It's baaaaack... The rumor of forthcoming iMac color choices seems to have more lives than Chucky. (The evil doll from the Child's Play movies, not the Rugrat.) Ever since the Bondi Blue Wonder was first revealed to the public way back in May, a common response has been, "Cool. Can I get that in red?" Or purple, or royal blue, or magenta, or tie-dyed and swirly-psychedelic, or any other color that happens to tickle one's fancy or match one's decor. And time and time again, whispers surface that Apple's just about to unveil new iMac cases available in a variety of translucent candy-like hues. Remember the rumors of different iMac configurations designated by different-colored cases? Or the one that foretold custom school-colored iMacs for the education channel?

Well, now Apple Insider is claiming that iMacs in certain other approved non-Bondi hues will be available "sooner than previously expected." Apparently sources who work for several computing accessories companies have been let in on the plan, and are awaiting color swatches from Apple this very minute so that they can make matching peripherals for the new iMacs. In addition, someone claims to be privy to the details of new iMac television commercials, which reportedly plays up the "choose your favorite color" angle. With several people guessing at a January 17th date for the introduction of the new "revision C" iMacs, is anyone here thinking "Superbowl commercial"?

The logistics of offering iMacs in several hues are tricky, though-- if the different colors become available via retail, Apple will be looking at an inventory disaster of biblical proportions. Forecasting shipments of computer components based on what you think are the public's favorite colors is just begging for trouble. Personally, we at AtAT tend to think that if the rumors of non-Bondi iMacs ever come true, the only reasonable way to pull it off is to make additional colors a build-to-order option only. That way, consumers who really want a specific color can place a custom order at the Apple Store, or buy from a dealer who can have one built-to-order from Apple. Otherwise, we're going to see warehouses full of unsold Bondi Blue iMacs as consumers clamor for the hard-to-find Tangerine Orange models. Riots reminiscent of those spawned by Cabbage Patch Kid sightings of days past and "Tickle Me Elmo" dolls in more recent times will break out in CompUSAs and Best Buys across the land. Entertaining, yes-- and probably good for business, if it weren't for all those components depreciating wildly in the unsold less-popularly-colored models... Whatever. All we know is, we still haven't heard anything about "Mood iMacs," and that's what we're waiting for.

Just because Steve Jobs says something about Apple in public, does that make it "official"? We ask only because he mentioned several weeks ago during his CAUSE98 keynote address that he would not be introducing the anxiously-awaited "consumer portable" Macintosh at next week's Macworld Expo. Despite that fact, it seems that several people and sites are taking it as a given that we'll all be treated to a peek at the translucent laptop, code-named "P1," during next week's opening keynote. And if Steve's remarks aren't "official," well, then, we can see the reason for the expectations.

But now there's bad news for the P1 hopefuls (and your friendly neighborhood AtAT staff numbers themselves among those ranks): according to MacWEEK, a representative from Apple's PR firm Edelman Public Relations is "confirming that Apple will not announce its consumer portable at Macworld Expo SF." This is a significant announcement, because ordinarily Apple doesn't comment officially on rumors or future products-- and, by extension, they definitely don't comment on rumors of future products. Yet apparently the pre-Expo P1 hype was so prevalent that they felt they had to do something to keep people from getting their hopes up and then being disappointed.

So there you have it. Official confirmation from Apple that the P1 will remain in the wings for now-- though, for how long is anyone's guess. Some people are speculating that the P1 will have its own little unveiling party as early as January 17th. One thing seems clear, though: Apple may have learned something from the iMac's introduction. Remember how it coincided with the revelation of the new PowerBook G3 Series? Talk about a thunder-stealing performance! Everyone was going ga-ga over the iMac, while the sleek and sexy PowerBook G3 found itself relegated to short mentions at the ends of iMac articles, like "Apple also introduced some new laptops." We're guessing that the P1 is actually probably ready to reveal, but Apple doesn't want to overshadow the introduction of the new Yosemite desktop systems, which should generate a lot of press on their own. So it's time to play the waiting game again, but don't worry-- there'll be plenty to talk about in the meantime.

"QuickTime doesn't stream, QuickTime doesn't stream..." Sure, it's a valid complaint, but if you're anything like us, you're still awfully tired of hearing about it. Big websites like CNN's who have to distribute video content to relatively large audiences found that serving pre-fab QuickTime footage was slowing their servers to a crawl when hordes of video-hungry surfers all tuned in at once. And worse yet, QuickTime wasn't even an option when it came to serving up live video streams. For those reasons, several big-name sites were swearing off QuickTime entirely and sticking with alternative media formats from Microsoft or Real Networks.

We were treated to a demonstration of QuickTime's forthcoming streaming technology way back at the last WWDC, but haven't seen hide nor hair of it since. However, it's no secret that it's the big new feature in QuickTime 4.0, which should be unveiled at the Expo next week. But just because QuickTime will finally be able to stream doesn't mean that Apple will be able to win back the users it lost to Real and Microsoft-- there have to be some compelling reasons to switch back. Luckily, according to Mac OS Rumors, it sounds like Apple knows that; in an attempt to raise QuickTime's profile, they're reportedly already hammering out partnerships with "at least two major computing companies" to optimize their streaming media servers for use with QuickTime 4.0's engine. And possibly even better than that, Apple may be planning to release the source code for their streaming server, which would let third parties develop their own software that could serve streaming QuickTime content.

Apple's got some hurdles to clear if it's serious about establishing QuickTime as the definitive standard for the delivery of online video content, but it sounds like they're serious and up to the challenge. Who knows? Maybe a year from now AtAT will be brought to you live via a multicast QuickTime feed. 'Course, then we'd actually have to clean up the offices every so often, so probably not. In HTML, Nobody Can See Your Mess.