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Managed to shrink the size of the latest iProng Magazine issue by about two-thirds. It's now a 7 MB file that'll take an average of about ten seconds to load or download on full-speed cable or DSL. That's a big improvement over the thirty seconds it originally took.

Also made significant changes to the logo and front page layout of iProng.com to make it match the magazine better stylistically and to make the magazine's content more accessible from the website. A long time in coming, I think.

I didn't do such a great job of keeping y'all updated on my progressions while at Macworld Expo last week, so let me see if I can sum it up for you...met Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak...was moderately impressed by the Steve Jobs keynote...visited iPod/iPhone booths...had an engaging time in the User Group Lounge...got advice from Sinbad on what microphone to buy...visited iPod/iPhone booths...did a photo shoot with Tommy Shaw from Styx and Jack Blades from Night Ranger at the Apple booth...visited iPod/iPhone booths...couple of parties...sat front row center for a Shaw-Blades concert...visited iPod/iPhone booths...interviewed Sinbad...visited iPod/iPhone booths...stood next to Sinbad during a press conference...determined Best of Show winners...got an interview date confirmed from KT Tunstall's people...finished writing January 22nd issue on an airplane.

That was pretty much my Expo in a nutshell. Total blast, never really stopped working, still working. January 22nd issue out the door, got lucky when Apple announced the new pink iPod nano just in time for it to be shoehorned into the issue. Ton of new accessories to review this week before more start showing up next week. Did a bit of refurb work on the iProng.com website, nothing in comparison to the total revamp that's coming. Working on layout for the February 5th cover. Made it official that we're doing these every two weeks now instead of every month. Took some steps toward lining up some future cover stories. Forgot to celebrate iProng's fourth birthday on January 20th. Not really about looking back at this point though, is it?

Let's get this party started already. Maybe it's because this is my fourth time in San Francisco since the clock struck 2007. Maybe it's because I turned thirty and I've just lost patience. Or maybe it's because there's just so much going to be happening this time around. But for whatever reason, I'm just not in the mood for sightseeing here on this "off day" before the Steve Jobs keynote kicks off Macworld Expo tomorrow morning.

The weather's nice, but too bad. The cable car looks tempting, but perhaps another time. I'd rather be in the thick of it, whatever you can refer to as "thick" today. The press room is mostly empty, although the MyMac.com guys did just wander in. I passed Sinbad on the way into Moscone, but didn't stop to say hello since he was on the phone. One vendor snuck into the press room in order to sales pitch me, and I was all set to be annoyed at that, but it turned out to be a pretty cool product. Ran into Dave Hamilton and the Backbeat crew, James Alguire, a number of friendly faces. Adam Jackson and Sam Downie are lifecasting as they walk around (complete with live webcams attached to their hats), and I didn't spend more than ten seconds talking with iJustine before she got mobbed by an adoring fan.

In a few minutes I'm headed outside for the MyMac podcast meetup, then I'm not sure what's after that. Not going to stay out too late since there's an early start tomorrow. We'll see what the rest of the day brings.

In the interest of increasing the quality of this year's event, all Macworld Expo attendees will need to pass this simple ten question exam before being allowed entrance to the Moscone Center this week in San Francisco.

1. Apple's "Something in the Air" banners refer to:

A) a new iPhone
B) a MacBook with EDGE network access
C) the pollution content of the atmosphere
D) Steve Jobs' new private jet

2. The plural of "Jobs" is:

A) Jobses
B) Jobs's
C) Job's
D) there is only one Steve Jobs

3. Moscone West is located "to the _____" of Moscone South:

A) west
B) east
C) bridge
D) moon

4. The next iPod will be called:

A) micro
B) minnow
C) don't touch
D) invisa

5. The "Robin Williams" most likely to make an appearance on the show floor will be:

A) the movie actor
B) the Macintosh book author
C) both
D) I thought Robbie Williams was a singer?

6. Complete this mathematical progression for iPod flash memory capacities: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16...

A) 17
B) 11
C) 32
D) Pi

7. The introduction of Microsoft's Office 2008 for Mac during the keynote will be made by:

A) Craig Eisler
B) Roz Ho
C) Kevin Brown
D) whoever's in charge of Microsoft's Mac Business Unit this month

8. The number of different silicone rubber iPod cases on display in the exhibit hall will be:

A) 74
B) 129
C) 652
D) a number that has yet to be invented

9. The line for the Steve Jobs keynote will stretch:

A) around the block
B) across the Golden Gate Bridge
C) "To infinity and beyond!"
D) past 3,457 different Starbucks

10. The surprise musical guest at the end of this year's Steve Jobs keynote will be:

A) John Mayer (again)
B) KT Tunstall (again)
C) all four members of the Beatles
D) Robin Williams

Feel free to enter your answers in the comments section below, to see if you're eligible to attend this year's Macworld Expo!

Apple's banners all around Moscone proclaiming that there's "Something in the Air" have left us all guessing as to what Apple might have up its sleeve come Tuesday. One thing is for sure, those banners are referring to Apple's single biggest announcement coming out of the Keynote. maybe.

Last year there was a slogan that had us all guessing, something about as generic as "Something in the Air" (so forgettable I can't remember it), and it ended up having nothing to do with the introduction of the iPhone. My money still says that Apple didn't know until days before the keynote that they would definitely be announcing the iPhone at that time, hence the generic banners.

