Well, the news (apparently) finally came today, and if it's true, we at AtAT consider it a blow to Apple, as well as to the Macintosh world at large. Steve Jobs has announced that he will not become Apple's permanent CEO, according to a Reuters story, which quotes a Pixar executive.

Jobs reportedly broke the news to analysts in a conference call on Monday afternoon. He will continue in his role of "interim CEO" until a permanent replacement is found by the end of the year. He expects to return to Pixar full-time by early 1998. On the plus side, he'll apparently remain on Apple's recently-overhauled board of directors, from which lofty perch he could theoretically pull the strings of whichever poor shmoe Apple cons into taking the CEO gig.

Frankly, we're a little surprised at Steve; we really thought he'd rise to the challenge. ThessaSOURCE and MacWEEK still cling to the hope that the stories are false, reporting that Apple spokeswoman Katie Cotton is saying that Steve still hasn't said one way or the other. Free brownie points to those who get the reference when we ask, Hey Steve, are you going to spend your life selling sugary movies, or are you going to change the world?

But if you already turned it down, you disappoint us, Bubelah.

It became clear today that yesterday's settlement between Digital and Intel may drastically affect the future of the Newton line. Why? Because Intel just bought all of Digital's chipmaking facilities, and Digital doesn't just make the Alpha, which is used in high-end desktop systems and servers-- they also make the StrongARM processor that is the heart of the MessagePad 2000 and 2100, and was likely to be the processor for newer eMate systems. News.com has a story which reveals this, though it's main focus is on the dubious future of the Alpha.

This fact leaves a couple of avenues open for Apple. They could look for another low-power chip that would be suitable for Newton computers (perhaps whatever's powering some of those goofy little Windows CE devices?), or they could continue to use the StrongARM, purchased from Digital/Intel, for as long as it's available (an analyst in the news.com story says that it's likely that Intel will terminate StrongARM).

So an eMate may be the first Apple computer to use an Intel chip. Who saw that one coming?

To keep tonight's episode from being a total downer, check out this nifty San Francisco Chronicle article about "wearable web accessories." This all seems to be the natural extension of this MIT guy around here who has spent the last several years broadcasting his life to his web page. (Sorry, we don't have the URL.) He walked around all day wearing enough cybergear to stun an ox, and the digital camera in his helmet recorded images of everything he did and uploaded them via a wireless net connection to his web site. It was always a kick to see him poking around in Microcenter.

Have you read Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson? Remember the Gargoyles, who wore computer gear all over their bodies to be wired at all times? You aren't a real geek unless those Ray Bans are pulling in HotWired, buddy.