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.

So here we are. It’s time for Macworld 2008. Refresh your browsers and get ready for an exciting morning. The keynote starts at 9 AM PST.

8:15 AM: People are beginning to get press badges for the keynote. No one has been allowed in yet, as far as I know.

8:50 AM: Press is about to be let in to the Center.

9:00 AM: People are in the Center now, Coldplay playing while we wait for the Stevester.

9:05 AM: Starting the keynote in a minute or so..

9:13 AM: Lights beginning to dim.

9:14: Get a Mac Ad playing..

9:14: Steve is on stage, talking about Leopard selling 5 million copies, almost 20% of installed base has upgraded.

9:17: Microsoft Office 2008 is shipping as of today.

9:19: Time Machine is good, but not good enough for notebooks. New product announced: Time Capsule

9:19: Time Capsule is Airport Express with build in hard drive for backups.

9:20: Two versions announced: 500 gb - $299, 1 TB - $499.

9:20: Showing Mac/PC ad for Time Machine

9:21: Second thing: iPhone

9:21: iPhone been out on market for 200 days, 4 million sold. 20,000 sold per day average

9:23: iPhone holds around 20% of Smartphone market in US

9:25: Talking about SDK coming out in February, “we wanted to give everybody something today too”… New features announced: Web Clips, Maps with GPS location, home screen customization.. etc, (just like 1.1.3 firmware)

9:28: Still demoing all the different features, SMS texting, etc.

9:30: Showing “Add to home screen” feature

9:31: Up to 9 Webclips on your home screen at a time

9:33: Showing off Locate Me feature on Google Maps, uses Google and Skyhook wireless

9:34: Update 1.1.3 is available today.
9:35: Mail, Maps, Stocks, Notes, and Weather are now available for iPod Touch (finally). $20 upgrade for iPod Touch users (WTF?)

9:35: Third Thing: iTunes

9:36: 4 billion songs sold as of last week, 20 million sold on Christmas day. 125 million TV shows sold. 7 million movies.

>

9:37: iTunes Movie Rentals

9:38: Every major movie studio is on board, Touchstone, Miramax, MGM, Lionsgate, Newline, Fox, WB, Disney, Paramount, Universal, Sony.

9:40: Over 1000 movies available. Watch on Macs, PCs. all iPods and iPhones on the market.

9:40: Watch the movies instantly.

9:41: Library titles are $2.99, New Releases $3.99.

9:42: Launches today in U.S., International is later in the year. Updates will follow for iPods/iPhones and iTunes.

9:45: Apple TV take two, no computer requirement, rent movies, DVD and HD + 5.1 Surround sound. Audio and Video podcasts, and photos from Flickr (woo) and .Mac.

9:46: Syncs with iTunes, HD rentals are $4.99, 100 titles available today

9:47: Showing demo of Apple TV

9:49: Preview movies from interface, see what other renters of that movie have rented.

9:51: Showing a scene from Die Hard, third time we’ve seen Justin Long today.

9:52: Searching through iTunes Movies

9:53: Showing off new UI for Apple TV

9:56: Showing Photos feature, stream directly off of .Mac servers

9:58: Showing Flickr on Apple TV, really nice looking.

10:00: Flickr causing some technical difficulties.. demo is now over, reviewing the features

10:01: Apple TV update is a free software update. Price has been dropped $70 to $229. New software update will be out in two weeks.

10:02: Welcoming CEO of Fox to stage, Jim Gianopulos.

10:05: Apple is reinventing the movie rental model

10:07: Talking about DVDs, Family Guy DVD has a iTunes compatible copy.

10:07: Stevester is back on stage.

10:08: Fourth Thing: There’s something in the air..

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?

10:18: Paul Otellini, CEO of Intel taking stage, talking about processor size.

10:19: Steve back on stage

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

10:25: Showing ad for Air

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

10:29: Steve–First two weeks of 2008, we have updated MAc Pro, introduced Time Capsule and Macbook Air, updated iPhone, iPod Touch, and Apple TV, and added movie rentals for iTunes.

10:31: Randy Newman about to perform

Well, that seems like it is it. Thanks for all of you who stayed for the whole thing, and an overview of all the new products will be up this afternoon.

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.

Happy New Year! It’s 2008, and that means Macworld is in about two weeks. Unfortunately, I will not be attending (Apple Reporter doesn’t meet the requirements for a media organization), but I will keep up with the big stories from Macworld, including Steve Job’s keynote on January 14th. Also, if readers wish to inform me of any news they’ve picked up on, you can email me at kristianfreemanATgmailDOTcom.

Products

2007 was a big year for Apple. All of us who have been waiting for the moment that Apple really broke into the mainstream were ecstatic when iTunes had reached 3 billion downloads on July 31st. We were amazed when the iPhone was released on June 29th to rave reviews. And like always, we were happy to see that the iPod was/is the best MP3 player out on the market, thanks to the release of the third generation iPod Nano, sixth generation iPod (classic), and iPod Touch.

