First, the specs: the iPhone 4GB model will be $499 and will ship in June (not, it turns out, January 15th). It will run Cingular and Yahoo! IMAP email. Shivers. This is one phone I'm dying to own.

How will Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)'s iPhone be different from every other "mobile communication device" out there? How? Just tell us, Steve. It will be done without a keyboard... without a stylus... thanks to the patented power of "multi-touch."


Hmmm. Well, whatever that is, it's certainly lovely. In Engadget's live coverage of Steve Job's MacWorld keynote address, the photos have been rolling out like so much gadget porn.

Yum. But, as they say in the business, "that's not all."

By now my readers and fellow bloggers have figured out that I like to navigate around the web looking in the jungles and swamps of the technology fringe culture.There's a rumor swirling about which puts forward a very interesting proposition.

As you may know, the one big deterrent to the rapid expansion of streaming broadband as the next juggernaut of in-home entertainment is simply the incredible size of the data load required to successfully accomplish the task. There's a new school of thought that believes that the data load can be successfully reduced by placing some of the bull work at the receiving end.

It is thought that broadband receiving units can be built and programmed to virtually "create" a percentage of the data needed to light up those pixels on your flat screen. In other words, content providers would stream as little as 60% of the original image and sound data, then the receiving unit in your home would extrapolate the balance of the data needed to fulfill the program.

For instance, if you were watching a movie scene that was taking place in an area that was very dark, the areas that are black (or nearly so) would be recreated in your receiver. That data wouldn't need to be sent to you. Another angle is to stream the content in a "two track" format. Audio and video would stream separately with the sound track arriving first. Then, the video portion would stream as a second "operation" and the two tracks would marry and synchronize in your home unit without you ever knowing the difference.

Is Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) working on something like this? Is Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) going to make this happen? Is Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) readying this technology? Who knows? For now it's just a very unsubstantiated rumor, but it's within the realm of possibility. I'll be here to let you know if I hear that anything like this takes form. Until then, it's back into the fringe technology swamp I go!

With the current legal problems that are occurring in Apple-land, the story of current CEO Steve Jobs continues to unfold in mysterious ways. Does Jobs really have a "reality distortion field" that he uses to win consumers over to the Apple view of the world? According to many in the tech community, he does. But that power may not extend to possible back-dating of Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock options.

Tomorrow, Jobs will take center stage in his familiar role as keynote presenter/semi-magician at MacWorld, which is famously held at the same time as the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas. Only Jobs could pull that off in a move that he knows will most likely garner the world's attention.

Is Jobs completely in the clear regarding his involvement in the possible resetting of start dates for company stock options for himself and others? Even Al Gore found "no misconduct" in possible back-dating involving Jobs recently. Is Jobs being treated unfairly in this situation since he has made the star of Apple shine so bright for so many investors and consumers? Managing Director Alan Johnson of Johnson Associates says that "He knew what he was doing. It wasn't 'the dog ate it.' He backdated the options on purpose and the committee said it will give him a free pass." Yikes -- that's one against Jobs. But how many for him?

When you think of retail locations, which store or national chain comes to mind as one who sells more product per square foot than anyone else? Nieman Marcus? Tiffany? Dillard's? Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY)? None of the above.

In an industry known for ridiculously low margins, Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) sells more than any other retailer in any industry per square foot of retail space according to a new report. It's something I've noted before: I admire Apple's tenacity in design and function for the consumer -- and it does this just about better than any other mass merchandise company.

Add to that Apple's marketing finesse and the way it creates hip and cool perception about its products and it's no surprise than per retail shelf and floor space, it sells more than any other company with a retail presence. What is the number? A report released by Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi claims Apple Stores have an annual sales per square foot figure of $4,032.

There were so many gadgets floating this year during the Christmas holiday that I wondered if any other product existed outside gizmos and clothes. I can imagine much of those electronics will not only frustrate gift recipients, due to being so hard to use and understand, and that some folks just won't like what they received. Solution? Prepare to wait in line and return items for store credit.

But during this hustle and bustle, retailers of consumer electronics like Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY), Circuit City Stores, Inc. (NYSE:CC), and Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), have clamped down on return policies for high-end and high-priced items in the wake of increasing customer return fraud.

Many retailers are shortening return periods, or, in some rare cases, offering no refunds at all. So be prepared for store credits, or even-amount exchanges, or return-dampening high-percentage restocking fees on opened products.

