MacMegasite

Here are my predictions for Macworld 2009:

• Snow Leopard If it isn’t released, Apple will at least announce a release date. Apple *may* add some user features to make it an attractive update.
• iLife and/or iWork updates I don’t believe that iMovie will be moved online, although it may be able to take advantage of other computers on the network for rendering using XGrid. I think there will be an online version of iWork similar to Google Docs. Applications like iMovie & iDVD will most likely take advantage of Snow Leopard features such as using the GPU to speed up rendering.
• Mac Mini There will most likely be a new Mac Mini, with a lot of the technology introduced in the new MacBook line. It will almost certainly use DisplayPort instead of DVI. It might provide easy access for hard drive & RAM upgrades like the new MacBook & MacBook Pro, although that may be just my wishful thinking.
• iMac Minor update, probably a speed bump or quad-core processor and adding DisplayPort instead of mini DVI. No design change.
• Mac Pro May also receive a speed bump, new processor (16-core maybe), DisplayPort.
• MacBook Line A Unibody 17″ MacBook Pro?
• AppleTV Possibly new software with official support for Hulu and/or Netflix streaming.
• iPhone New software. If there is an iPhone Nano, it will be a stripped down model which probably won’t allow you to install additional applications from the app store at a much lower price ($99?).

Around midnight Pacific time last night, 30GB Zunes everywhere began restarting and locking up at their boot screens. Reports have swamped official forums and fan sites, and Microsoft has yet to officially comment on the reason for this pre-New-Year’s Zune apocalypse, saying only “We are aware that customers with the Zune 30GB are experiencing issues with their Zune device. We are actively working now to isolate the issue and develop a solution to address it. We will keep customers informed on next steps via the support page on zune.net (zune.net/support).”

I suspect it’s related to Microsoft’s DRM.
Update: It’s a leap year bug.

Maximo’s iP-HS2 iMetal® Isolation Headset for iPhone is a great, inexpensive in-ear headset with a built-in microphone & control button that provide the full functionality of Apple’s standard headset.

It’s one of the more reasonably priced headsets with a list price of $69, although you can find it for as little as $36 from Buy.com and other online retailers.

The iP-HS2 includes 3 sets of ear tips (small, medium, and large) for the best fit, a 2 ft. extension cable, which I found unnecessary since the cable is slightly longer than the one from Apple’s standard earbuds, and a carrying pouch.

Unlike Apple’s earbuds, the microphone and control button are separate. The microphone is in the middle of the right earbud cable, exactly as it is with the Apple earbuds, but the control button is at the point where the two earbud cables join.

The sound quality and isolation is excellent. I was able to listen at a comfortable 50% level while blocking outside noise. I highly recommend the iP-HS2 as an alternative to Apple’s standard or in-ear earbuds for the iPhone.

Buy it from Amazon.

SEATTLE – Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI), the national outdoor gear and apparel retailer, and Zumobi, the innovative mobile media company, today announced the availability of the REI Snow Report, a free application that lets iPhone, Blackberry and Windows Mobile users get instant information about conditions at ski resorts and mountains in the United States, Canada, Europe and elsewhere. Available now as a free download, the REI Snow Report also provides one-touch access to REI’s website, featuring winter sports products and helpful information on recreating outdoors.
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iPhoneKicks is a digg clone specifically for iPhone developers. If you’re looking for articles related to iPhone development, iPhoneKicks is the place to go.

AppViz helps iPhone developers download and visualize their application sales. Avoid the hassle of manual daily downloads. Instead, download your data from the web with the click of a button. Spend your time building applications, not building spreadsheets.

AppViz is available from Ideaswarm for $20 with a free 30-day trial.

Michael Mistretta has created a free Christmas Wallpaper both for desktop and iPhone, which you can download from his site.

Until now, it was difficult for iPhone developers to give free promotional or review copies of their applications, requiring an Ad-hoc copy to be built especially for the device it was to run on. Thankfully Apple listened to developers and came up with a much easier way.
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Apple has sent the following email to iPhone developers:

Dear iPhone Developer,

iTunes Connect, the tool you use to manage your applications and access your reports, will be unavailable from December 24 through December 27, 2008.
Access to iTunes Connect is scheduled to resume on Sunday, December 28.
Best regards,

iPhone Developer Program

The long awaited iPhone firmware version 2.2 has appeared in iTunes. You can install it now by clicking the “Check for Update” button in your iPhone Summary panel. The iPhone 2.2 update includes:

- Google Street View in Google Maps
- Public Transit and Walking directions in Google Maps
- Display the address of a place when you drop a pin
- Share your location via email
- A fix for a scheduled fetching of email bug
- Improved stability and performance of Safari
- Podcasts can be downloaded right to the iPhone over WiFi or 3G
- A decrease in call failures/dropped calls
- Improved sound quality of visual voicemail messages
- The ability to return to the main home iPhone screen with the click of the home button
- The ability to turn on and off the keyboard auto-correction feature

Also, Apple has released iTunes 8.02. The update is available in your Mac OS X software update.

iTunes 8.0.2 improves stability and performance and provides a number of important bug fixes, including:

- Addresses a quality issue creating MP3s on some computers.
- Fixes a connectivity issue with the iTunes Store when using some Internet proxies with Mac OS X.
- Improves accessibility with VoiceOver.

[Information provided via MacRumors and VentureBeat]