Insanely Great New Stuff From Apple At MACWORLD? You Betcha'

As I was running out the door to get to New York City in time for MACWORLD, it occurred to me that I had never formally introduced myself. Hi, Iim Kyle. Now that we have that out of the way, lets talk about MACWORLD. Unless you just brought home a new iMac and are online for the first time (congratulations), or you had not figured this "Web thing" out until his morning, you are aware that the Apple rumor mill has been in its glory the last month or so. Apple has asked at least one site to take down information divulging "trade secrets" and, depending who or what you believe, there have probably been others. So, are the rumors accurate? Are they close? Let me put it this way; if you DID just bring home a new iMac, pack it back up and find your receipt. Come Wednesday Noon EST, you wonit have the newest toy on the block. Do I know this? Has Apple bestowed upon me information warranting a type of non-disclosure agreement? Sorry kids, but the good folks at Apple are way too smart for that, despite my outwardly trusty visage. I tried, but they said they would rather give that information to monkey from... never mind. To borrow a line from our own Tim Hillman, I digress. However, it does not really take all that much to put the pieces together. Am I "predicting" a new iMac? No, but every time I ask the trusty Magic 8 Ball if we are going to see a new iMac this week, I get "Signs Point To Yes." Hey, thatis good enough for me. Others have ventured out on a limb to suggest that Apple is going to announce some new input devices. Having used a Blue & White G3 for a year or so now, and wearing a path from my front door to my doctoris for repeated carpal tunnel treatments, letis just say I HOPE these people are correct. And I donit mean to get off on a rant here (sorry Dennis), but why in the world would anybody need a wireless keyboard or mouse? There is only so far one can venture from the computer screen and still have a need for a mouse and keyboard. Not to mention the possibility of said wireless input devices falling into the same undiscovered land, from whose bourn no device returns, as the TV remote, cordless phone, and garage door opener. "Dang it, honey! Have you seen the damn keyboard and mouse!?! I want to check the freakini e-mail!" No, please tether my mouse to my keyboard, and my keyboard to my computer. One less thing to worry about. Then again, if I had a huge flat-panel display, I could sit a bit further from the tube than your average as-yet-unnamed-and-unreleased-cube-shaped-Mac user. Despite being a rich, famous person, 4 Gis is a bit much for Appleis 22" Cinema Display, even for me. Apple, are you listening? Let me be cool by having a new Cinema Display, please? Iill even take something smaller than the current version, but not too much smaller. There, I have groveled and begged. Are you happy? Lest we forget non-Apple products. The new Voodoo5 card, FireWire stuff as far as the eye can see, Deus Ex and The Sims for the gamer in all of us...there will certainly be something for everybody. And, we will be live from MACWORLD all week. Professional geeks in their full geek glory. Jealous? Kyle DiAddario Assistant Editor The Mac Observer