In its sometime role as a broadsheet hybrid of Us magazine and the New England Journal of Medicine, we have an update tonight from The Wall Street Journal on the condition of everyone's favorite iCEO. Steve Jobs, according to the story (subscription required on the web, free to read on your iPhone), is recovered from his health crisis and on track to return by the end of June. While some speculate that he might choose to surprise the audience at WWDC with a One More Thing moment, two sources for the WSJ story say that the plan is to wait a bit longer.

Steve's return is likely to be coordinated with a product launch or other public event later in June, say the sources. That event probably won't be the announcement of the next-gen iPhone, which the paper pinpoints for the keynote address on Monday with availability close to the two-year anniversary date for the original iPhone purchasers (pretty sensible; anyone who bought a first-gen for the premium price is a likely candidate to shell out for a replacement). The WSJ cites someone who has seen the new phone in person, reporting a faster processor and the expected video editing capabilities.

Equally importantly, the story points out that the long Steveless months with Tim Cook at the helm have shown investors and customers that the Apple train is still on track. AAPL is up 68% since Steve announced his leave of absence in January, vs. a 24% uptick for the NASDAQ index. Granted, Apple stock took a bit of a hit around the announcement of the leave, dipping to a low of 78.20 on 1/20, but it's up at 143.74 as of today's close.

[via Macrumors]

Welcome to the TUAW liveblog of the Macworld Expo 2009 keynote address. The keynote has ended; to read the full report click 'read more.' Quick summary: iLife 09, iWork 09, 17" MBP, and iTunes (Plus for all, tiered pricing, and buy songs over 3G). We're keeping on covering every bit of Macworld via our front page and show-specific page, so stay with TUAW.

With the October 14th Apple Notebook Event just around the corner, the TUAW blogger squad decided it was time to look into our iCrystalBalls and make a SWAG predictions about what laptop goodness will be announced by the Cupertino Kids on Tuesday. To make this extra crunchy, we're not only posting our best guesses as to what will actually be announced, but what Steve J. will announce as "one more thing".

Steve Sande

Best Guess -- The entire MacBook line will be made of aluminum, and the 15" and 17" models will get slightly faster processors and more installed RAM. If that's the only announcement, expect Apple's stock to dive even further than it has during the recent stock market freefall.

One More Thing -- The iTablet. Netbooks are selling like hotcakes, so Apple will get in on the action by coming out with a 9" tablet with a virtual keyboard and multi-touch support. Since it is all display and no keyboard, it will weigh less than two pounds. Think of an über-iPhone.

Victor Agreda, Jr.

Best Guess -- Ditto what Steve said, except I think a drop in price will happen in light of tough economic times. Despite what some analysts may babble about, Apple is interested in the long game, and that means building more market share. To stay in the game they have to get more price competitive on the low end.

One More Thing -- Again, I agree with Steve, although I wouldn't call this a tablet. More like a mini-Air with a decent keyboard (Apple has long been in favor of keeping decent-sized keyboards on smaller laptops) and touchscreen up top. I think the form factor will be something clever and surprising. If it appears at all, of course.

Robert Palmer

I think we'll see higher-end MacBook enclosures made of aluminum, and a sub-$1,000 model still made from white plastic. There's a part of me that says they won't ditch plastic altogether, because of the style factor: I bet there will be some people who still want a black MacBook. Hey, maybe there will be a black aluminum MacBook. Classy.

One More Thing -- I'm still bearish on the iTablet. I think Apple has too much invested in the iPhone as a mobile platform to try and dilute it with another form factor with a different screen size. If it's a Mac, I'm not a fan of jury-rigging traditionally mouse-driven operating systems for styluses. Personally, I just don't think there will be "one more thing." He hasn't done that in a while, especially at "themed" events (like the music event last month).

Michael Rose

I'm also fairly well convinced that the $800 MacBook (dare we call it the MacBook Jr.?) is inbound on Tuesday, although I'm not sure that the manufacturing rumors are completely on target. The mutterings about a mystery port on the new MacBook -- and a dockability patent from years past -- are starting to sound credible too.

One More Thing: I would love to see a BTO touchscreen option... and maybe a technology preview of an iTablet for delivery later in 2009.

Mike Schramm

New MacBooks are a given -- the Nvidia rumor sounds credible to me, not to mention that it's just what would push me to finally replace my old G4 Powerbook (though I'll miss my little 12" screen). "One more thing" seems like it's trending towards an AppleTV upgrade -- we've got HD content on the iTunes store, so it's time to have a set-top box that's fitting to play that content on. I'm hearing lots of Mac mini rumors as well, but I wonder if Apple will ever upgrade the mini -- it's small, it sells as-is, why break what's not broken?

