WORLD The US will begin withdrawing troops from Iraq with less than 50,000 troops left by Christmas 2009. Troop build-up will continue until…

I’m off to San Francisco on Sunday and a full slate of meetings all week. I’ll make time to get on the show floor, but it is the meetings that make this event special and what I will miss since this is the last year of Apple at Macworld.

Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,
_Don, Kali and Ed_

This year is the last year that Apple is planning to present at Macworld, and I feel a slight sense of mourning for the pomp and circumstance of the whole thing. However, on a more positive note, we’re betting it will lead to further innovation and inevitably, more exciting things from Apple.

I’ve gathered the top three picks from Small Doggers in what will prove to be the last list of predictions for new Apple products at Macworld, so without further ado, here they are:

*DON*
* New iMacs with faster processors & new look (and Blu-Ray?)
* New Mac mini
* New Apple Cinema Displays with a look consistent with the 24″

*ED*
* New Mac mini with a cool black & silver enclosure and built-in Apple TV features. Larger SATA hard drives
* New iWork and iLife applications
* An updated and Apple-branded DeLorean DMC-12. While there is no built-in blu-ray, a Flux Capacitor is optional.

*KALI*
* New Apple Cinema Displays
* Smaller/cheaper iPhone and more software features (native copy/paste, etc.)
* Limited edition Steve Jobs black turtleneck and jeans combo auction for charity

*TOD*
* Update to Mac mini
* Better MacBook Air
* Steve Jobs will step down!

*MATT*
* Quad core imacs and/or unibody mac mini
* Updated displays
* 32GB iPhone

*KELLI*
* Touch screen notebook–or return of the “Newton” with a larger touchscreen–taking the touch to the next level of computing and rival the new touch screen HP.
* A more powerful, economical, and aluminum cased Mac mini to keep a desktop model in the lower price range for “switchers”… and in response to the current economy
* A lower priced addition to the MacBook family

*MARK*
* Apple buys GM for a song, and we will have really cool cars in a year or so

*JON*
* New line of Displays with larger sizes and better resolution and pixel depth
* New iMacs and Mac minis
* The illusive iPhone mini or a reduced cost iPhone product

*GEOFF*
* Apple TV update
* iLife ’09
* Steve Jobs playing a lesser role

*BEN*
* Mac mini redesign/upgrade: Black on Aluminum Case Design, Intel 9400M Graphics, Upgraded Processor/HD Capacities, HDMI Port
* 17″ MacBook Pro: The 17” will adopt the new “Unibody” design released in late 2008. Might even have 2.8Ghz Core 2 Duo by default!
* Quad Core iMacs: Upgraded processors, display port, case redesign (all aluminum with black–just like 24″ LED display!)

*ROB*
* Mac mini and Apple TV combined!
* Changes to Channel Sales @ Apple
* New iPod touch

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WEATHER Another good start to the winter, but temperatures will be unusually warm with little snow until mid-February with at least three dumps…