As Apple's MacWorld Expo draws near, more reports have been made regarding mysterious versions of MacBooks sporting a new "metallic-grey color" and were described to be distinctively  "thinner" than the laptop's usual models.

Is this our first glimpse into Apple's introduction for the MacWorld Expo next year? More details at the full article.

Nothing is more annoying than an unwanted wake-up call in the middle of the night. This seems to be exactly the case with UniquePhone's announcement to deliver the promised software unlock for the iPhone.

An update on their iPhone Unlocking site says that a Silicon Valley law firm called them in the middle of the night to "slow down" the release of the software to users everywhere, even after their bold announcement of saying that they already have the software ready and good to go. Already this has caused a lot of clamor everywhere about the veracity of the company's promise to deliver the goods. Apparently, AT&T isn't the only one annoyed with this news.

A press release was already issued shortly after, explaining the hold on the software release until an assessment regarding the potential legal action it may cause. So until any new developments come up, anyone who wants their iPhone unlocked for whatever reason will just have to either look for a different alternative or just hold on to their hats and hope for the best.

"They won't advertise your album unless you give them extra material" Lily Allen says of Apple, the computer company behind iTunes. Apparently, Apple has pushed the outspoken British pop singer to quickly produce a new version of her song for sale on iTunes. The musician responsible for the hit single Smile wont' let the Silicon Valley giant get away with it - she now plans to give Apple a "rubbish remix".

Record labels pay for good in-store placement of albums, a practice which Apple shuns. Instead, Apple wants to enable unbiased music recommendations. In order to gain visibility on the front page of iTunes, labels must negotiate with Apple. Apple offers good iTunes placement to artists who offer exclusive material.

But such good placement, as offered by Apple, is the key. We heard from Wall Street Journal that during a week when an album is featured on the iTunes home page, it can sell about five times more copies than its average sales when that album is not featured. Torn between two figures we really like: Apple and Lily Allen, we wonder whose side of the story holds more weight.

Organizer giant Palm has felt the pressure of Apple's impending release of its new iPhone and hired the maestro of interface design Paul Mercer to spearhead its counter-thrust.

Industry insiders believe that the battle in the cellphone business has shifted from hardware to software, and Palm believes that hiring Mercer will breathe new life on its upcoming products to replace its aging palm OS used in most of its products.

The move was determined when Apple decided to come up with its own organizer/ cellphone hybrid called iPhone, which clearly poses a danger to Palm's own line of hybrids. The cause for concern may have been Apple's reputation for creating innovative products.

And though the iPhone is still months away from shipping, Palm has wasted no time in acquiring the services of the 39-year old Mercer who is an industry veteran and has worked with Apple, along with other independent firms that he himself founded. Paul Saffo, a Silicon Valley forecaster said, "heÂ?s the best of the best in this space."

Palm has been the pioneer in the handheld industry, but has been on its toes in recent years as challenges came left and right in the form of industry hard-hitters Sony Ericsson, Nokia and Microsoft.

 A few days ago, we covered a story about Jobs sparing no words in criticizing teachers and teacher unions. This has caused the California Federation of Teachers to invite Jobs to either attend an annual teacher's convention next month or to offer a public apology for his "insulting comments" to California's teachers.

Jobs, with rival CEO Michael Dell, shares a vision of delivering technology to schools and having "textbook-free" classrooms, but according to him, no amount of technology would ever improve schools until public school principals could fire bad teachers.  The CFT says they will create a new award specifically for Jobs, the "Rotten Apple" award, for the individual who best personifies the need to think differently about public education and teacher unions.

Educators reiterate by pointing out that Apple refused to recognize the Silicon Valley janitorial workforce in the 1990s until Justice for Janitors union sufficiently embarrassed the company and brought it around. CFT President Mary Bergan also cited Albert Einstein's support for the American Federation of Teachers, saying that the genius encouraged intellectuals to work together to be an influential political force. According to Bergan, the real problem in the education system is lack of funding.

Steve Jobs may be a pop-culture icon, but it's interesting to know if this former hippie has been too radical this time.

After creative Apple chief Steve Jobs sent an open letter to Torgeir Waterhouse of the Norwegian Consumer Council about his feelings against DRM, Yahoo! and Monster Cable also aired similar opinions on the limiting technology.

Dave Goldberg, head of Yahoo! Music, told Silicon Valley Watcher that he long advocated removing DRM because there is already a lot of music available without DRM. "It also just makes things complicated for the user," he said. Goldberg noticed that Yahoo! Music experiments found that non-DRMed music actually experienced a boost in sales.

Monster Cable's top chief, Noel Lee, was also found to have supported Jobs' ideas presented in his open letter. Lee elaborated, "Monster Cable shares Mr. Jobs' vision of breaking constraints for legal music downloads. We've always believed in the power of music. So much so, we launched Monster Music to introduce high definition surround to the world without restrictions."

The manufacturer of high performance cables' music service, Monster Music, sports a format called SuperDisc for high-definition surround tracks and completely DRM-free music. The company successfully negotiated DRM-free files with Universal Music for a SuperDisc release called "Away from the Sun."