New & Noteworthy: Macworld Expo hype and news; JoyofTech contest; The Year in Internet Law; more

Macworld hype machine cranked up -- by Apple! As we noted over the weekend, the Macworld keynote will be Webcast live. We also believe it will be presented in most of not all the Apple retail stores. Apple has been touting the keynote on their home page as well, with lines such as "This one is big. Even by our standards," "Count the days. Count the minutes. Count on being blown away," "5 days to Macworld San Francisco. Beyond the rumor sites. Way beyond." See the next item for more.

Apple fuels Macworld speculation From CNet/Yahoo: "Apple Computer is adding to the speculation swirling around next week's Macworld Expo by promising the show will be better than most." More.

Apple factory stockpiling hardware? We also found this note too interesting to ignore, although obviously we are unable to confirm its meaning or accuracy. A reader writes: "Another sign of the pending release of new equipment is the volume of trucks parked outside the Apple factory in Elk Grove, CA. I live near there and pass by several times a day. Usually there are a few trucks back there, right now the place is JAMMED with semi trailers. That suggests they are getting ready to move a lot of new equipment out the door."

Margin note: We have chided others for reporting rumors before and continue to believe that too much pre-Expo speculation is unhealthy. However, in the last few days it has become overwhelmingly clear that Apple is intentionally signaling that something extraordinary will be released at the Expo.

New Products Ready to Make Their Debut At Macworld Conference & Expo This press release from IDG takes a look at some of the companies what will be on hand next week.

The Joy of Tech's "Design an LCD iMac" Contest! From the folks at GeekCulture.com: "We all suspect there's a new iMac coming, so what the heck, let's have some fun while we wait. Send us your picture of what you think the next iMac will look like, and in addition to the respect of your geeky peers and a whole bunch of glory, you might win some neat stuff!"

The Year in Internet Law From the New York Times: "What happened in cyberlaw during the past year that was significant and enduring -- or at least interesting? That's the question Cyber Law Journal put to several well-regarded law professors and legal practitioners. Their answers ran the gamut from the government's legal response to the Sept. 11 attacks to Hollywood's impressive victory in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in the DeCSS copyright case." More.

Wireless wrap-up: Carriers moving to 3G alternative in 2002 From Infoworld: "The wireless strategies to stimulate the adoption of mobile data among enterprises that were hatched in the boardrooms of major telecommunications carriers in 2001 are likely to take hold in 2002. Chief among those strategies will be a move by carriers like Sprint and VoiceStream -- and possibly AT&T Wireless -- to offer an alternative to their current 3G (third-generation) plans via low-cost, high-performance access to data over Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11b/a) solutions." More.

Qwest Plan Stirs Protest Over Privacy From the New York Times: "The Qwest [privacy policy] statement has privacy advocates upset. It says that unless customers contact the company to prohibit the practice, Qwest will share with its several subsidiaries such data as telephone services used, billing information and places called." More.

Update: You can also opt out from here.

AOL Glitch Blocks Harvard Admissions From AP/Lycos: "Dozens of e-mail messages telling Harvard University applicants whether they had been admitted never arrived last month after America Online interpreted the messages as junk e-mail." More.