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24 hours from now, at the top of everyone's list, is the possible return of the ultra-portable, but in super form. One that will be smaller, lighter, and thinner than Apple's current king of sub-notebooks, the 12-inch PowerBook G4. The MacBook Pro mini (my preference) or nano. This was widely believed to be something announced last year, but never was. 2008 just might be it.

Lo and behold, the other day, Ars Technica's Apple-centric Journal, InfiniteLoop, posted photos from Apple's banners that had just gone up at the Moscone Center, site of the Macworld Expo for every year that it's been in San Francisco.

The banner revealed Apple's tagline for this year's expo. "2008: There's Something in the Air."

Days after, other sites reported that the MacBook Pro mini/nano would be no more and the new super ultra-portable would be called the "MacBook Air" since it would have wireless capabilities (USB, AC, everything!), while still others believe it to be the incorporation of WiMax technology built-in to the new sub-notebook.

Other predictions and strictly-still-rumors? A mid-range tower Mac, one in between the iMac and the Mac Pro. Something affordable for consumers, but close in processing power to a Mac geared toward professionals. Also? iTunes movie rentals and possibly a type of new input device that would replace the mouse, such as a multi-touch trackpad device.

Then there's the tablet Mac that also was rumored last year, but were surprised when the only Mac-related announcement at the Expo was not from Apple, but another company with their ModBook, which was exactly that-- a tablet Mac (solution). It took a full year to come out, but better refined than buggy. And since it exists, bets are off that Apple would make one too.

(We even thought that that was the reason why the ModBook kept on being delayed. We had planned on writing a piece on whether Apple had bought the rights to the ModBook and planned on releasing it as an Apple-only product with its own Apple name. Then came the news earlier this month, that the ModBook was finally shipping! Rats on that one).

Better yet would be a replacement to the Mac mini that this time would sport a small screen and have higher specs than the original. What would it look like? How about a "classic"? A new all-in-one Mac reminiscent of the Macintosh Classic--sans CRT monitor--but as unique and never-seen-before like the 20th Anniversary Macintosh.

Oh, look at that. The fog's rolling in across the bay. (We have an excuse!).

This columnist still thinks that Apple/Steve Jobs is prepping to release Mac OS X Leopard for installation on Windows-based PCs. This was thought up last year in a story, "A 'Spot'-light on What Leopard's Top Secret Feature May Be." Remember those top secret features Jobs said would be forthcoming but not spoken of at Macworld 2007? Where are those features??

If you think that's crazy, read this even wilder story thought up by yours truly last week, on how Apple could top Macworld 2007 by doing a Microsoft Windows Vista 2.0 kind of thing for 2008.

See what you've done Apple? You made 2007 so great that everyone's trying to think up what will be the next greatest thing since sliced bread, uh, the iPhone. In fact, you might even be making fun of us all with your tagline for 2008... "There's Something in the Air."

Whatever is in the air this week, especially come tomorrow morning (hopefully dry and not so cold, since although IDG--in charge of Macworld--gave us a Media Badge this year, we're going to have to stand in line again like the rest of you), make sure to come back right here for our LIVE coverage of Keynote... "Live from the City by the Bay, It's Apple's 'Super Tuesday.' "

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