Want an example of how return policies are really being segmented down product lines? Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) has four different return periods: 90 days for most items; 15 days for computer hardware; 30 days for camcorders and digital cameras; and 45 days for computer components and accessories. Note: three of the four areas deal with consumer electronics and computers. No big surprise really...

Outgoing Windows Vista chief Jim Allchin allegedly sent an email to Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer in 2004 stating that he'd buy a Mac if he were not working at Microsoft. If Allchin really used to like the Mac better than the Windows PC, maybe he should have worked for Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) rather than Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). Although he's now claiming those comments were "taken out of context," those are pretty strong words for someone in charge of Windows development at the time, no?

Allchin, at least for a little while, said that Microsoft has lost its way with Windows Vista and didn't really know what customers wanted any longer. Fast forward almost three years from January 2004 and Vista is just about to be released to the public -- and Allchin claims this is the best, most solid piece of software the company has ever built. What does it resemble from many perspectives? Why, Apple's current OS X, according to many.

After having seen the recent release candidates for Windows Vista, it is indeed nice eye candy. It looks great (with a very recent PC and a very good graphics card) and in many ways the look and feel resembles Apple's more svelte looking operating system. If you buy into history books, Bill Gates ripped many of the elements from the first version of Windows from Apple's graphical user interface, so nothing new has changed here I guess. (By the way, I am making a joke here -- don't fly off the handle please.)

Allchin has said now that Windows Vista is "far, far better than any other software available today." History will tell if he is right -- and so will Windows Vista sales in 2007.

[Disclosure: I own MSFT shares as of 12-13-06.]

As BloggingStocks' Doug McIntyre noted earlier, shares in iPod and Mac maker Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) are sitting at a pretty decent level right now -- above $80. Is there room to move up even more? If so, it's going to take a lot to convince major institutional investors and watchdog houses who see the pinnacle of Apple's current success -- the iPod -- hit the five-year milestone. Perhaps they will consult with Miss Cleo about how long this iPod-frenzy can last, since the iPod is central to Apple's recent success.

Of course there is quite a bit of truth to that, but there is more to Apple than just the iPod. By accident or design, the iPod has taken sales of other Apple products like the MacBook for the ride as well, and Apple's market share in the PC market has only grown recently.

I doubt this is due to the virus/malware problem that the company touts as why Macs are better than Windows PCs. It's probably due more to the iPod culture and the attention to cool design that Apple has bestowed in the consumer electronics field. Many consumers are now paying attention to design and style instead of PC horsepower and feature lists that are as indecipherable to many of us as Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Does Apple CEO Steve Jobs have a transition plan for the inevitable decline of the iPod? Remembering product cycle patterns that happen in the business world, the iPod may indeed be on the downward slope -- and investors may get antsy as sales slow someday soon. What will pick up the pace for Apple so that its shares don't plummet when this happens?

Steve Jobs may be holding the answer in the neck flap of his daily turtleneck for nobody else to know...until it's too late for competitors to respond. He won't tell the investment community for fear of letting the competition know what is going on. Investors may be skittish, but the magician Jobs is probably laughing in his sleep. Hey, what you don't know won't hurt you, right?

Tired of hearing about the elections yet? Not Jim Cramer. Tonight on his MAD MONEY show on CNBC, he decided to point out some ways the elections could make you money.

Boy, this sounds like 'deja vu' all over again.

Cramer said that, while corporations may have lost some of their stranglehold over the government, the markets rallied anyway. This, he explained, was the market "getting past the event." Cramer said that gridlock has been good for the economy but you can't like the market quite as much as you did yesterday. Why are you unable to like the market, you ask? According to Cramer, it's because the Democrats care more for the interests of consumers than those of corporate shareholders. If you're going to quantify this, just subtract one multiple point off your stock's P/E ratio. BUT....Cramer says you have to stay in the market and don't be put off on the headlines.

Cramer said the Dem's won't have the power to do much besides making the companies look like they are less of a corporatocracy (my word not his). Cramer said that even Waxman shouldn't keep you away from stocks. Cramer says you do have to pay attention to Washington, but he thinks Pelosi won't stop Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) from earning $15.00 next year. He also said to stop bashing Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) because it is done going down. He thinks the Democrats won't touch the credit card companies because deadbeats don't have lobbyists. Cramer still likes MasterCard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) and says that Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) will win. Cramer still thinks Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is going to $100 by year end and he thinks Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) is still good to be in with it up huge after the report. In a call-in Cramer said to keep the ExxonMobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) and not sell it.

