Here's something that could catch the eye of the passing iTunes fan...and probably the videogame vets. We were looking over Youtube when we found an old video dating back to 1992. It was done on a Commodore Amiga, which at the time was a competitor for PC and Apple. This particular video on the left is titled "State of the Art" is by the Spaceballs demo group, and while we thought it looked cool, we got a strange sense of deja vu...

Yeah, we know - it bears a striking resemblance to the theme a lot of the recent iTunes commercials carry. To give you an idea of what we mean, check out the Apple ad on the right for comparison. Kind of interesting how the past comes back to us in other interesting ways....

This is weird but this thought had been bugging me for days: Why Apple haven't joined the console war? Or even the serious gaming industry for that matter? Sure Mac is not as popular around here as Windows but it provides serious competition. We all know how Microsoft got started, anyway. Nintendo and Sony were slugging it out and then Microsoft thought, "why not join in the fun?"

Given that, I couldn't help it but look at one of Apple's strongest product now: the iPod. Well, in case you've been living under gigantic stereo for some time now, the iPod comes in with a few simple games like Breakout, Parachute and Solitaire. Those certainly are not PSP and DS toppling games but that would be a good place to start.

I admit that I'm not familiar with most Mac games (Diablo Forever!) but a quick glance at its latest system MAC OS X (OpenGL and various Core technologies) and you'll know that there is a strong technological foundation. Proof of this is the recently announced Project Alky from Falling Leaf Systems that promises to bring high quality Windows games to Mac OS X and Linux operating systems.

Without a doubt, Apple has the financial and technological capacity to enter into this arena. The big question now is, what are they waiting for?

The US Patent and Trademark Office recently published the latest of Apple's seemingly never-ending stream of patents. Nope, it ain't as revolutionary as a new iPod, an ultra-portable Tablet Mac, a world without buttons, or whatever they'll call the used-to-be-iPhone now. It's something as prosaic and ho-hum as... a guard system for a notebook's disk drive slots, says Apple patent watcher and decrypter MacNN.

Wait... maybe it's not so prosaic at all. Apple does have a point when it says in its patent abstract that "Unquestionably, portable computers are subjected to a host of insults." Insults? What Apple meant is that often, when transporting a notebook, people often get careless and either dump the laptop in a bag full of odds and ends, or dump odds and ends into their laptop carrying case - right with the laptop. Eventually, something harmful's gonna stick itself through a floppy's slot (or even an open-slot CD/DVD drive), and play havoc with some sensitive tech innards inside. Things like paper clips, chewing-gum, toothpicks, guitar picks, show tickets, business cards, and so forth.

The Apple patent, which incidentally was filed last year but only saw the light of blog today, hinges on an "actuated guard" that swings across the slot of a floppy disk or optical disc drive when not in use. This blocks off access to the port when it's not in use. No other details were provided in MacNN, so we cannot draw a better picture of how this will work. The best we can do is simply say that it's really as prosaic as giving the disk drive a stronger door to keep the unwanted out, but that's Apple patents for you.

This just goes to show that no matter how high and mighty we view astronauts, at the end of the day, they are human too. This image was taken from NASA and yup, it is the inside of the International Space Station. European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut, Thomas Reiter (who'll be heading home soon), is going about with his work. Seems like a pretty ordinary picture, right?

So what do you do for fun while you're in space? You could listen to your favorite music tracks. This photo is getting popular over at Digg because of a fifth generation iPod sighting. The Apple creation is neatly attached to a Belkin external battery pack on the equipment rack in front of Thomas Reiter. (Reminds me of a scene in the movie Apollo 13 wherein Lovell and his crew brought a transistor radio on board, times have really changed).

Heck if I get sent to space, I would bring my mp3 player too. And a couple of other gaming thingamajigs of course.

In its more than 20 years of existence, MacWorld Expo has always been held during the first weeks of January. Next year isn't any different to the previous conferences. One highlight of such activities are the keynote speeches, especially that of Steve Jobs. Probably the most celebrated of all Apple officials, Jobs words are sometimes as good as their company's stand on particular matters.

