News Roundup for December the 16th

So, is everybody enjoying Mac OS 10.5.6 and all the great improvements it brings with it? Chief among them appears to be Mobile Me working like it always should have done. But like so many other on-line commentators, I most excited to see the improvements they’ve made to Chess — although it does still appear to have that ‘beats me every time, even on the easiest setting’ bug. Next update, maybe.

So now for the bad news. It’s doesn’t look like there’re going to be any new products announced at Macworld, at least according to Goldman Sachs analyst and top celebrity photographer David Bailey. I know. What a bummer. But wait! New Mac vs. PC adverts!

And while you were distracted I managed to dig up some Macworld product rumours. So never fear, there’s always the iPhone Nano to look forward to. Sorry? What was that, Dr. Macenstein? There isn’t? (The good Doc makes an excellent case for why not, and you really should click through to read his entire argument.) Oh, well. I guess there’s always that perennial favourite the Mac Mini. I supposed if Apple are not going to announce anything, they may as well stick to their tradition of not announcing a new Mac Mini. Macworld simply wouldn’t feel right without no Mac Mini announcement. And who better to not make that announcement that Steve Jobs, who Tech Republic has named one of the 10 most influential leaders in business technology. I know, amazing isn’t it. I didn’t think Apple did business technology.

And you know what else Apple doesn’t do? Give a flying monkey’s behind about the environment, that’s what. Stealing a couple of pages from the Greenpeace play book, Boston-based loony bin think tank Ceres have rolled a table of climate change-busting rankings, placing Apple behind the likes of Dell, IBM and Tesco. My advice to Ceres: better retreat to your doomsday bunker, ’cause Steve’s likely to get all influential on you. Open letter in 3… 2… 1…

Oh, look! Another new advert!

Finally, if you’re looking to get yourself a free — as in SIM unlocked, not free as in ‘the dusty old chaps who run my university have an odd idea about the educational merits of smartphones, but who am I to argue?’ — then Apple has the info you’re looking for. Check out the handy table they provide to see where you should be living to get your contract-free super phone. So who’s going to be the first to mash this up with one of the airline booking sites?