Okay, folks, time to choose sides in the semiannual Pre-Expo Rumor Dogpile! There's only one day remaining until Steve takes the stage and settles all the conjecture once and for all, and this time around, the greatest controversy centers around just what will be chugging away on the motherboard of Apple's latest and greatest Power Macs. For weeks we had been hearing that the best Apple could muster was a dual-processor G4 system running at 600 MHz-- and that even that might be too much to expect from Motorola, whose teeny yields of the 600 MHz chips might force Apple to adopt a far more embarrassing upgrade to 533 MHz instead. Last week, however, CNET/ZDNet (they're pretty much the same thing, now, thanks to the magical pixie dust of the Merger Fairy) broke the news that Apple's high-end Power Mac would instead be a single-processor model running a G4 at the far more impressive speed of 733 MHz. Whom to believe?

It gets better, of course. Partially in reaction to the reports of a Power Mac G4/733, outlets of insider information such as Mac OS Rumors and AppleInsider moved to contradict any possibility of a G4 running at such high speeds so early, reaffirming the "dual 600 MHz processors / 100 MHz system bus" scenario instead. But that didn't stop CNN Headline News from reporting the G4/733 as cold, hard fact yesterday, as spotted by faithful viewer Robert Ortenzi (and independently confirmed by faithful viewer William Dawson). That changes everything, of course; while we were skeptical of the 733 MHz rumor when it was just posted to the 'net, we're considering it in a whole different light now that it's actually been on TV. Because, after all, when has TV ever lied to us?

But for those of you poor, misguided souls who lack a spiritual relationship with your televisions and fail to regard them as windows to the One Great Truth, there's still more "evidence" (cough) of a 733 MHz Power Mac G4 floating around the 'net today. In particular, we were intrigued by the latest report over at MacEdition, which claims that, yes indeedy, a single-processor 733 MHz G4 unit complete with 133 MHz system bus really is in the cards-- and that dual-processor Macs running at 533 MHz will also be available. Beyond the processor issue, MacEdition further claims that the new Power Macs will boast an extra full-length PCI slot (bringing the total up to a slightly-more-respectable four), optional DVD-R or CD-RW drives, and a choice of graphics hardware: ATI Rage 128 Pro, ATI RADEON, or nVIDIA GeForce2 MX. (On a related note, isn't it remarkable how quickly the human mouth can fill with saliva?)

So here's our official stance: we're trying really hard not to expect anything more than a dual-processor Power Mac G4/600 tomorrow. In general, we've found it's better to be pessimistic and then possibly pleasantly surprised rather than hopeful, which invites the icky prospect of having our expectations dashed against the rocks; after all, there's little in this life more depressing than being let down during Expo Week. But we admit that the recent 733 MHz hysteria is getting to us. Hopefully we can retain our skepticism (yes, even in light of the CNN report) for another twenty-four hours or so.

Regardless of how the whole G4 megahertz issue shakes out, there's one thing that's almost 100% certain to grace His Steveness's keynote address tomorrow: news of upgrades to iTools, Apple's suite of Internet goodies that was first unveiled at the San Francisco Macworld Expo last year. You may recall that at the time, Steve referred to the quartet of Mac.com email, KidSafe, HomePage, and iDisk as "the first four iTools," clearly implying that more were on the way. We have no idea whether or not Apple's going to introduce any new iTools tomorrow, but we are pretty sure that, at the very least, Steve will tell us about some improvements to the existing iDisk component.

How can we be so sure, you ask? Well, for one thing, there are the omens. A two-headed black Dogcow calf was born in Cupertino under the last full moon. A blood-red owl stole our Magic 8-Ball and returned it three nights later with a series of arcane runes scratched into its base. And to our trained eyes, our tea leaves and soy-based mock goat entrails are unquestionably foretelling some sort of extension to the iDisk's intended purpose. Of course, if you're incurably skeptical or less skilled than us in the mystical art of divination, you can always fall back on the little fact that several iTools members (such as faithful viewer David Marcantonio) have already noticed changes to their iDisks, well in advance of the impending Stevenote. (We'd consider that cheating, of course, and so would that psychic Jamaican lady on TV.)

Nonetheless, the truth is out; some (but not all) iDisks were modified over the course of the past few days, and now include several new folders that most decidedly were not placed there by the iDisks' registered owners. X Appeal.org has a screenshot of the mysterious new visitors: a "Software" folder at the root level of the iDisk itself, and two folders within: "Apple Software" and "Mac OS X Software." Yes, kiddies, Apple appears to be taking the next step forward in the realm of software distribution: seamless delivery from within the Mac Finder itself. Once your iDisk is updated with this latest modification, you'll be able to download any number of Apple and third-party software packages without even needing to fire up a web browser. Nifty, hmmmm?

So far, viewers report that the Mac OS X Software folder pretty much echos Apple's Mac OS X Downloads page, so don't expect to find anything exclusive on your iDisk-- this is essentially just an alternate distribution method. But it shows that Apple's putting some thought into the further integration of Internet connectivity right into the Mac experience, and that's what we'd classify as a Good Thing. Now all Apple needs to do is figure out a way to let us download a pizza via Mac OS X and we'll be happy.

On the subject of "killer apps," we don't doubt for a second that if Mac OS X shipped with iPizza software that actually allowed users to configure, pay for, and receive a large pepperoni with extra cheese in real time, the operating system market share numbers would look a whole lot different six months from now. Sadly, our latest reports from moles in Apple's Top Secret Hush-Hush Projects department indicate that the company is no closer to successful pizza-beaming teleportation technology than it was six months ago (apparently the sauce still turns into petroleum jelly upon arrival), and so Apple's going to have to rely on some other sort of super-cool Mac-only software application to drive the Mac OS X hypemobile.

So with iPizza still deeply in development, it's unclear what Apple will ship as the followup to its immensely successful iMovie product. No less an authority than Steve Jobs himself was forced to leak a little info about Apple's future "killer apps" during that last earnings warning, at which he hinted at two "iMovie-like" applications coming from Apple sometime in the first half of this year. We've all heard the predictions that one will be iMusic, software that would make the Mac the platform of choice among regular people who want to create their own audio CDs. Following Apple's acquisition of Astarte's DVD-authoring tools, there's been a lot of speculation that the other one will be some sort of package that will let users take their iMovies and burn them onto their own DVDs. Frankly, we don't have any evidence one way or the other.

One thing's for sure, though-- Steve and his minions aren't planning to rely solely on good looks and elegant design to woo Windows users over to Mac OS X. Sure, Aqua's nice, but it's going to take more than pretty widgets and the Genie effect to get the Wintel hordes to switch to a Mac when it comes time to replace their existing hardware. As a Wall Street Journal article reports, Apple needs more "killer apps" to draw the crowds-- and that's exactly what the company plans to deliver. Of particular note is the fact that Steve himself has reportedly referred to one of those upcoming applications as "on a par with iMovie" and the other as-- and we quote-- "the greatest thing that Apple has ever done."

Digest that for a second. The greatest thing ever? That's one tall order. Of course, Steve's comment is likely colored by his typical bubbling enthusiasm, but still, the man is clearly even more excited than normal about whatever this mystery application might be. We don't know about you, but we're keeping our fingers crossed that there's been a recent breakthrough and Uncle Steve is preparing an imminent release of iPizza after all...