You know, it's amazing what a difference a couple of weeks can make. A fortnight ago, Steve Jobs was probably the lowest-paid CEO of a billion-dollar company in history. For two and a half years, the man accepted $1 a year as his only salary as he turned a sinking ship into the darling of the computer industry. No bonuses, no stock options, no nothing-- just a single measly buck so he was officially on the company payroll. And now he's arguably pulling down more crazy ducats than anyone else of his ilk. Oh, sure, his salary is still the same old buck a year, but it's the bonuses that have the media paying attention: the stock options for ten million shares of AAPL and the Gulfstream V jet.

Of the two components, the jet is the flashier; a $45 million private plane that lets Steve keep up with the Ellisons. Bad Boy Larry's been a Gulfstream V owner for a while, now, notes faithful viewer Robert Jung-- and according to Marc Messer, he regularly ticks off the locals by using it to violate local noise ordinances. Like John Haytol, we can't wait to see what happens when these two drag-race.

But while the jet's extravagant, it's the stock options that really have people blinking in disbelief. Ten million shares of AAPL is worth an amount of money known in financial circles as "a royal buttload." According to the Los Angeles Times, Steve made over $200 million on paper just in the past week. That's led "compensation expert" Graef Crystal to call Apple's Board's decision "irresponsible"; "it suggests a board that is just consumed with hero worship," he says. And he says that like it's a bad thing...

Okay, sure, if Steve uses his already-considerable wealth to exercise his options to the tune of the full ten million shares, he'll become the company's largest shareholder. But is that such a bad thing? Personally, we'd be thrilled to see Steve become a bigger shareholder than Microsoft. We've been edgy ever since the 1997 Stevenote when Gates announced that freaky $150 million investment, so we say, hey, more power to Steve.

And so we must bid adieu to one of the most entertaining little men ever to grace the AtAT cast: Dr. Hanoch Shalit, the man, the myth, the legend. This is the guy who filed a ridiculously overinflated $1.1 billion lawsuit against Apple Computer, Inc. for allegedly infringing his color management patents in the product known as ColorSync, and then issued a press release every week or so to try to sponge as much investor attention as possible out of the suit. Well, here's a press release for Hanoch: according to an Apple press release, that lawsuit is now over, relegated to the Great Frivolous Lawsuit Dustbin of History; "the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has dismissed the Imatec, Ltd. and Hanoch Shalit patent litigation suit against Apple." Thanks to faithful viewers Adam Farstrup and Jim Joyner for being the first to share the joy.

And it sounds like Hanoch really took a pounding in the decision: "the Judge determined that Imatec and Shalit do not own the patents on which the suit was based and, furthermore... ColorSync does not infringe on these patents in any case." Ooooh, that's gotta hurt; given that Imatec doesn't make a single product but apparently only licenses out its now-worthless patents, it sounds like Hanoch's left with nothing. So much for the path to easy money. But hey, you mess with the bull and you get the horns. Schadenfreude, anyone? And it could have been lots worse: Judge Wapner would also have had Rusty the bailiff smack Hanoch upside the head and told him to get a real job, so we figure he kinda got off easy.

Just for fun, we thought we'd mosey on over to the Imatec web site; it still focuses on the lawsuit, with nary a mention that the suit's been thrown out of court. We figure Hanoch's still reeling from seeing his get-rich-quick scheme pull a Titanic. Any bets on what his next press release will say? "Today, Dr. Hanoch Shalit found out that karma does exist, much to his professional and financial chagrin..."

Here's to the crazy ones... the dreamers... the optimists. The folks like us still holding out hope that the fabled Apple-Palm device isn't just a rumor. Because the people who are crazy enough to put their faith in vague rumors and pipe dreams are the ones who get to say "I told you so" if the blasted thing ever actually sees the light of day. Think Positive.

Seriously, we've heard way too much about this Apple handheld from far too many different sources not to believe that it's in the works. As for an actual release date, well, heck, your guess is as good as ours. We're trying not to get too excited over this upcoming Palm Color Device Developer Connection event, though. Palm's been resisting the move to color units for years now, citing increased complexity, higher costs, and lower battery life as all being contrary to the company's central goal of simplicity. Finally, though, they caved; color is coming to the Palm OS, and according to a CNET article sent to us by faithful viewer David Schwartz, on February 2nd Palm will unveil the first Palm OS device that uses color.

The intriguing bit is the wording that Palm used in the letter sent to developers: "...one of the hardware manufacturers that makes products based on the Palm OS will release a device with a color display!" Maybe it's just us, but that makes it sound like the first color Palm device to be shown will not be the Palm IIIc, but a third party device instead. Some people think it's a new Handspring Visor, but we doubt it-- they've had their hands full just trying to fulfill demand for their current black and white model, so we don't think they've had the time or resources to crank out a new color device as well. Is it possible that Palm's decision to keep the name of the developer under wraps is due to a certain mercurial iCEO's penchant for huge surprises? Given that attendees of the February 2nd event will be required to sign nondisclosure agreements, we may have to wait until later in the month to find out for sure, but we eternal optimists are keeping our fingers crossed.