The thing we absolutely love about Apple's Tech Info Library is that, when you're bored, you can find some pretty entertainingly goofy stuff. For instance, it's a real hoot to dig through the April update of the official Apple trademark list and see the sheer number of trademarks still held by the mothership. For one thing, they claim trademarks for just about every word in the English language with the word "Apple" prepended to it, including AppleFund™ and AppleOrder™. For another, it's nice to see that the DogCow and "Moof" are registered. And how cool is it that Apple lists "New York" as a registered trademark? No wonder the Macworld Expo moved from Boston to the Javits Center-- they're probably getting license fees from the Big Apple for the use of the name.

But you can also dig around and find some hints as to what's going on inside your Mac and what makes it tick. Take, for example, the recent technote explaining the "hissing noise" that emanates from the back of the iMac when it's plugged in but not turned on; when you unplug it from the wall, the hissing stops after about ten seconds, but resumes once you plug the power cord back in. Kinda silly, right? And Apple explains the phenomenon by claiming that the hissing is "normal" and caused by "a transformer in the computer's power supply." Of course, they couldn't reveal the real reason for the hissing: the iMac is the world's first computer running on alien air-pressure technology. When a normal power cord is plugged from a standard electrical outlet into the back of an iMac, electrical current is transformed into air; air pressure building inside the iMac powers the system via tiny alien nanobots who thrive on PSI. You heard it here first-- the iMac is the world's first inflated computer. ("Huh? But I thought...")

So now you know: the hissing is caused by excess air leaking out when the iMac is plugged in and not being used; that air's got to go somewhere. Unplug the iMac and the pressure normalizes after a few seconds, and the hissing stops. And by the way, if you thought those giant inflatable iMac balloons were just marketing props, think again-- they're actual working iMac prototypes, before the miniaturization engineers were turned loose on the design; Apple's marketing gurus figured that most households wouldn't want a computer that didn't fit in their living room. Electrical current and transformers? Not in this lifetime, Billy! Just good old American know-how, and secret alien technology!