Non-Filipino readers might find this post’s title odd, but it’s just Taglish for “I’m mobile”, which for this blogger is a clumsy play on the rumored new name for Apple’s .Mac service (and for the purposes of this blog will be referred to as DotMac, to retain the sanity of my word processor’s autocorrect feature.) It’s also a play on the current and more-than-annoying marketing campaign of local telecom provider Smart Communications called “Me na Me” presently irritating us silly here in Manila for their Smart Buddy service.

Ok. So there I go ruining the whole structure of the post just so I could have my silly title. Let’s just have it out then: According to rumors, Apple seems to be set on renaming their DotMac service, that US$99 one-year thing where you get a paltry amount of online storage and a snotty email address that ends in “mac.com” (and some other stuff), to Mobile Me. Ugh.

Dunno about you, but the fact that you can get everything DotMac is offering for free elsewhere online seems to me a testament to the lengths fanboys will go to for their mothership. (Full disclosure: I used to be suckered into this thing too, and had a DotMac account for three years or so until I wised up and saved my money instead to buy more useful things like food. And beer.) But apparently it may be time to come back to the fold.

According to many archived reports, Apple trademarked the name Mobile Mac on Jan. 5, 2006, and while much was made of it at the time as Apple folk are wont to do, nothing happened and people forgot about it. Now though, people poking through the code of the recently released 10.5.3 update of Leopard have come across considerable evidence that Apple is finally going to use the two-year-old name, presumably after the relaunching announcement to be made at Steve Jobs’ WWDC keynote on June 9.

A rose by any other name, blah blah. What’s more important is what new stuff it will offer for the hundred bucks (or however much they’ll be charging for it), and right now all we can do is make educated guesses. Obviously it will tie in with the new 3G iPhone and include stuff like push email, wireless syncing and things Blackberry fans have been enjoying for years. We’ll just have to add Mobile Me to our list of things to wait for during the keynote. If it had really useful features, I wouldn’t be averse to signing back up again and resurrecting my old DotMac address.

Which also means most of us renegade iPhone users will have to formally sign up with Globe Telecom when it finally releases the phone for my country (sometime in September, if rumors are to be believed). Obviously my non-3G first-gen kracked-and-jailbroken iPhone won’t do, so I’ll have to pony up for the new one. Life is hard. Ah, well.

(By the way, is it just me, or does Mobile Me really sound like an embarrasingly jejune name for an Apple service? It even sounds …Microsoftian, like something Gates and Ballmer might’ve thought up. Sheesh.)

[Box art mock-up via TUAW]

An uncovered patent made by Apple reveals plans to create an iPod powered by light.

MacRumors reports that it has found a patent by Apple to create an iPod (and presumably an iPhone) with a solar panel under the LCD screen by which it can generate additional power.  The patent postulates a thin three-level sandwich of sorts that incorporates a touch sensitive layer, a display and a photovoltaic panel. The unique Apple twist is that by doing so it won’t have to create a separate charging panel; it’ll look the same, only you don’t have to charge it as often, or at all. With its giant screen, the iPhone’ll be especially energy-efficient.

The patent also mentions that the multiple solar cells would be coupled directly with specific components within the device, including the memory and the data-processing system.

Talk about hot gadgets. This is way cool, but don’t hold your breath just yet.

The chief executive of Intel Germany has revealed that Apple is developing a touchscreen device similar to an iPhone, but larger, and with a bigger touchscreen.

Hannes Schwaderer made the statement at an event held in Munich, Germany that this alleged tablet-device-phone-pda-something will be using his company’s new Atom processor for mobile devices. This supports rumors circulating the net that Apple is indeed developing a tablet gadget for general computing that may or not be a new iPhone model. Whether this announcement is based on fact or on one too many brewskis is yet to be determined.

Can you say Newton 2.0?

(Via Electronista)

Rumors are rolling in about the next gen iPhone!

Engadget’s Ryan Block’s trusted source’s test unit (whew!) is alledgedly slightly thicker than the original, but retains almost everything else - size, shape, screen resolution, non-user-replaceable battery, save for a few marked differences: an all glossy non-metal black back, chrome volume buttons, a regular, unrecessed earphone port (thank God), and the much-awaited 3G and GPS features.

Also, no word on storage capacity (anyone for 32gb?) or battery life. Power is a major concern because of the newly introduced 3G and GPS and how those’d affect power consumption (which was the reason they were left out in the first place). Might make the Mophie Juice Pack (which we mentioned in a previous post) a bigger deal - if the new unit would be compatible with it, that is.

Of course, as Ryan says, no one can tell with Apple if this’ll be the one that’ll come out this year (as early as July, they say). For all we know, knowing Steve Jobs, this might well be a red herring he’s throwing out to get us off track. It could be totally different. Abangan!

The entire Mac world is going nuttier than the fruitcakes we got for Christmas that we aren’t touching, now that the Macworld Keynote is just a little over a week away.

Normally I don’t entertain these pointless rumorfests and try not to jump on the bandwagon, but I must admit, the fever is high and I’m starting to have a temperature myself. I think the heightened expectations are fueled by the advent of the iPhone and the related tech that came with it, notably the multi-touch interface. Which is why a multi-touch Mac is one of the popular, though least likely, candidates for the “one more thing” shtick of Steve this year.

A site called AppleTell has floated a roundup of predictions, from the Very Likely (Mac OS 10.5.2 and the sub-notebook), the Possible (iPod HiFi and 3G/16gb iPhone) and the Improbable (multi-touch tablet Mac).

The three things that have me in a tizzy are the updated iPhone, the multi-touch Mac and the subnotebook, particularly the latter. A lot of my friends who want to upgrade to a newer laptop have been holding out for Macworld just in case a Macbook Lite comes out (me included). Small form factors seem to be a big deal for some Mac users - personally I miss my old 12″ Powerbook and have been looking for something like it for a while now.

(While I wait, I’m currently satisfying my UMPC craving with an Asus EeePC running Xandros, a Linux variant, for the moment, and I am so enamored with the lightness, portability and convenience of the thing that I actually started a new blog for it, just for fun. If reading it won’t hurt your Mac sensibilities, check out my new EeePC blog here.)

I know one thing for sure - I’m staying up late for Macworld 08 live online coverage by our usual suspects next week (in Manila it starts about 1AM on the 16th, or thereabouts). And the following morning, me and other Mac blogs will be writing up a storm for sure. I love this time of the year.

For the full Macworld rumor roundup, click here.