As I wrote on Sunday night, WWDC is one of the most hotly-anticipated days on a Mac aficionado's calendar. And just about every year sees an incredible amount of hype and predictions of software, hardware and magic - expectations that Apple CEO Steve Jobs can just pull products out of a hat, regardless of their ease of development, or practicality. This year was no different - as a little after 24 hours following the event, Apple is recognized for having made some strong, solid introductions, but still a cry goes up from the Web by those who expected quite a bit more.

Gone are the visions many had of wireless iPods, and a downloadable movie store, an iPhone, or the introduction of integrated Windows compatibility. Instead, we saw the company complete its move to Intel processors with the introduction of the Mac Pro, we saw a preview of Mac OS X 10.5 (a.k.a. Leopard), and we heard Steve talk about how the new Mac OS X operating system was delivering features beyond even Microsoft's wildest imagination. Steve said that despite $5 billion in R&D, Microsoft is learning to copy Apple and Google, and isn't coming up with anything new. Also, he hinted at some "Top Secret" announcements and features that will be withheld until Leopard becomes closer to reality.

In the 1990s, the build-up to WWDC was a small affair, celebrated by a select few. Now, with Apple enjoying a resurgence with the success of the iPod, adoption of Intel and delays from Microsoft, the company has enjoyed overwhelming attention by more mainstream press. Now, instead of us Mac-heads whining in private Internet forums or stock boards, we now see reaction from Wired saying that Steve Jobs has lost his magic, and CNET claiming the blogosphere is disappointed. You reap what you sow, and Apple, so far, has held strong in the face of increased scrutiny.

For me, I'm looking forward to Leopard, and hope we see a lot more in the way of its functionality. The Mac Pro line is very strong if I were in that market, but being completely laptop-oriented now, I can't ever see why I would need a quad-core Intel Xeon workstation. That's crazy talk. I can't wait to ditch the two machines at work and merge them to one, a new MacBook Pro. Now, all I have to do is convince the boss, and get it expensed.

And until then, I'm going to go back to the recorded stream and take a look at it all myself for the first time.

Listening to ''Nessaja'', by Scooter (Play Count: 5)

If you take a look at most of the posts to this blog, it's fairly clear I am a night owl by nature. I'm often more productive from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. than most people seem to be from 8 a.m. to noon. I am commonly up late, and when I do get up early, it's only to race into the office, not to saunter around the house and grab a leisurely breakfast or any of that nonsense. Today was a whole other matter. With my wife and mother-in-law on an end of summer trip to Idaho and Montana (of all places), the pair needed to catch an early flight out of San Francisco, and you can guess who got drafted to play chauffeur. That meant we were up at 4:30 a.m., to leave home by 5, pick up the mother-in-law at 5:30, and drop them off at SFO by 6.

By the time I turned around and made it into the office, it was 6:30 a.m., and as anybody knows, you never gain brownie points with management for the extra hours you may put in that they don't see. If you're not sending out e-mails and making calls immediately, it really doesn't count in a world where you don't punch a clock.

Sure, there were others there, but mostly those who deal with customers on the East Coast, necessitating a regular early start. For me, it was something resembling alien territory, and I still felt somewhat guilty leaving the office by 5, even though I had effectively put in what could be considered a 10 1/2 hour shift, mainly to make sure the dog was fed.

With my wife out for the week, the beagle, at home by herself all day, would no doubt have started consuming the furniture and wreaking general havoc were I not home exactly by 5:30 p.m. to give her dinner. She does, after all, seem to have an internal alarm clock that's more accurate than most watches. I think we made it by 5:27, and she ate at 5:40, just within the levels of acceptability.

That catches us up to my appropriate amount of whining that I'm fatigued. Maybe when I was younger I could handle big shifts in schedule, and pull all-nighters, but not any longer. As with Saturday, I'll be lucky to keep my eyes open through the full nine-inning game tonight. But we'll give it our best shot.

Listening to ''One Eye Shut (Original Mix)'', by Robbie Rivera (Play Count: 5)

For every good Apple rumormonger, there are really two big days on the calendar that one should mark at the beginning of every year - the beginning of MacWorld San Francisco in January, and the first day of the company's WorldWide Developers Conference (WWDC), held in the summer. At both events, CEO and mogul Steve Jobs takes the stage and often wows attendees by unveiling the latest software and hardware with his own unique flair.

Sometimes, we are surprised and in awe by the announcements, and many other times, we are disappointed, for the pre-event hype often outweighs reality, as no company could provide the level of excitement and the wide breadth of introductions that we ourselves could dream up.

This year, like every year, the rumors have been flying fast and furious. Nearly everybody expects that the company's next-generation operating system, Mac OS X 10.5, or Leopard, will be previewed, and offered early to developers. Most expect to learn more about the newest professional desktops, dubbed the Mac Pro. Others anticipate updated iPods, or even the much-discussed, but never seen, iPhone. Other potential updates include the Xserve, or the company's displays.

Rumors are so widespread for WWDC that sites are dedicated to summarizing the potential announcements, and so many different sites are offering to stream live updates that there is even a page dedicated to summarizing all the live text feeds. Amazing, isn't it?

And while all that fun is going on as Steve, clad in a black turtleneck and blue jeans, is doing some of the best marketing on the planet, the Wall Street Journal continues to bang the drum on the story around the company's alleged stock option irregularities. In a piece coming out Monday, the WSJ now says that stock option grants to directors were issued just days before stock price increases, making the beneficiaries millions almost instantly. While few specific details are known yet, uncertainty is never a good thing in today's financial markets, and it threatens to put a dour mood on today's proceedings, at least as far as the markets are concerned. (Also: Reuters)

Though still keenly interested in Apple's announcements, I'm not as much the diehard I once was, admittedly. In years past, life would stop as Steve took the stage. I would stream the QuickTime to my computer, at home or at work, and fiddle while he introduced items. In the background, either a Web chat or a stock discussion board would take my initial reactions one by one, as collectively, many of us would react - sometimes violently, to what we saw. At times, we would see Steve stall, and know a new feature had fallen out of the keynote, and at other times, we would gnash and wail when that which we had most hoped for wouldn't materialize. But tomorrow, when Steve's on stage, I'll probably be in a meeting at the office. And that, honestly, will be okay. I'll catch up after it's all done, and see the verdict then.

Listening to ''Lush 3-3'', by Orbital (Play Count: 5)

You've probably noticed I spend quite a bit of time while on the computer listening to iTunes. A friend of mine, Andrew Zamler-Carhart, a software developer behind all the great Mac OS X software at KavaSoft, released an application that helps Web developers and bloggers highlight their own iTunes libraries on the site, called iTunes Catalog.

Recently, Andrew issued an update to Kavasoft's iTunes Catalog program, and my own library was updated this evening - as you can see at http://www.louisgray.com/music/.

If you like iTunes and have a blog or a Web site, you can download iTunes Catalog from here.

Some highlights: iTunes Catalog even lets you jump directly to playlists, artists and songs, just like you can with regular, plain-old iTunes.

(Examples: Top 200 Songs Played, Recently Purchased Songs, Top 100 Most Recently Played Songs)