When techno-historians look back fifty years from now, the saga of Apple's going to make one heck of a bedtime story; c'mon, it's already a rollicking good ride, and there's lots more yet to be written. But we've got a feeling that one of the things for which this current Apple-- the late '90s resurgent Apple-- will be best remembered will be hype. In our collective opinion, Steve Jobs is probably the best and most masterful showman since Barnum, and while Apple's cranking out some really terrific products, they wouldn't be selling nearly so well without Mr. Jobs' Fabulous Hype Machine backing them up.

Take the quintessential example, the iMac. Unveiled as a total surprise to just about everybody, the iMac sent half the Macintosh faithful into paroxysms of ecstasy while the other half hmmm'd about the same "drawbacks" that had plenty of pundits predicting the little blue guy's spectacular and utter failure. But Jobs harnessed the momentum and the leverage of the enthusiastic half to make the iMac Apple's most successful product introduction ever-- despite the lack of a floppy drive, legacy ports and slots, and darn near any existing peripherals that could actually connect to the thing. Neat trick!

So now what everyone's waiting to find out is, will Apple be able to top itself with the iBook? We won't know for sure until the thing actually ships, but early signs indicate that Apple's poised for greatness. The massive amount of media attention is sparking tremendous interest in the iBook; positive coverage in both the computer-centric and the mainstream media constitute a ton of free advertising, and even the negative reviews are kicking up controversy that will sell more units. (Remember, there's no such thing as bad press-- so thanks, John Dvorak, for helping to keep the iBook in the public eye. According to Apple Insider, pre-orders for the iBook are skyrocketing, with CompUSA (who recently announced a "de-emphasis" on computers) reserving 50,000 of them. And now that over 800 Sears stores constitute another place for consumers to buy, the iBook just might turn out to be a stellar sales success.

You know us-- whenever a new rumor pops up about this mysterious relationship between Apple and Palm, we're all over that action like ants on a lollipop. While Palm has obviously done a lot right in crafting its handheld organizers, we can't help but wonder about what innovations Apple could add if given a chance-- and we're not just talking about translucent plastics and candy colors. Specifically we've been hoping for real handwriting recognition and possibly some of the finer elements of the Newton OS to find their way into an Apple-branded Palm, though we're not exactly confident about the odds. Especially now that Mac OS Rumors is claiming that the focal innovation in Apple's top-secret Palm project starts with an "a," ends with a "t," and has an "irpor" in the middle...

Yup, the latest rumor is that the development effort of Apple's co-branded Palm device has been stepped up into high gear now that other products like the new "Kihei" iMac are just about complete, and the chewy chocolatey center at the heart of the product is none other than Airport wireless networking. Okay, so it's not exactly the Palm VII in terms of range, but there's something kinda neat about the idea of having your ApplePalm constantly connected to your desktop Macs (not to mention the Internet) as long as you're within 150 feet of your home or office Base Station. For instance, you could wirelessly HotSync as you nuke some leftovers or check your email while on the exercise bike. Or, uh, in the bathroom. (The true geek dream.)

Airport is probably the most buzzworthy technology to come out of Apple in a long, long time, and Real Men™ and Real Women™ alike are probably going to buy a ton of iBooks whether or not they're "girly" because of the sheer coolness factor of being able surf the net anywhere in the house. And if the chubby 6.7-pound iBook is "portable," what does that make a Palm? So there's every chance that the addition of Airport will turn Apple's handheld into a gotta-have item. Granted, we're not fully sure whether an 11 Mbps wireless connection to one's Palm device really offers all that much functionality right now-- web-browsing on a Palm is just a leetle bit cramped, for instance-- but with the technology in place, cool applications will surely follow. At least, we hope...