• 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.

Firefox 3.0 RC (Release Candidate) 1 was released yesterday. Potentially, this could be Firefox 3 or if changes are needed, the first in many RCs. From the release notes:

“Released: May 16, 2008

This Firefox 3 Release Candidate is a preview release of Mozilla’s next generation Firefox browser and is being made available for testing purposes only.

Preview releases are published to collect feedback from Web developers and our testing community before advancing to the next stage in the release process. The final version of Firefox 3 will be released when we qualify the product as fully ready for our users. Users of the latest released version of Firefox should not expect all of their add-ons to work properly with this preview release.

Please see below for an extensive list of features and enhancements found in Firefox 3, as well as known issues and frequently asked questions. As always, we appreciate your feedback either through this feedback form or by filing a bug in Bugzilla.”

New features in Firefox 3 include:

• Gecko 1.9: A new graphics layout engine used to improve standards compliance.
• Themes for each OS: Mac OS X, Linux, Windows XP, Windows Vista
• Redesigned download manager, bookmark system, password manager, plug-in manager, and others.

Firefox 3.0RC1 is available for download here. Remember, this is a test release! Use at your own risk!

Nashed is being held on $250,000 bail at Rockingham County jail, while Garrand is at Essex County Jail in Middlesex, Massachusetts under charges of “fugitive from justice”. From the Eagle Tribune:

Garrand and Nashed were taken into custody at their homes yesterday afternoon without incident.

“These (phones) are in very high demand,” said Deputy police Chief William Ganley.

Police wouldn’t say whether the men were selling the phones online or how sophisticated their operation was. Investigators were first contacted by the store in early January. Salem police Sgt. Steve Malisos dug through store records and spent three months on the case.”

As much as we all love the Apple Store employees, it seems some of them are just bad Apples… (bad, I know). This reinforces the truth about the iPhone craze and really all Apple products in general. It seems that Apple products cause a kind of craze, and this story is really the same as when you read about children getting their iPod stolen, or a man getting killed over his hot new tech product.

Either way, these two guys are making my dream job look really lame; if they are really looking to make some more money, they should’ve tried making their own Apple or finding the next big thing in tech, stealing from your place of work and reselling the goods is definitely lame, especially when it’s an iPhone. Potential iPhone buyers, careful where you buy that iPhone: Who knows if it’s one of the 332 stolen iPhones.

[via]

“I wasn’t going to post anything, but since there is a lot of confusion surrounding the 1.1.3 jailbreak, I thought I’d clear a few misconceptions up. The iPhone-Elite team and the iPhone/iTouch Dev teams have recently merged and collaborated on a software jailbreak for v1.1.3. I’ve posted some screenshots here and here. Overall, it took the work of about seven members, including myself, to craft this jailbreak - it was a true team effort. It has been previously speculated that this followed up a previous hardware jailbreak, but this is not the case. The software method we used involves some fancy command-line work, however a few other team members have already begun writing scripts to perform most of the difficult stuff, dramatically reducing the amount of time and brain power you’ll need to invest. As to why it hasn’t been released yet, we’re actually a bit torn about the subject. Some of us would like to see it released, but at the end of the day it really does make sense to hang onto the method until next month when Apple’s SDK is released.

According to the post, the jailbreak will apparently not be released soon, apparently not until past the SDK is released (end of February). This could be disappointing for those who upgraded to the 1.1.3 firmware from jailbroken devices, but we can hope that when the SDK is released there will be no need for jailbreak applications.

The last jailbreak for the iPhone and iPod Touch was 1.1.2, which required a downgrade to 1.1.1 and back to 1.1.2. There was also a variety of methods to jailbreak the iPhone and iPod Touch after this, including the TIFF exploit in Safari. With the 1.1.3 update, Apple has made it more difficult to jailbreak the devices, not unlike the catch-up game that PSP users are playing with Sony right now.

[via iPhone Atlas]

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.

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.

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 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.

“Starting at just $2,999, the new Xserve has up to two Quad-Core 3.0 GHz Intel Xeon processors for 8-core performance, a new server architecture, faster front side buses, faster memory, up to 3TB of internal storage and two PCI Express 2.0 expansion slots for greater performance and flexibility. “With the latest Intel processors and no client access licenses, Xserve offers unbeatable server performance and value for under $3,000,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing.”

Not much else to say, I don’t know much about Xserve. It is interesting to note that the Mac Pro and Xserve were both updated in the middle of the CES (Consumer Electronics Show), because of Intel’s announcement that the Penryn is now shipping with computers. If you haven’t caught it yet, the Mac Pro and Xserve contain the new Penryn chips.

Remember, only 6 days till Macworld. If Apple is announcing products right before it, they must have enough things to keep us entertained at the Jobsnote.

Yeah, it’s pretty much awesome looking. The new features, straight from the Mothership themselves:

“two of Intel’s new 45 nanometer Quad-Core Xeon processors running up to 3.2 GHz, powerful new graphics and up to 4TB of internal storage, offering the ideal system for creative professionals, 3D digital content creators and scientists.”

Here’s the basic configuration, without any features added:

• Two 2.8 Quad-Core Intel Zeon Processors
• Two GB of RAM (2 x 1GB)
• One 320GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s Hard Drive
• One ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB Video Card
• One 16x SuperDrive
• Apple Mighty Mouse and New Apple Keyboard
• Mac OS X Leopard

The new basic configuration is $2,799 shipped, or as low as $67 a month with financing.