Katie, our resident Goddess of Minutiae, has been doing a whole lot of non-AtAT-related travel for the last couple of weeks, leaving the AtAT studios a little short-staffed-- not to mention a bit lonely. But, trooper that she is, she managed to squeeze at least a smidgen of AtAT material out of her extended jaunts. Whenever "virtual" meetings won't cut it and actual bodily transport is necessary, AtAT staff generally flies United Airlines, due largely to their decent track record in accommodating our vegan diet ("If Steve Jobs won't eat it, neither will we!"). United provides each passenger not only with a free copy of their in-flight magazine (ooooooh!), but also with a catalog called High Street Emporium, which basically includes various merchandise from other mail-order catalogs like Brookstone, Lillian Vernon, and the ever-puke-ular Successories. You can use the in-flight phone for free to order stuff while you're in the air, which is basically the big gimmick-- shop at 35,000 feet, or whatever.

Now, what makes this particular issue of High Street Emporium so cool is that as soon as you open it, smack dab in the middle of the table of contents is a picture of an iMac, clearly showing both the Apple logo and the iMac name. On its screen is a Netscape window, commanding the reader to "shop at www.skymall.com." Even better, you can actually buy an iMac through the catalog! All of page 165 is dedicated to the fruit-flavored wonder, showing the familiar ring of all five flavors from the "Yum" ads and bearing the slogan "Surf in Style. iMac now in five flavors." Then there's the familiar specs list, an item number, the shipping weight, and the price: "Only $1199.00. Prices may drop by the time of publication, so call for the best price guarantee." And sure enough, there's an iMac record in the SkyMall online catalog.

So there's one more place you can shop for an iMac-- while flying United Airlines. And while you're placing an order for a Grape iMac, you can also throw in a pair of Moon Shoes, a krypton-lighted dog leash, and a framed poster that says "Innovation: If there is a better solution... find it." (Perhaps that last item is just what you were looking for in a Christmas gift to Bill Gates. It's never too early to start!)