The odds are pretty good that when many of you think "news," you think "CNN." Personally, when we think "news," we think "The Daily Show." But that's just us, and we're certainly not going to argue that CNN isn't one of the top dogs when it comes to sources of up-to-the-minute information about Senate hearings, border conflicts, chad-inspired lawsuits, and all that other stuff that, frankly, makes us change the channel in search of an infomercial about shapely abs or a miracle product that can get grape juice out of a white carpet. In other words, thank your lucky stars that we don't hold positions of power that might require us to be well-informed about current events, because all we know about Kosovo is that it would surely benefit from the widespread use of the incredible Egg Wave, which would save the region's inhabitants untold amounts of time and aggravation in the kitchen.

Anyway, for those Macophiles who do watch CNN, you may be interested to know that, in an apparent cost-cutting move, the organization appears to be hatching a scheme whereby "smaller reporting teams" may be deployed in many cases. According to an internal CNN memo posted by the Drudge Report (and pointed out to us by faithful viewer Rick), these smaller teams won't need the usual complement of "bulky equipment" and the personnel needed to operate it, because they'll be carrying "small, high-quality DV cameras" and "Mac laptops" for editing the footage out in the field.

Smart move, CNN! As recent entrants to the wonderful world of digital video ourselves, we're fully aware of the giddy joy and soaring freedom of shooting footage and then editing it right there on a PowerBook. And given how easily we've been able to cobble together first-rate videos of our year-old nephew sucking down chocolate at a truly alarming rate, we see no reason that a similar setup couldn't work at least as well for reporters shooting actual news instead of tiny children ingesting junk food.

The Mac Observer has confirmed that the CNN memo is legit, and so Apple may find itself receiving an order for a few dozen PowerBooks from the mammoth news network in the next couple of weeks. Dare we dream that CNN's newfound fondness for an Apple-produced solution might mean an eventual rethinking of the current anti-QuickTime sentiment in evidence at CNN.com? Because right now, all of the live streaming video there is available only in Real Media and Windows Media flavors, and frankly, that leaves a bad taste in our mouths. (What we need is a nice glass of fresh juice courtesy of the Juiceman II!)

CNN might want to consider getting its PowerBook orders in fast, though, because as usual, when Steve mentioned the ship dates of Apple's new gear during last week's keynote, he was evidently speaking in tongues. You may recall that he stated in no uncertain terms that the PowerBook G4 would be shipping by the end of this month, right? And as for the 667 MHz and 733 MHz Power Macs, those were supposed to make it out the door by the end of February. While it's still very possible for Apple to meet those deadlines, some changes at the Apple Store may hint at longer delays than originally anticipated.

See, as MacNN reports, placing a new order for a stock 400 MHz PowerBook G4 at the Apple Store now spits out an estimated ship date of "45 days"-- which means that if you order now, if you're very lucky, you just might get your titanium sex machine just in time for National Pig Day on March 1st. Accounting for shipping and a little slippage, though, we think you'd be more likely to receive it on Panic Day on the 9th instead. It's worth noting that, until now, orders for the PowerBook G4 were tagged with a far less anxiety-inducing ship date of "21 days," but even that time frame just barely matches up with Steve's "end of this month" assertion.

In the market for a higher-end Power Mac instead? The increase isn't nearly as dramatic, but an order placed today for a 667 MHz model yields an estimated ship date of "7-10 weeks"-- a smidge higher than the "6-8 weeks" reported just days ago. If you're one of the lucky ones who gets a seven-week delivery time, you might be enjoying your new Power Mac just before February winds to a close, but we're thinking it's more likely you'll be waiting until well into March. Still, at least some of the very first orders for the high-end Power Macs might ship by the end of next month-- provided that the Apple Store's reported ship dates are even accurate in the first place. (Personally, we trust them about as far as we could comfortably spit an iMac.)

Unfortunately, there's no way to know whether Apple's increasing lead times are due to "unforeseen" parts shortages (as in, "when is Motorola going to get us those freakin' processors?") or just to some really healthy demand-- but given how many people are telling us that they've ordered new equipment in the past week, we're inclined to believe the latter. That certainly doesn't rule out the possibility of a replay of that nastiness that ensued with the original Power Mac G4s back in 1999, though; if you recall, the last time that Steve announced high-end hardware that wouldn't be shipping for a couple of months, Apple eventually had to alter its whole product line because Motorola couldn't come up with the goods. Now there's a little piece of drama we could live without seeing again.

Remember that nasty ol' Melissa virus that nuked much of the Wintel world a couple of years ago? Well, it's baa-aack, though this latest variant doesn't seem to have wreaked much havoc thus far. According to a ZDNet article, "Melissa-X" is the latest rage-- and irony of ironies, guess which platform appears to be responsible for spreading it? That's right, your buddy and ours, the Macintosh.

"But AtAT," we hear you asking, "aren't Mac users immune to the Melissa virus?" Why, yes we are-- mostly. (You may even remember us ranting about the lack of a Mac port some time ago; there really isn't any software for the Mac!) Even with the original Melissa strain, Mac users were impervious to the virus's entertaining little practice of emailing itself to fifty people in the infected computer's address book. Unfortunately, that didn't mean that Mac users couldn't unwittingly pass on the virus by sharing infected documents with Windows users. In other words, Mac users were never any more than Typhoid Melissas, capable of spreading the disease without getting to share in the fun first-hand.

Well, here we are, almost two years later, and the Mac platform appears to be getting the last laugh. Apparently this latest outbreak was caused by a UK-based Mac user who inadvertently opened an older Melissa-infected Word document in office:mac 2001 and resaved it in Word 2001's new format. The result? The virus remained intact, but it was rendered undetectable by antivirus software looking for the unadulterated Melissa strain. And once again, while Mac users can spread the virus, we are immune to its effects.

This isn't a big deal even for Windows users, really, as Melissa seems to crop up with "one new strain a month" anyway-- but we couldn't pass up the irony of this latest version originating from a Mac. In any event, MacCentral reports that Symantec (the folks who bring you Norton Antivirus) has already released a fix, so this is more "noteworthy" instead of apocalyptic. Still, a fun time was had by all...