Can Dell Inc.(NASDAQ:DELL) ever be as cool as Apple Computer,Inc (NASDAQ:APPL)? Well, the world's second-largest PC maker hopes so, as it wants to shed its image of a stodgy brand of boring PCs into a design and usability icon under former Apple exec John Medica, who assisted on the Apple MacIntosh II and first Powerbooks.

Medica is now charged with re-inventing Dell's product style and external customer image into something more svelte and consumer-friendly -- which will be no easy task since the image Dell has right now is far from that postcard picture. Although Dell's PC designs -- for desktops, since I recently bought one -- look great and very much are improved in terms of overall aesthetics and designs (except its boring laptops, save the XPS series), they are nowhere near what Apple's products invoke.

Medica details what I consider to be the perfect situation for any product in an interview he gave to CNET, in which he says "When I think of an awesome product or products that I've had in my lifetime that I've thoroughly enjoyed, they're the products that are extraordinarily well thought through. (They) have a level of physical quality and predictability and function, and they are as enjoyable to use on the first day as they are on the day you've replaced them. They have a level of support and/or trust with the company from which I purchased the product, and whenever I need any type of service support...it's predictable, it's well done, and solves my issue."

Well said there -- he captured the essence if what it is to design, produce and support a product that creates an indelible imprint on the mind of the consumer. So many companies are concerned with getting products out the door to meet quarterly financial targets that planning on this scale rarely happens. Apple does it based on the extreme scrutiny of CEO Steve Jobs and handpicked details nuts like himself -- look what the company does to style, image, design and "hipness" -- and it has no equal. Dell may be able to learn from that. Maybe.

Why is Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) as successful as it is? Many would argue that it is the detail-obsessed Steve Jobs, who reportedly oversees almost every product down to the last minute detail. This level of involvement from the top down makes for a rather frustrating environment for subordinates who don't always commit to the leader's vision. Yet, it is precisely this commitment that Jobs has -- his consumer experience and detail obsession -- that can lead to great things, even in the face of hardship. And it is precisely this commitment he demands.

I admire Apple highly just because the company designs for use, not for features or other things other manufacturers seem to always market to these days. It's still beyond me why many mainstream companies don't pay attention to design, slick marketing and user friendliness in their products when there are so many examples in the business world where these traits are very successful. Jobs has made it a point to push Apple employees to do more than they could have imagined possible, making the frustration worth every sweat of the brow when an employee can share in a company's success -- and Apple's had plenty of that over the last five years.

What about Google, Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) then? Google's larger-than-life success has been in its search engine. But the company has also released product after product. How? Google's been snatching up talented people and then giving them enormous latitude to make new products -- just like Apple. Unlike Apple, though, the employees themselves are seemingly in charge of what they create. Google managers even encourage engineers to spend about 20% of their time on projects they're passionate about. Now, the trick is for Google to make money on some of these products, which it hasn't generally in the past (no matter how good the products were).

Push your employees by having a raving perfectionist and incredible cheerleader like Jobs, or push them by letting them do what they know they can and by giving them latitude? Both mixes seem to be recipes for success. With Google CEO Eric Schmidt now sitting on Apple's board of directors, these two companies may just be getting started. On what? That is anyone's guess.

With Google's purchase of YouTube.com, there are about a billion questions swarming around the web today. Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) faces new challenges as it enters the uncharted territory that may bring even more riches to the Internet search leader as it desperately tries to jump out of the shadow of being a one-trick pony (Internet search).

Just today, Google unleashed its Google Docs and Spreadsheets web-based threat against office productivity suites like Microsoft Office. So Google is definitely in the game of trying to move outside the pure search arena and gain revenue streams from other areas (mostly with advertising vehicles). This is good, and as I've said many times before, this is a strategy Google has needed to follow for a while, and 2006 is shaping up to be a watershed year in that direction for the Mountain View, CA company.

With YouTube.com, though, the bad areas that crop up according to bloggers -- even famous ones -- are intense issues with copyright violations that *may be* plaguing the social video-sharing website right now (and in the future). Google will surely clamp down on the sharing of copyrighted content in an effort to remind copyright holders and content producers that it can have a socially-responsible video-sharing website that is not a haven for stolen pieces of video.

But, like Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and its apparent negotiations with movie and music studios, Google may have to enter the policing stage to ensure that if it wants to use YouTube to recruit advertising, it won't have questionable and stolen content all over the place. I doubt Google will put in place the strong, DRM-laced controls that Apple uses, but you never know.