Of course, as Victor mentioned in an email, "Whatever happens, AAPL will drop 10% because iUnicorn wasn't announced..." Think we're out of our minds? Let's hear your prediction in the comment section!

Dear Aunt TUAW:

Where's my September surprise? Weren't we supposed to get new hardware at Tuesday's event? Did anything in that underwhelming "Let's Rock" intro match the margins-munching product transition promised in the last financials call?

Love,

An anonymous but affectionate nephew

Welcome to TUAW's live blog of today's "Let's Rock" Apple event. We'll be metaliveblogging all the events as they happen. So sit back, grab some pretzels and enjoy as we discover what new and exciting products and services Apple will be pulling out of their steve sleeve.

We'll be metaliveblogging using the following source sites:

• Engadget
• Macworld
• MacRumors
• CNet
• Tidbits
• Giz
• Ars Technica
• iLounge

With the September 9th "Let's Rock" event confirmed at Yerba Buena, TUAW readers seem confident that we're about to see a new iPod debut. 70% of you agreed on that point.

Rumors point to a revamped nano, with a longer silhouette. This new shape makes the nano easier to hold onto without dropping, especially when running.

An updated Nike kit appears likely. Nike support is long overdue for the iPod touch and, especially, the iPhone 3G with its built-in GPS system. Rumors suggest that the update will include more biometric logging and feedback for the stats-obsessed athlete in you.

Read more below...

"But there is ... one more thing."

Those are the words that make Mac nerds' hearts flutter. Afterall, the original iMac, Mac OS X and the switch to Intel have all followed that simple phrase.

The Cult of Mac has produced a cool time line graphic depicting a history of products that have been featured as Steve's "one more thing." From the iMac on May 6, 1998 to the MacBook Air this past January, the graph features a decade of announcements. For added fun, you can click any one to watch a video clip.

Well done, Cult of Mac! Here's to hoping for an addition in the very near future.

Something interesting is hiding in 10.5.3. I don't know what it is. I don't know what it does. But if it's necessary to upgrade if you want to use the new SDK release, that means that there's a something that ties 10.5.3 to new iPhone features.

So intrepid TUAW readers-slash-detectives, what can you find lurking in that new 10.5.3 firmware release that provides new and exciting iPhone functionality? Let us know in the comments.

My completely wild pulling-it-from-the-posterior guess is something to do with AppStore support -- or maybe the iNewton -- or maybe "back to my iPhone" support -- or... No really, I have no clue. Hopefully Uncle Steve will give us something nice for Keynotemas. Until then, see if you can figure it out.

Yesterday was Memorial Day in the US, a Bank Holiday in the UK, and apparently big honkin' solid-state drive (SSD) day in South Korea.

Samsung, which provides the 64GB SSD drive that is available in a pricey configure-to-order version of the MacBook Air, announced a 256GB 2.5-inch SSD drive. While the 64GB model in the MacBook Air has been criticized for having leisurely performance, the new MLC (Multi-Level Cell) flash SATA II drive boasts 200MBps read and 160MBps sequential write speeds. Those are double the speeds of the 64GB drive.

The new model features power consumption that is slightly less than that of the 64GB drive (.9 watt in active mode, compared to 1.0 watt), as well as sophisticated data encryption.

There's no word on whether or not the new drive will show up in future MacBook Air models. The monster SSD will be widely available in September, with a 1.8-inch version expected in the 4th quarter of 2008. Does a faster, bigger, and hopefully cheaper SSD-based MacBook Air sound like something we can expect to hear Steve mention as "one more thing" at Macworld Expo 2009?

Steve thanks everybody, and we're out! Thanks for joining us. We'll be live at 7pm ET / 4 pm PT with today's talkcast covering all the announcements.

Playing "You've Got A Friend In Me."

"I'll always root against corporations, but not this one." "I actually wrote a big love theme [for Toy Story] but they cut Buzz and Woody's big love scene."

MacBook Air product page is up, as Randy is talking about CNBC and Steve's inherent humanity.

"That was about the toughest act to follow," says Randy. "I once did the David Frost show after the Flying Wallendas, and that was hard."

Wow, Randy is really going edgy with the ethnic comments about the Supreme Court. Scott says "Interesting choice."

