Via MacRumors IRC (irc.macrumorslive.com#macrumors):

10:48 Apple Store just loaded.

10:42 Show’s over, time to go reload the Apple Store site a few hundred times.

10:38 My Amex just wriggled free from my wallet and lept up onto my desk all on it’s own, it looks tired and dispirited, much like a salmon. Apple store is still down.

10:35 MacBook Pro: Fastest notebook ever. Thinner than 17″ PowerBook, 15.4″LCD, bright as a cinema display, IR sensor (returns!) with Apple Remote. 5.6lbs. $1999 1.67 Core Duo; $2499 1.83GHz. Shipping in February!

10:32 4 to 5x faster!! two processors (meaning dual core or 2x dual core?) I’m such a nerd. A happy nerd, but a serious nerd.

10:31 AHHHHHH!!!! No more powerbook! MacBook Pro (see my prediction below!)

10:30 LAPTOPS!

10:26 I’m hoping there’s a one more thing and that thing is portables, but it’s starting to seem unlikely at this point.

10:20 Quark (bleh) has a universal binary beta shipping today. Adobe?

Microsoft is claiming everything works with Rosetta, no date on universal binaries yet. Now saying updates in March.

What’s up with March? Apple’s pro apps and Office in March, I guess that’s when towers will get intel chips.

10:14 Intel iMac? 2 to 3 times faster than the previous G5 iMac! Holy crap. It’s using the Core Duo. Two cores, each core faster than the G5 They do know how bad this makes PowerBooks look, they have to. IOP’s G5 iMacs absolutely smoke my PowerBook.

10.4.4 is entirely native on Intel! iLife and iWork are all universal binaries, totally expected that.

10:08 iWork ’06, just go try it? lol. HARDWARE!…

10:06 One hour and no mention of Intel? If they end this without new hardware, the stock’s gonna get hammered. Intel’s stock started tanking about 12:30pm, currently down $0.32 (1.2%).

9:55 here comes iWeb, (tried SandVox yet?). AAPL just topped $80. Based on MacRumors IRC, iWeb seems very .Mac focused. Good, smart niche and doesn’t yank the rug out from under Dan Wood again.

9:30 Apple’s stock is up $3.60, 4.75% already.

iLife updated, major overhaul to iPhoto. THANK YOU. iPhoto 5 was a dog. Really wish I could see screens, iLife site not updated yet (no surprise).

9:27 10.4.4 today! nice. hope it reduces the number of beachballs I’m still seeing.

My predictions:
Lots of new hardware, more than was rumored. I’m convinced that new PowerBooks will be released alongside new iBooks. Unless the lines are merged into a two-tiered ‘book. The primary distinction will be Core Duo in PowerBooks and Core (single) in iBooks. There will be no updates to towers until later in the year, probably around NAB and the next FCP update.

Don’t care much about iPod stuff, though I think Bruce is right to point out the biggest coming market is sending digital entertainment around the house. Viiv addresses some of this, but people are soon going demand that their stuff plays wherever they want.

Several large software companies will be onstage to announce universal binaries available today (or when the new comps ship).

The biggest question for me is whether or not Final Cut Pro will be updated to universal binary now, or will wait until NAB in April. I’m figuring it won’t be updated, the larger user base isn’t on PowerBooks. Much as I want a new machine, I might wait a bit to see it all plays out if FCP isn’t done yet.