Headline Feeds
The Apple- and Mac-focused blogosphere has been dominated by Macworld and the Steve Jobs MacBook Air announcement. For those who've been hiding out in a snow cave all week, the MacBook Air is a new super-thin, super-light notebook. Even though the elegant new Mac is far from Earth-shaking, it seems like everybody has something to say about it.
Arnold Kim, editor of the popular MacRumors.com site, incorporated a special Macworld blog section this year that's been covering the show, the new products and the conference buzz.
"Apple's announcements always overshadow everything," Kim told MacNewsWorld. "Obviously there's no iPhone-caliber announcement, but I don't think anyone realistically expected Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) to be able to pull one off like that again."
What's Missing?
The MacBook Air was expected to be announced, Kim said, and the expectations of Mac enthusiasts at Macworld always exceed the end product. "There is a sizable audience that was somewhat disappointed in it, but that's also a true statement for any Macworld. Apple can only release a few products, and the audience here tends to be pretty vocal about the features."
Like blog writers and commenters, Macworld attendees tend to be power users with specific needs and strong-willed opinions to go with those needs. While the MacBook Air has been gushed over just about everywhere for its astounding design elements, commenters are just as quick to point out what's missing. A case in point is Kim's blog post on the matter, "Lack of 3G a Deal Breaker ... No, Not Talking about iPhone."
"As I told many people yesterday... if the MacBook Air had included any sort of 3G Internet connection, I would have bought one instantly. No questions asked. I probably would have loaded up on SSD Flash as well, knowing it would be my primary mobile 
device. But with the lack of 3G, I see no compelling reason to move off from my MacBook, which also has a 3G USB dongle hanging off its side," he wrote.
Trade-Offs Everywhere
Blogger Petemortensen at Cult of Mac typed up a funny pros and cons post, noting that, "Dude, it's like totally thin." On his con list, he writes, "No mobile broadband built-in. Kind of makes the whole 'Air' thing moot if I need to find a hotspot to crank this up."
So what about built-in mobile broadband? How could Apple have missed something so obvious? Of course, the issue is size. It's only a matter of time before some well-funded and curious guy buys a MacBook Air and tears it apart to look inside. No doubt, the guts will be crammed together, showing that Apple didn't have room for the required components, and the USB port, with the hidden hatch, is a case in point. Apple's only offering one.
"It seems most people complaining about this laptop are missing its point. It's entire purpose is to be thin and light, while still retaining a surprising amount of functionality. Oh and beautiful. And on that front it succeeds," noted shutterbug in response to Petemortensen's Cult of Mac post.
While some seem to like the built-in battery aesthetically, for others, it raises questions about traveling -- you can't pack an extra battery, for example, for long flights.
Product In Transition
"They didn't provide any type of battery extender, which will limit where this can be used, and the battery life when connected to WiMax or 3G may become a big problem if USB solutions are used," Rob Enderle, principal analyst for the Enderle Group, told MacNewsWorld.
"This kind of product lives to be connected, and at the very least, when the 3G iPhone comes out, it should have a solution linking the two -- but given the existing iPhone is 2.5 G they can't really do that yet," he added. "So think of this as a product in transition, the best of its class to yet exist -- but still in need of some critical work to be perfect."
In Other News
The new iTunes Movie Rentals solution has been getting solid blogosphere traffic -- with a hefty dose of skepticism and argument over the 24-hour time limit to view a movie after a user hits the play button for the first time. There's two camps -- busy people and not-so-busy people. The busy people break up their movies in bits and pieces as they have time and the not-so-busy people think 24 hours is more than enough time to get a movie watched.
Others, like Colin, who posted a comment on the "iTunes Movie Rentals Available Today" post on The Apple Blog says, "I don't know about HD quality but I rented 'Ratatouille' today. It works GREAT. It took about 30 seconds to a minute to buffer enough to get to the point where you can watch it and I took a bit longer because I was doing other things but after I started it there were no problems at all. One little blip, but I think it was my computer, not a streaming issue."
Talkback: 
