Good heavens, could Filemaker Pro be in trouble? We certainly don't want to be unnecessarily alarmist, but Mac the Knife reports that Filemaker, Inc. (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Apple) is currently discussing whether or not they should sell off the database program. Yikes! Hopefully there isn't much to this rumor, since Filemaker is a consistent winner in the sales figures and can always be counted on to give Apple's financial results a little boost. And more importantly, despite its quirks and shortcomings, Filemaker Pro is an incredibly powerful database that allows non-programmers to build complex and sophisticated solutions.

The other Knife tidbit that has us a little concerned is the rumor that Apple is dropping Filemaker Pro from the list of software to be bundled with the consumer-friendly iMac, due this fall. Filemaker Pro is a $200 value, which made the $1299 iMac an even more attractive buy for small-office/home-office buyers. If the Knife is right about either or both these rumors, we hope Apple will reconsider.

Incidentally, the Knife's Filemaker revelations come in the context of WebObjects ruminations; Apple is reportedly considering either selling off the hyper-cool object-oriented web development system, or spinning it and its related personnel off into WebObjects, Inc. We just hope that's not an omen... Remember the final outcome when Apple spun off the Newton group?

Those of you who were regular Seinfeld viewers know the loss the Mac world suffered when that show recently ended its nine-year career. Jerry, after all, pretty much always had a Mac on his desk in the last several seasons. That in itself isn't necessarily a huge deal, since most of the computers that show up in NBC sitcoms appear to be Apple-branded systems (has anyone else noticed the disproportionate number of PowerBook Duo 2300 users on TV?); however, in the show's final season, Jerry set himself apart from the rest of the Mac-using TV world by having the impeccable taste to display a 20th Anniversary Macintosh (aka Spartacus) on his desk.

Now that Seinfeld is no longer in production, we have to be content with seeing the reruns in order to catch glimpses of Spartacus on the tube. At least, that was the case until now. According to MacNN, a 20th Anniversary Mac graces the house used for the new season of MTV's Real World, which just premiered. We at AtAT aren't fans of the show-- to be perfectly frank, we find it absolutely godawful-- so we would probably never have known about that nifty product placement if no one had told us.

Since we missed the premiere to see the Mac for ourselves, we took to raiding MTV's web site for material. We believe you can see a small portion of the machine in one of the pictures here. And if you have either a fast connection or no real life, you can catch a tiny, quick glimpse of the 20th Anniversary Mac in this 2563 KB Quicktime tour of the new house's library. If you want to see the real thing, you can bet that MTV will rerun the premiere at least six times over this coming weekend. Yes, it's sad, but our lives have become so empty we've taken to spotting cool Macs in TV shows. Donations are gratefully accepted, as we're saving up to buy a life. Right after we buy more RAM, that is...

The world's largest online service is apparently perfectly happy remaining independent. According to an Associated Press article, they just turned down a buyout offer from AT&T, who was willing to pay "comfortably above" AOL's current market value. And considering that AOL's market value is over $19 billion, that's a pretty serious pile of cash.

That AT&T was willing to pay so much for an online service shows just how badly they're trying to break into the internet business. Unfortunately for them, AOL is sitting pretty and apparently thinks they are in a great position to keep growing as more and more families buy computers and want internet service. And the reports of AT&T's interest actually drove AOL's stock up seven percent, as Wall Street becomes aware of AOL's position.

Apple, as most of you know, officially declared AOL the Apple-sanctioned online service of choice, when its own eWorld tanked following a less-than-enthralling reception. We never got to try eWorld, but we've never been overly pleased with AOL being Apple's official online service. Granted, it's easy to use, but we'd like to see Apple partnering with some standard ISP's instead. The internet setup assistant in Mac OS 8 is a good first step.