Today was the first day of the Apple Expo in Europe, Paris to be exact. I was hoping that Steve Jobs would be announcing the new “Core 2 Duo”-based Macbooks. But alas, that speculation wasn’t even close.

His announcement weighed more heavily in the release of products from the iPod family, then the release of iTunes 7. Here’s the breakdown of the new features per iPod family member:

iPod:

• 60% brighter display
• 75% longer video battery life
• Gapless playback
• Exciting new games
• Search and Quick Scrolling
• New headphones
• $249 for 30GB
• $349 for 80GB

iPod Nano, 2nd Generation:

• Made of thinner aluminum
• Colors of blue, pink, green, silver and black
• 40% brighter display
• 24 hour battery life
• Gapless playback
• Search and Quick Scrolling
• New headphones
• $149 for 2GB (silver), $199 for 4GB (blue, pink, green and silver) and $249 for 8GB (black)

iPod Shuffle, 2nd Generation:

• World’s smallest MP3 player
• Aluminum case with clip
• 1GB – up to 240 songs
• 12 hour battery life
• USB 2.0
• Dock & earbuds included
• $79

I’m eyeing that Shuffle for $79. Seems reasonable and functional if you play sports; especially when you run a lot.

Anyways, besides Mr. Jobs announcement, a couple of the MA folks and I will be attending Carson Workshop’s Summit: The Future of Web Apps tomorrow and Thursday. Should be some interesting and exciting time. It’s just too bad I don’t have a Macbook (yet) so I can look as cool as those techfreaks attending. Oh well, I hope this Dell Latitude loaner can do the job of writing notes and checking email.