At ARM’s recent earnings call, CEO Warren East talked up a new type of hybrid computer platform.  This platform would use Intel for serious processor intensive work and ARM as a dashboard type of OS for web browsing and email.  According to East,  Dell’s Latitude ON E4200 is already doing this.  Other manufacturers are using Linux distros like Splashtop that run on Intel.  Apple has every reason to do this as well.  They already have a pretty solid ARM OS with an App store and plenty of applications. 

An ARM chip from PASemi could also thwart Hackintoshes.  Could hybrid Macs be coming down the pipe?  Read More at Computerworld

Not only did we learn the GDrive is coming, but we now know more about what it can do. "GDrive allows you to access your files from anywhere, anytime, and from any device – be it from your desktop, web browser or cellular phone".   Think about having your Photos, Videos and Music on GDrive for playing on your iPhone and iPod touch.   Everywhere. 

Yes, this is good.  9to5Google.com good.  Anyone thing this will take Adobe files?

via GOS

Western Digital is heading the relentless progression of Hard Drive technology by unleashing their new 2TB "Green" monster. (sorry Sox fans).  Hot Hardware got their hands on one and ran it through the Windows NTFS ringer.  Results?  It held its own speed-wise against other 7200 RPM drives.  WD says they’ll retail at $299 but with 1.5TB Drives hitting $129 routinely, we expect to see these guys at around the $200 range very soon.  Specs below. 

• Capacity:  2TB (400Gb/sq.in. areal density)
• 32MB cache buffer
• Variable spindle speed
• 3.5-inch form-factor
• 500GB/platter, 4-platter design
• 3Gb/sec SATA with NCQ
• SATA power connector only
• PMR head technology
• RoHS compliant

We’re kinda going off topic – or cross topic if you’d like – here but we know a lot of you readers use Google Apps.  Plus, you like hints solving technology mysteries right?  Well, we’ve uncovered some information on Google’s infamous GDrive or Webdrive that seem to indicate that you’ll soon be able to store your documents with Google.   Here’s the Google Webdrive icon:

http://9to5mac.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2009/01/mini_webdrive.gif

More  From GOS:

Cédric Vergé noticed a change in one of the CSS files for Google Apps: there’s a class named "webdrive" and an icon for the new service.

When Google released Picasa for Mac, many people wondered what’s the mystery behind a menu option titled "Google Web Drive":

Last week, Tony Ruscoe found some traces of an internal Google document which mentioned an update for Google Docs, which will slowly morph into GDrive. Apparently, Google Docs will be the web interface for GDrive, while a Windows/Mac client will integrate the service with the operating system and make it easy to synchronize files.

Maybe Apple ran out of the old motherboards? 

Apple, a few days ago (sneaky little bastards), updated the polycarbonate white MacBook’s specs pretty significantly. 

No one noticed. 

Strangely, even with the NVIDIA 9400M chipset, the White MacBook still uses the Mini DVI Port from the look of the side.  Also, while the RAM has been upgraded to 2GB (joy!) it is DDR2 and not DDR3 like the Unibody MacBook.  Bluetooth moves from 2.0 to 2.1.

These won’t be able to power a 30 inch screen like the Unibodies as well because Mini DVI only supports resolutions of 1920×1200.

Oh, and don’t worry, Firewire is still there.

Read — Old white MacBook
Read — New white MacBook

via Engadget

Since Windows 7 was released, the hype has been pretty good (compared to Vista what wouldn’t?).  Well, for those of you wondering if it works on VMWare on Mac, it does.  And pretty well (again vs. Vista).  More below…

Some notes: VMWare will want to do a Vista "automatic install"  Don’t do this.  You’ll need to do manual.  Also, VMWare tools install without issue. 

Total install time on base model 4GB RAM Unibody MacBook while running other programs : <30 minutes.

Won’t do an upgrade from XP or Vista without SP1

Idles at 15-30% of 1 CPU

It runs way faster than Vista – on the level of XP.  Seems to be, dare we say…snappier™

This might be a first (and a last).   HP’s MediaSmart Server EX485 has walked away with one of Macworld Magazine’s coveted best of show awards.  The Windows Home Server based product (!) does offer a lot of services for the Mac platform.  You can do Time Machine backups to the device.  You can store your iTunes online on a central server.   You can also share files/folders with anyone in your house or small office.  With some extra SATA drives, you can have this thing up to 9TB.  Competition for this device includes DLink’s DNS-323 line, Linksys‘s NAS, the Drobo line and (our fav) Netgear’s ReadyNAS.  The others run Linux but the HP runs Windows.

