So we originally praised the concept of iReview, that portion of Apple's Internet strategy that aimed to review web sites of all types and let iTools members add their own two cents to the mix. It was a great idea on paper (or, at least, a great idea during a keynote address), but the implementation was sorely lacking. For instance, when the service was launched in early January, there were a scant eleven sites reviewed under the "Computers" heading. Only four of those were Mac-specific sites, and three of them-- MacWEEK, Macworld Online, and MacCentral-- were all owned by Ziff-Davis. Worse yet, the fourth wasn't even AtAT, much to our chagrin. (At least it was MacFixit, one of our personal faves-- so we guess we can let it slide.)

What we can't dismiss so easily, however, was Apple's utter sloth in adding new iReviews. For almost two full months, the only new reviews we noticed were contributed by stalwart iTools members trying to make up for Apple's slovenliness. We had just about given up on iReview altogether as a neat idea that Apple couldn't stick with, when lo and behold, iReview was finally updated late last week. And what an update it was! For example, you know those eleven sites listed under "Computers"? We're sure they're not lonely anymore, now that there are twelve instead. Yes, in Apple's infinite wisdom, after two months of idleness, they added a whopping one site. And in yet another slight we're not so quick to shrug off, it still isn't AtAT-- it's Real Networks.

Okay, okay, so we'll take what we can get. The truly funny bit is just how transparent Apple has become in its intentions; read the Real Networks iReview and tell us it's not just a great big ad for QuickTime and QTV. Oh, sure, QuickTime's not mentioned in Apple's official iReview (though it's pushed quite a bit in the member-contributed addenda), but c'mon-- this is an election year here in the U.S., and we can all spot a negative ad when we see one, right? The bottom line here is that, no matter how many times faithful viewers like Carlos Perez suggest that iReview tune into AtAT, our little show is obviously never going to be listed among the handful of heavy-hitters. Not while Apple's cozying up to the ZDNet Triumverate and panning its own competitors, at any rate. And even if we had a snowball's chance in Cupertino before, we're sure we blew it with this scene. ;-)