So much for the scattered predictions of Big News™ in Paris. Not that we at AtAT were expecting anything earth-shattering, but we admit we were rooting for the underdog rumors of a "Kihei" (that's "iMac 2" to those of you not hip to the lingo) introduction during Steve Jobs' keynote address at the Apple Expo. While we considered it extremely unlikely that Apple would introduce such an important and stock-boosting product at an expo overseas-- especially one that wasn't even webcast or available via satellite-- we always keep a glimmer of hope alive, since Uncle Steve is so fond of surprising the fans. There was always the possibility, however small, that as Steve walked off the stage, he'd stop, turn back to the audience, and say there was "une plus de chose." (Of course, he'd probably be speaking English, unless his French is considerably less garbled than ours.)

The early reports are in, though, and the verdict from Paris is "business as usual." According to a MacWEEK article, Steve's keynote address was little more than a "localized rerun" of his hit keynotes from Macworld Expo in July and Seybold a couple of weeks ago. Not that there's anything wrong with that-- both of those stateside performances brought the house down. Steve culled some of the highlights from each show (G4 bake-offs, Sherlock II comparison shopping, temporarily-transplanted Chicagoan Jason Jones and his Traveling Halo Demo, and IBM's ViaVoice-- this time in French) and repackaged them into a new variety hour for the Paris crowd. Personally, we wouldn't mind seeing a tape of that performance. Preferably with all the voices dubbed into French. Especially if Steve's voice-over is done by a professional French Jerry Lewis impersonator. Now that's entertainment!

Now before you go away all disappointed and stuff, we should note that there was some new information made public at the Paris gig, and it's got to do with the iBook. Point number one: the pre-orders for Apple's upcoming consumer portable, hovering at 140,000 at Seybold just two weeks ago, have risen to a fairly astonishing 160,000. (Memo to John Dvorak: that's a whole lot of women and "girly-men" willing to shell out $1599 for a big makeup compact.) Point number two: the first iBooks are shipping to U.S. resellers this Wednesday. Which means, for those of you tuning in without benefit of a time-travel device, right now. Pretty cool, huh? Apparently Steve wasn't exaggerating at Seybold when he said the iBooks would ship in "a couple of weeks," so let's hope that his seemingly overconfident estimates for G4 ship dates are closer than most of us think. If iBooks start showing up on store shelves by this weekend, Apple may not totally miss the boat on back-to-school computer purchases after all...

So that's the skinny in Paris; how about an update on Mac doings in Asia? Don't forget, the World PC Expo 99 just finished up in Japan last week. We know, it's tough to shift gears, but gone are the days when Apple's impact was only visible at Mac-specific shows and conferences. These days, Apple's making waves across the whole industry, so we Apple-watchers can't just ignore everything that's not Macworld Expo or Seybold. Case in point? The iBook actually won an award at last week's World PC Expo.

And not just any award, either; according to an i@MacLand article, the iBook shared the stage with two other systems as all three were declared winners in the "Best PC" category. Admit it; that's pretty darn impressive, especially since the iBook wasn't even shipping yet at the time. Plus, it was the only one of the three winners that wasn't designed in Japan-- an important distinction given the special considerations that generally go into computer design for the Japanese market.

See, the iBook being declared "Best PC" carries extra weight since it happened in Japan-- where "extra weight" is apparently a cardinal sin. There's been a bit of concern about the iBook's potential success in the Japanese market, where smaller is always better. The most wildly successful PowerBook in Japan was the 2400, the teeny black four-pounder that was a relative flop here in the U.S., due in part to its smaller-than-ordinary keyboard. We've seen numerous complaints that, after the demise of the 2400, Apple is not addressing the needs of the Japanese laptop user, since the PowerBook G3 is too large to use while riding the Tokyo subway. There was widespread speculation that the iBook would be a subcompact like the 2400, but instead it's larger than the G3-- which we figured was the kiss of death in Japan. And now there's this award, which may indicate otherwise. Very interesting... We're anxiously awaiting the Japanese sales figures.

AtAT has long been considering the technical hurdles we'd have to clear in order to jump feet-first into the wonderful world of Smellovision™, but there really hasn't been that much reason for us to pursue it in any serious manner. That is, until now. Have you heard about the Power Mac G4's, uh, "distinctive odor"? Now that's something we'd like to be able to share with our faithful viewers, but sadly, we lack the technology to do so. In fact, we also lack the G4; we're just reading about this, ourselves. Apparently folks who are lucky enough to have one of Apple's new personal supercomputers are discovering that gigaflop performance apparently comes with a price. And a stench.

Yes, that's right; according to a Salon article, the new G4s have a tendency to, well, stink. At least temporarily. Apple even posted a Tech Info Library article about the phenomenon last month, noting that the presence of the smell is "similar to odors generated from new carpeting or a new car," and it's "not tied to any specific product." But we don't recall hearing about that "New Mac Smell" until the G4s started showing up, the first time we read about the odor was in MacInTouch's G4 review, which called special attention to the stink.

Apple claims that "in most cases the odor will dissipate over a short period of time," but the term "short" is pretty subjective. Would you want to smell, say, burning plastic for even a "short" period of time? It's only a matter of time before some enterprising individual starts selling G4 air fresheners-- little graphite-colored cardboard pine trees to hang on your brand new G4 to help cover the smell until the effect wears off. Available soon in three scents: Forest Pine, Ocean Breeze, and, for the true Apple fans out there, Eau de Steve. Order now!