By now all you AtAT regulars are aware of Steve Jobs' affinity for the eMate 300, Apple's Newton-based laptop/PDA hybrid. And with good reason-- have you tried one of these things? They are really, really cool-- lighter than a standard laptop, with tons of battery life, and rugged as all get-out; since they're engineered for the K-12 market, they can sustain a four-foot drop onto concrete. As a former frequent traveler, Yours Truly can attest to how important that feature is.

And while we happen to like the translucent green case (although the neon orange and purple prototypes were even better), the eMate's looks and limitations leave many "adults" wishing for a version more appropriate for business. Not to fear-- the "bMate" is coming, with advanced features rumored to include a faster processor and a color screen. Unfortunately, MacOS Rumors is saying that version won't be surfacing until next summer. So for those of you who can't wait that long (and have the fashion sense to realize that a jade-green case is an asset instead of a liability), you can buy one from the Apple Store for $799. You may want to wait a couple of days, though, since MacNN is predicting a price drop shortly.

Incidentally, in light of long-standing reports that Steve hates the MessagePad and wants it axed, we at AtAT found it interesting that in his November 10th announcement, he referred to the MessagePad as "hot" and "the fastest PDA available." Hopefully this means it won't get "Steved" after all.

Meanwhile, MacSpectre has posted a very nice overview of the Apple Store and the guts that power it-- Apple's (and formerly NeXT's) WebObjects. WebObjects formed the framework for the first and best-known online build-to-order store: that of buddy-buddies Dell. Yes, NeXT built Dell's site before Apple bought NeXT. But those NeXT employees now work for Apple, and they've improved upon their original design in Apple's new online offering.

MacSpectre's article provides a valuable behind-the-scenes look at WebObjects, which has the potential to revolutionize the way web applications are created. It's essentially the web version of Rhapsody's highly-touted object-oriented development environment, and it's used to create HTML on the fly, based on user input. Once Rhapsody ships, we may start seeing WebObjects-powered sites popping up like mushrooms all over the net.

Aaaaand speaking of overviews, you know it's a slow news day when so many articles on the history or Steve Jobs and Apple start to surface. One of our favorites is this one from Computer Reseller News, which provides a nice recap of the legend of Jobs and Woz in the garage, hacking together the Apple I. And it uses our favorite word, "mercurial," which we have never, ever seen used to describe anything or anyone other than Steve Jobs-- yet we've rarely seen an article about Jobs that doesn't use the word at least once.

All of the best bits are included: how Jobs sold his Volkswagen for startup capital, the 700% annual growth rate, the bitter fallout with Sculley, and an in-depth look at the Reality Distortion Field®. It probably doesn't say much you haven't heard elsewhere, but in any case, it makes good weekend reading-- while the folks in Cupertino are plotting ways to shock us all next week.