Just the facts, please: Apple announces a Mac notebook event

Apple and wildly speculative rumors about the company are practically inseparable. Today, the company emailed invitations to an October 14 event in its hometown of Cupertino, CA.

As usual, it needs to say very little to get the public talking a lot. The ad shows the ubiquitous, titanium aluminum notebook lid with the glowing white Apple trademark and the epigraph: "The spotlight turns to notebooks."

Unlike the iPod refresh that took place in September, the company's pattern of updating its line of notebooks has been a little less regular. Typically, however, it is an annual occurrence, with functionality upgrades (such as those made to the CPU) taking place with no overt regularity.