Hey, it wouldn't be Apple without downsizing, right? Apple's manufacturing plant in Cork, Ireland will trim 150 jobs from its roster, following Apple's sale of its printed circuit board business to Singapore manufacturer Natsteel. Apple plans to outsource its PCB needs in Cork, as it has apparently done at its other plants, and the 150 jobs being cut are ones made superfluous following the sale. A Reuters story reports further on the localized cuts.

We're sure to hear more doom and gloom from the naysayers, stating that this latest round of cuts is just further evidence of Apple selling off everything it can in order to make a profit. Never mind that the outsourcing of PCB business is entirely consistent with Apple's business plan, and 150 jobs cut due to business realignment pales in comparison to moves like Intel's "warmdown" temporary plant closures starting this weekend-- part of its "aggressive costcutting measures." which include a plan to lower headcount by 3000 people, according to CNET.

Anyway, since the Cork plant will be "iMac Central" when it comes to churning out the cuddly blue retro-Macs for the entire European market, there's a chance that those 150 jobs might reappear. If the iMac lives up to its potential, we imagine it's not out of the question that the Cork plant might need more manpower to keep up with demand. We can't wait to see what kind of reception the iMac gets in Europe and other overseas markets.

Rumors continue to fly as to the exact nature and time frame of Apple's upcoming "Pro" G3 Power Macs. We had heard a lot of buzz recently about a six-PCI-slot G3 minitower to be announced at next week's MacWorld Expo, and available shortly thereafter. This rumor has been widely debunked as false by reputable sources from inside Apple, but even as recently as yesterday, Computer Reseller News was still reporting that Apple does indeed plan to "unveil its new six-slot G3" systems at the show.

Now, in most circumstances we'd just dismiss CRN's report as being a little out of date, but then Mac OS Rumors threw in a curve by saying that the rumor of a MacWorld-announced August release of 9600-style six-slot faster G3 systems was "closest to the truth." All that really means is that, in their opinion, it's closer to the truth than the other two rumors they report-- one discussing a late-fall release for a four-slot system, and another claiming immediate availability of the same G3 systems but with 333 and 366 MHz processors. Still, it's interesting that Rumors considers the six-slot box more likely that the four-slot Pro system, which is what we'd been hearing was the "safest bet."

We won't know just what the scoop is until next week, probably at Wednesday's keynote address, but you can bet that your friendly neighborhood AtAT staff plans to get up extra-early to make sure we can get seats for the event. Sorry, we're not equipped to broadcast via cellular link from the keynote itself, but we'll keep you non-attending folks posted as soon as we can.

For those of you who thought we were kidding when we mentioned that Microsoft had paid off Starbucks to spike the U.S. caffeinated coffee supply with special blandness-inducing drugs intended to bolster the demand for mediocre software like Windows 98, we can only pity your naïveté. Heck, why do you think Apple deep-sixed the whole "Apple Café" idea? If you thought it was only because it was a half-assed idea, you're missing the big picture. Faithful viewer Joshua Finto knows the real score, though, as he relates just how brazen the Great Coffee Conspiracy has gotten lately:

Just thought that you guys might be interested in something going on down here in Texas. I was at the local Borders Books, and to my utter amazement I saw the featured coffee blend of the day was "Windows 98 Blend." It would seem that upon speaking with one of the managers, this was actually Microsoft's "brillant" idea. YUCK!