzinger On Message Blog 

apple, ieverything, itunes, leigh fatzinger, iphone, ipod nano, ipod touch, ipod classic, wifi, itunes wifi, iphone wifi, ipod nano