Rumor Mill: no iPhone content (updated)

Hey, Jake here. It's Friday, which means that its time to round up all the latest Mac rumors.

I don't know about you, but I'm already sick of the iPhone 3G. Aren't you? I'm already so over it. Granted, I'm guilty as any for being part of the iPhone hype machine, but I'm reformed. I swear. In fact I'm selling my leaked iPhone 3G on eBay tonight (now you know where all those photos are coming from) and waiting for the iPhone 4G. It's going to be so much better anyway.

Personally, I'm all about the Mac iTablet that my twin brother got wind of last week. Nothing solid or new to report on that front, but I was blown away that 87 percent of the 4,600+ respondents to his poll answered that they'd buy one. I know, really scientific, right? Anyway, I think that the sweet spot is $999 for iTablet, it's a psychological barrier. Any more than a grand and people are going to buy a MacBook aluminum instead.

I can see an iTablet replacing my MacBook Air. iTablet and a MacBook Pro (loaded with 4GB RAM and a 9.5mm half-Terrabyte Samsung) is the perfect combination for me. MBP for the heavy lifting and an iTablet for RSS, Twitter and light email reading.

Anyone else notice that Apple seems to be going after the niches a little bit more these days? First with the MacBook Air, and now, possibly with the iTablet. What's next? An updated QuickTake camera?

There is a distinct possibility that Apple could finally unleash the MacBook aluminum and MacBook Pro carbon fiber (I wish!) in two weeks. The former has a slim chance, the later none. Unfortunately. Also unfortunate is that it's glossy screens from here on out from Apple, which is a bummer. I hate glossy, it just doesn't work outdoors. If the iTablet is iglossy, I'm not ibuying it.

I like what I hear about Apple finally doing something with Dot-Mac, .Mac, or Mac.com, or whatever the hell it's called. First of all, the name is a marketing nightmare! Which is it? How do you spell it? How do you say it? Ugh. Why couldn't Apple come up with a cool name for it, like Twitter? Who's running the ship over there anyway?

Personally, I love .Mac. I don't use it for email but it's great for syncing iCal with multiple users, and iDisk is pretty transparent. Yes, I know that this can be done for less or free but I don't have the bandwidth to monkey with WebDav and a cadre of other half-baked systems. .Mac just works for me.

According to MacRumors (love those guys!) "%@" is the new name of Apple’s online service, Apparently it's a variable that's a place holder for the new name that Apple can replace with a software update. Hell, it's better than "Dot Mac!" It seems that Apple's gotten wise to people raiding the strings of their new software for unannounced product. Update: References to "Mobile Me" have surfaced in the iPhone 2.0 SDK that suggest that it might be the new name for Dot-whatever. Whoa! Not as good as Twitter, but better than "%@."

In early May, TUAW claimed that .Mac would get Over-The-Air (OTA) syncing like Exchange and .Mac syncing with Windows. There is evidence that .Mac will be begin offering push functionality for Mail, Contacts and Calendar items in the iPhone 2.0 firmware.

Mac OS 10.5.3 also has a bunch of stuff in it that Apple never discloses which annoys me to no end. After the 10.5.2 fiasco, I'm not touching 10.5.3 until at least September.

What have you heard? Anyone else burned out by iPhone 3G?