Macworld: Pre-Keynote Musings

While Aric and the rest of the gang are covering CES, I'm down in San Francisco covering the Macworld Expo, where everyone is waiting with bated breath to see what Phil Schiller (yes, Phil Schiller!) will be pulling out of Apple's goodie bag from the last Macworld Expo keynote by Apple... ever. Sadly, I've been relegated to an overflow media room, but I'll be pouncing on any new products as soon as the keynote address ends with its signature musical performance (will it be John Mayer or Randy Newman making a final appearance, or will Big Phil bring in some new blood?). As of 30 minutes before the big show starts, here are some of the prevailing pre-keynote rumors and leaks:

• The unibody design comes to the 17-inch MacBook Pro, but it will come with a non-removable battery.

• A new Mac mini is sure to be announced (there hasn't been a new rev since late 2007), and it might come with dual-hard drive capabilities with storage up to 1 TB.

• Apple's iTunes Store is shedding the DRM after deals signed with the remaining members of the Big Four labels (Sony BMG, Universal, and Warner).

• Thanks to Apple.com, we know that iWork 09 is a lock (and most likely iLife as well)

• John Gruber of Daring Fireball says a demo of the next Mac OS (Snow Leopard) is a lock, and trots out his usual hopes and dreams:

  What I expect is for Apple to make old features look new, by updating the system-wide appearance theme. I've made this prediction several times in the past and been wrong, but eventually I'll be right: it's time for the last vestiges of the original Mac OS X 10.0 "Aqua" theme to go. Scrollbars and push buttons, for example, remain largely unchanged since the Mac OS X public beta in 2000. My bet says iTunes-style scrollbars everywhere, darker window chrome, and a light-text-on-dark-background menu bar.

Check back later for all the shiny new Apple-y goodness.

--Agen G.N. Schmitz