Longtime fans of this show are already well aware of our estimation of Dr. Hanoch Shalit, the one-man-band known corporately as Imatec, Ltd. The company has no revenue, no products, and makes its $1.1 billion lawsuit against Apple Computer the focus of its web site. Shalit also issues press releases every time Steve Jobs clears his throat, just to keep news of the lawsuit in the public eye, in hopes of extorting a settlement from Apple. Come on, a $1.1 billion lawsuit (with $3.3 billion at stake) over ColorSync? It's a grab for cash, plain and simple-- Shalit's hoping that Apple will throw him a few million just to avoid the potential to lose $3 billion. When the Powers That Be were handing out subtlety, we can only assume that Shalit was too busy scamming another multi-billion-dollar company and missed hearing his name called.

But this time Shalit's sunk even lower. Not content with just looking like a corporate extortion racketeer, Shalit's decided to expand his horizons and step into the role of common street-thug shakedown artist. Faithful viewer Edward Liu notes a special report over at MacInTouch, which includes a letter from Shalit to a user of ColorSync, threatening legal action. Yes, that's right; Imatec's going after the end-users of a product he's already sent into patent dispute. Quoth the inimitable Dr. Shalit: "If Apple loses this lawsuit and pays damages to Imatec for its infringement, such payment by Apple would not release you from the payment of damages arising from infringement by you and would not prevent an injunction against your use of the Shalit patents." Quick! Do you have ColorSync installed on your Mac? If so, send Dr. Shalit a twenty and maybe he won't sue you! Have you ever used ColorSync in the past? That'll run you ten bucks-- or else he'll sue. You say you once heard Steve Jobs talking about ColorSync in a keynote address? Five bucks, please, or you'll be hearing from Shalit's lawyer.

The bottom line is this: it would be funny if it weren't so desperately sad. Furthermore, did you notice that in Dr. Shalit's letter he notes that Imatec "expects it may obtain damages in excess of 60 million dollars"? Gee, whatever happened to the $1.1 billion? Looks like reality's setting in over at Imatec headquarters-- if they only expect to collect a measly five percent of their originally proposed damages, no wonder Shalit's going after the end-users; he needs a new revenue stream. Perhaps he can find a way to sue someone with even deeper pockets? Given the degree to which Microsoft is prone to "borrowing" intellectual property, we're sure Shalit's got a patent somewhere with which he can sue Bill Gates. C'mon, Hanoch, Apple's just small potatoes in the money game; go hit up Big Bad Bill for a change.

The latest scandal in the world of Apple continues to rage-- but since it's raging on the other side of the ocean, we yanks are somewhat shielded from its heat. Still, even with the buffer zone of the Mighty Atlantic, "ExpoScam" is raising whispers and sidelong glances here in the U.S., while in England it's given rise to howls of fury and more expletives than the director's cut of the South Park movie. If you've been paying attention, you know the drill: First Apple pulled out of Apple Expo '98 when the planners tried to make the show cross-platform. Then they canceled the 1999 show, promising that Apple Expo 2000 would be huge. Then they decided that Apple Expo 2000 isn't worth showing up for after all, leaving a slew of exhibitors holding the bag yet again.

While until now we'd never heard official Apple word that they'd be skipping the Apple Expo again, it appears that the rumors were true: a Macworld UK article reports that "Apple UK... confirmed that it will not maintain even a token presence at the Mac show." Not a single poster, not a stack of brochures, not even an autographed picture of Steve Jobs mounted to a dart board. That's a pretty serious setback to a Mac show with a full-fledged Steve Jobs keynote originally on the agenda. So it looks like another Apple Expo sans Apple, and the organizers of the show scheduled an emergency meeting with all the exhibitors to try to determine whether or not they should just scrap the whole conference altogether.

Ironically enough, though, that emergency meeting was postponed, because "very few people" were able to attend. Yikes, is there an outbreak of Appleitis in the U.K.? The exhibitors can't be bothered to show up to a meeting to discuss what to do now that Apple can't be bothered to show up. We strongly suspect that this mysterious no-show disease is viral in nature and spreading rapidly. There's probably a seminar on the phenomenon down at the local clinic, but to be honest, we just really don't feel like going.