Remember when the iPod's popularity was just taking off and we Apple obsessives were all abuzz with the whispers from the rumor mill about what other "digital lifestyle" hardware Steve might one day spring on us? Yeah, we don't hear nearly so much of that these days. And who can blame anyone for losing interest? The iPod's been out for over three years and the only thing close to another Digital Spoke to plug into the Digital Hub was the iSight-- and nice though it may be, pardon our utter lack of surprise at its failure to set the world on fire the way the iPod did and continues to do all these years later. Indeed, the iPod is still so hot, why bother thinking about the Next Big Thing? Nothing's likelier to be bigger than the iPod (metaphorically speaking, of course-- brick, anyone?) for ages, yet.

But apparently it's time to start thinking about new digital lifestyle devices again, because three days ago we started hearing talk that Apple was planning the release of several new hardware products at Macworld Expo in January-- and reportedly not all of them will be Macs. So what'll Steve be showing us in seven weeks' time? The Apple set-top box we've been hearing about since 1998, updated for the TiVo Age? The resurrection of the QuickTake digital camera line? The rebirth of the Newton as the world's smartest mobile phone? What?

The answer's almost certainly "none of the above," of course, but sadly, we lack the imagination necessary to come up with a so-called digital lifestyle device that has even the faintest shot at making a splash as big as the iPod's. But then again, maybe Apple lacks it too; faithful viewer mrmgraphics tipped us off to a new report at AppleInsider which describes an Apple product in late development that's code-named "Asteroid." This is apparently a FireWire-based musician's breakout box intended for use with an upcoming version of GarageBand, and it reportedly boasts dual XLR/TRS audio inputs for microphones and guitars, dual RCA outputs, a single headphone jack, and a phantom power switch. (Strangely, vanilla MIDI inputs and outputs aren't listed in the reported specs, which we'd assume to be a natural inclusion, but hey, whatever.)

Don't know what half that stuff is? Then odds are, you don't need it. Asteroid is a bridge between a musician's instruments and a Mac running GarageBand, presumably a really nice one with really low latency and superb sound. Most likely it's targeted at musical dilettantes such as ourselves, people fed up with their existing consumer-grade audio inputs but not serious enough to have blown the cash on a more professional gadget that makes GarageBand sound a little less like it's recording in an actual garage. This guess stems from the way we're personally drooling at the prospect of ditching our subpar iMic and plugging our guitar and microphone into a sleek Apple-engineered audio interface with full FireWire bandwidth. At "$129 - $149," we could actually see buying one-- as opposed to, say, M-Audio's FireWire 410, which does a lot more, but for a lot more cash.

As a product targeted at Mac-owning, maybe-slightly-more-serious-than-just-dabbling musicians, Asteroid won't make nearly as many waves as the iPod, and obviously Apple knows that; indeed, it's projecting just $3 million in bottom-line revenue per quarter from Asteroid sales, whereas the iPod's slated to bring in over a thousand times that much moolah this quarter. Just like the iSight, this is a specialized piece of hardware targeted at the company's existing Mac customers with a particular and semi-esoteric need, and there's nothing wrong with that-- but we can't help wondering whether Apple can ever come up with a gadget that can eclipse even the iPod in the "I'm a regular Joe Shmoe and I will gladly sell my grandmother into slavery for one of those" department. Dare to dream.

Wait, Thanksgiving is this Thursday? Oh, for cryin' out Pete's sake; every year we say we're going to start Christmas shopping early, and every freakin' year we buy exactly one present for someone on our list in September and then suddenly we're looking down the barrel of Turkey Day and time's running out faster than calamine lotion at a meeting of the Poison Sumac Textural Appreciation Society. We've barely started even thinking about what to get for people, let alone gone out and gotten it. Perhaps this'll be the year that we finally chuck all that "personal gift full of thought and caring" nonsense and just get everyone Chia Homers.

If only we were loaded; iPods for everyone! We could wipe out our whole shopping list in a single trip to our local Apple retail store and someone would probably even wheel all the stuff to the AtATmobile for us. And if we had the financial wherewithal to pull off such a stunt, apparently the day on which we should do it is rapidly approaching; faithful viewer Allen Sibley reminded us that we received some perplexingly coy email from Apple (which has since mostly turned into its own happy page at Apple.com) insisting that "those stockings won't fill themselves" and hinting strongly that this Friday-- the day after Thanksgiving, also known as Tryptophan and Carbohydrate Coma Day-- will be the "perfect day" on which to load up on shiny white and brushed aluminum goodies destined for those vacant spots under the tree.

