Finally, big props for the wunderkind! Scope out Apple's latest press release, which announces that Avie "Check Out The Big Brain On Brett" Tevanian has finally been promoted from senior veep of software engineering to an entirely new position: Chief Software Technology Officer. Avie, as you all know, is the plucky kid largely responsible for the deep-dish goodness of Mac OS X; not only has he been the go-to guy on our lickable operating system's development since Apple's momentous acquisition of NeXT back at the twilight of the Amelio Dynasty, but he was also Steve's right hand man as the veep of engineering back at that erstwhile software mill. And heck, before that he pretty much created the Mach kernel upon which NeXTSTEP and Mac OS X are based. All this and the little fella can't be a day over fourteen. He's kind of like the Doogie Howser of operating system development, only his best friend isn't named Vinnie. At least, as far as we know.

This represents some well-deserved time in the spotlight for Avie, who has seen a lot less screen time than most of Apple's other major players; in fact, the last time we recall him appearing onscreen (not counting that thank-heaven-it-was-unfounded rumor of his imminent departure a couple of years back) is way back in the golden era of "Redmond Justice," when Steve sent him in to testify against Microsoft and he told a harrowing tale of knifing babies. (It's not what you think; he was talking about Microsoft pressuring Apple to stop developing QuickTime... although we wouldn't be terribly surprised to hear that Redmond goes in for knifing babies in the literal sense, too.)

Now, we would have thought that Avie's new position would be more of a "big picture" kind of thing, something that would pull him up and out of the trenches; indeed, the press release indicates that Avie's new task is to "focus on setting company-wide software technology directions," which doesn't sound much like a dig-through-guts programming position. But Steve refers to the new gig letting Avie "return to a more hands-on technical role," so frankly, we haven't a clue what it's all about, other than Avie's probably getting a lot more cash every week or two to spend on penny whistles and moon pies. But who's going to fill Avie's sneakers over in the senior veep spot? None other than Bertrand Serlet, a guy about whom we know nothing more than the teensy blurb in his bio ("key player" in Mac OS X's arrival, veep of Platform Technology, yet another former NeXTie)-- but we anticipate several opportunities for bawdy French farce in our future. Time will tell.

By the way, we were impressed to notice that Apple's web gnomes had already updated the Executive Profiles page and Avie's bio to reflect the lineup changes mere hours after the news hit the wire. Unless, of course, the changes were made prior to the actual announcement... but it's not like that ever happens, right?

Looks like we're in for another keyboard and mouse revision, folks, and this one might finally be a humdinger. Apple hasn't had a major change to its input devices since the advent of the Pro Mouse and Pro Keyboard signaled the death of The Puck; since then, the most we've seen is the addition of white variants (for the LCD iMac, and sold separately to customers who thought the original black models were too goth for use in the suburbs) and a recent cheapening of the design that debuted with May's new eMacs that removed the "Pro" designation from the products' names. Nothing much to write home about, unless your family is really starved for entertainment.

But there's drama a-brewin'; Macworld UK reports that Apple has cut the price of the Apple Keyboard and Apple Mouse, which might just herald the coming of a new dynamic duo-- and we figure we're more than due for a serious change this time around. Think Secret is reporting that a wireless Bluetooth mouse and keyboard pair may have been in the works for ages, and was actually intended to debut alongside the Power Mac G5 at last month's Stevenote. Interestingly enough, if you buy a G5 at the Apple Store, apparently your order summary will indicate that you're getting a "Keyboard Wired" and a "Wired Mouse"; we didn't have a spare coupla grand to verify that, but hey, we're the trusting type. Couple that with screenshots from non-English developer previews of Panther which show a new Bluetooth tab in the Keyboard and Mouse prefs, and the odds that Apple's next mouse might not have a tail start to look pretty darn good.

Of course, the real question on everyone's mind isn't "will they be wireless?" but rather "will the mouse finally have more than one freakin' button?" Sorry, folks, we just don't know. We've been hearing rumors of a multi-button Mac mouse coming "real soon now" for, oh, about four years running, and frankly we're almost ready to stick it in the same file with the Disney-buys-Apple rumors, reports of an Apple-branded Palm OS handheld, and the imminent release of Mac OS X for x86. Not that a multi-button mouse from Apple is implausible, mind you, but it would break one of the Mac's trademarks (for better or for worse), and if they haven't done it so far, we're not at all sure why they'd choose now to start.

Personally, we're a little ambivalent, here; we like the simplicity of the single-button mouse, and we're perfectly happy with Apple leaving more complex devices for third parties to build. But at the same time, we're also sick of the constant whining from people who seem to think the Mac won't ever be a real computer until it comes with a mouse sporting five buttons, a scrollwheel, and a removable toothpick and tweezers-- so hey, either way is just Jim-dandy with us. Heck, we're not even sure we're on board with the whole wireless idea; the wire really doesn't bother us, and if the mouse isn't physically tethered to the Mac, it's just going to be that much easier for a certain AtAT staff member to walk off with it and drop it in a toilet. But hey, it's all in the name of progress.

Looks like the push to retain and enlist .Mac members continues apace. Recently we noted Apple's kind offer to bribe existing .Mac subscribers by knocking twenty bucks off their renewal fee for every rube they managed to sign up; not long after, we also pointed out Apple giving away free games and gift certificates to renewing members, plus the extension of the "Every Mac Needs .Mac" discount promo. Well, here's another little enticement to throw on the pile: Apple has just introduced .Mac Bookmarks, a means by which your Safari bookmarks stay synchronized via iSync and remain accessible from anywhere on the 'net.

Information on the new service looks pretty scarce, even to actual .Mac members at this point, but the gist appears to be that once you've used iSync to upload your bookmarks to .Mac, you'll be able to log in to your .Mac account from any browser anywhere with a 'net connection and pop up a little surfer window containing said bookmarks. It's a deliriously simple idea, and a happy one; whether or not having access to all your bookmarks all the time makes that $99 a year look just a little bit less expensive, well, that's up to you. Personally, we consider it a nice bonus; we'll give it a whirl when we get a couple of contiguous spare seconds to rub together.

In addition, according to MacMinute, Apple has also trotted out its time-honored "free games for subscribers" move; this time it's six solitaire games from GameHouse: Klondike, Golf, Addiction, Pyramid, Turbo, and Crescent, which apparently represent 60% of GameHouse's $19.95 Solitaire Vol. 1 pack. So that's another $11.97 of value for your $99 annual fee. Sure, it's no Burning Monkey Solitaire, but it beats watching your fingernails grow. (We assume. We haven't downloaded the GameHouse stuff yet, but we have watched our fingernails grow, and the plot is thin and the character development is practically nonexistent.)

We're the first to admit that Apple's .Mac member specials aren't terribly compelling stuff and are in no way a reason to join, but we have to admit, they're a nice bonus. We get a lot of mileage out of our free .Mac copy of Alchemy Deluxe, and our hundred free iPhoto prints alone just about paid for our first year's membership. Still, if all these little bonuses still can't bring .Mac subscriptions up to its target levels, Apple's only got one more logical offering to make: iPorn. We'll be checking our iDisk regularly just in case.