The on- and offline media have been featuring non-stop reports from the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show with nary a mention of Steve Jobs and/or Apple. But that's about to change.

Apple's Macworld Expo starts today in San Francisco and, "tech analysts who follow the company expect Jobs to unveil redesigned laptops and a new iteration of the iPod Shuffle player, and perhaps - but less likely - introduce a newly designed Mac mini computer that hooks into a TV set and can track all at-home digital content," says USA Today.

But that doesn't mean Jobs is about to turn over a new leaf and suddenly become cooperative.

"Rob Enderle, an independent analyst with the Enderle Group, says he took special note of the raft of CES announcements about new digital media services that worked with Microsoft software - and not Apple's," says the story, going on, " 'Apple is locked out of these services, not because people don't want to work with Apple, but because Apple is a closed system,' Enderle says."

Meanwhile, "Jobs also likes surprises, though, and it wouldn't be out of character for him to push Apple further than others expect," says Forbes.

"For instance, Apple and Intel could leverage each other's strength to go deeper into the home entertainment realm, such as with TVs or a hub device that is more networking- and satellite-oriented than it is computer-oriented."

Anbything else?

"At some point in the keynote, Jobs will make a very pointed joke at the expense of Adobe and its new Lightroom application, without ever mentioning Adobe by name," says Philip Michaels in Macworld. "People will laugh.

"At some point in the keynote, Jobs will also make a very pointed joke at the expense of Bill Gates and his Vista presentation at CES last week. (Maybe he can use a clip from this video). Here, Jobs will have no problem mentioning anyone by name. People will still laugh.

"I think we’ll see a couple different executives from assorted media companies walk on stage to pledge their allegiance to the iTunes Music Store by offering their content for sale. I’ve already made it perfectly clear who I hope will be among that group.

"As for the capper, the 'One More Thing…' announcement that Jobs typically uses to end these affairs on a high note…I have no earthly clue …"

Also See:
USA Today - Macworld's turn: Apple may unveil retooled laptops, January 9, 2006
Forbes - Now It's Jobs' Job , January 10, 2006
Macworld - The keynote of your dreams, January 9, 2005