It seems that every other week, we're all hearing about the current nonsense of stock options backdating that executives and not-so-creative accountants used in the dire days of the 2001-2003 market downturn to ensure the liquidity of most executives, which mostly sits in stock. This did not sit well with the investors who support their companies. How nice.

Even Apple's Steve Jobs, hailed as the savior of all-things-media these days, is not immune to the stock options backdating scandals that rock so many public companies these days. Graef Crystal over at Bloomberg goes so far as to say that perhaps Jobs should return $85 million of his net worth back to shareholder. This $85 million was gained when Jobs apparently backdated some of his own options that were granted when AAPL shares were tanking with the rest of the market. I like the words "sleight of hand," which is exactly what many execs and CFOs were doing to ensure -- omygosh -- that their precious stock would not be turned into underwater options upon being granted.

Crystal goes on to say that Jobs stood to gain a wallop of cash (options) from a January 2000 transaction that involved the single-largest stock option grant for a single day that he could find. Additionally, the grant was perfectly timed to give Jobs all the advantage. Nothing is new here -- this most likely happens in many options grant scenarios and probably takes a seat in the official timing of executive hires. The timeline given here paints a goofy picture, and while Jobs is a saint to many, he's not one to some in the financial community.

Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) ended the day at $74.83, down 55 cents and 0.73%. The day after finding out that Steve Jobs did know about options backdating, and the stock more or less remained rather steady, all things considered. Yesterday I did predict a slump based on the news, but Steve Jobs apology to shareholders seems to have set the right tone. It was a much smaller market reaction than I would have thought. Couple that with CFO Anderson's resignation over the incident, and one has to wonder if this bump is over, or just beginning.

The market seems to be reacting the same way James Grossman at Thrivent Financial: "It doesn't change how many iPods or MacBook Pros they're going to sell." But with many news outlets only just now getting the news out, tomorrow will be another day to watch and see if the slump will continue.

If you're an investor that's been safely sitting on the sidelines, patting yourself on the back for holding energy and food stocks all year, you're probably not feeling quite so comfortable these days.

In just the past two months -- at the same time economic numbers from housing, to durable goods, to gross domestic product have been slipping -- the Dow Jones industrial average has been on a tear. It is up about 9% this year and at levels last seen in January, 2006 (what a different world it was then).

Now, as the Wall Street Journal reports in its lead story today, professional money managers are starting to guess this could be the start of a major turn in the market. Or, even if it isn't, they are starting to realize they can't afford to hang back any longer. It's time for a more aggressive stock strategy.

That doesn't mean you should dump all your cash and bonds. It's still important to be diversified across asset classes in case stocks turn south (and who really an predict the direction of the market anyway). But if the bullish trends in the market continue, you'll want to be in a different set of sectors than may have worked for you in the past.

Here are a few trends to consider:

Energy stocks have been falling fast. That doesn't mean the trend won't reverse itself in the weeks to come (wait till the first cold snap), but for now, they are still a risky place to be.

Retail stocks are rebounding after getting hammered on declining consumer spending and weak back-to-school sales in August. Always wanted to own Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT)? This could be a good time to get back in. Eddie Lampert's Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD) is also worth a look.

In this rather interesting article over at the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), the case is made that companies do well in part because of easily-recognizable stock ticker symbols which are used to denote company shares on stock exchanges. There is some truth to this, but it is very hard for me to believe that stock prices are actually affected significantly by their symbols.

Case in point -- AAPL is Apple Computer's stock ticker symbol. Although the company's shares have seen a pretty meteoric rise in the last year due to the undeniable success of the iPod and iTunes offerings. Could AAPL shares have had more upside with a ticker symbol like APPL (which is what a lot of people expect the ticker to be)? Heck, maybe even APPLE would be better.

While many stock ticker names are very cute and either reflect the industry or the actual product (Anheuser-Busch's BUD is a great example), the naming convention most companies use is just an abbreviation. That's fine with me. I'd rather see a company's marketing savvy being used in sales and product marketing, not a clever (but useless) stock ticker symbol choice.

Think of Hewlett-Packard, which changed its stock ticker to "HPQ" after acquiring Compaq -- but why? Because the letter "Q" was in Compaq's stock ticker symbol and for some off reason, the new HP from years ago wanted to have that "Q" represented in the new Hewlett-Packard. Compaq is nothing but a brand now (and a weak one at that), but back when the company was acquired by HP, it was going pretty strong. So, as this example shows, putting too much effort into a ticker symbol can sometimes backfire.