Wow, let's have a more downbeat song for this gig, OK Randy? This is not dragging the crowd into a funk or anything, so try to darken it a bit if you could. Sing more about dictators and malaria, thanks big guy.

We're singing about America. Talking, mostly, kinda singing.

Randy is honored to be here. Might have brushed his hair, it's a pretty big room.

Randy Newman! Bingo. "You've got a friend in Apple..."

Hollywood and music... hmm.

We're reviewing now. Time Capsule, iPhone/touch updates, Movie rentals, AppleTV 2, and the skinny laptop. All in 2 weeks, and there are 50 more weeks to go. No one more thing -- but a special treat!

Laptop line includes three machines -- MacBook Pro, MacBook, MacBook Air. Very impressive indeed.



Greenpeace lady is squealing, as Steve is now giving an environmental update. Alumnum case, bromide free motherboard.

TV ad takes laptop out of an envelope. That's some interoffice mail for you right there.

$1799. 2 weeks out. Poor Nik! He was ready to buy one.



Three pounds is magnificent. 2 GB RAM standard, 80 GB HD standard.



Battery life 5 hours! Whoof.

Want to install software? New feature: all Macs or PCs in the network that have a CD mounted. Very sneaky, "Scott's MacBook" in screen shot, Scott is excited.

USB powered optical drive. But Steve thinks most people won't need it.

10:20 Smaller 75 watt power adaptor. Has a USB 2 port a micro-DV port, a headphone jack, and it comes with WiFi (n) and Bluetooth.

10:19 Paul Otellini takes the stage, thanks Steve and gives him one of the new tiny chips as a memento.

10 17 Entire motherboard is as long as a pencil, and uses the Intel Core 2 Duo 1.6 Ghz standard with 1.8 as an option, if you want. Apple has a great relationship with Intel and they turned to Intel for some help with getting the chip in the MacBook Air. They wanted the Core 2 Duo in the MacBook Air, but they needed the chip to be smaller, and Intel made it 60% smaller, which is crazy.

10:16: How did we fit a Mac in here? Steve is puzzled. They put a 1.8 inch harddrive. 80 gig is standard with an option of 64 gig solid state disk (pricey but fast).

Multitouch trackpad!! Rotate and scale pics, panning. Pinch for zoom.

10:13 Magnetic inch, 13.3" wide screen. Built-in iSight. Black keyboard, full size. Backlit!

The reveal -- it's incredibly thin.

Chris Ullrich said yesterday it fit inside an interoffice envelope -- and that's what's on the screen.

.76" to 0.16 inches thin? Ouch -- that could cut your hands!!!

Apple aiming for 3 pound machine, with better performance, full size keyboard, larger display, higher performance than Sony.

Thinner than Sony TZ, which is 0.8 to 1.2 inches.

A third notebook -- MacBook Air. World's Thinnest notebook.

10:08: Something in the air -- it's a notebook.

10:05 I'll say this for Jim; he's more compelling than Stan Sigman.

10:03 "People want easy access to movies." Homer Simpson slide. iDonut. "This is the coolest idea we've ever heard [movie rentals]."

10:02 First studio for movie rentals was 20th Century Fox. Introducing Jim Gianopulos, Chairman of Fox.


9:59 Clearly this is what AppleTV was meant to be all along. Awesome. And a free upgrade!!! Plus the new price of AppleTV is $229. Shipping in 2 weeks. By the way, credit to Nik for the pictures. Well done!

9:58 The HD skiing podcast was off the hook. Boom! Teton Gravity Research, a guy parachuting off a mountain. Yeesh.

9:58 Oops, no Flickr photo for the user slideshow! Heh.

HD podcasts, HD .Mac videos, all no computer involved.

Renting music videos now.

9:50 We're watching Blades of Glory. That's nice. Now Live Free or Die Hard in HD. So much for that helicopter.

9:46 New interface for AppleTV. "Top Movies." Star Trek has its own header.

9:43 That sound you heard was the HD-DVD coalition lead falling over and hitting his head. Christina says "Where's the DTS sound?" 5.1 Dolby will have to be enough for the rest of us. Buy TV shows, Flickr + .Mac photos all on your AppleTV.

9:42 What if I want to watch on TV? "All of us have tried." AppleTV Take 2! Now with movies. No computer is required, you can rent movies directly. Rent in DVD quality or HD!!!! Big cheers.

9:41 $2.99 to rent library titles, $3.99 for new. Demo time! Can sync movies one at a time to the iPod. Handy. Launches today! International later this year.