Again, next year shouldn't be any different as Steve Jobs would be present at the expo. The big question now is, what is he going to talk about? The last thing we heard from the guy was something about looking back and beyond the iPod...Or was it the CNBC interview? We can't remember anymore.

Anyway, some people are not willing to wait until January to find out. They would rather confer now and speculate on these matters. Nope, they are not spreading rumors. They. Are. Just. Talking. Since we don't want you guys waiting or getting left behind, here's their take on the matter:

• Steve will definitely talk about: OS X Leopard, iLife 07, and iTV
• Steve will probably talk about: MacPro revisions, revised cinema displays, MacMini revision, iPhone and full screen iPod
• Steve will possibly but not likely talk about: Apple Tablet and MacBook Sub Notebook

What do you think? Do you share the same opinions? Please feel free and share your own MacWorld opinions with us. Remember: we are just talking.

Ah, America. Land of political WTF-ery. In one of the strangest foreign policy moves ever done during the Bush administration , the US government is trying to impose trade sanctions against North Korea, specifically against items that Kim Jong Il likes or which are gifted to him by loyalists.

What does the North Korean leader like, aside from platform shoes and bling-bling? Why, tech stuff and other assorted luxuries, of course. The Associated Press report says that, in addition to any new tech, such as iPods, PS3s and the like, they also want to ban just about everything else, even sports equipment (Kim compensates for his short stature with a love for basketball, apparently).

The AP article cites a lot of other items among those to be placed under trade sanctions:

But the list of proposed luxury sanctions, obtained by The Associated Press, aims to make Kim's swanky life harder: No more cognac, Rolex watches, cigarettes, artwork, expensive cars, Harley Davidson motorcycles or even personal watercraft, such as Jet Skis.

Now, let's get some perspective on this. The man makes secret nuclear tests in his country and the people under his rule suffer from food shortages. That's a result of rather selfish decisions on Kim's part, as well as a lack of foreign aid because no one really likes him for messing with nukes right now.

The plan, as "creative" as some of the supporters of the trade sanctions might think of it, would only push North Korea's world leader to use more money to purchase the same things through the black markets (or eBay). If the leader of nuclear-capable nation wants a PS3, why would you try a stunt like this to get him to listen to you?

Robert J. Einhorn, a former senior State Department official who once went to Korea, said of the plan, "It can't hurt, but whether it works, we don't know." Trust a gamer to tell you this plain and simple: if PS3 fanboys are willing to wait out in the cold for days to get a PS3, and grey market sellers don't mind shooting people for those goods, you are wrong in assuming it can't hurt.

Before the iMacs and the iPods, there were tons of Apple prototypes that never got to see the light of day. Websites such as The Apple Museum and The Apple Collection have posted some of the concept designs and prototypes for Apple faithfuls to visit. It's a massive line-up. Since our work eats up most of our time, we're quite thankful that Michael of Apple Gazette has compiled five of the god-knows-how-many Apple devices that never made it to the production line.

It's an interesting list, to say the least. It somehow shows how most of Apple's designs are ahead of their time. All of the prototypes were introduced in the 90s, so it's really interesting to know that even though some of them are more than 10 years old, the features they have are the very same ones we see  today in other products. Why they got shelved, only Apple knows.

Take for instance the Apple PowerBop; it was said to be the first Powerbook with wireless Internet access. Were we even thinking of wireless Internet back in 1993?

It seems back in the 90s, Apple was quite obsessed with multi-function devices. It's as if they were out to create the Swiss Army knife of the digital scene. One that's most likely to be close to that idea is the Apple Paladin, which is actually a computer, a fax machine, a scanner, and a phone rolled into one. We understand why Apple would abandon this idea, because there are not many all-in-one devices that really sell.

The Apple PenLite is a combination of a PowerBook Duo and a Tablet PC. It could've have worked, but Apple thought at that time that the onslaught of PC Tablets in the market would hurt the PenLite's chances. But what really showed promise then was the Apple Videophone PDA - a mobile Videophone with PDA functionality. We can't say the same thing about the Wizzy Active Lifestyle Telephone (W.A.L.T.) though. The device was actually a portable phone with touch-screen functions (ala Nintendo DS) and PDA features. Apple never explained why they abandoned the idea. It must be the name.

