So here we were, all concerned and frustrated about how the official debut of the iMac at Sears seemed to have fizzled and died. After hearing that the big kick-off had been moved from Memorial Day weekend to last Friday the 3rd, we were of course very patient and understanding about the less-than-perfect state of affairs a week ago; we decided to wait until the weekend of the 3rd to see how things would improve. Unfortunately, it appeared that nothing had changed; reports were mixed, but in general, the iMacs were either not running demo software or were off altogether, there were no brochures or other marketing materials available, and salespeople were, at best, not trained for selling iMacs and at worst prone to bad-mouth the Mac platform at every available opportunity. And, of course, there were no TV commercials or even a single mention of the iMac in the Sears Sunday circular-- though there was an eMachines Windows box on sale. Not exactly the gala grand opening celebration we'd hoped it would be.

Imagine our surprise, then, to receive email from one of the Marketsource-hired Mac fans charged with keeping the iMac situation healthy in local Sears stores. We're not sure if he could get in trouble for contacting us, so we're not going to tell you which stores he's detailing or what his name is; let's just call him "Bubba." Anyway, Bubba informs us that the new official launch date was not June 3rd, but rather June 13th. Perhaps the "1" just hid in a blind spot when we originally got the news, or maybe we were just misinformed-- but we have it on good authority that the real date to watch is Sunday the 13th. By then, according to Bubba, any Sears computer department associate who hasn't completed iMac training "won't be allowed to work the floor." In addition, brochures and marketing materials are starting to show up from Apple, and the iMac is slated for a big feature in next week's Sunday circular.

Sounds good to us. If it all comes to pass, and in one week all 800 Sears stores have iMac-savvy salespeople, well-maintained demo systems, and plenty of brochures for interested potential customers, then Sears (and Apple) will have gotten its act together far more quickly than CompUSA did, for instance. So for now, we're compressing our righteous indignation into a hard little ball and keeping it locked deep inside. Here's looking forward to the 13th...

For those of you who are looking forward to picking up a brand-new Power Macintosh G4 this fall, you might just have to wait another six months. Or you might not-- it all depends on whom you believe. (Ain't that always the way?) Prior to now, most rumors of the Power Mac G4 had placed a debut squarely in the autumn of 1999, which first seemed to us to be a little early, considering last January's debut of the blue-and-white G3; then we remembered that the beige Power Mac G3 first showed up in November of 1997, and suddenly a fall G4 unveiling doesn't seem so early after all. Unfortunately, if Apple Insider is right, Mac fans craving the next big speed boost might be left spinning their wheels for some time to come.

Their latest report on the fourth-generation PowerPC indicates that Motorola is a good solid six months behind schedule, and that the G4 processor will consequently not be available for Apple to use in new Macs until the first quarter of 2000 at the earliest; reportedly, Motorola has "missed deadline after deadline" and Apple and third-party upgrade manufacturers have not been shipped all the pre-production chips necessary for product development. If that's true, then we Mac folks can expect to be maxed out on speed at the G3 level until next year...

...The operative word being "if." For its part, according to a Wired article, Motorola strongly denies any further delays in the G4's development, which was originally planned to debut sometime last year. Will Swearingen, Motorola's head marketing dude for the PowerPC chip, calls these latest rumors "totally wrong" and insists that the G4 will ship in the third quarter as planned. So what it all comes down to is this: who are you more likely to believe, a rumors site or a paid marketing director? Personally, we find it a tough choice, but of course we really hope that the G4 remains on schedule-- because we can't wait to see the benchmark scores.

You know, there aren't many things that could make the AtAT staff give up their traditional Sunday night viewing of The X-Files, even while the show's in summer reruns-- but near the top of that short, short list is the E! network's "True Hollywood Stories" episode featuring the lurid saga of one of the most influential shows in the history of television: The Brady Bunch. That's right; we tuned in for all the dirt on how Greg dated Carol, how Mike tangled with big daddy Sherwood Schwartz, those terrible variety show reunions, and the rest. It should be required pop-culture viewing for anyone between twenty and forty.

And we mention it here not just because we think everyone should watch it for footage of Jan and Marcia in some of their post-Brady projects, but because there's actually a slim tangential connection to the world of the Macintosh. Towards the end of the show, we're filled in on what all of the Bradys are doing these days, and Peter Brady (in the form of his alter-ego known as Christopher Knight) is apparently now into software development for an unnamed San Jose firm; according to an old article in the San Francisco Examiner we managed to find, Knight was instrumental in securing the rights to bringing the Brady clan to the world of educational CD-ROMs. And when E! revealed this little tidbit about Knight's geekish leanings, what should we see on the desk behind him but the unmistakable curves and colors of the new Power Macintosh G3?

See? You knew the Bradys would have had a Mac household. Apparently the two-hour show airs again on E! on Monday the 7th at 4PM EDT-- tune in and expand your mind, baby. And keep your eyes peeled for that Mac.