We admit it; we at AtAT are just a bit bummed at how relatively little dirt is being dished about Apple's PDA, expected to be called the "MacMate." It isn't just that we love it when the rumors fly-- though, of course, we do. It's also this overwhelming sense that with so little buzz about the product, it must be pretty darn far from ever seeing a store shelf. Now, we know that's not necessarily the case; for example, the surprise announcement of the iMac took just about everyone off guard, and those were winging their way into stores a scant three months later. Given Apple's voiced intention to release a Newton-replacing PDA, though, the rumor well's run pretty dry. The best we've seen recently was the speculation at O'Grady's PowerPage that Apple could conceivably build a MacMate around the Newton 2100's StrongARM chip, which could then run the legendary Mac OS Lite and emulate a Palm, which runs much more slowly. Neat idea, but it's really just a guess.

Anyway, so there we were, surfing around the 'net as per the usual, when suddenly a link appeared that demanded to be clicked-- "Spied: MacMate and PalmOS." Clicking on anything that promises more MacMate information has become a reflex action in the AtAT studios, so suddenly there it was, clear as day, proudly adorning the MacProvider web site: a color photo of a Palm III with an Apple logo on its cover. Was this the first photographic evidence of the fruits of the Apple/Palm collaboration? Could this, in fact, be the long-rumored Apple/Palm co-branded PDA?

Well, uh, no. The site claims that the two photos were found "embedded deep within a Japanese site" (no link given) and due to the discoverer's inability to read Japanese, there was no way to know just what the captions had said. But it doesn't take a Sherlock Holmes (even an Inspector Clouseau) to see what's going on here: the first photo clearly shows a Palm's cover detached, with an apple-shaped hole cut out of the center; the second shows the cover back on the Palm, with a multicolored Apple logo where the hole used to be-- and an X-acto knife on the table behind it. The Japanese site was apparently explaining how to cut an Apple logo from, say, a dead PowerBook and "implant" in into one's Palm device; a nifty crafts project, to be sure, but not exactly the MacMate we're all waiting for. Curse these keen eyes of ours, these skeptical minds! Had we been just a little more blindly accepting, we could have had rumor fodder for weeks, but noooo...