The Apple Competitor?  None for quite awhile.  We’ve heard the only functionality to be added to Time Capsule in the near future is Software Update caching.  If you want to pick one of these HP’s up, head over to Amazon and save over $100 off of retail for the 750GB version.

Macworld said:

HP MediaSmart Server

HP’s MediaSmart Server is a server for the home. The idea is that it gives you one place to store all your family’s shared libraries of photos, music, and video, and provide a backup drive for every computer in the house.

It looks like a mini-tower. It’s got four drive bays. You can buy it with one or two of those bays full, for 750GB or 1.5TB of storage. You can plug any SATA drive into the remaining bays if you need more storage.

The MediaSmart Server isn’t new, but the latest version adds improved Mac compatibility. For one thing, it now works as an iTunes Server. You can copy your iTunes libraries to it, then access those combined libraries from any computer in the house. (Unfortunately, the media collection tool, which can go out and find all those libraries and do the copying on its own, only works with Windows PCs for now.)

The MediaSmart Server can also work as a centralized backup drive for everyone on the network. The key addition there: Unlike other network-attachable drives, it’s compatible with Time Machine.

The HP MediaSmart Server is specifically designed for homes with a mix of Macs and Windows PCs. It requires a PC for the initial installation—in large part because the server itself runs on the Windows Home Server OS. But once you’ve done that set-up, the MediaSmart is fully accessible from your Mac.

All in all, it’s a really promising solution for any home that has both Macs and Windows machines and no central place to store and protect the family’s digital media assets.

Amazon.com Product Description
Automatically back up and protect your digital memories, centralize your media and content for sharing with friends and family, and enjoy your digital media while at home or away with the HP EX485 MediaSmart Home Server. Based on the Microsoft Windows Home Server platform, this sleek, quiet server is ideal if you have multiple PCs on a home network, or want the flexibility to enjoy your digital experiences from anywhere over the Internet. And it’s easy to set up–just plug it in, connect it to your wireless router (sold separately), and load the software onto your PCs and Macs.

The HP EX485 makes backing up your home’s PCs and streaming media a breeze, and it comes with 750 GB of storage.

Centralize your iTunes music libraries on the MediaSmart Server for playback to any networked Mac or PC running iTunes. The HP Media Collector conveniently schedules the MediaSmart Server to copy and centralize digital files and libraries from networked PCs. The pre-installed HP Photo Publisher software enables you to easily upload photos to Facebook, Flickr, Picasa Web Albums and Snapfish. and the MediaSmart Server provides peace of mind with effortless backups of your Windows-based PCs via the Windows Home Server backup feature and Macs running Leopard using Apple Time Machine software.

The EX485 MediaSmart comes with 750 GB of storage right out of the box and four drive bays that allow you to add optional off-the-shelf SATA I or II hard drives–up to a maximum capacity of 9 TB (terabytes). Additionally, the MediaSmart includes four USB 2.0 ports and one eSATA port for connecting an attached external hard drive, and it provides capabilities for offsite backup via automatic upload to Amazon’s S3 service.

The sleek, streamlined micro-tower design is perfect for use in the home office or the living room, with perforated steel exterior panels that provide cool, quiet operation. A Sleep Mode conserves energy and saves you money in more ways than one. The built-in sleep mode consumes only 1W of power, and the server can take on many of your PC’s responsibilities, enabling you to turn off your individual computers to further save energy and money.

