Finally, the day we've been waiting for since last year's MacWorld closed its doors has come: MacWorld 2008 is on! Online media registration is closed, but qualified press can still apply for a media badge onsite, in Moscone Center's South hall, from 8AM to 6PM on Monday, and 7AM to 6PM on Tuesday, as well as during show hours, until the 18th of January. Anyway, leaving this aside, I have some interesting news for everyone...

Obviously, the thing we're all waiting for is the keynote speech held by Steve Jobs. While the keynote is only open to a handful of people, we'll all get to see it, sooner or later. If you are curious about the timing, the keynote is scheduled to take place between 9AM and 10:30AM, on the 15th of January, as originally announced, of course.

Leaving Apple aside, MacWorld is going to have more than 450 companies presenting, and over 100 of them are showing their products at this event for the first time, so let's check a few of the future highlights, shall we?

A few of the "big ones" are Samsung, introducing XL30, the world’s first 30-inch LED backlit monitor(find them at Booth# S-1237), NEC, with its high-end 30-inch MultiSync LCD3090WQXi wide-screen display, and many more. Stay with us in the next few days, and we'll try to tell you about as many of the new products at MacWorld Expo as possible!

I don't know if Steve Jobs likes Abba so much, but the headline of this year's MacWorld seems to have been taken from their song, "Fernando" - "There's something in the air". For now, we have to accept the fact that Apple's ground breaking news regarding new and updated products are floating around like an UFO, and the secrets will all be revealed in just two days...

Why "two days", when the MacWorld starts tomorrow? Well, since Steve Jobs gives his keynote speech on the 15th of January, it's obvious nobody will spoil the surprises kept in its hat by Apple's CEO... but we can talk about rumors without any problem, after all. What kind of rumors? I told you about some expected products yesterday, so I won't repeat that again.

Other than that, there's not much to say. Just watch that clock ticking, and prepare for "something". My heart already starts pumping faster, and my head is full of possible events... Maybe a new iPhone? A completely new PMP(that would be nice, I am not really crazy about the iPod Touch)? A new line of Mac Books? It all remains to be seen, in just a matter of hours now...

All those Apple-addicts out there, enjoy tomorrow's peace as much as you can, because the day after tomorrow, 2008's MacWorld Conference takes off, while the Expo will open one day later, on the 15th. Since this event always gets huge press coverage, and Apple takes full advantage of this fact, sometimes setting the trend for the entire industry in the year that starts, I'll take my time and share a few of my thoughts with you...

First thing to expect, at this year's MacWorld, is a new line of laptops coming from Apple. Why? The reason is extremely simple - since Apple just introduced a new (and impressive, I must add) Mac Pro, it's obvious they will also use Intel's new 45nm processors for their notebooks, and they couldn't time this launch better...if it is going to happen as I think, that is.

Updates to other software and hardware products from Apple should also be on the list, and I don't have to give you details on "why". "What"...well, that's the part that remains to be seen, but I wouldn't be surprised to see iPhone 2.0 and a new version of iTunes released next week...

At last, leaving all the surprises that may come from other producers than Apple, expect the unexpected from Steve Jobs' company, and that's it... We'll see in just a couple of days what happens, so stay tuned!

Oh, my! They already started to release Leopard-only software! Yesterday I was talking about the fact that more and more producers update their products for Leopard, but I wasn't expecting to encounter Mac software to require Leopard-only so soon. Since that day has come, I will tell you a few words about Cover Stream, a young application that just got its first update after the "maturity" 1.0 release, bringing its current version to 1.1.

The main purpose of this program is to extend the "Cover Flow" feature you find in iTunes to your desktop, providing you with a quick and easy way to browse your entire album collection visually, without having to switch between applications.

Being a lightweight frontend to Apple's iTunes, Cover Stream takes away the iTunes interface full of lists, leaving all that matters - album covers, and forward/back arrows. As simple as possible, don't you agree?

Obviously, the feature list of this small yet powerful application includes fully customizable keyboard shortcuts, track change notifications, the ability to show the cover of the album playing in the Dock, and more.

As I was saying, Cover Stream requires Mac OS X Leopard, and a well organized iTunes library, of course. Its price is $14.95, and a demo version can be downloaded from here.

Being given the fact that we're living in the 21st Century, it becomes more and more incredible for me to believe that someone would leave precious iPhones in the window of the store over night, only missing to attach labels saying "ready to be stolen". We're not talking about 1, we're not talking about 5, because now, somewhere in the US, a thief is 40 iPhones richer! How did this happen? Let's see...

First of all, we have the location - Salem, Oregon. The time and date of the theft: 4AM, on the 9th of January. Salem Police Department officers responded the burglary alarm quickly, but they only managed to discover a broken window, without any traces that could lead to the thief, so far.

The damage done is this: 40 brand-new iPhones, as well as various other cell phones and accessories that came in handy for the thief to grab, and let's not forget about the broken window(yeah, right)!

Reading all the above, you would believe this was a job that happened in a small store owned and run by someone's old grandmother, but this is not the truth. The story took place at the A.T.&T. Wireless Store, 200 Hawthorne Av SE, which leaves me speechless... almost, because I have to add this: "if you have any information related to this case, call the Criminal Investigations Section at (503)588-6050".