Same as last year, I'm here to bring you the latest of round the web-updates and information on the shiny new goodies to be unleashed this year at Macworld 08. The show starts at noon EST, and feel free to keep refreshing the page to get the updates as I'll edit this post as soon as something new comes in. I'll be getting most of my info from Gizmodo live coverage. You can always check em out for more specs, but remember to hit me up for the commentary.

• 11:30 - The Apple store has been down for the longest pre-keynote period, ever. This could mean a total store workaround, a lot more products, or perhaps some new functionalities are being installed. This could also mean that someone jumped the gun, but whatever, the downtime always marks the start of of the reality distortion field for the day. Productivity is grinding to a halt as when noon hits, I'm not doing squat but hitting refresh.

[Official Lunch for Macworld 08: Taco Salad with extra cheese FTW]

• [12:08] - Its Started!! People are being let into the 4000 seat auditorium and Coldplay, once again, can be heard over the shuffle.
• [12:13] - Coldplay, Kanye, now Feist.. I wonder who picks the seating music?
• [12:14] - Feist cuts out, new get a mac ad, and here comes Steve!
• [12:15] - “Welcome to Macworld 2008. We’ve got some great stuff for you. There’s clearly some great stuff in the air today.” Jobs starts the retrospective on all the products from last year, iPhone, iPod Touch, iMac. Leopard a great success.
• [12:20] - Four Points to Discuss. The first was Leopard. Developers are working well with it and over 20% of Mac base has upgraded. Office 2008 now shipping. New Feature of Leopard is Time Capsule, Airport extreme base stations with "server grade" internal harddrive. This allows you to back up your mac wirelessly.
• [12:22] - 500 GB version - $299, 1 TB $499
• [12:23] - On to iPhone.. paraphrased "We sold a whole fuckin bunch!" 20K per day average. SDK in Feb, w00t!
• [12:26] - New apps today for iPhone, Maps with location, Webclips, Customize home screen, SMS multiple people, Lyrics.... looks like the iPhone is moving into its useful stage now.
• [12:33] - Web clips allow you to create up to 9 home screen bookmarks, will remember where you zoomed or panned.
• [12:38] - Free update today for iPhones, iPod Touch gets Maps, Mail, Stocks, Notes, and Weather for a $20 one time fee.
• [12:40] - iTunes Movie Rentals: Touchstone, Miramax, MGM, Lionsgate, Newline, FOX, WB, Disney, Paramount, Universal, Sony all gonna play nice to make this work.
• [12:42] - Over 1000 movies, those 30 days after DVD release, watch anywhere instantly over broadband. 30 days to start watching, 24 hours to finish. Library Titles: 2.99 New Releases: 3.99
• [12:45] - In the US, rentals available today, international gets it later in the year. SUCK it UK!
• [12:47] - Apple TV take 2. No computer required, rent movies from Apple tv in DVD and HD quality, view photos from .mac and flickr. syncs with iTunes, natch. Oh, and there are 100 HD rentals for 4.99 available today.

[get photos of the Keynote via Macrumors]

• [12:55] - Steve's Demoing the iTunes rental service. Downloads appear to be fast and quality on point with specs. Create photo screen savers with Apple T[V from .mac galleries and flickr.
• [1:03] - Free software update for existing Apple TVs. Entry price point reduced from $299 to $229.
• [1:05] - Software update comes in two weeks
• [1:07] - 20th Century Fox was the first studio to sign up for movie rentals. Jim Gianopulos, Chairman and CEO of Fox is taking the stage, talks about future of Video rentals, DVD's and the availability of included digital copies, like on Family Guy: Blue Harvest DVD.

• BOOM!!!!!!!!!

• [1:10] - Macbook Air
• [1:12] -"World's thinnest Laptop." Talk about competition specs and how 3lbs is a great weight, but it can compromise features and functionality. MacBook Air is 0.16" to 0.76". The thickest part of the MacBook Air is thinner than the thinnest part of the Sony. It fits inside a envelope.
• [1:17] - Magnetic Latch with 13.3" widescreen display. Display is LED backlit, macbook style keyboard, ambient sensor. Essentially a Calista Flockhart macbook. Track pad is multi-touch FTW. rotate and resize photos and other things via pinch and finger pivots.
• [1:20] - 1.8" Hard Drive, 80GB, option for 74GB SSD for your the cost of your firstborn child. 1.6 GHz Standard, 1.8 GHz Option, all Intel Core 2 Duo.... as Intel CEO, Paul Otellini, takes the stage.