Software Features

• Operating System: Powered by Windows Home Server, a new software solution from Microsoft for storing, accessing, sharing and automatically protecting digital files.
• HP Control Center: The HP MediaSmart software that sits on top of the Windows Home Server software making access to tasks easier. Users with administrative access privileges can access the Windows Home Server Console from the HP Control Center.
• Windows Home Server Console: Software accessed from the HP Control Center to manage your HP MediaSmart Server. Software includes setting up shared folders, assigning user access privileges and customizing backups.
• File Sharing and Storage: Effortlessly centralize your files and access them from any PC and or Mac on your home network.
• PC Hard Drive Disk Backup: Once the HP MediaSmart Server software is installed on a home PC, the Windows Home Server backup software automatically starts backing up the PCs hard disk drive image every night. You can customize the number and frequency of backups kept.
• Mac Backup: Back up your Macs to the MediaSmart Server using Apple’s Time Machine software.
• Shared Folder Duplication: Designate folders that will be copied automatically onto multiple hard drives for an additional layer of redundant protection. Folder duplication replaces traditional RAID-style redundancy.
• Individual File Restore: If you accidentally delete a file on your PC, you can browse versions of the PC hard drive backup image on the HP MediaSmart Server to find the file and copy it to your PC.
• PC Hard Drive Disk Restore: In the event of a PC hard drive failure, the included HP PC Restore disc is all you need to restore a hard drive image from the HP MediaSmart Server. Theres no need to locate your original operating system disc.
• HP Media Collector: Conveniently schedules the server to copy and centralize your Windows PC media files and libraries (including iTunes and playlists).
• Remote Access: Upon installation, you can set up a personal web address to be used for remote access and by visitors. Using your personal web address, you can remotely access shared folders and files on the HP MediaSmart Server from any Internet-connected computer.
• In-Home and Remote Media Streaming: Extend your digital media experiences by conveniently streaming photos, music and videos to your TVs, through gaming consoles such as Xbox 360 or PlayStation3, and computer’s within your home. Remotely stream music and photos from your server to any Internet-connected computer for access while you are away.
• HP Photo Publisher: Easily publish your photos to Snapfish, Facebook, Flickr, and Picasa Web Albums using an Internet-connected computer.
• HP Photo Viewer: Quickly share photos and albums stored on the Server with friends and family.
• Server for iTunes: Centralize your iTunes music libraries and playlists on the server for playback to any PC or Mac running iTunes on your home network.
  

  Satisfy all your backup and media storage needs with four internal hard drive bays, four USB 2.0 ports, one eSATA port, and access to Amazon S3 online backup.

• Easy Storage Expansion: Add an internal or external hard drive to the HP MediaSmart Server, indicate that you want to add the disk in the Windows Home Server Console, and the HP MediaSmart Server storage grows. No need to power down the unit or manage drive letters for multiple hard drives.
• Server Anti-Virus Protection: Server side anti-virus trial offer from McAfee for increased protection of your HP MediaSmart Server. Run quick scans of specific folders or deep scans across your entire home server.
• Server Backup: Protect your digital memories from fire/flood/natural disaster… backup your server shared folders to an external hard disk drive, and/or an online backup to Amazon S3.
• Server Recovery: The included Server Recovery Disc can be used to recover all data and restore folders or, to reset the server in case the server operating system disk becomes corrupt.
• Additional Software Add-Ins: Extend the functionality of your server through available software add-ins to enable expanded functionality, server personalization and/or entertainment.
• Users: Up to 10 user accounts can access the HP MediaSmart Server. In addition, a predefined Guest account can be enabled.

PC Operating System Support

• Automatic backup of computers running Microsoft Windows Vista (32 & 64 bit), XP Home (SP2), XP Professional (SP2), Media Center Edition 2004 (SP2) or later, and Macs running ApplesTime Machine.
• File sharing for computers running Microsoft Windows Vista (32 & 64 bit), XP Home (SP2) or XP Professional (SP2), Media Center Edition 2004 (SP2) or later, Mac OS X, or Linux.
• Remote access to computers running Microsoft Windows XP Professional (SP2), Media Center Edition 2005 (SP2), or Vista Ultimate.

Hardware Specifications

• Internal Hard Drive(s): One 750 GB drive (SATA, 7200 RPM)
• Internal Expansion: Four hard drive bays (additional off the shelf SATA I or II hard drives can be added; no tools required)
• External Expansion: Four USB 2.0 ports (1 front, 3 back); one eSATA port (back)
• Processor: Intel Celeron 2.0 GHZ 64-bit Processor
• Memory: 2 GB of DDR2 DRAM (800 MHz)
• Network Support: 10/100/1000 (Gigabit) RJ45 Ethernet; supports both wired and wireless PCs (via a wireless router).
• Power: Internal universal power supply
• Dimensions: 5.5 x 9.8 x 9.2 inches (WxHxD)

What’s in the Box
HP EX485 MediaSmart Home Server, power cable, Ethernet cable (RJ45), PC restore disc, server recovery disc, software installation disc, printed documentation. The MediaSmart Server is backed by a one-year limited warranty and dedicated software technical support both online and by phone.

