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Photograph showing Apple Newton hand held computer, cleaned up background in photo editing software

Image via Wikipedia

Is Apple planning to announce a new device tomorrow at the Apple WWDC (World Wide Developer Conference)? According to Engadget and a number of other technology reporting sites, some mystery packages have been seen, secretive commercials filmed (at the Manhattan and Los Angeles stores) and rumors of a mysterious device have been circulating recently.

Wouldn’t it would be devilishly clever of Steve Jobs to pull something magical out of his PowePoint that would shock and awe everyone when they least expected it?

Heaven knows Steve has never done that before.

“Just one more thing”….

With all eyes temporarily distracted by the impending IPhone 2 (the most closely watched but least secret product launch ever), what better way to make headlines then to pull a new product out of his hat.

I’m willing to predict that Steve has something else up his sleeve to surprise us with tomorrow besides phones and Mac’s.

Stay Tuned.

IPod touch

Image via Wikipedia

Tomorrow’s the big day!!! Woo hoo!!

What the heck am I so excited about?

The Steve Jobs show is starting tomorrow at around 1pm Eastern Daylight Time and I will be watching via the Internet broadcast.

That’s right, it’s the Apple WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference) for those of you uninitiated and its happening over at the Moscone Center in San Francisco land.

Steve is going to spill the beans on the new IPhone and I can’t wait.

I have the IPhone 1.0 version and I love it, despite its not having a real GPS chip or that its slow downloading my email on the AT&T Edge system.

Notwithstanding that – it’s the best phone I have ever owned.

But that’s all going to change tomorrow!

Steve should be announcing the latest version (no doubt available for sale on June 16th and just in time for Father’s Day) which is going to have:

  • the all new IPhone software (so I can give Apple even more money)
  • the new APP store where you can download cool new apps to run on the phone (no one else has this)
  • a dedicated GPS chip that will scare Garmin and all the other GPS makers (and so I can look smart while getting lost)
  • 3G network with rocking speeds of broadband quality (700k per second downloads at least)
  • 16GB or 32GB memory versions

Some potential suprises we might see:

  • Rumor has it that it may also have capability for video conferencing so maybe we will hear of a new version of IChat (for Windows)?
  • improvements to the software that will make it more responsive then it already is (hard to believe but I’ll take it)
  • Price reductions from AT&T as long as you mortgage your soul for another 2 years
  • Nano or IPod Touch sized phones (slimmed down versions of the IPhone with less features and lower prices)
  • No carrier requirement (use it with any carrier you like). I doubt this one because of the exclusivity deal with AT&T (although that may only apply to model 1.0)
  • A new app that has never been mentioned before (maybe something that leverages the GPS chip?)
  • Running the new version of OSX?
  • The Beatles deal!!! Maybe they can finally announce that the Beatles catalog is available on ITunes!

When I first got the phone I was worried about AT&T. I had heard really bad things about the quality of the service from users and other bloggers and initially my experience with the IPhone wasn’t the greatest (dropped calls happened a lot). But then things got better, reception improved and a couple of software upgrades later, life with AT&T wasn’t so bad. I can’t recall when I’ve had a dropped call since. Matter of fact, its pretty darned good now so I can’t wait to try out the new 3G network they just finished upgrading. And the data and voice plan pricing can’t be beat.

Yes I am excited about a phone…but it is the best phone around bar none….and it’s about to get better!

Australia). Taken by myself.

Image via Wikipedia

Ok, so I was watching the CBS Evening News tonight and there was a story about how genetically-altered ingredients are not identified as such in the labels of products we buy at the store. It’s interesting that in Europe, Japan and Australia there are laws mandating this, but not here in the United States.

Why is that?

Do you think it has something to do with the fact that in a national survey over 50% of American’s indicated that they wouldn’t buy products that contained genetically engineered products in them? Maybe manufacturers are afraid we won’t buy their product if it has that on the label.

Ya think? It might make me think twice before I tossed that box into the basket.

So somehow “we” have decided that a law requiring food manufacturers to list bio-engineered ingredients is not needed here. Boy are we lucky. Boy are we smart!

Obviously Europe, Japan and Australia do not know what they are doing but we do. Ya think?

So why aren’t we listing these ingredients? Well guess what?

According to the CBS report, 75% of corn grown today in the U.S. has been genetically altered and nearly all of the soybean products have. In 2001, 68% percent of all soybeans grown in the U.S. were genetically-altered, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

So what does that mean to you and me?

If you are buying anything with soybeans (that includes all you tofu loving eaters) or any type of corn product in the list of ingredients (and this includes corn fructose syrup (one of the most common sweeteners now found in most of our fruit juices, canned fruit and soft drinks to name just a few), chances are pretty good that you are sucking down genetically-altered material.

Yummy.

So should we worry about this? Should we write to our local congressmen and senators requesting a law that requires manufacturers to identify genetically-altered ingredients on the labeling of our food products? Does anybody care?