New York, New York: the town so nice they named it twice. If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. So that's why, as we sit in this tiny NYC $169/night hotel room contemplating the injustice of being charged a dollar for toll-free 800 calls, your friendly AtAT staff is both puzzled and overjoyed to hear that, after only one year in the Big Apple, the summer MacWorld Expo is returning to Boston. At least, that's what MacWEEK is saying, though IDG Expo Management isn't telling why they want to head back to Beantown.

Strangely enough, the announcement of MacWorld's return comes only a day after the news that Seybold is also heading back from New York to Boston. Suddenly there's another show that AtAT might be able to attend. It's an embarrassment of riches, really. We haven't a clue as to why all these big high-tech shows are Boston-bound, given that city's lack of very-large convention halls and the ongoing traffic carnage caused by the Big Dig, which makes Death Race 2000 look like Driving Miss Daisy. But we are glad, glad, glad.

Now don't get us wrong-- we love New York. We're having a blast, here. But we miss the selfish joy of being able to go home at night and sort through Expo swag without paying eight bucks for a room service Coke. After all, there's no place like home.

Apparently, MacWorld Expo security staff are immune to the mind-bending effects of Steve Jobs' Reality Distortion Field®. Either that, or the results got somehow twisted out of Steve's favor. However you look at it, it's definitely pretty funny that the Grand Poobah of Apple reportedly couldn't get onto the show floor after delivering his keynote because he didn't have a conference badge. The whole sordid story is over at MacInTouch.

Now, over the course of our long and varied career, we've had our own past run-ins with security guards of various types and tenacities, and we can vouch for the fact that Expo guards are among the most single-minded and unyielding. After all, their only directive is, "no one gets in without a pass." Not difficult orders to follow. What we perhaps find most telling about the whole incident is that it hadn't occurred to anyone that Steve might actually need a badge to get in. Heck, he could have had our extra one; we found out just before our conference session that Expo management screwed up and had two passes waiting at the speaker's office. If we had but known...

Poor Steve... catching a red-eye flight from the West Coast to the East is unpleasant enough-- we know, we've done it-- without being hassled by rent-a-cops just after having delivered a speech that will be picked apart and scrutinized by millions of people. But hey, it all comes with the territory. If Steve's RDF® hadn't been at low ebb following the overnight flight and the keynote address, he very likely could have pulled off an Obi-Wan and said "You don't need to see my I.D.," but them's the breaks. At least Gregory Hines got to laugh his ass off over the whole thing. ;-)

Okay, if you're anything like us (and you probably are, since you tune in to AtAT) you're wondering just what the heck is up with Apple's plans for the high end of its Power Mac line. There's still nothing officially announced to replace the models that were quietly discontinued a few days ago, but a couple of the rumors sites have a little new info gleaned from various and sundry tawdry sources.

First of all, Mac the Knife addresses the short-term plans, claiming that within the next few weeks, Apple will release some speed-bumped G3's running at higher than the current high mark of 300 MHz, which we personally interpret to mean 333 MHz and 366 MHz. In addition, once the higher-speed models are available, the prices on existing systems may drop. As always, take the Knife's info with a large grain of salt; while this rumor sounds entirely likely, waiting for alleged price cuts is a great way never to buy the machine you need.

As for longer-term "pro" level plans, Mac OS Rumors doesn't yet have any new specifics about the design of the entirely-new machines, but they now claim that the introduction of whatever they are is expected next month, instead of in the November timeline. That's good news, though it'll be a lot better news if the new boxes come with six slots. Apple claimed they listen to their customer feedback as they pointed out the iMac's 56K modem; will they listen to the creative professionals begging for more slots?