Product Description
The HP MediaSmart Server is a home server that can automatically backup and protect your digital memories, centralize your media and content for sharing with friends and family, and enable you to enjoy your digital media while at home or away.

Frankly we like to see a little more hardware at events but the 17 inch MacBook was pretty close to our description last week.  The $50 matte version should make people both happy and sad – as wil lthe internal long life battery.  We’d be lying if we said we didn’t want one…with 8Gb (will we be able to up our smaller MacBooks to 8Gb)?   No Mini or iMac however was rough.  We have a feeling they are coming.

iLife and iWork are both looking pretty exciting.   iWork.com is pretty close to what we envisaged.  There were lots of gray areas where we missed some stuff but we think we got the major gist of it across.  GarageBand learn-to-play is exactly what we had heard.  And the Magic hint?  Cool transitions in iWork.  They are Fun!

iTunes.  The end of the DRM era.  Now we don’t have to visit Amazon (but probably will continue for the dealz).  Amazon still beats Apple on price but iTunes is more convenient.

Apple Stock isn’t really reacting (update – whoops – it is tanking).

Overall however, we were left….wanting…although the Macrumorslive (best feed out there)  getting hacked was entertaining.  And obviously we have an Apple Mac hardware event coming up.

We’ll put up Apple’s videos as they become available.  What did you think?

iWork.com, a domain that Apple has owned for a long time is set to go live this week with a public beta of the new iWork collaboration package.  We went over this briefly before but need to clarify our previous statements a bit.

iWork.com will be a online site where you can share and view (but not yet edit) iWork documents online.  Workgroups will be alowed to share documents, comment on documents and view them to a certain extent in the browser window.  We haven’t recieved clarification of how well this will work and how many capabilities this will have. Somewhere between reading a Pages document and viewing a full multimedia Keynote presentation we’d guess.

We expect it to go live tomorrow.

iWork.com Whois:

   Domain Name: IWORK.COM
   Registrar: MARKMONITOR INC.
   Whois Server: whois.markmonitor.com
   Referral URL: http://www.markmonitor.com
   Name Server: NSERVER.APPLE.COM
   Name Server: NSERVER2.APPLE.COM
   Name Server: NSERVER3.APPLE.COM
   Name Server: NSERVER4.APPLE.COM
   Status: clientDeleteProhibited
   Status: clientTransferProhibited
   Status: clientUpdateProhibited
   Updated Date: 07-oct-2008
   Creation Date: 22-aug-1995
   Expiration Date: 21-aug-2010

We were pretty sure we’d see upgraded iMacs introduced at Macworld, but according to the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) via Digitimes:

.. sources inside the component supply chain as saying that Apple plans to launch a new iMac all-in-one PC in the first quarter of next year, and the company’s sole manufacturing partner, Quanta Computer, is gearing up to supply monthly shipments of around 800,000 units during the first quarter of 2009.  According to the paper, the new iMac will start shipping in January next year. Quanta declined to comment on client relationships, the paper added.  In addition to Apple, Quanta is also manufacturing all-in-one PCs for Sony and NEC.

"New" is much more interesting than upgraded video and processor.  However, much can be lost in translation -including our interpretation- and Steve Jobs isn’t presenting, so we aren’t going to be "bringing a change of underpants" to the keynote.

Computerworld covers the bad 3rd party memory, the iNquirer does the science on the bad bumps.

According to some posters on the Apple forums, Apple is going to release an update shortly that fixes issues with third party memory.  Apple, hasn’t made a statement on the matter…

…the engineer said that Apple is “very aware” of the problem and that it was not the result of using non-Apple memory, but because users were bumping up the machines to 4GB.

“They are about to release a software update to address it. He said that officially it might take up to a week or two for this to come out but unofficially we could expect it within a matter of days,” Brocklebank wrote on Dec. 4. “In the meantime he said that a solution could be found by removing one of the 2GB sticks and replacing it with the original 1GB.”