• [1:24] - 45 Watt MagSafe, 1 USB 2.0 port, Micro-DVI, Audio Out, 802.11n + Bluetooth 2.1/EDR, no word of lasers. Nope, no optical drive, but a Superdrive accessory is available for $99. However, special software lets you hijack "borrow" a mac or PC's optical drive.
• [1:27] - 5 Hours of Battery Life, 2Gb standard Memory, $1799 base. Pre-order today, ships in months weeks. Full Aluminum case (recyclable), first mercury and lead free battery, blah blah, green, blah, hippie, blah

I'm really dissapointed no mention of the standard macbook being aluminized... its the only product still in lucite and plastic

• [1:30] - Jobs mulls over how in just two weeks of 2008, they have updated the mac Pro, the Apple tv, iPhone and iPod Touch, Rentals, MacBook Air... sounds like a one more thing is coming.
• [1:36] - Randy Newman takes the stage (Where the fuck is John Legend?) to perform and I lose my erection.
• [1:38] - Newman has lost his marbles as he sings a song about the USA and Stalin and the Supreme Court.... great. Will someone get the crazy man off stage so we can have the "one more thing?"
• [1:40] - Apple.com is updated with information regarding the keynote.
• [1:45] - And its over.

I'm sure all three of my blog readers are interested in seeing the final chapter of the Dunny Fiasco, and I'm interested in writing it. I'm also sure that my bloggers on WNYMedia are really eager to get a few new features rolled out. This all could happen I suppose... if Verizon didn't suck balls and Vaspian was a crappy T1 provider... So while the intertubes were down at the office, I missed a few of these interesting web bits:

• Glo-Paint creaters, MPK, has come up with self-luminous micro particles called Litrospheres™ which they say are inexpensive, non-toxic, and will stay on for 12+ years (half-life point) continuously -- without having to be plugged into any power source [peswiki.com]
• I was waiting for the Gizmodo review on the Plastic Surgeon clamshell case opener, and they said it's "fantastic." [Gizmodo]
• nerdsniping. wow. [xkcd]
• This is like digg for fashion and design trends. great coding and functionality for a beta site. +chic! Will elaborate on this more. [chictini]
• Fanboys don't know how to act now that Apple has made the move from niche to mainstream [Datamation]
• Girls from Buff State: Carry mace and a brick [Buffalowatchdog]
• Apple says you can haz 5 iPhones this xmas. [Homotron]
• And now a trailer for a film called "Look," which was supposedly filmed using only surveliance cameras, should hit theatres this Friday. [video below]

[flv width="400" height="300"]http://buffawhat.com/files/video/loothemovie.flv[/flv]

Even Google seems to think its all offishal, as I was looking for some graphics to mash up for this post....

• Is today the day that we'll finally get a decision on the merger? Last week The Eck and the 1221 (not to mention the internets) were abuzz with rumors that approval from the Justice Department was imminent... ...Many believe that the DOJ will issue its announcement before the bell on Monday, mostly based on Bear Stearns' word that the deal will be approved as soon as last Friday or today. Of course, no one knows for sure except for the DOJ itself... but what do you think? Is today the day? {orbitcast}

Grumpybear has XM, its great. I'm always logged into the online radio page at work, the other office, etc. Sirius? eh, one friend has it, got it for Stern, and I'm not sure if he still uses it now he has an iPhone as his Lord and saviour. The big deal here isn't so much the merger. Satellite radio is so cheap and affordable, there isn't any fear of jacked up service and costs for the consumer. In fact, this is great... dual services with one device, merged services, whatever. Total win for the consumer. Finally, Sirius customer could possibly one day get their money's worth the day they hear Opie and Anthony (yes, Fuck Stern). The outcry is really from terrestrial broadcasters, who may not be able to cope with the gravitational influence of such a super radio giant. I say this is signs of change. Terrestrial anything is going the way of the CD: great as a backup, but not really the easiest way to consume. Let's see what happens. Perhaps hands will shake by the closing bell. Orbitcast via Engadget

It's been a little while since we've seen a new iTunes ad, but Apple is back and featuring Mary J. Blige. Backlit with her backup iPod silhouettodancers, the ad perfectly shows the new bright side to Mary; no more tears, no more, pain, she's just fine. One thing to note is everytime the iPod gets an update, the white silhouettes in the commercials reflect the subtle changes to design. TUAW notes the absence of an iPhone; I kinda enjoy that only the classic iPod gets featured, it's still iconic.

