We bring on board Kirk McElhearn, Macworld’s “iTunes Guy,” to discuss the rapid disappearance of optical drives from new Macs. He’ll also talk briefly about Apple’s recent executive shakeup.

Jim Galbraith, the Lab Director for Macworld, details the benchmarks of the recent Apple products that he’s tested, and his plans for evaluating the latest mobile gadgets.

From Adrian Hoppel, who writes a weekly column for Mac|Life called “Law & Apple,” presents his unfiltered opinion about the impending departure of Apple VP Scott Forstall, the latest news about Apple’s legal wrangling with Google and other companies. During this session, you’ll also hear Gene’s early observations after installing Windows 8.