From www.macrumors.com:

With Macworld San Francisco 2009 (MWSF) beginning next week, MacRumors provides this Rumor Roundup as a summary of major rumors circulating around the Mac Web before the event.

The biggest news about Macworld came early when Apple announced that Steve Jobs would not be delivering the 2009 keynote address nor will Apple be participating in future Macworld events. While Apple’s official reason for the withdrawal was that trade shows are becoming less important, some believe that Apple simply wanted more control of their own release timetable rather than being dependent on this yearly event. Of course, health questions about Steve Jobs were again raised as another possible reason.

While this rumor season started off slowly, the past few weeks have raised some interesting possibilities.

New iMac and Mac Mini - NVIDIA Based […]

17″ MacBook Pro - Fixed Battery […]

iLife ‘09. iWork ‘09 - The Cloud […]

Snow Leopard […]

iPhone and iPhone Nano […]

Cinema Displays / Mac Pros / Home Media Server / Tablet or PDA […]

While you can click the link to read more about each of these rumors, there’s not much reason to. It seems like the rumor mill has run out of good ideas when it comes to Apple’s announcements at Macworld this year. There’s usually something on the list that interests or excites me but having a Web-based version of iWork or a smaller iPhone isn’t exactly part of a “game-changing” product line.

There are some hidden banners hanging in the Moscone Center in preparation for the event, so let’s hope that Apple has something surprising and unexpected to reveal.

Link

I previously blogged about having a chance to wander the Cinderella Castle Suite in the Magic Kingdom for a short time and included a couple photos of sights I hadn’t seen before.

Now, the My Disney Mania blog has posted a fantastic set of pictures from within the suite, taken by a family who won a stay there for the night:

[…] a friend of a friend actually got lucky enough to be picked to win such a stay at Cindy’s Castle! So I finally got some in-depth account, rather than just superficial news reports, on what it was like, and how the inside of the suite really looked like, more than what news reports and press releases described. And the good thing was that these people were also Disney fans. So not only did they truly appreciate the enormity of what they had just won, they also were rabid enough to snap tons of photos (and grabbed everything that wasn’t nailed down, but that’s another story :)).

They have graciously shared the pictures they took with their friends, and I’m a beneficiary of some of those pictures. I’ve omitted pictures that identify them, and have scrambled pictures that they scanned that had their full names, mainly to protect their privacy as one can imagine, but other than those, these are some of the pictures they took. The detail of the Castle Suite is simply jaw-dropping.

The best part is that when the family got home, they scanned everything that they were able to take with them, including the stationary I spotted while inside the suite, their key cards, privacy sign, and more:

Be sure to check out the original full post on the My Disney Mania blog to see all of the great photos. (Thanks, Matt!)

From The Retroist:

Some like to read the New York Times, Newsweek or the Wall Street Journal. Me? I read the Ronald McDonald Fun Times. “The Times” is hard-hitting, entertaining and brimming with journalistic integrity. The RMFT will tackle the stories that other news organizations wouldn’t dare print.

Are Chicken McNuggets still delicious? What can we expect in our Happy Meals in 2009? You are not going to get that info in your precious USA Today — So subscribe today.

The Retroist is full of wonderful pop culture, commercials, and advertising from decades of the past and worth reading daily.

Here is a Web site guaranteed to entertain you for at least a few seconds this weekend:

Lucas Francis Studios - lucasfrancisstudio.com

If you’re a fan of sci-fi movies or Disneyland, there’s a good chance that you’ll want one something that Lucas Francis Studios created the prototype for. Here are a few of my favorite examples:

This was a prototype made using the Polar Lights model kit and through many hours of trial and error Lucas Francis Studios managed to make this work with ease. This was a cool concept designed for the Universal parks but never picked up due to the demise of the Back to the Future ride and overall costs of production. To my knowledge we are the only company to ever make a floating Delorean prototype.

Link (They also created a hoverboard prototype)

A couple of Haunted Mansion prototypes that I would have loved to have seen hit the market (click the images to find out more):

Ever wanted to build your own army of T-800 endoskeletons from Terminator 2? These life-sized replicas should do the trick:

Sideshow Collectibles and Lucas Francis Studios are proud to present the Fully Licensed Terminator 2 Endoskeleton.

Created by Stan Winston Studio, the Endoskeleton is one of the most recognizable characters ever created for film. This 1-1 scale replica was molded from screen used original Endoskeleton parts and stands over six feet tall. The Endoskeleton has been offered before, but never with the level of detail created by Lucas Francis Studio. This replica was cast from new masters, new molds and uses new techniques.

More Terminator 2 products and prototypes were made including an Endoskeleton arm (which I own the smaller version of) and a T-1000 set with plenty of liquid metal excitement.

Any fan of Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs has wondered why Dark Helmet’s collection of action figures was never released. It looks like John Francis Studios made their own Dark Helmet prototype figure:

“No, sir - I didn’t see you playing with your dolls again!”

There are many more interesting prototypes to be found throughout the site, including a Disneyland 3D sculpted puzzle, Frank the Pug from Men in Black, and a Rocketeer rocket pack.

Let’s face it: We’re all still living in the past to some degree. For me, that degree is huge. Nearly all of the music I listen to is from the early ’90s or prior. I regularly watch cartoons from the ’80s on DVD. And YouTube searches for old commercials regularly consume hours of my life.

So, to start off Friday Flashbacks, I bring you none other than the Arbor Day Foundation’s Carly the Cardinal talkin’ about trees: 

I loved this commercial when I was growing up in the ’80s and I still do today. In fact, thanks to my wife and her ability to buy amazingly thoughtful Christmas gifts, I now own the following wonderful products from the Arbor Day Foundation store (you can click on each item below to buy it from them).

Carly the Cardinal Arbor Day Foundation stickers
 

Carly the Cardinal Arbor Day Foundation magnets

 
And, best of all…

Carly the Cardinal Arbor Day Foundation temporary tattoos

 
Don’t believe me? Here’s a picture of the back my hand (making a fist downward toward my desk):

It’s been on my hand for nearly a week, so it’s held up pretty well for a temporary tattoo. It looked perfect when I first applied it.

My wife also wanted to buy me a Carly the Cardinal t-shirt but, unfortunately, they only have junior sizes and as much as I act like a kid, I just can’t fit into a tiny t-shirt.

Now, sing it everyone! “Trees, trees! Carly’s Arbor Day Foundation, spread the word across the nation about trees. Trees are terrific! Ha ha!”