Predictions dominate the blogs and columns this month. I also write about Microsoft’s lead in netbooks (One Netbook Per Old Laptop) and the fight against spammers.

As the Web serves up applications, Chrome will most likely become the design standard for mobile browsing and may have a serious enough impact on desktop/laptop browsing to free Web designers from the constraints of designing for Internet Explorer. That would be a very good thing.

I’m writing this as Steve Jobs delivers his keynote address at Macworld Expo in San Francisco. With its theme “Something in the air” Apple’s intent is to showcase wireless technology and its uses in media.

With Macworld Expo in San Francisco approaching, the rumor mill is working overtime along with developers feverishly constructing demos and beta versions of new applications.

You want wheat toast, but you have to order a chicken-salad sandwich to get it. So it is with iTunes and the iPod: there many things you can’t do, as they break some rules. But here are five easy pieces for the Mac, five easy pieces for Windows, and a few for the road, that won’t leave you holding your iPod between your knees.

So you want to upgrade EMI-labeled music you purchased from iTunes to the higher-sonic-quality versions without copy protection (when they become available in iTunes next month)? If you’re a Mac user, you can use this tip. Otherwise, watch this space for future enhancements to iTunes.

So far there have been no reports of trouble with the iTunes 7.1 update. People are mostly thrilled by the full-screen CoverFlow feature for browsing by album covers. But iTunes 7.1 is truly welcome in one corner of the universe — folks who use MusicMatch Jukebox.

Issues that occur with iTunes 7.0.2 on Vista include purchased songs not playing, iPod synch problems, iPod eject problems, failure to sync contacts and calendars with an iPod, and slow cover art animation.