Here we are waiting for Steve Jobs to take his accustomed center stage position while the world and financial market waits for what may be unveiled. With so much rumor floating around on the semi-annual hype of what Apple will release to the world, we'll bypass that and see what's in actual store here in a few minutes. All times below are in PST:

9:55am -- sitting on Apple's rather-swamped website (I'd think, anyway) waiting for things to get rolling.

9:59am -- things look to be getting underway in San Francisco -- attendees are being told to turn off cellphones. That's a good sign!

10:03am -- Bob Dylan is off the speakers and Steve Jobs is on stage. What will he explode on the world today?

10:05am -- Jobs tells the audience that 65 million iPods have shipped as of June. That's market penetration for you. Jobs is going over the iPod universe, probably before he says "oh yes, and there's just one more thing".

10:10am -- technical difficulties here at Weblogs, Inc. -- maybe the server load due to Apple is ruffling server feathers?

10:15am -- looks like new larger iPods (in terms of battery life) and the second-gen iPod nanos will be out soon -- with thinner cases and in 5 colors (and with 24-hour batteries). 2GB (aluminum only) for $149
4GB (5 colors) for $199 and the 8GB (black only) for $249.

10:20am -- we're waiting for Apple's "big-time" announcement from the keynote by Jobs, as product revisions and explanations may take a while. Stay tuned.

10:28am -- new iPod shuffle product -- "the world's smallest MP3 player", in a new aluminum case. Also, the new iTunes store (version7), which is now the #5 reseller in the U.S. for legal music downloads, behind brick-n-mortar stores and Amazon.com -- and Apple is poised to bypass Amazon, says Jobs.