"The captain has turned off the fasten seat belt sign."

You know what that means. Get that laptop out! So here I am cruising at 35,000 feet somewhere over the great plains crammed in a Sardine Airlines "Super Luxury Jetliner". Luxury...right....

There was once a time when I used to like travelling to shows like Macworld, E3, and the Consumer Electronic Show. But of late, I've been cutting down on the travel and sticking to going to shows I really look forward to. Macworld Expo in New York happens to be one of those shows. And let me be frank, the only reason I'm going to Macworld is to see Steve Jobs' keynote address on Wednesday.

The first time I ever went to a keynote was to see Gil Amelio talk....err...babble for a mere two hours. Listening to Gil flashing endless boring slides was about as exciting as cleaning crusty lint from one of those old beige Mac mouses the size of a bar of soap. But when Steve Jobs took over Apple a few years ago, all that changed.

Steve, above all else, is a showman -- he knows what people want. They want to see cool stuff. In fact, that's usually how he begins his keynotes. "Thanks for coming, we've got some amazingly cool stuff to show you. Let's get right to it."

So what am I hoping to see at Macworld Expo this year? Cool stuff, of course! I want to be blown away. I want to see the new PowerMac G5, the new flat panel iMac, the revved iBook, the OS X 10.1 update...I WANT IT ALL!

Will I get it? I doubt it. While I won't make any predictions (I'll leave that to the Mac "news" sites), here's kinda what I'm hoping with happen.

First, the iMac. It's no secret that the iMac is in need of a serious overhaul. Introduced nearly three years ago, the iMac was an instant success and helped resurrect Apple. Over the years Apple has revved the iMac by introducing new colors, speed bumping the processor, and adding more RAM and a bigger hard drive. But when Steve Jobs introduced the much ridiculed "Flower Power" iMac last winter, it became obvious to many that the current iMac was nearing its end of life.

Rumors that a new flat panel based iMac would be introduced at MWNY have been met with "confirmations from sources" that a new iMac would not be introduced simply because the new iMac is not ready for prime time. Are new iMacs being introduced at Macworld? Or will see we more revved iMacs? Are the "confirmed" reports that the new flat panel iMacs will not be introduced at MW just part of Steve's plan to provide disinformation within the Mac community? Only time will tell. The anticipation leading up to it is palpable to say the least!

Another rumor I've been hearing is that the Power Macintosh G5's will be announced at Macworld. While I think the chances of the G5 being announced are slim, there's a good chance the Power Macintosh line will be revved to include faster processors, more RAM and hard drive space, and possibly a new case design. The big quesiton that remains is, will the Mac finally breach the 1 Gigahertz barrier?

There have been other rumors about a new iBook being introduced with possibly a 14 inch display. This one doesn't make much sense, since that would mean redesigning the 3-month-old iBook case entirely. My bet would be on a faster processor and more RAM. Or possibly nothing at all.

Well, whatever the rumors may be, IMG will be here to cover the story. In addition to myself, veteran IMG writers Patrick Leyden and Michael Phillips will be at the show, as well as newcomers Chris Barylick and Brad Custer.

We'll be filing news reports straight from the show floor so be sure to check in to IMG often throughout the day from Wednesday to Friday.

Ooop, here comes lunch! Airline food, yum! I'll see you all at Macworld (that is, of course, if I live through this "pepper steak").

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