Of course, you have to keep in mind that custom configurations take longer and wouldn't ship on time, but for everything else, this is a great offer. [9 to 5 Mac]

You've gotta order between 10am and 1pm, and it's not cheap: You're talking like a $15 delivery fee, unless you're an Amazon Prime member, and it's only an extra $6. (Then again, if you're stuck inside with swine flu, $15 is a pretty small price to pay to stay wrapped up in blankets in bed while somebody else fetches your shopping list.)

The new service is being tested in 7 cities: New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, Baltimore, Las Vegas and Seattle are the first, with Indianapolis and Phoenix coming later. Everybody else, well obviously you don't live anywhere cool enough to deserve it. [Bits]

Thanks Thomas! And thanks to Rob, who also sent in an example ridiculous packaging today:

Even while Mark says that mine would only result in "Swedish Girl 1", "Swedish Girl 2", "Swedish Girl 3", etc. in "Beach", "Swimming Pool", "Sauna" and "Bed". [Thanks funman895 and David]

Update: Apple has issued a press release stating that iLife '09 will be available tomorrow January 27, which goes along what readers reported.

CUPERTINO, Calif., Jan. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today announced that iLife(R) '09 will be available tomorrow, January 27, and features major upgrades to iPhoto(R), iMovie(R) and GarageBand(R), with breakthrough new ways to organize and manage photos, create movies and learn to play music. iLife '09 is included with every new Mac(R) and is available as a $79 upgrade for existing users through the Apple Store(R) (http://www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.
iPhoto '09 builds on the ability to automatically organize photos into Events by adding Faces and Places as innovative new ways to easily organize and manage your photos using face detection, face recognition and GPS geo-tagging technologies. iMovie '09 expands on the revolutionary super fast movie creation introduced in iMovie '08 by adding the depth users want through powerful easy-to-use new features such as the incredible new Precision Editor, video stabilization, advanced drag and drop, and animated travel maps. GarageBand '09 introduces a whole new way to help you learn to play piano and guitar with 18 basic lessons and optional lessons from top artists such as Sara Bareilles, John Fogerty, Norah Jones and Sting.
iLife '09 also includes iWeb(TM) '09 for authoring custom websites and iDVD(R) '09 for creating DVDs. iWeb '09 adds new iWeb Widgets, such as iSight(R) video and photos, a countdown timer, YouTube video and RSS feeds. New integrated FTP publishing allows you to publish your website to virtually any hosting service and updates to your site can now be automatically added to your Facebook profile.
You can see step-by-step demonstrations of iLife '09 features by browsing more than 70 video tutorials at http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials.
Pricing & Availability
iLife '09 will be available January 27 for a suggested retail price of $79 (US) through the Apple Store (http://www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. The iLife Up-To-Date upgrade package is available to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller on or after January 6, 2009 for a shipping and handling fee of $9.95 (US). The iLife '09 Family Pack includes five licenses and will be available for $99 (US) and the Mac Box Set which includes iLife '09, iWork '09 and Mac OS(R) X v10.5.6 Leopard(R) will be available for $169 (US). Artist Lessons are sold separately through the GarageBand Lesson Store for $4.99 (US) each.
iLife '09 requires Mac OS X version 10.5.6 or later, a Macintosh(R) computer with an Intel processor, a PowerPC G5 or 867 MHz or faster PowerPC G4, 512MB of RAM (1GB recommended), QuickTime(R) 7.5.5 or later (included), a DVD drive for installation and 4GB of available disk space. iPhoto print services and GarageBand Artist Lessons are available in select countries. Full system requirements and more information on iLife '09 can be found at http://www.apple.com/ilife.
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.
(C) 2009 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh, iLife, iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, Apple Store, iWeb, iDVD, iSight, Leopard and QuickTime are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
SOURCE Apple

Well done, sir. [LiveLeak via Neatorama]

All of the majors (Amazon, Best Buy, New Egg) are covered, as well as tons of others from flowers, shoes—even mail-order dry-aged steaks, all nicely sorted by shipping price level. Very helpful. Check it out: [Dealhack]

As Kevin notes, it might seem nitpicky, but when you compare this to how much Apple boasts on the MacBook's green packaging, it is kind of jarring:

"The new MacBook packaging is up to 41 percent smaller than the previous generation. And smaller boxes are much better for the planet. Because smaller boxes mean we can fit more boxes on each shipping pallet — up to 25 percent more. Which means more products will fit on each boat and plane. Which means fewer boats and planes are used, resulting in fewer CO2 emissions. It’s just one seemingly minor change. But it has a major positive impact on our environment."

Surely they've got a smaller box lying around somewhere. If not, we hope they transition all of their shipping boxes to a greener variation—not just to align them with Apple's own standards and goals, but to set an example for the rest of the industry. [jkOnTheRun]

The logical conclusion is that there was a problem with the .82 firmware, and it was so severe that every Storm had to be downgraded before release, hence the delays. It sounds a little far-fetched, but after peeling off the sticker reading .65, BGR found another sticker underneath reading .82. In other words, these phones were originally loaded with the newer firmware, but something went wrong.

As far as shipment goes, here's the rule:

- Bought before noon on Nov. 21: will ship Nov. 25.
- Bought after noon on Nov. 21: will ship Dec. 5.
- Bought on Nov. 22 (today) or later: will not ship until after Dec. 15.

If you haven't bought your Storm yet, you better cross your fingers extra hard because it's not looking likely that it'll make it to you before a certain major religious holiday. [BGR]

It replaces a whole bunch of larger, less green gear—a giant thermal printer, PC, monitor and scanner. UPS says it'll save 92,456 hours, 1,338 tons of paper and 3,807 tons of carbon emissions a year. Who ever said going green had to cost green? Next please: Package teleporters. [Treehugger]