MacRumors recently posted this entry about Intel’s impending announcement of their new low-power portable CPU (code-named “Yonah”) that will be the heart of the 2006 iBooks and PowerBooks:

CoolTechZone claims to have insider knowledge of Intel’s official launch date of the newest processor from Intel — codenamed Yonah.
Intel’s Yonah is a dual-core chip based on the 65nm fabrication process. Yonah will also mark the first launch with Intel’s new strategy in place – performance per watt. The debut is expected on January 6th, 2006.

Hmm, does that date sound familiar? It should because it’s three days before the start of Macworld Expo in San Francisco. Click through to MacRumors for the links.

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An article from eWEEK Intel Starts an ‘Apple Group’ indicates that Intel is taking this Apple thing seriously. This is probably the best indicator yet that Apple will introduce Intel-driven Macs sooner rather than later:

Industry analysts and others have confirmed that Intel Corp. has formed an internal “Apple group.” This group, formed in the wake of Apple Computer Inc.’s decision to base its next generation of Macintosh computers on Intel processors, is comprised of engineers and sales staff.
Intel has similar groups for other large clients such as Lenovo and Hewlett-Packard. Specifics on the Apple group are sparse, however.

(Contributed by Walt Atwood)

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Think Secret is reporting that Apple is prepping new Intel-based iBooks for January.

It is not known exactly what processors or price points the new models will debut at, but it is thought Apple will expand the iBook line with one additional model and will lower prices-in some cases possibly $200 or more-to entice current Windows users and prove to the market it will be more competitive with the likes of Dell, Gateway, HP and Sony.

It blows me away that Apple would consider giving the iBook the “Intel treatment” before their bread-and-butter PowerBook—and at a price drop no less! This goes against everything that Apple has done in the past. They usually reserve the fastest chips for their high margin and most expensive machines, like the PowerMac G5. Why on earth would they Intel the iBook first? If true, the PowerBook would essentially become the bottom of the product line, which would be a shame.

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Sometimes you want to be a fly on the wall and hear what actual is going on behind closed doors in tech labs and board rooms. A article over at NEWS.com states the CELL triad has released a 1000 page developer kit. The article brings out a few unique directions that the CELL Processor will be used in: Toshiba will be using it in their TVs (the next step making the TV as the digital hub), Mercury Computer Systems will use it in their own custom made computers, Sony in the Playstation 3, and variations of the chip will appear in mobile phones and PDAs.
Click through for the rest of the story…

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Roughly Drafted: When Steve Jobs announced the plan to move Macs to Intel processors, Bruce Chizen, CEO of Adobe, joked,