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I have a lot of semi-free time on my hands these days, due to my main client’s inability to furnish me with a full 4 days of work per week. This time — only partly free, because I do need to be avilable to do work at a moment’s notice — is generally spent in front of my iMac perusing the latest news on Obama, polls, the MSI Wind netbook, and Apple-related stuff. I figure it’s high time to gaze into my crystal ball a bit.

First off, new offerings from Apple due tomorrow. The MacBook in my household is the property of my wife and spends most of its time on campus, which is why I’m tethered to my iMac. I’d love something portable so I could get out of the house a bit more (hence my OSX-on-Wind obsession). Rumors abound regarding tomorrow’s annoucement. While I’d love to see an inexpensive, netbook-like offering (I think an 11″ screen with a traditional HD and SD card reader would be perfect), I don’t see Apple going into the netbook realm — the iPhone is sophisticated enough a portable computing device that Apple will stay away from the netbook segment for a while.

I also don’t think we’ll see anything cheaper than $899, or that we’ll see a tablet laptop. Mac OS X isn’t designed for a tablet-style UI and Steve would never release a product where software and hardware weren’t in harmony. However, I think we will see an $899 MacBook. Trackpads will be bigger and support multitouch gestures, and cases will all be so very metal. MacBook Pro specs will get bumped up. Blu-ray seems like a possibility for the Pros and maybe upper-end MacBooks, but no way they offer it at the low end. I also expect some news related to AppleTV and the Mini. I’m not sure what it will be, but I don’t expect it to draw too much attention away from all the new laptops.

As for the election: It seems pretty clear to me that Obama’s finally hit his ceiling in the national polls. Unfortunately, that means that at the moment there’s nowhere to go but down, and down he will go. But I don’t expect that decline will be precipitous, and he may actually recover back to today’s numbers come November.

I definitely expect him to top 300 in the electoral college, though I’m not so optimistic to think Georgia, West Virginia or North Dakota are truly in play despite recent polls. I also actually think North Carolina‘s unlikely to turn blue, even with Dean Smith endorsing Obama. Obama will take FL, NH, MN, OH and VA, but lose out on Nevada and Colorado, giving him a final total of 324 EV’s.

Of course, if Osama bin Laden endorses him or something else crazy happens these last few weeks, I reserve the right to amend that prognositication.

UPDATE: FiveThirtyEight.com just compiled today’s polls and things still look great for That One. But I still think McCain will mount a comeback and take what I outlined above (note that I’m putting Missouri in red, which I failed to mention).

About a month ago, I posted on some impending Apple product refreshes. Since then, we’ve seen some nifty new iPods, but the other rumored updates, to the MacBook, MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini, haven’t transpired yet. However, today I came across a very good indicator that Apple’s new laptops will be here very soon, perhaps within days.

I’ve been a grad student at UCLA for four years now, and I’ve noticed a strong trend: when new Apple products are about to be announced, the UCLA Computer Store makes significant cuts in their prices for whatever hardware is about to be refreshed. I’m not the only one who’s noticed this; it’s almost common knowledge around here that when prices drop, something dramatic is about to happen. I’ve fallen victim to this twice: I bought a suddenly-discounted fourth-gen iPod right before video iPods were announced, and a few months later I picked up an oddly cheap G4 iBook mere days before Apple announced the MacBook.

Today, I noticed that the UCLA Computer Store’s Apple laptop prices have fallen precipitously. (Apologies for not providing a link; the actual prices are only revealed to those with UCLA logins.) The new prices are good “while supplies last,” another indication that this is an inventory-clearing move. Note that the prices below take into account the standard academic discount:

2.4 ghz white MacBook: originally $1199, now $999
2.4 ghz black MacBook: originally $1399, now $1249
2.4 ghz MacBook Pro: originally $1799, now $1599
2.5 ghz MacBook Pro: originally $2299, now $1799

These are pretty substantial price cuts, especially the 2.5 ghz MacBook Pro, which dropped $500. If memory serves, the UCLA Computer Store usually drops prices by $50-$150, so these are significantly larger than usual. This is nothing more than a hunch, but based on these discounts, I’m guessing the laptop revamp will be pretty dramatic, especially at the high end, and that the prices of the new ones will be similar to the current pricing scheme.

I really don’t know what to expect, or when exactly to expect it, but my guess is the new laptops will be impressive, and we’ll see them announced sometime in the next couple of weeks.

Apple Insider suspects the following:

The player will reportedly be the first non-Multi-Touch iPod to sport a motion or orientation sensor, according to two people familiar with the matter.

I think, based on the elongated form of the new Nano (which seems to be dependable as the shape, at this point) the screen rotation for watching video on the compact screen would be a no-brainer. Here’s hoping I don’t come away from today wishing for the updated Touch (should it arrive).

Update:
Thank goodness it’s not a faster ipod touch! The volume rocker and the battery life enhancements will be nice but an estimate for music and app use while on the wi fi will be a lot shorter than video/audio. Last.fm or pandora come to mind.