A long time in the making and wrestling with record companies has finally paid off for Apple.  It seems Apple has finally won the battle of DRM-free downloads on the iTunes store.  
 

 
  The fear of anything from Steve being close to death or already no longer with us has been a topic of wide appeal for 2008.  Steve Jobs has finally put to rest (no pun...) the demise as himself as the CEO of Apple and has also been kind enough to present us with a letter of what has been going on with him.  
 

 
  Multiple reports of a new unibody 17-inch MacBook Pro seem obvious to us as we were promised this at the last Steve Jobs keynote.  The difference to this large MacBook is that it will have an ultra-slim non-removable battery.  
 

 
  If there is any product that Apple fans would want and have asked for in the years past, a tablet based Mac of sort would be the one.  The latest rendering sparks the imagination as to what a slightly larger iPhone-like touch device could look like.  The rumor has been going around this past week about the launch of such a device by the end of 2009, and if TechCrunch or any of the many reporting outlets who say this is no longer a rumor are right, lets hope it stimulates ones mind as well as this render does.
 

We had a chance to take a look at the Contour Showcase for the 4th Gen iPod Nano.  Check out the video above for the details.

[Contour Showcase]

For a high quality version of the video go [Here]

 
  Thanks to TUAW we have some of the fine points of the much needed refresh to the Mac Mini.  The first thing is that the Superdrive will be SATA, so you can either keep the drive or add a second hard drive as an option.  The next detail is that the Mac Mini will look more like the Time Capsule with a lip on the side which encapsulates the optical drive and provides for cooling, which eliminates the need for the vents on the back. The new Mac Mini will also be black and aluminum, like the current lineup of Macs.  It has been a long time coming for a refresh and we assume other details such as a core 2 duo, an Nvidia 9400M and the capability for more RAM.  In a few weeks, we'll all know for sure.
 

 
  The fiasco that plagued the 30GB Zunes yesterday can now be forgotten since the date change has reset this seemingly ridiculous problem.  If you have this trouble and are not already aware, all you need do now is let the battery drain and wait until after 12PM on January 1st before you plug in your Zune to yout PC. Hopefully Microsoft can prevent this in the future with a firmware update to its programming.  Fo now the world of vintage Zune has been saved.
 

  The iPhone Dev Team has finally released their 3G Unlock dubbed yellowsn0w,  for those not wanting to have to stay with the official iPhone 3G carrier of choice.  Now you can have all the freedom of all the prior unlocks with your 3G. The video above was officially released on the iPhone Dev Team website and shows you how to unlock.  See all the details below:

 
  We wish you a Happy New Year and look forward to seeing you more and more this 2009.

 
 
  Amongst the rumors coming from the upcoming  2009 MacWorld Expo is the iPod Shuffle.  FBR Capital Markets believe the shuffle to be coming in the first quarter.  In their statement they state, a "new and smaller version" of the iPod Shuffle that may appear some time during the first quarter."  While this may or may not be true, the Shuffle is due for an overhaul despite its very functional and sleek look.  The photo above is an obvious concept, but the shuffle could only be improved upon by adding a screen in our opinion, and the concept gives us an idea of the possibilities.
 

 
  There has been rumor upon rumor for seemingly years now about a tablet and/or touchscreen-like device coming from Apple, other than an iPod or iPhone.  The source that broke the story says they have had their hands on the Apple prototype and that Apple is now in talks with manufacturers to bring it to fruition.  Michael Arrington of TechCrunch, claims 3 sources have let him in that Apple is planning to release such a device for late 2009.  

 
  The iPhone Dev Team has again hinted at an 2.2 unlock.  Their latest message comes in the form of the following binary:  
 
01110110 01110100 01100001 01100010 01100101 01110010 00100000 00110110 00110001 00110000 00110110 00110000 00110001 00110111 00110100 00100000
 

 
  Apparently every 30GB Zune has frozen as of 2AM December 31st 2008.  In a strange down turn of events for Zune, it appears the Y2K-like bug may have taken a bite out of the old Zunes.  When people turned on their Zunes today, they were greeted with a loading screen which never stops loading.  The Zune forum is loaded with this problematic event occurring to many Zune owners.  There is no fix yet from Microsoft, but they have acknowledged that the problem exists.  It seems that a few people on the Zune team will unfortunately not get to enjoy their New Years Eve, or this could be a Steve Jobs-Esque way of saying, "get a new Zune every year".
 

 
  The latest pre-MacWorld 09 rumor comes in the form of iWork 09.  The probable rumor has iWork going web-based coming this year.  Google has done it, Microsoft has done it, so why can't Apple do it, and do it better than the rest.  9to5Mac says this is exactly what will come of iWork for this coming year.  Sounds like a good idea and a very probable one as well.  Only a few more weeks and we'll know for sure.