OpenGL-- it's the delicious 3D treat that developers love! Basically, it's a set of programming calls that makes writing 3D software fun and exciting (or, at least, less soul-sucking and depressing). Personally, we at AtAT have been waiting for Apple to step up to the plate and announce support for OpenGL ever since rumors were swirling about the imminent death of QuickDraw 3D (Apple's own set of 3D APIs) way back in October of 1997. And it was nearly a year ago that we heard whispers of meetings between Apple and SGI to discuss OpenGL support for the Mac platform. Then, at last January's Macworld Expo, Steve Jobs announced that Apple had finally licensed OpenGL, and that developers would be able to download beta development libraries from Apple's web site before February. But February came and went, as did March, with still no sign of OpenGL at the Apple site (short of a bunch of marketingspeak). Those who attended mid-March's Game Developers Conference could get the software on CD-ROM at Apple's booth, but others were out of luck.

But those who questioned Apple's commitment to OpenGL can relax a little, now. It's a couple of months late, but they've finally posted beta versions of OpenGL for Macintosh to their web site, which lets developers write software that will take advantage of hardware acceleration via the RAGE-based graphics in all shipping Macs. In addition, there's now a Mac-OpenGL Mailing List, for developers who want to discuss the use of the libraries with others in the same boat. Add that to the fact that every Mac being made has at least a RAGE Pro accelerator built in, and the future of 3D on the Mac looks pretty bright.

Which means, of course, more games. Oh, sure, you can use OpenGL to write any kind of software that involves 3D rendering, such as CAD applications, modelling software, and stuff like that... but we're expecting the biggest splash to be made by games that bring flying severed limbs to a new level of 3D realism. It's called progress, people-- get with the program.

Ah, Spring Break-- we can still remember those halcyon days in college when we'd spend a week in some sunny clime, lounging on the beach and letting all of our cares wash away with the tide. Of course, we only remember that because we've seen too many cheesy teen beach movies and we're increasingly losing the ability to distinguish between memories of fiction and what really happened. Our real Spring Breaks were generally spent on campus, working on late term papers, putting in more hours in the lab, trying to catch up on two months' worth of lost sleep, and-- you guessed it-- watching cheesy teen beach movies on TV. Call it Spring Break by proxy.

That's not to say that we MIT students didn't know how to get crazy and have fun, nosirree. Our only regret is that the recent JELL-O® iMac contest was held several years too late for us to have participated. Screw prancing around on some polluted beach and absorbing cancer-inducing rays; the real Spring Break fun comes from building computers out of gelatinous foodstuffs. We told you about this contest before, but now Apple's posted their own page on the event, and it includes lots of cool pictures of the winners and runners-up. The level of detail in some of the entries is impressive, given the medium... some included the distinctive iMac handle, one displayed an ichthyologically-themed screen saver (Gummi fish!), and one had an impressively realistic Bondi mouse and keyboard-- including a JELL-O mousepad.

Of course, the really impressive thing is that one of the entries displayed a formidable degree of structural integrity. Meaning, it was dropped out of a third-story window without splattering; it actually bounced. Honestly, what could be a more fun way to spend Spring Break than building an iMac out of JELL-O and then heaving it out of a window? It beats beach volleyball any day of the week.

The thing we absolutely love about Apple's Tech Info Library is that, when you're bored, you can find some pretty entertainingly goofy stuff. For instance, it's a real hoot to dig through the April update of the official Apple trademark list and see the sheer number of trademarks still held by the mothership. For one thing, they claim trademarks for just about every word in the English language with the word "Apple" prepended to it, including AppleFund™ and AppleOrder™. For another, it's nice to see that the DogCow and "Moof" are registered. And how cool is it that Apple lists "New York" as a registered trademark? No wonder the Macworld Expo moved from Boston to the Javits Center-- they're probably getting license fees from the Big Apple for the use of the name.

But you can also dig around and find some hints as to what's going on inside your Mac and what makes it tick. Take, for example, the recent technote explaining the "hissing noise" that emanates from the back of the iMac when it's plugged in but not turned on; when you unplug it from the wall, the hissing stops after about ten seconds, but resumes once you plug the power cord back in. Kinda silly, right? And Apple explains the phenomenon by claiming that the hissing is "normal" and caused by "a transformer in the computer's power supply." Of course, they couldn't reveal the real reason for the hissing: the iMac is the world's first computer running on alien air-pressure technology. When a normal power cord is plugged from a standard electrical outlet into the back of an iMac, electrical current is transformed into air; air pressure building inside the iMac powers the system via tiny alien nanobots who thrive on PSI. You heard it here first-- the iMac is the world's first inflated computer. ("Huh? But I thought...")

So now you know: the hissing is caused by excess air leaking out when the iMac is plugged in and not being used; that air's got to go somewhere. Unplug the iMac and the pressure normalizes after a few seconds, and the hissing stops. And by the way, if you thought those giant inflatable iMac balloons were just marketing props, think again-- they're actual working iMac prototypes, before the miniaturization engineers were turned loose on the design; Apple's marketing gurus figured that most households wouldn't want a computer that didn't fit in their living room. Electrical current and transformers? Not in this lifetime, Billy! Just good old American know-how, and secret alien technology!