If you’re interested in some cool Apps, check out the MacWorld Best of Show 2008 list, including
Hardware:
Software:
Today Apple released “The World’s Thinnest Notebook”, the MacBook Air, positioned between the MacBook and MacBook Pro. 0.4 to 1.93 cm (0.16 to 0.76 inches). The thickest part of the MacBook Air is thinner than the Sony TZ. It fits in an envelope and has a 13.3″ widescreen display with an LED backlight, iSight built in, MacBook keyboard (with black keys) but with an ambient light sensor, multi-touch trackpad which uses multi-touch input (to pivot photos, zoom etc.).1.6GHz (US$1799) to 1.8GHz (+US$300) Intel Core 2 Duo Otellini CPU (60% reduced in size!), 1.8 inch 80Gb Hard drive with a 64Gb solid state disk as an option (+US$999). 45W MagSafe power adapter, 1 USB 2 port, Micro-DVI, Audio Out, 802.11n, BlueTooth 2.1/EDR. An external SuperDrive is available. “Remote Disc” software allows the MacBook Air to “borrow” optical drives on a Mac or PC. 5 hours of battery life and 2Gb of memory standard. Shipping in 2 weeks time.
From an environmental perspective the display is mercury and lead free, and the circuit boards are free of BFR (Brominated Fire Retardant), and the retail packaging is 56% smaller than the MacBook.
Apple have announced a free Apple TV software update available in 2 weeks time (why the wait, is it not finished yet?) that allows you to rent movies from your TV screen without a computer required. It has DVD quality, HD and Dolby 5.1, video and audio Podcasts, along with Photos from flickr and .Mac. It also synchs with iTunes. HD rentals are US$4.99 with 100 titles available today. Movies (including Star Trek 
can be previewed and also can display what ‘other renters also rented’.
Screensaver photos can also be automatically downloaded from .Mac galleries, and songs purchased from the iTunes Store onscreen.The Apple TV price has been lowered to US$229
After announcing that iTunes has sold 4 billion songs (20 million on Christmas Day), 125 million TV shows, and 7 million movies, Steve Jobs today announced the availability of iTunes Movie Rentals (for US users only!) with content from Sony, Universal, Touchstone, Miramax, MGM, Lionsgate, Newline, Fox, Warner Bros, Disney and Paramount.This will include over 1000 movies available 30 days after DVD release. Watch on Mac, PC, iPod or iPhone within 30s start time (assuming you’ve got decent broadband), and movies available for watching within 30 days but must be watched within 24 hours of starting to watch. US$2.99 for library titles and US$3.99 for new releases
Steve Jobs has announced Time Capsule, an Airport Extreme with built in 500Gb (US$299) or 1Tb (US$499) hard drive
If you’re up early looking for the keynote coverage (especially if you’re in GMT+9), then you can check out The Unofficial Apple Liveblog (they’ve also got a Twitter feed).Alternatively there’s a feed from Engadget, including a translation in Spanish.Newly on the scene there’s also SteveNoteLive which promises to include pictures.Also, #macrumors on irc2.tecknohost.com if you remember what IRC is :)Also don’t forget JoyOfTech’s handy Unofficial MacWorld Expo Survival Kit.
Apple have released new octocore Mac Pros
Ars Technica have photos from the independent developers’ party. Wow, random people I ran into at parties last year are actually known entities :)MacSlash reports that there’s a new keynote Bingo form available for download. Or you could repurpose this drinking game from the Macworld SF Keynote.
MacWorld has an article which details software for adding Leopard-like features to Tiger, including creating widgets from a portion of a webpage, multiple virtual desktops, iChat special effects, better searching than Spotlight, and backups.
