Apple may soon be launching their very first sub-$1000 laptop, and embarking on a new path to appeal to a broader range of consumers. According to a source at Inquisitr.com, some Apple retailers in the US have been given price lists for a new Apple laptop line, and one of the surprising features on the list is an $800 laptop.

According to their source, the stores were given price sheets with 12 price points for the new range. Prices on the list range from $800 to $3100. Currently the cheapest Apple laptop configuration, MacBooks, starts at $1099. The current line of laptops also only has 8 price points - 3 MacBooks, 3 MacBook Pros, and 2 MacBook Airs.

The source went on to say that the retailers usually get the price lists 10 days before products are launched. Specs are not included in the price sheets, so at this point there is no way to know whether Apple is launching a new ultra-portable laptop or something a little more low-end, or if they're just restructuring prices to compete in today's worsening economic conditions.

Shares of National City Corp. (NCC) were up 20% in early morning trading on Thursday, following reports Wednesday that the Cleveland-based bank is in talks to sell. The Wall Street Journal cited PNC Financial Services Group Inc. and The Bank of Nova Scotia as potential buyers.

In the past year shares of National city have lost more than 80%, and although the company has beugn scaling back its mortgage business, with the current economic crisis investors have become increasingly worried about the bank's exposure to home-equity loans.

Just a few weeks ago, National City hit its all-time low, falling to $2 per share.

During a lunchtime gathering of business and education leaders in San Antonio, Texas on Wednesday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said that weathering the economic downturn will be a challenge for the league, despite the game's popularity.

Goodell cited stadium financing and struggling sponsors as challenges in an economy where credit has now become very tight. The NFL, he said, is not recession proof.

Steve Wozniak founded Apple with Steve Jobs, and although he no longer works for the company, it's not stopping from weighing in with his opinion. In an interview with the Telegraph, Wozniak said that the iPod's days are now numbered, and it's merely a matter of time before Apple loses the top spot in MP3 industry.

“The iPod has sort of lived a long life at number one. Things like that, if you look back to transistor radios and Walkmans, they kind of die out after a while… You get to a point when they are on display everywhere, they get real cheap and they are not selling as much," said Wozniak.

While that has certainly got to sting the folks over at Apple, Wozniak does say that there is a solution and a way to prevent this from happening:

“Consumers aren’t getting all they want when companies are very proprietary and lock their products down,” he said, making an underhand reference to the iPhone’s software limitations. “I would like to write some more powerful apps than what you’re allowed,” he said.

Whether Apple will ever do this, however, remains to be seen.

What do you think? Has the iPod become an untouchable superpower, destined to remain the number one MP3 player for all eternity? Or is Steve Wozniak on to something? Could the end of the iPod be near?

City of Akron tire giant Goodyear Goodyear got some good news yesterday. The company earned a seven year contract with New York City Transit, the nation's largest transit bus fleet. Goodyear will supply tires and business solutions for the organization.

Officials at Goodyear were thrilled with the news. Joseph Copeland, Goodyear vice president of commercial tire systems said in a statement via press release:

"This is an important contract for Goodyear, retaining the largest transit bus fleet in North America. Moreover, it is a tremendous vote of confidence in our products and the service provided by our Goodyear associates in the depots every day."

The passage of the $700 billion government bailout of U.S. financial institutions last week appears to have done little calm the fears of investors. On Monday, as the markets opened, Wall Street took a tumble, joining a global selloff as fears that the financial crisis will spread through economies around the world, despite the bailout of the U.S. and other governments.

Early in Monday morning trading, the credit market continued to be strained, and investors piled heavily into government bonds. The Dow Jones fell by more than 200 points.

The continued drop on Wall Street, and in financial markets around the world, comes amid the realization that the bailout bill won't quickly unfreeze the credit markets, and that many banks continue to have difficulties in accessing cash.

Abroad, various European governments have rushed to save failing banks over the past few weeks. Governments of Germany, Ireland, and Greece said that they would guarantee bank deposits. Mean while Franches BNP Paribas agreed to acquire a 75% stake in Fortis's Belgium bank after a government rescue there failed, and the German goverment and financial industry agreed ona $68 billion bailout for Hypo Real Estate Holding AG, a commercial property lender.

On Wednesday the Federal Reserve cut a key interest rate by half a percentage point in an emergency attempt to steady an economy teetering on the edge of a collapse unlike this country has seen since 1929. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke dropped the key rate by .5 percentage point to just 1.5 percent. Other central banks also cut their rates in a coordinated move with the Federal Reserve.

Cutting the interest rate revives the Fed's rate cutting campaign that had been halted in June due to concerns that low rates would worsen inflation. The economic and financial conditions in the US have deteriorated even more so since early summer, giving them no other choice but to reverse course.

The Fed's regularly scheduled meeting isn't until October 28-29, and the fact that they felt they couldn't wait until then further displays the urgency of the situation.

The Federal Researve also reduced its emergency lending rate to banks by half a percentage point to 1.75 percent. Given the current credit crisis, banks have been quick to borrow from the emergency window.

Just after 9pm ET Wednesday evening, the Senate took a vote on a reworked version of the $700 billion financial bailout bill that was rejected in the House on Monday. The final vote was 74 to 25, which was enough to get the bill passed in the Senate.

The Senate's new version of the bill contains no allocations going to the Housing Trust Fund, which the Dodd version originally did. Thus, ACORN will get no money from the bailout. Of course they couldn't pass up the opportunity to add some of their own earmarks to the bill.

The full 451-page Senate bill can be viewed in full here.

With the measure having now passed in the Senate, it puts pressure on the House to now also pass the bill. The House of Representatives will convene again Thursday, and will have the opportunity to re-work the bill themselves and take another vote.

The majority of Americans are still opposed to the bailout plan, which means most Senators did not vote the will of their constituents, and should this eventually pass, their jobs may be in jeopardy.

Apple's iTunes Music Store has enjoyed enormous success over the past five years, and are the clear leader in the digital music retail industry. But according to Fortune, they're willing to give it all up if the Copyright Royalty Board decides to increase royalty rates paid on songs purchased from online music stores such as iTunes.

On Thursday the the Copyright Royalty Board is expected to rule on a request by the National Music Publishers' Association to increase the royalty rates paid to its members. They want to increase rates from 9 cents to 15 cents, a 66% increase. Apple, on the other hand, would like the rate lowered to 4.6 cents or 6% of "applicable revenues".

Analysts project approximately 2.5 billion tracks to be sold in the coming year, and if the price hike were to be approved, it would cost Apple an additional $144 million in royalty payouts and cut into their profits.

California has become the first state to require restaurant chains to indicate how many calories are in their standard menu items. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the legislation Tuesday, which supporters say will give consumers the information they need to make informed, healthier eating decisions.

The law will apply to chains with at least 20 restaurants. Initially they will be given a choice: beginning next July 1, they can either list calorie counts on menus or menu boards, or they may provide pre-printed brochures that disclose the calories, fat, salt and carbohydrates in the food and drinks offered.

By 2011, however, the calorie counts in standard menu items will be required to be listed on menus and indoor menu boards. Drive-through customers must be offered brochures that provide nutritional information about the standard menu items.

Schwarzenegger vetoed a broader version of the bill last year, but signed it into law this week after changes were made.

The National Council of Chain Restaurants has said that they are disappointed that Schwarzenegger signed the bill. They say that the bill discriminates against larger chains, and that it 80% of California restaurants wouldn't be covered by the bill.