Value-conscious, cash-strapped, and obsessively pennypinching Mac fans rejoice! According to Apple's latest press release, that long-predicted eMac revision finally touched down yesterday, incorporating a slew of updated technologies to keep the line up to speed. Apple's budget desktop now packs faster processors, faster optical drives, a faster graphics subsystem (the ATI Radeon 7500), bigger hard drives, and support for Airport Extreme.

Interestingly enough, MacNN also reports that the updated eMac also comes with a new keyboard and mouse. Don't get too excited about the mouse, though; it's not the wireless Bluetooth model with five buttons, two scroll wheels, and an integrated coffee grinder that some rumor junkies are expecting "real soon now.". As far as we can tell from the images Apple posted, the eMac comes with a new No-Longer-Pro Mouse which looks pretty much the same, minus the click sensitivity setting. In other words, this looks like cost-cutting at work, and we won't be terribly surprised if we eventually hear that the new keyboard lacks something, too. (Like, say, the letter "Q." C'mon, how often do you use that letter anyway?)

Personally, we always considered the eMac to be sort of the neglected stepchild of the Mac family; originally intended purely for the education market, it's the fifth wheel that doesn't fit nicely into Apple's four-square product grid. It was never originally designed for consumer use and has a bulky institutional feel about it that lacks a certain... warmth. To us it always looks a little like something you'd find in the Kitchen Appliances department at Sears. Plus, it's Apple's last remaining product that still uses a CRT display, so it's got a faint whiff of obsolescence clinging to it even fresh out of the box.

That said, there's no arguing with the bottom line: the fact that you can run right out and pick up a complete Mac system with an 800 MHz G4, a 17-inch display , and a respectable bundle of software for a mere eight hundred bucks makes us giddy. And the notion that $1299 can now score a 1 GHz system complete with SuperDrive, well, let's just say that we're so darn grateful to have lived long enough to see this. (snif)

The Software Update addicts must be giggling themselves into a stupor right now, what with Mac OS X 10.2.6 now available from out of the blue. Grab it and go to town for improved printing with OpenType fonts, better compatibility with Maya and Unreal Tournament 2003, support for the Sony Ericsson T610 phone, and a fix for an Asian language scripts bug. (For what it's worth, MacFixit recommends downloading and applying the Combo Updater even if you're already running 10.2.5; whether or not you actually want to do that probably depends largely on whether you've got the bandwidth to download an extra 80 MB of stuff.)

"Hold the phone, there, Jim-Bob," you reply, "didn't 10.2.5 just come out, like, twelve minutes ago?" Why, yes indeedy-do it did, folks-- but there's one more thing that 10.2.6 does that we neglected to mention before: it "addresses an issue for Mac OS X 10.2.5 in which a kernel panic message may appear if certain USB hubs or devices are connected." In other words, it fixes whatever 10.2.5 broke that made Mac OS X crash more often than a narcoleptic with ADD watching C-SPAN.

We can't say for certain whether we happen to own any of the "certain" problematic USB devices that trigger the crashes, but we can tell you that soon after updating to 10.2.5, we got to see our first ever Jaguar kernel panic since 10.2 originally shipped last August. And we gotta say, it brought back memories! Being forced to restart without having installed a system software update first? Having to press a button on the Mac to do it? Losing work in unsaved documents? Sitting around waiting through an unusually lengthy restart process? Why, the wave of nostalgia that washed over us was almost enough to make us boot back into Mac OS 9 and run a slew of late-nineties Microsoft products just to watch the System Errors stack up. Ah, the good old days...

Now, a switch back to Mac OS 9 at this point would seriously impair our productivity (which, as you're all well aware, ain't all that great to begin with), so we won't be doing that, but just the same, we're a little hesitant to install 10.2.6 and give up the heady thrill of random potential kernel panics. But who knows; maybe we'll get lucky and 10.2.7 will ship later this afternoon to "address an issue for Mac OS X 10.2.6 in which a kernel panic message may occur when the user looks at the screen funny."

Following our return after an (ahem) "extended absence," several viewers have written in to request updates on multiple classic AtAT plot lines which we haven't had a chance to address in a while. Hey, who are we to say no? Read on and get all caught up.

• Redmond Justice: Still sputtering along after all these years. (Does anyone remember when it was supposed to be a quick process?) Applelinks has a quick update on Massachusetts and West Virginia, the last two states still trying to stick proven antitrust violator Microsoft with a remedy that actually, well, remedies something. Right now they're trying to get an Appeals Court to overrule Judge Kollar-Kotelly's ruling that the settlement agreement was "in the public interest." Can we just say, as Massachusetts residents, how gosh-darned proud we are to be spending tax dollars on trying to make Bill squirm? Don't worry, this case isn't going away anytime soon: oral arguments in this latest appeal aren't even scheduled to start until November. Yeesh.

• Microsoft's Shameless Claims of "Innovation": Still happening, still sickening. For example, faithful viewer Lee Dronick pointed out an Associated Press article in which Billy-Boy is shown standing in front of a new PC prototype code-named "Athena." "He won't spend much time detailing its processor speed, memory or other hardware and software minutiae, says the author. "The demonstration will focus on usability and user friendliness-- something that has often escaped the computer industry." How is this PC any different, you ask? Microsoft and HP codeveloped its hardware and software together, to create what a certain other tech bigwig has occasionally referred to as "the whole widget." Gee, where do you suppose Bill got that idea? And that desktop picture on that widescreen display sure looks familiar somehow, too...

• Michael Dell's Psychotic Obsession With Steve Jobs: Still raging after all these years. Faithful viewer EMan was the first to note an article in The Inquirer about Dell's latest copycat move: Dell Computer Corporation is looking to change its name simply to "Dell Inc." Mac fans will be immediately reminded of when Apple Computer Inc. decided to start going by the moniker "Apple" a few years back. The poor guy really needs to get some help. Meanwhile, The Register's coverage of the proposed name change contains this little gem: "Michael Dell is this generation's Ragged Dick." We agree-- but probably not the way they mean.

So there you have it: you are now officially "well-informed." Kinda makes you feel all sunny inside, doesn't it?