Meanwhile, the Inquirer went to extraodinary lengths (yes MacBooks were harmed) to refute NVIDIA’s claims that its chips weren’t flawed.

WHEN THE NEW Macbooks came out a few weeks ago, Nvidia stated that the chips they provided to Apple did not contain the proverbial ‘bad bumps’. Unfortunately for them, an investigation lead by the Inquirer proves that not to be the case.

Background
If you recall, Nvidia has been in the spotlight all summer for failing chips due to bad materials and thermal stress. The end result is that bumps, the tiny balls of solder that hold a chip to the green printed circuit board it sits on, crack, and the computer it is in dies. If you want the full technical analysis, read this article (and parts 2 and 3).

Nvidia took a $200 million charge over the problem in July, but the firm refuses to support its customers by saying which parts are defective, and what computers they were sold in. You can get some clue from message boards, with Dell, HP, and Apple being prominent victims.

http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/cpg/951120425.html

We’ve been hard at work finding good Apple-related deals for you guys over the past few months but thought we could really step it up a notch by getting one of the experts involved.

So, we went to the best deals site out there, Dealnews, and we’ve pulled only their Apple related merchandise into our blog posts.  From time to time we’ll put a post onto our frontpage content (if it is that insane) but it will constantly be updated (about 20-30 posts/day) on our new Toys site: 

http://9to5mac.com/toys

You’ll be able to comment on the products just like any other blog post and give your fellow 9to5mac readers some direction with their purchasing.  Perhaps you know of better deals out there or you have some positive or negative opinions about the products being offered?  Let everyone know. 

We’ll feature the top 5 deals in a block on the right side of the page and also have a link to 9to5mac.com/toys at the top nav bar. If you are a feed type of person, grab the feed here.  Other than that, get shopping!

Just a little ‘for instance’: $120 for a 1.5TB hard drive with free shipping

9to5mac sometimes may recieve financial beneft from purchased items through our affiliate programs and partner, Dealnews.

Digitimes is this morning reporting that the early 2009 iMacs will have a little exxtra umph under the hood.  In the form of new Intel Quad core 65W chips.

Intel is planning to launch three 65W low-power desktop CPUs targeting small form factor (SFF) PCs and all-in-one PCs in the middle of January next year, according to sources at PC vendors.

Intel will launch the Core 2 Quad Q8200s (2.33GHz/4MB L2), Core 2 Quad Q9400s (2.66GHz/6MB L2) and Core 2 Quad Q9550s (2.83GHz/12MB L2) with prices at US$245, US$320 and US$369, respectively in thousand-unit tray quantities. These CPUs will have the same specifications as standard CPUs with the same model number, but will see their TDP drop from 95W to 65W.

PC vendors including Apple, Acer, Hewlett-Packard and Dell have already decided to launch products based on these CPUs, while Asustek Computer is still evaluating doing so.

Something else to consider: Apple could release a Psystar-killing everyman “Mac” based on these chips. Yeah, we know, unlikely.

Oh, and that black iMac..it is just something we found out there on the internets to get your brain going :D

For those of you running small businesses, Egnyte’s cloud file server and backup is a great product.  We use it at work for distributing files to clients and keeping global files easy to access.  We also backup a few OSX servers using the service.  It is great all around.  We haven’t had an outage in the 6 months we’ve been customers.  I could go on and on..

Last month, however, Egnyte got really Apple friendly by releasing an iPhone web client.  We can now browse our file servers while on the road with an iPhone.  This is actually a great feature if you just need a quick look at a document or image.  The iPhone thinks Egnyte’s servers are web servers and if you download a .doc file, it uses the iPhone’s Quicklook to look at the file.  This works with all of the iPhone’s Quicklook abilities including PDFs, XLS and PPTs.

But this is where it gets interesting… 

Our Egnyte file server also house MP4 movies for clients.    Some almost a gig in size.  Also, we have more than a few audio files saved as MP3s.  Surely these won’t play on the iPhone over an AT&T 3G connection?

Actually for once, I have to give it to AT&T.  I was able to stream a client presentation that was saved in MP4 format while on the road.  It of course looked and sounded great on the iPhone and it is available whenever I want.  It is an amazing feeling to have secure access to all of your company’s files from the palm of your hand – at all times.  