Teenspot asked about 1,150 teens what was on their Christmas "most wanted list" for 2006. These were open-ended questions (not multiple choice) so the answers really reflect what the teens wanted.

Teen girls want:

1. iPod
2. Cell phone
3. Laptop
4. Digital Camera

Teen boys want:

1. Playstation 3
2. iPod
3. Xbox 360
4. Nintendo Wii

And there you have it. If you want to date a gamer girl, the odds of finding one are slim to none. But girls and boys have the iPod in common (Apple must be happy).

It's nice that girls want iPods and laptops. It could've been worse - they could have asked for small brainless yapping dogs and those tiny backpacks with fur trim. Our greatest fear is that Pink may be right - too many parents allow girls to become stupid girls.

What happened to the dreams of a girl president / She's dancing in the video next to 50 Cent

They travel in packs of two or three / With their itsy bitsy doggies and their teeny-weeny tees

Where, oh where, have the smart people gone? / Oh where, oh where could they be?

Someone must have rolled over in his grave when MacUser.com's Aaron Freedman wrote the following words: "I never thought IÂ?d say this, but it seems that Microsoft has a product that works better with the Mac than the Sony equivalent." He was talking about his observation that the Xbox 360 system meshes with Apple systems, but that the Sony PS3 didn't.

However, just looking back at our coverage of both consoles, and the comments to Aaron's article, sounds like he needs to make a revision of observation.

There's the observation that "the PS3 can't play music directly off the iPod." Uh, Victor B., can you help me out here? "... the 20 GB video iPod was recognized by the PS3, but you'll need to use the above-mentioned Display All feature to view everything on your iPod." (The "Display All" feature is simply pressing Triangle to browse through - and play - the content of connected media storage devices like the iPod).

And besides, as a MacUser commenter pointed out, both the PS3 and Xbox 360 won't play iTunes-signed music content. But then again, that's Apple's DRM, not MS or Sony.

Now there are things that the Xbox can do with Apple that the PS3 can't, but that's because of the one-year lead time of the Microsoft console, which gives hackers time to play with both devices. The 360 controller could be used with a Mac through a hacked driver and the USB cable, which we won't visit for all the potential EULA repercussions. Even Aaron admits that the SIXAXIS communicates through Bluetooth, which can, in due time, talk to a Mac as well (again, with all potential EULA repercussions). And the SIXAXIS has a USB connection too, by the way.

That's Aaron's admission: in due time, hackers will probably develop more drivers and code that will enable the PS3 to communicate with the Mac and iPod and God-knows-what-else, creating a very weird menage-a-troi lovefest electronica that neither MS, nor Sony, nor Apple would have envisioned (toss in the Wii and now we have a party!). Enough said.

Does this seem all right to you? There is a company that sells pre-loaded iPods, charging people for the service of buying specific DVDs, loading them onto iPods, and then selling them to you. Customers pay for the DVDs, the iPod, and the loading service, and they get everything they bought in the transaction, DVDs included.

For people who don't know anything about video loading or who just want to make a special gift for someone tech-savvy, this doesn't really sound like such a bad deal. For the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), however, it's something they don't like. The MPAA is suing Load 'N Go Video for performing said actions because, according to the MPAA, ripping a DVD is against the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and, thus, a violation of copyright.

Here's a problem to think about though. Is it illegal to rip the media you legally purchased onto your iPod? One thing the author of the article brings to light is something Apple did during the early years of the iPod, citing an article from MacWorld and putting in the forefront the idea of fair use:

At the end of the event, we all took home pre-release versions of the iPod, which were already loaded with music. To make the point that the iPod wasnÂ?t meant as a vehicle for music piracy, our iPod packages also contained a stack of audio CDs, the contents of which matched the music pre-loaded on the iPod.

That being said, why can't these DVDs be fair use as well?