• Queen (featuring Work That by Mary J. Blige) iTunes ad
• Mary J. Blige on iTunes

• You think Buffalo has an awesome music scene and cite the Goo Goo Dolls being mildly famous in the late 90’s as evidence of it.
• Fidel Castro hats seem like a good idea.
• You think the glare people give you when you’re constantly pulling out your iPhone is one of jealousy.
• You think of being a regular at the old Pink as a life goal.
• You fail to see the shocking similarities between the quality of the products being sold at the Elmwood Art Festival and Walden Avenue Super Flea.
• You’re completely oppose to chain restaurants and refuse to eat at them on principle. Thankfully, Starbucks is just a coffee shop and it doesn’t count.
• You pretend you don’t eat at Pano’s.
• You pretend you do shop at the Lexington Co-Op.
• Two words. Emo glasses.
• You read Artvoice for something other than News of the Weird.
• You think a fishing store will destroy the city but have no problem shipping the Bills to Canada.
• You think JP Losman should be the Bills starting quarterback. Not because you think he’s better suited for the job (you don’t actually watch football), but because you like his haircut and he lives in your neighborhood.
• You remind everyone how great it is you drive a Hybrid just in case one of them wants to give you that medal you feel you’ve earned for it.
• You won’t shut up about how great the city is but you don’t have the balls to send your kid to the public schools
• You refuse to drink anything but wine and microbrews at a bar and turn your nose up and anyone who doesn’t but you’ll still drink Pabst Blue Ribbon to be ironic.

There are few more, so check out the post on WNYMedia. John you are the best at what you do.

• Via - WNYMedia 

For the record, this isn't ALL from Google, thirty-four companies have come together to help develop the first globally open, comprehensible mobile OS platform. They are the Open Handset Alliance, and the project is called Android. Stay tuned for the breakdown after this introduction from a few of the co-creators. Notice the abundance of handsome bears collaborating in this video, this has to be a good thing, eh? [youtube width="600" height="501"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6x0zZsqI3s[/youtube] Alright.

the industry today:

• A cell phone has a operating system just like your laptop does. It boots, sets up its service and even runs out of memory and freezes just like your laptop does. But what it can't do is offer you the freedom to truly put whatever you want on your phone, "bend it to your will."
• We have Windows Mobile, Symbian, Linux(in a cut down format, but yep), Java, OSX (teh iphone), and a few others, but they all get locked down and crippled by either the phone, the manufacturer, or the service you pay for.
• There is also very little cross compatibility. I can send a file to my friend's little nokia over bluetooth with my RAZR, but I can't do the same thing to my other friend's more advanced enVy.
• And I don't want to talk about Verizon's lockdown red OS hacks of impotence that gets tossed on near every phone with their check marked logo.
• One more thing, web browsing is sill a joke unless you are on an iPhone or a Nokia n95.

What Android will do:

• Android is a complete mobile platform, combining a robust and secure open source operating system with full functioning productivity software created to help you manage your 21st century life.
• A SDK which when unveiled on November 12, will guide developers in creating stable and transferable applications that can run across the board.
• Open source. You can't stick it to the man because there really isn't one. Ok, I'm sure Google will have a noticeable shadow in all of this, but they own your soul anyway. Give up and embrace.
• The frickin web will bust wide open as Android and the OHA will help bring the full internet to your phone.
• Since android is freely delivered to phone developers, there is no licensing costs to use the OS. This means that the consumer doesn't get raped.
• so many possibilities, just guess and that could be the future.

When will it get here?

• sooner than you think. expect T-mobile and Sprint to release the Android powered phones around the first half of 2008, maybe March.
• 3G will play a big part in delivering speed of service, and data plans may not be too unlike the iPhone's.
• International folks will get their Android on later in 2008.

read more

• Open Handset Alliance
• Press Release 

It's about goddamn time the guys did up an iPhone. Note: I do not hate iPhones, but there is something sweet and satisfactory about watching the brutal and undeniable destruction of a device that has cluttered my daily digest of feeds for over a year. watch in delight.... [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg1ckCkm8YI[/youtube]