Pre-Expo lull, my Aunt Fanny; suddenly things have just gotten a lot more interesting. Remember that whole G4 Cube fiasco? Basically, Mac OS Rumors posted some arguably outrageous information about how the next big revision to the Power Mac G4 enclosure would be, essentially, cubic. The original report and one follow-up update were only available for a day or two before they were taken down and replaced with a note claiming that Apple had demanded the removal of the articles. Shortly thereafter, a gent calling himself "Alan Smithee" posted a copy of the original MOSR report to Apple's HomePage servers, attempting to prove that MOSR lied about Apple's alleged demands; the logic here was that if Apple didn't want the report to be seen on MOSR, it most certainly wouldn't tolerate the same report being publicly available on its own servers. And then MOSR's credibility was perhaps damaged further by an article at The Mac Junkie, in which the author claimed to have made up some details about the supposed Cube, emailed them to MOSR, and then witnessed his fabrications form the basis of Saturday's Cube update.

Well! If you were quite certain that MOSR's report was nothing but bull hockey, we've got a little plot twist that'll give you whiplash: faithful viewer Kent Hull told us that AppleInsider just posted two reports which corroborate at least some of what MOSR had claimed. The first article claims that Apple has taken extreme measures to strengthen security around its "warehouse and production facilities." Evidently we may be in for an iMac-intro-like surprise when Steve struts his stuff in five days; just as the Bondi Blue Bullet took the world completely unawares, Apple is rumored to be putting the finishing touches on "a completely new Apple computer." Test run units are supposedly boxed and palleted, with tarps concealing the goods and "hired hands" protecting the motherlode from prying eyes. Mmmm... with security that tight, you just know there's something good in the oven.

But it's the second report that may really knock you for a loop; get it while you can, because we imagine Apple's lawyers won't let it stay up for long. Here's the deal: AppleInsider claims that this "completely new Apple computer" is in fact a monitorless consumer desktop-- and it's cube-shaped. The sketches at the site indicate a simple stackable design with four handles, a slot-loading CD/DVD-ROM drive, and FireWire and USB ports. There are no speakers or sound jacks, though the article mentions the possibility of a Harmon Kardon-designed set of USB speakers that Apple would provide. This CubeMac (the URL implies that the code name for this thing is "Trinity," though that fact isn't explicitly stated anywhere) sounds basically like a monitorless iMac, catering to consumers who want a screen larger than the iMac's fifteen inches, but don't need the high-end features and expandibility of a Power Mac G4.

So could this be what MOSR thought was a next-generation Power Mac G4? Maybe. "Alan Smithee" thinks it's probable enough that he's voluntarily pulled his copy of MOSR's original report and replaced it with an apology of sorts. But why get bogged down in a debate over whether or not MOSR makes stuff up? The important thing to keep in mind is this: now multiple sources indicate that Apple's got something cube-like up its sleeve, and with the Expo just days away, we've got a real surprise coming. Provided, of course, all this cube info is just Apple yanking our collective chain... But then, that would pretty much be a surprise, too, so in any event, we're looking forward to Wednesday.

We'll say one thing for Macworld Expo's summer show: it sure was a lot cheaper for us when it was in Boston. And apparently that's not just because we live in Boston (though, of course, that was certainly a huge advantage)-- it's because New York sucks money out of one's wallet like a snack cake addict hoovers the cream filling out of a Twinkie. And if you think it's expensive to go to the New York Expo as a simple attendee, your eyes might pop in their sockets if you saw how much it costs to be an actual exhibitor at the thing. So is it any wonder that some companies who fully planned to have booths at the show are now dropping out in the eleventh hour?

Yes, according to MacAddict, even at this late date several exhibitors have decided to cancel their plans to hawk their wares to the teeming throngs of East Coast Macophiles. You probably heard that Corel pulled out of the show earlier this week, citing financial difficulty as the impetus, but perhaps you didn't think too much of it, since everybody knows that Corel's been in dire straits money-wise for quite some time now. (Personally, we're amazed that it doesn't have its sales force selling Amway on the side for supplemental corporate revenue.) But now FWB Software, the Hard Disk Toolkit company, has just cancelled its Expo plans, claiming that it's "trying to manage [its] funds a little better." Since the San Francisco show each January is the really big one, we're going to see more and more companies bailing on the New York Expo and instead investing the savings into building a killer presence at the January show. Which bites for us, since we can generally only make it to the New York one. Hopefully this isn't the beginning of a serious East Coast Expo deterioration; we can just imagine that in three years, only six companies will be exhibiting and tumbleweeds will roll down the aisles...

Incidentally, MacAddict also reminds us that NVIDIA isn't going to exhibit next week and had never planned to, despite rumors to the contrary following whispers of the company possibly replacing ATI as Apple's graphics OEM of choice. And Bungie isn't going to have a booth either-- but we figure that wasn't a financially-motivated decision, what with all that sweet Redmond sell-out money at its disposal. It was probably a survival move instead, as we imagine the Bungie crew may well have been expecting some strident, and possibly even violent, reactions from the Mac fans they're allegedly leaving behind. (Did anyone else notice that the "Coming Soon For Windows and Mac OS" tag at the Halo site has been replaced by the phrase "Coming Soon To A Platform Near You"?)

Chalk up another "victory" for Apple's increasingly-vigorous legal team. The target this time? Simon Jones and his newly-redesigned MacCards site. If that sounds familiar, it should; MacCards was an e-card service similar to (and pre-dating) Apple's own iCards service. You'd pick a graphic, write a quick note, and email it off to a friend. All of Simon's offerings were Mac-related, and therefore catered to the Mac community, who appreciated his work in bringing some more Mac visibility to the Internet. But Apple was not amused-- and shut MacCards down shortly after iCards debuted, by threatening legal action for trademark infringement.

Now, we fully understand that Apple has to enforce its trademarks or risk losing them entirely, but after hearing from Simon we have to admit that the company was probably more than a trifle brusque in the way it handled the situation. One would think that Apple would at least be courteous to obvious fans of its products who work hard to give the company a bit of free advertising, but reportedly courtesy isn't high on the list of priorities in Apple's legal department. So it's with more than a twinge of regret that we noted an article at Macworld UK about the cancellation of the reborn MacCards.

See, Simon's idea was to relaunch the site and avoid using any of Apple's trademarks or copyrighted photos. Instead, he asked Mac-friendly illustrators "to donate original artwork with a humorous Apple theme." Unfortunately, Simon chose as the new MacCards logo a modified version of Apple's own logo, tweaked into a heart shape. Apple objected, again threatened legal action, and refused to speak with Simon directly, opting instead only to communicate via legal negotiations. Tsk, tsk. Simon, having no legal fund to go head-to-head with Cupertino's Finest, once again decided to kill the site. C'est la vie. At least Simon's iCards parody, EyeCards, is still up and running and offering the dullest e-cards on the 'net. Or, uh, would that be second-dullest?