9:40 "So what's the deal?" 1000 films at launch in February, 30 day countdown after DVD release. Movies will be watchable immediately on streaming. 30 days to start watching, 24 hours to finish. Transfer to iPod while watching.

9:39 There's crying in the keynote -- not from us, from a nearby baby. Poor kid doesn't like movie rentals, apparently.

9:37 Studios!!! Adding Fox, WB, Paramount, Universal and Sony. Dang. "We have every major studio." All first run films.

9:36 iTunes Movie Rentals! "A better way to provide movies to our customers."

9:36 20 million songs sold on 12/25 on iTunes, 4 B songs total, 125 M TV shows, 7 M movies -- but movies, despite being ahead of everyone else, did not meet expectations.

9:35 Daring Fireball was right about iPod Touch upgrades and the accounting practices.

9:34 What about the iPod touch? Adding Mail, Maps, Stocks, Notes and Weather. Maps will include WiFi location. Webclips too. $20 upgrade! Whoof.

9:32 Chapter navigation for iPhone videos, and subtitle/audio language options. Available today as a free update for all iPhones. [cheering]

9:31 Skyhook Wireless is providing the location data, via WiFi triangulation, and Google handling the cell tower triangulation. Veddy nice.

9:31 Up to nine home screens. Very cool. Jiggly icons are a little disconcerting though.

9:30 Now Steve has a NYT button on the home screen. Sweet! Now it's time to do the wiggle. All the icons are wobbling! Creepy.

9:28 Webclips demo. Go to Safari on iPhone, going to Google to demo new iGoogle UI. Little "+" button on the browser, lets you add to home screen. Now demoing NYT.

9:27 Demo of multi-recipient SMS. Steve says "Hi."

9:26 Directions to Apple Store on iPhone. No indication of where there are ATMs along the route. Pins for maps available.

9:25 Steve is demoing location in Google Maps. "Zhuuup. There we are." Getting directions back to Apple. No, don't leave yet Steve!!

9:25 Scott admits GearLive was right about 1.1.3, offers to buy Andru Edwards a smoothie.

9:23 SDK coming in 'late February.' New features rolling out! Maps with location for iPhone. Webclips. Customize home screens. SMS multiple recipients. Chapters for video. Karaoke mode! (Lyrics displayable)

9:22: in iPhone's first quarter, RIM had 39% share, iPhone had 19.5% share. Sheesh. If you add the share of the next 3 vendors, just about 20%. That's astonishing. "When Dec. quarter numbers come out, we think we'll have done even better."

9:21 2nd product time... iPhone. Wooo. 200 days since iPhone shipped. 4 million iPhones sold. 20,000 a day. That's a lot of bling. Maybe too much. No, not too much.

9:20 Time Machine ad running. That's a lot of Justin Long, maybe too much.

9:19 Steve mistakenly says 500 MB drive, much giggling. $299/$499 for 500GB/1TB Time Capsules, shipping in Feb.

9:18 If you had "Apple ships a NAS" on bingo, you win. Backup wirelessly to one Time Capsule for all the Macs in your house.

9:18 Companion product to Time Machine! Time Capsule -- a backup appliance, an Airport Extreme with an HD.

9:17 Giggles at PC magazine rave for Leopard. Applause for MS Office 2008. "Last big app to go native on Intel."

9:16 We're quoting Walt Mossberg and David Pogue on Leopard. Woo!

9:15 Four things to talk about today. Leopard: 5M copies shipped. Most successful Mac OS X release ever. Almost 20% of installed base has upgraded -- unprecedented.

9:15 "Thank You."

9:14 Steve is here! Something in the air. We're looking back at 2007. "An awesome year for Apple."

9:14 PC & Mac video! 2007 in review. Terrible year for PC. "PC will copy everything Mac did in 2007."

9:13 lights dimming! Or Scott is having some sort of stroke.

9:10 -- VIP and press seating continues. Music is "1234." Boom!

9:08 -- Music is cover of The Smiths "Stop Me If You Think That You've Heard This One Before." A theme is emerging.

9:04 -- Nik reports that the general admission crowd is still working its way into the room. Music: Boulevard of Broken Dreams. Hopefully not an omen.

8:56 -- Seen in line: Dan Lyons, Steven Levy. Follow us on Twitter or join the IRC chat to send questions back to the show!

8:54 PT -- We're inside. Media scrum heading for seats. Coldplay on the PA, crowd shots on the monitors. Here with Scott McNulty, John Gruber, John Moltz and a whole lot of press.

