In MacVoicesTV episode 917, recorded at Macworld Expo, Tonya plays along as Andy Ihnatko plans to take over NASA and then they both talk about Macworld Expos past, present, and future. Bob LeVitus and Bryan Chaffin join them midway.

Macworld reports that the specifications of the $999 polycarbonate MacBook, the last of the white-shelled models to be sold, has had its graphics card upgraded to the Nvidia GeForce 9400M. The preinstalled system memory was raised to 2 GB as well.

Forgot to post this earlier, during the bustle of Macworld Expo, but here are my Apple-related predictions for 2009, as solicited by our friends at Macworld before the show. Note that part of my second prediction has already come true. Score!

Hard drive manufacturer Seagate is working on a solution to a firmware problem that is rendering many of its high-capacity drives unusable. If you've purchased a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11, DiamondMax 22, or Barracuda ES.2 SATA model, check to see if your drive is affected and learn more about possible fixes. Seagate says data remains intact but inaccessible, and is providing recovery services for drives that have been bit by the bug.

Donning his pundit hat, Adam weighs in on the fuss surrounding Steve Jobs's medical leave, taking the stance that it shouldn't affect Apple's operations and that the public at large has no right to know anything about Jobs's health.

If you haven't already listened to Adam and Macworld's Jim Dalrymple talk about the Macworld Expo keynote in the MacNotables podcast, you can now watch them go at it on this MacVoicesTV episode, since Chuck Joiner had the whole thing videotaped as well. These aren't your average talking heads!

About a year ago, Joe Kissell wrote "Looking Video Chat Problems in the Eye" (2008-01-31) about the problem of making eye contact when videoconferencing. A recent patent application from Apple indicates they're still searching for a way to enable users to look their video chat partners in the eye.

The money quote from my conversation with Mike Musgrove of the Washington Post about Steve Jobs's six month medical leave: "I hope and believe Apple is a sufficiently grown-up company that a key executive can step out from day-to-day operations without impacting it in a big way."

Chuck Joiner described it as "freewheeling," which is a nice way of saying that Macworld's Jim Dalrymple and I went off the rails in this podcast, recorded at Macworld Expo. In short, I was cranky and wasn't about to give Apple the benefit of the doubt on much of anything.

Google has released a public beta version of Picasa for Mac at Macworld Expo this week. Previously, Mac users were limited to the Picasa Web Albums uploader and an iPhoto plugin, but now they have access to the full version of the photo editing and organizing software.

The popular fake news organization, The Onion, recently posted a hilarious video on its Web site featuring a look at a fake new Apple laptop, the MacBook Wheel. According to The Onion, the MacBook Wheel replaces the keyboard with a giant touch-sensitive click wheel, making everything on your computer, "just a few hundred clicks away."

The Roku Player continues to change: after upgrading customers to HD output, Roku has forged a partnership with Amazon to offer the retailer's on-demand video. The addition will appear in early 2009. Amazon allows all devices associated with an account to access the same video library.

In a public letter quite out of character for the usually private Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO says a hormone imbalance has caused protein deprivation that's led to his gaunt look, and he's taken steps to fix it. Jobs subscribes to an alternative medicine worldview and reportedly waited nine months before seeking an allopathic solution (relatively radical internal organ surgery) to his pancreatic cancer a few years ago. He wants us all to enjoy Macworld, he wrote, and so he revealed what he views as minor issue he wishes he could have kept to himself.

Going to Macworld Expo with your iPhone or iPod touch? Just in time for this week's show in San Francisco, IDG and Zami.com have released iMacworld, an app that provides a directory of exhibitors (including floor plans for the North and South Halls), products, and sessions. (Link goes directly to iTunes.)

Adam's tour of the Macintosh podcasts and radio shows continues with a session Inside Mac Radio with Scott Sheppard to discuss the fate of Macworld Expo in the light of Apple pulling out of future shows.