If you haven’t checked out Egnyte yet, do yourself the favor.  They have a free 15 day trial of use and if you are a small company or individual considering buying or upgrading a file server, you will be hard pressed to find a better solution.  Oh, and did we tell you they are extremely Mac and iPhone friendly?

Adobe today updated it’s Trial downloads page from CS3 to CS4. You can now give all of those shiny new CS4 Apps a 30 day spin.  Of note, they seemed to have employed a new Akami Java downloader (see image at the bottom) and the download speed is…how should we put it….slow.

AllthingsD (which means automatically blessed by Walt) does a review of the Blackberry Bold.  It pretty much meets expectations…for a Blackberry.  Big, beautiful screen, great physical keyboard, fast internet and email access and more bells and whistles all around.  But we can’t help but feel the dissapointment in the size and feel of the thing.

‘the Bold reminded me of my grandparents’ new Buick: handsomely polished and luxuriously comfortable, with plenty of extra bells and whistles. As much as I like the plush feel of this ride, it can feel as big as a boat when I need to park or navigate narrow city streets. Likewise, the Bold’s large size affords mobile extravagances like a keyboard I could use without looking down and a leatherette-covered back panel. But when tossed in a bag or even held in my hand, the BlackBerry Bold simply feels too heavy and too big.’

Sounds like somebody has been using an iPhone for too long and is having trouble with going to other devices wethinks.

http://services.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/452319854

The Obama campaign makes its case… McCain talks tech with Walt Mossberg If anyone sees any better videos, put them in the comments. As tech people, the candidates’ stance on technology issues is important to us.

It was love at first sight with Drobo.  The smart hard drive enclosure was the (albeit more expensive than we had hoped) answer to our questions of "Why doesn’t someone make a smart NAS with good expandability and let me worry about getting the drives.  Make it have easy to configure setup and expandable while you are at it?"

Drobo has been getting a little better and better for the past year.  First a Firewire 800 version, then Droboshare, a stand alone Drobo NAS maker (Can control two Drobos).  Now Drobo has gone and become a platform with Drobo Apps.

Drobo is based on Linux and the developers have opened the platform for the development of little bits of functionality done by 3rd party programmers.  Currently there are about 30 apps.  Favorites include:

• Yoics – Remote access to your Drobo and DroboShare from a web browser or mobile device like the iPhone
• Firefly iTunes Media Server
• Web, NFS, Rsync and FTP servers

The Drobo development SDK is available in case you have the next great NAS idea.

Slightly annoying but also slightly instructional video here.

Props

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=thepartim-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B000PDLZ1A&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=thepartim-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B0012MF4G0&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

Didn’t get to go to WWDC on the company dime?  Missed all of the educational programs?  Got a few bucks left in the expense account to burn before the year is over?  Apple has you covered.  All three tracks of classes offered at WWDC are available for download from the iTunes store. 

Before you go reaching for your iTunes gift card, they aren’t cheap.  $500 each or $1000 for the whole set.

It looks like those new MacBooks might not be limited to 4Gb of RAM like Apple says on its website.  As people who run a Mac Mini with 4Gb of RAM , we can attest to the fact that Apple’s RAM specs are artificially set and might not always be the gawd’s honest truth.

While we don’t yet have official confirmation from NVIDIA (snap!- now we do), the 9400M chipset seems like it would be able to support much more than 4Gb.  Some will argue that it is a 32-bit chipset, thereby limiting the amount of RAM to 4Gb.  Not true.  The desktop equivalent 9300 32-bit chipset maxes out at 8Gb of RAM.  They would be unlikely to limit the max RAM on a higher model chipset.

Oh, and you can pick up a few 4GB, 204-pin SODIMM, DDR3 PC3-8500 memory modules from Crucial for $590/each.  What a bargain :/  Anyone out there have anymore insight?

UPDATE: NVIDIA PR got back to me (on a Sunday no less!!)  The definititive answer: 

Yes!  8Gb MacBooks should be no problem:

Seth,
 
Yes, an 8GB system can be built using two such SODIMMs after the memory is qualified with GF 9400M.
 
I’m curious why you were thinking of loading up on memory? In terms of gaming perf, going from 4GB to 8GB of system memory would have little to no effect.
 
Ken

Perhaps Apple is waiting on 4Gb Modules to come down before offering it as an option?