Mac the Knife appears totally unfazed by the way the dead-tree version of his column may be endangered now that MacWEEK is becoming EMedia Weekly. Perhaps he's in denial, or maybe he doesn't care since MacWEEK Online will continue (supposedly) unchanged, so his virtual self will remain safe. Or it's entirely possible that he's still inebriated following the after-hours festivities at last week's WWDC and no one's been able to tell him yet. Regardless, he keeps cranking out the good dirt.

The latest from the edged implement is that there's good reason that Apple was able to cobble together the iMac so quickly it never even showed up on the radar screens of the Mac rumors sites: the iMac is actually a consumerized version of the NC project we used to hear so much about. That backs up what a Mac OS Rumors source had to say a little while ago; take an iMac, rip out the CD-ROM drive, shrink the hard disk capacity, yank out the modem, and there's your nMac. It also might explain some of the iMac's stranger design points. After all, a floppy drive makes no sense at all in an NC, while it makes a lot more sense (no matter what Apple says) in a consumer machine. Also, a consumer box should have at least one PCI slot for gamers who want to add a 3D card, but who needs PCI slots in an NC? Lastly, 10/100 Ethernet seems like overkill in a home machine (what percentage of iMacs sold will actually ever use 100base-T Ethernet?), but it's absolutely mandatory in an NC meant to boot off of, and run all applications from, a networked Rhapsody server. In fact, we're not entirely sure, but we think we even remember that one of the early "artist's conceptions" of the Mac NC even showed a machine that was white and something very close to Bondi blue; even the iMac's colors may have come from the NC project.

Suddenly it becomes very clear why we at AtAT noticed that the iMac may be slightly lacking for a home system, but it's perfect for certain businesses we know. In fact, if Apple releases a more "corporately-styled" iMac, it might be a good balance between a pure NC and a standalone business machine. After all, it's nice to think that your whole workforce wouldn't be completely crippled in the event of a network outage.

Debate continues to rage over whether or not Apple is thinking too differently by not including a set of standard Mac ports in this fall's iMac. We're sure you've heard all the arguments: on the one side, you've got the Innovators, who state that Apple is keeping costs down by eliminating outdated ports that consumers don't want or need, while moving to new standards like Universal Serial Bus; on the other are the Pragmatists, who point out the simple market truth that currently there are very few peripherals available for the iMac's new USB ports, which are its only expansion possibility. Yes, there will definitely be some USB peripherals available for the iMac when it ships-- count on Apple to make sure of that-- but even though the iMac is targeted at first-time buyers, it's a heck of an attractive purchase for existing Mac users who'd like to upgrade to a new home machine. It's not such an attractive purchase, though, if it means that those existing Mac users have to buy new printers, digital cameras, Zip drives, and scanners since the ones they've got won't connect to the iMac.

But just as the argument over the iMac's missing floppy drive became largely moot after Imation announced their floppy-compatible USB SuperDisk drive (not to mention rumors about an Apple-branded floppy option for under $100), there's an interesting rumor that surfaced over at O'Grady's PowerPage that a "major Macintosh vendor" is working on a product that could potentially dispel many of the complaints about the iMac's incompatibility with older peripherals. That product is allegedly a "hub" that will plug into one of the iMac's USB ports and will give the system two Mac-standard serial ports, an ADB port, and a SCSI interface. If such a thing could be done, you can stop worrying about not being able to connect your existing modems, digital cameras, joysticks, mice, Zip drives, scanners, printers, etc. to the iMac you'd like to buy to replace your aging LCIII.

It's a neat idea, and even though the SCSI port would have to be pretty slow (USB is quite a bit slower than SCSI), it's a good way to provide backward compatibility. The identity of the "major Mac vendor" working on it is unknown, but if the rumor is true, our personal guess would have to be Newer Technologies. Those guys have always come out with some innovative ways to expand on the capabilities of Macs. Perhaps you recall the MiniDocks they had that clipped onto the back of a Powerbook Duo to provide Ethernet or SCSI services? This "hub" sounds right up their alley. We sincerely hope that the whole thing isn't just a rumor.

Speaking of the iMac, if you've been alert, you know that it represents the desktop component in Apple's consumer product line. Remember, Apple's now moving to a greatly simplified product strategy: two "layers" (professional and consumer) with two form factors (desktop and portable) in each. The Powermac G3 and Powerbook G3 are the pro desktop and portable, respectively. The iMac is the consumer desktop. And Apple's committed to a consumer portable by next year. There are almost no facts known about this upcoming consumer portable-- but that sure doesn't stop people from making up their own, and for that we're always grateful.

Take, for example, the top-secret photos of the "iMate" that faithful viewer Robert Howard pointed out to us. We've got to say, though it's not really the consumer-oriented "eMac" we're expecting next year, we're mightily impressed at this digitally-mutated combo of a Newton MessagePad and a Powerbook G3; the result is a very sexy-looking eMate-style portable that would have most businessfolks reaching for their wallets. There's a color screen, both a full keyboard and a stylus in the eMate fashion, stereo speakers, two PCMCIA slots, and a trackpad button (though no trackpad). It's a cool illustration of a cool idea.

On the other hand, if the photo is supposed to be an actual hoax (which we doubt, since no one would ever believe that there's a "G 1.5" processor), it doesn't survive even a quick examination for digital tomfoolery. Look at the left side of the screen in the close-up, where the edge is discontinuous, or notice how, in the smaller shot, the keyboard is, shall we say, missing. Still, for a mock-up of a neat design, we agree with Robert that it's among the cream of the crop.