Why this Friday? Well, that's the thing; Apple never actually says, which is, to be perfectly honest, a little annoying. There's just a little wink in the statement "you'll see why it's the perfect day to find the perfect gift at a perfect price." In other words, if you bother to show up, you won't be sorry-- or so Apple claims. For all we know, they'll be giving away handfuls of trail mix with every purchase, which would be nice and all, but probably not worth dragging your suddenly-much-heavier kiester down to the mall on one of the craziest shopping days of the year. Here's hoping that whatever Apple's planning, it's got a little more pizzazz than healthy snacks at checkout. (If nothing else, the store promises price matching on Apple products "up to 10 percent off the current Apple Store regular price," so that's something, anyway.)

If history is any indication, you might do well to remember that last year on the day after Thanksgiving, Apple knocked 10 percent off the prices of any and all music-related products at its retail stores. Whether the same deal will repeat remains to be seen, but at least this time around Apple has alerted the post-Thanksgiving sloths like us that if we're even marginally semiconscious on Friday, even if we can't physically drag our near-carcasses to an Apple retail store, the online Apple Store will apparently be offering some kind of deal as well. Personally, we're not planning on being alert enough to operate a web browser until Sunday at the earliest, but it's the thought that counts.

Indeed, we should take this opportunity to remind you all that just because we don't eat turkey doesn't mean we'll be any less comatose on Friday; even without the benefit of an UnTurkey, it's actually pretty easy to lapse into an impenetrable digestive stupor following the ingestion of ridiculous quantities of mashed potatoes, stuffing, and pie alone. So no, barring a medical miracle, we won't be holiday shopping at Apple on Friday, nor will we producing new episodes of AtAT until Monday when we expect to be conscious again. So assuming that you're one of those freaks who doesn't eat him- or herself into oblivion on Thanksgiving and is actually both ambulatory and lucid the next day, since you won't have the possibility of a sweet AtAT fix keeping you at home, feel free to check out Apple's "Perfect Day" up close and personal-- and let us know how it all works out.

Now if you'll excuse us, we have to prepare the Hibernation Chamber. Where the heck did we put all that insulin?...

Not to bum you out or anything, especially with Thanksgiving just a couple of days away here in the U.S., and we certainly aren't going to tell you that you shouldn't be thankful for iPods, G5s, and today's exclusive iTunes Music Store digital release of both U2's new album How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and the 400+ song collection The Complete U2-- but one of the things you should probably also be thankful for is that you aren't one of the 1.8 million refugees trying to survive in the Darfur region of Western Sudan after their villages were burned to the ground. We know, we know-- big downer at holiday time. So sue us. We just figure you can spare a couple of minutes away from Happy Thoughts to reflect on the lives of the far less fortunate.

Better yet, why not turn some coin into karma and help out a little? Faithful viewer Dave Ahl, the co-owner and -operator of a grassroots music and film production company called Modiba Productions, informs us that Modiba's latest project is now available for purchase at the iTMS: the Afrobeat Sudan Aid Project (ASAP-- get it?) is an hour-plus collection of twelve tracks by some of the biggest artists in the Afrobeat genre, and all proceeds from the sale of the album go to the Kebkabiya Smallholders Charitable Society, a local Oxfam effort trying to provide little things like, oh, say food and shelter to the Sudanese as they run from the bombs.

Not into the world music thing? Well, frankly, neither are we-- but we're pretty firm in our belief that people ought to eat and live inside things (not necessarily the same things, obviously), and we're generally open to new stuff provided it doesn't issue forth from the Microsoft campus. So we bought ASAP regardless, and we're grooving to it even as we do this whole production spiel; as it turns out, this is some mighty fine music and clearly we've been missing out. ("He likes it! Hey, Mikey!") C'mon, broaden your horizons a little. Try something new. At least listen to the 30-second previews before you dismiss it outright. After all, Apple clearly wants you to.

That's right, just to make you feel even more guilty about not pitching in, you should know that Apple has made ASAP its very first iTMS charity project; the company was cool enough not only to waive all fees associated with the sale of the album, but also to stick a prominent ad for the project right on the iTMS home page. It's one thing to agree to lose money on every sale of a particular project; to advertise it, too, well, that goes above and beyond "above and beyond."

If all that's not enough to persuade you to buy, consider it an issue of platform loyalty: Dave tells us that ASAP in its entirety (well, except for the actual making of the music, of course) "was done by Wesleyan students (and an NYU student) exclusively on Macs." Not that Macs being used in musical production are exactly tough to find, mind you, but if that's enough to nudge you over the edge into parting with ten bucks, well, more power to you. And think of it this way: if you don't spend a lousy ten-spot to help feed starving refugees in Sudan, you are just gonna feel like a complete tool when you go to stuff yourself three notches past bursting on Thursday.

Guilt: it makes the world go 'round. Have a nice day.