Reputation

In 2006, Apple was pretty much known for the letter “i”. There was the iPod, iTunes, the iMac, if you saw something that started with that lower-case “i”, it had to do with Apple and one of their products. This year, Apple was more than just the creator of the iPod. Apple’s market share in the computer industry rose to 8.1%, and it is now the third most-selling computer vendor in the United States. With the release of the iPhone and new iPods, Apple’s stock (AAPL) rose to the highest they have been in 4 years this December. 2008 looks to be a great year for Apple’s reputation, if they continue on the streak they’ve been going on so far.

Macworld

Like I said earlier, Macworld is in less than two weeks. With the expected announcement of the Macbook Slim and a 3G iPhone, Macworld is sure to be a big hit. The Slim, one of the most anxiously awaited products in Apple’s lineup (behind any new iPhone, of course), will probably be one of Apple’s best-selling laptops, assuming it is announced. And since AT&T’s CEO Randall Stephenson has already been quoted as saying the 3G iPhone is in the works, it would be surprising if it wasn’t announced at Macworld, but more surprising if it wasn’t announced this year.

Apple has a lot going for them, and with another year of high sales, it seems they can do no wrong. 2007 was my first year of being an Apple fan and a Mac user, and I am eagerly waiting 2008 and the new products I can hopefully get. As a reporter, I’d like to say congratulations to Mr. Jobs and Apple in whole for another good year. Keep on keepin’ on.

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

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.

First off, a number of people have criticized the part where I wrote “though I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the best features are Leopard only”. Note I am NOT in any way an Apple app developer, and I assumed that perhaps they would use Core Animation in the game. Andrew in the comments notes that Aspyr is merely porting the game, and not rewriting it completely, so the chance of new features is not probable.

The system requirements, which were not there at time of posting, have apparently now been added, as Gneekman pointed out in the comments. They can be found here, towards the bottom of the page. As suspected, it is Intel-only.

Thanks for all the Diggs everyone.

The Digital Lifestyle, a “24-hour video coverage site of Apple News, Rumors, and lifestyle”, as it is described on the site, is a purported online channel that is exclusively Apple-related.

So far, I’m not impressed with the video quality. When I first “tuned” into it, as they would say on the website, I was treated to a mock iPod commercial of Steve Ballmer dancing around with his Zune. Note, this was during a segment of “funny examples of Mac commercials being made fun of”, but still, I was expecting something more useful, such as the Quick Look tutorial later shown during the hour. Apparently, according to the website, they only have two actual shows, those being “Gary’s Garage”, a show about vintage technology, and “root access”, a show featuring an former Apple Genius. The site also has links to popular podcasts such as Webb Alert, featuring Morgan Webb, and CommandN, featuring a variety of hosts.

TDL has the potential to be something great, but for now, I’m not entirely impressed. If anything, it could have the potential to at least be a repository of Jobs’ keynotes.

Apple has posted their Black Friday deals for this year up on the Apple Store. While there are no extravagant deals on the expensive items, there are many small price cuts that are sure to appeal to a variety of shoppers.

Here’s a list of some of the most important cuts (note: these are not all of them):

• Macbook, save up to $101, now from $1048
• iMac, save up to $101, now from $1148
• Apple Bluetooth Headset, save up to $21, now from $108
• iPod Nano, save $11, now from $138
• iPod Shuffle, save $11, now from $68
• iPod Classic, save $31, now from $228
• $100 off Office 2004 with mail-in rebate, and with purchase, only a $6.95 upgrade fee to Office 2008

For all the great deals, either visit the Apple Store today, or download this simple image containing all the deals below.

The Online Apple Store for Mexico has now been added to the Apple website. For those in Mexico who want to get their iPod or Mac fix, it’s now easier than ever. Apparently they are also offering prizes for potential shoppers, specifically a Macbook everyday and an iPod Nano each hour. Any Spanish-speaking readers want to translate?

Quicksilver, the popular Spotlight replacement, has been released as an open source effort. If you have been using Quicksilver and are interested in downloading the source code, it can be found here. More info on the app itself can be found here.

After dropping the “Android” bombshell, Forbes has info on the prototype phone built by HTC for Android. 

 Look familiar? That’s because this picture has been floating around the web for a few weeks prior to Android’s announcement. Apparently, the “Dream”, as it is known by HTC, has many cool features, some of which are outlined by Forbes:

“It is thin, about 3 inches wide and 5 inches long, and features a touch-sensitive, rectangular screen… the screen is also time-sensitive: Hold down your finger longer, and the area you’re controlling expands. The bottom end of the handset, near the navigational controls, is slightly beveled so it nestles in the palm. The screen also swivels to one side, revealing a full keyboard beneath. (The screen display changes from a vertical portrait mode to a horizontal display when someone uses the keyboard.)”

Overall it looks pretty great, but why isn’t Verizon jumping in on this? They’re the biggest cellular provider out there, and with T-Mobile and Sprint both having the gPhone and Android available, and AT&T having the iPhone, looks like us Verizon users are stuck with Motorola **ZR’s.