----
The action starts here shortly before 9 am PT on Tuesday (12 noon ET) -- don't miss it! You'll want the chance to see how on- or off-base our keynote predictions were.

For instant updates on all our Macworld Expo 2008 coverage, you can follow TUAW on Twitter (fastest way: text "FOLLOW TUAW" to 40404 on your mobile phone), or add our Macworld feed to a Pingie subscription. We'll be talkcasting, vlogging and liveblogging all week long.

We've got a gallery of San Francisco scenes and preshow shots, courtesy Mr. Nik Fletcher & Mr. Chris Ullrich, up for your perusal.

If your reload finger gets sprained on Tuesday, you can use the Firefox Reload Every extension to get the page refreshed periodically.

Join us over at #tuaw on irc.freenode.net to chat in real time. At 4 pm PT/7 pm ET, we'll have a talkcast.

With the [in]famous Steve Jobs Macworld keynote address mere days away, speculation is, as always, running rampant as to just what new bits of shiny Apple goodness will be announced this year; of course, TUAW will be liveblogging the keynote to provide you the news as soon as it's announced. Last year, as I'm sure you all remember, was the big iPhone unveiling -- a milestone in Apple history and a keynote that will surely be remembered for many years to come.

With all the hype, excitement and fever surrounding last year's Keynote and the Phone reveal (we might have caught a bit of iPhone fever here at TUAW as well), how will this year's event hope to compete with the exciting announcements of last year and perhaps even, dare I say it, surpass them? Of course, when considering this event and the impending announcements, these questions, and many others, come to mind.

How long will Steve talk about the success of iTunes and the iPod before moving on to the other more exciting announcements? Who will be the musical guest? Will Noah Wyle make another appearance? How about John Hodgman? Or maybe, Bill Gates? What will Steve be wearing? And most importantly: what will be that "one more thing?"

Your intrepid TUAW writers have considered those very questions, and more, through long days and nights of deliberation, discussion and discourse. In so doing, we have come up with some interesting, perhaps even controversial, prognostications, pre-visualizations and predictions of what new products and services will be announced at this year's keynote.

Sure, a few of our ideas may seem unusual or far-fetched to some of you. But really, a couple of years ago, who would have thought Apple would get into the cell phone business, let alone become a major player almost overnight? Exciting, mind-altering and business defining events can sometimes happen in an instant (or 90 minutes) so sit back, relax and consider our Macworld 2008 keynote predictions...

With just over a week to go until the Steve Jobs January Riot Macworld Keynote and mockups of desired Apple products flying at us, Ars Technica's John Siracusa has posted his definitive Macworld Keynote Bingo card. Complete with that immortal Jobs-ian catch-phrase "Boom" and "a few squares for the phone weenies," it's everything you need for the keynote guessing-game.

Be sure to check out the rules and regulations to see what will tick off each square -- we'd hate for any keynote attendees to jump up and shout "Bingo!" only to find that their line isn't really valid. That would be embarrassing, wouldn't it?

Date: 12/19/2007

To: Santa Steve

Re: Making your list, checking it twice

I have been a very good girl been a good girl attempted to be pleasant and accommodating not been indicted this year, even as a co-conspirator, and I sincerely hope that you will inscribe me in the book of life send me the following presents this year:

An unlocked 3G G3 iPhone with an optional yet affordable data-only + WiFi service. I know, I know. You're rolling your eyes at Rudolf right now and making snide comments about how much money you earn from the AT&T kickbacks on the cellular voice plans -- but I'm telling you, St. Steve, it's all about volume, volume, volume. If you earn a bit less per customer but you quadzipple your installed base, we're talking win-win here...

It's not every day that my German-language skills get called into use, but when a news site posts a purported rundown of tomorrow's WWDC Stevenote, well, I'm scrambling for my Langenscheid. That is, I would be if it weren't for Google and DailyTechTalk translating the post already (danke schöen, team). Reading it over, it's most likely a rehash of the rumors and suppositions surrounding the keynote (ZFS, new UI, Google integration, new iMacs, "One More Thing"), or it might -- possibly -- be legit.

If you want to stay surprised tomorrow, or if you consider the whole business of rumormongering the keynote beneath your dignity, then don't click this link to the German original, or this Google or DailyTechTalk translation. Possible spoilers, you've been warned.

via DailyTechTalk/Digg -- Thanks Adam

As of 7 am ET, the Apple Store is down. Several rumors have hinted at a refresh of Apple's laptop line today... we'll know soon enough.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.