Could easily be the same deal this time, meaning that the slogan tells us nothing.

But without getting into the wordplay, I can't help but think that it points in a fairly obvious direction. Apple spent the second half of 2007 updating and revamping nearly every major product they had, and simply put, it's too soon to be making any real changes to any of them again. The only possible exception would be the iPhone, which hasn't changed since its June rollout (or for that matter its January introduction), but the iPhone still needs too much help software-wise for Apple to be rolling out a major new iPhone model, I think. We may see spec boosts on the iPhone, but that's it.

It's almost as if Apple has backed itself into a corner this time, with nothing new to update, nothing to trot out as a substitute should the planned big announcement fall through and not be ready at the last minute. It seems as if Apple knows it has something big, something definite, something that's been planned for awhile now.

And I'm convinced that it's a whole new kind of product. I mean really, what else could it be? Lots of folks think we're going to see a 3G iPhone, and while that's entirely possible, it seems doubtful for so many reasons. The iPhone's battery life is sub-acceptable as it is, and unless Apple is planning on releasing a new 3G iPhone that's either A) sporting a two-hour battery life, or B) sigificantly larger in order to fit a bigger battery, we're not seeing 3G this week.

You want more evidence? Look at the fact that not only did Apple roll out an EDGE-based iPhone in the UK, where EDGE barely exists, they're spending money to have additional EDGE network installed over there. Does this sound like the actions of a company that's been planning to ditch EDGE for 3G all along? I doubt it.

I think Apple knows something about the EDGE network that we don't. Apple knows that while EDGE's speeds at this time are merely acceptable (and not nearly as bad as pundits had made EDGE out to be pre-launch), there's something coming down the pike, something about the EDGE network that makes it a winner in the long run. That's simple enough: greater network speed. But Apple's been acting like they know this is coming.

In fact, I get the funny feeling that Apple is every bit as married to EDGE as it is to AT&T itself. And as someone who's used my iPhone on the network so often while out and about that I freak out when I reach the rare circumstance (on the subway, for instance) where I CAN'T get to my email. The whole game has changed for me, and the fact that my MacBook can only get on the internet when in range of someone's WiFi network is now suddenly and completely unacceptable.

So here's what I think: there's been an awful lot of talk about a sub-notebook version of the MacBook, a little flash-based three pound, ten incher with no hard drive or optical drive, or whatever they have to do to get it that small. And if the whole point of such a device is that you can take it with you anywhere, then there's not really much point to it at all if you don't have network access when you get there.

Apple's already married to AT&T, so the infrastructure is there for this. And while the instinct might be to think that such a device would put too much demand on the network, let's be reminded that the iPhone is already downloading the same size web pages and email messages as any full-sized computer is. You know where I'm going with this: a Mac subnotebook with built-in support for EDGE network.

Already an AT&T customer? Just add $20 a month extra for EDGE access on your sub-MacBook. Already have an iPhone? You don't even have to pay anything extra; it's the same account. Not currently an AT&T customer? You're about to become one, because otherwise there's really no point to the device. And that last part will serve as AT&T's motivation for wanting to go along with it.

This idea is nothing new for those uber-geeks who have been plugging EVDO cards into their MacBook Pros and PowerBooks before that. But you see, by building the cell network structure into the sub-MacBook right off the shelf, by spoon-feeding the idea to the masses, this is something that the general pubic would actually partake in, as opposed to the geekiest one percent whipping out their EVDO cards and bragging about how they're the only one in the room with internet access.

We've had WiFi for nearly a decade now, and I'm always surprised at how many "regular folks" still have the false expectation that a "wireless" laptop is magically going to be able to pull down an internet signal anywhere, anytime, simply by having a wireless card installed (ran into one this past Friday, in fact). The general public wants a "wireless laptop" that can indeed access the internet anytime and anywhere they please, and you know what? As with the iPhone, the geeks will squawk about not liking EDGE, not liking how "dumbed-down" the whole idea is, but then they'll fall in line as well.

So that's my interpretation of what "Something in the Air" actually refers to: a sub-notebook with built-in EDGE network. The true jewel will be the hardware itself, but the hype angle will be that you can automatically use it to get on the internet anywhere you can get cellphone reception.

Either that, or there's always the song "Something in the Air" by Thunderclap Newman...

I shouldn't be this excited. After all, I've done this seven times before. It's time for Macworld Expo yet again, and logic would seem to dictate that this would start to become routine by now, just a busier-than-usual week on the job, but if anything it's the exact opposite. I'm not quite sure why, but this feels like I'm heading into this wonderful unknown next week. It'll be my eighth time attending the Expo, my fourth trip to San Francisco in the past eight months, the tenth time I've been in the room while Steve Jobs introduced new products, and yet this feels, impossibly, like the first time.

Maybe it's the fact that I've spent the past six months living in Los Angeles, which feels like I've finally discovered the real world. Maybe it's the momentum the magazine has gathered heading into the Expo. Maybe it's the fact that I've made so many friends all over the world in the past year and I'll get to see so many of them next week. Or maybe it's the fact that with Apple having revamped nearly every one of its existing products over the past few months, this Expo is just begging for something entirely new and different, something totally out of left field. Last time we did this we got the iPhone, and boy did that device end up changing my life. Who knows what we'll get this time?

If you're going to be at the Expo and you want to meet up while we're out there, you know how to reach me.