Sometimes lots of little indications can point to something big bubbling beneath the surface. There have been some fairly quiet happenings coming out of Cupertino lately, and they've left us wondering what we might be missing. First of all, there's the fact that Apple cancelled its much-anticipated Super Bowl commercial at the last minute, which is interesting, if not downright ominous; something happened (or failed to happen) that evidently gave some higher-ups pause about the whole prospect. And for something as big as a Super Bowl commercial, we have to assume that the decision to cancel came down from as high as it gets-- Steve Jobs.

Now, taken by itself, the cancellation of the Super Bowl ad might not be such a big deal; disappointing, yes, but not necessarily indicative of any serious strangeness going on behind the scenes. Heck, it might have been something as innocuous as a production slip-up at TBWA/Chiat/Day, though they're professionals and we doubt they'd let something like that happen. But now there are other signs of something big-- and possibly even sinister-- afoot behind Apple's walls. MacNN reports that Apple has cancelled the first of its three planned Winter Demo Days, the fun-filled retail events at which Mac-savvy volunteers invade local Best Buy and CompUSA stores to push Apple's newest wares. The event was to have taken place this weekend, but for some undisclosed reason, it's not going to happen.

Seeing two Apple promotional events get quietly cancelled (especially when they were separated by only a week on the calendar) sets off those little alarm bells in the heads of your friendly neighborhood AtAT staff. Are the cancellations related? Was there some big secret product unveiling that now isn't going to happen? We can't say for sure, but in our estimation, it's either that or Steve's been captured by aliens and replaced by an exact double who intends to thwart Apple's continued comeback for reasons incomprehensible to our tiny Earthling minds. Then again, it could all just be a coincidence, given that the Demo Days event scheduled for the actual weekend of the Super Bowl is still a go. Until someone manages to grab a tissue sample from "Steve," though, we're never going to know for sure.