MacBook Air - sub-notebook with no cables

As usual, Apple has thrown us a bone to chew on for the weekend before MacWorld. Banners raised around San Francisco's Moscone Center are reported to feature the tease "2008 There's something in the air". For what it's worth, here's my guess at what this might mean.

The design of the banner features a lighter cut of Apple's corporate font (Myriad). The font is very thin indeed, and this, together with the reference to air, suggests a very thin product - further evidence of a sub-notebook. But I can't help thinking that the use of "air" is multi-layered - implying more than just a "lighter than air" design. MacNN.com reported that Apple had filed a patent for an iMac-style dock for a notebook - one which could communicate with the notebook wirelessly. Imagine if it charged the MacBook wirelessly as well, using inductive coupling like an electric toothbrush. Cables and sockets could be eliminated altogether.

Not only would that enable Apple to make the world's thinnest notebook, but it would define a whole new class of gadget.

UPDATE: Just discovered another Apple patent relating to inductive charging, reported by Hrmph.com which seems to make this idea all the more possible.