Down here at the AtAT studios, we're big fans of Go2Mac and its predecessor, O'Grady's PowerPage. Over the years we've gotten a lot out of those sites, and also from commentary written by their proprietor, Jason O'Grady, and posted at MacWEEK and ZDNet. So as Steve's Seybold keynote draws nigh, we're keeping our fingers crossed that Go2Mac hasn't dug itself into another embarrassing situation as far as PowerBook predictions are concerned.

If you can stretch your brain way back to the beginning of this year, you might recall that the PowerPage posted a detailed list of Pismo specs a couple of days before the January Macworld Expo keynote, revealing "last minute" details on the new PowerBook that was fully expected to accompany Steve onstage. Jason had even gone so far as to say in a MacWEEK article in mid-December that "you can almost bank on the fact that Apple's Lombard replacement will take the stage during Jobs' keynote presentation Jan. 4." As you probably recall, Pismo was an utter no-show-- strike one.

Then, five weeks later, we were faced with Macworld Expo Tokyo and another looming Stevenote. While in some ways that event would be a natural setting in which to introduce the PowerBook that had been mysteriously absent at the San Francisco gig, there were two big reasons why lots of people thought it unlikely. First of all, Apple almost never released major new products at overseas events-- and secondly, Apple didn't even bother to schedule a webcast for the Tokyo keynote. Those clues led Jason to declare in a ZDNet article mere hours before Steve took the stage, "don't count on a new PowerBook or other major product announcements from the company. While some observers hold out hope that Jobs' presence at the world's biggest Mac show signals the imminent arrival of... Pismo, ...precedent suggests otherwise." And of course, what happened? Steve trotted out Pismo, refreshed iBooks, and speed-bumped Power Mac G4 systems. D'oh! Strike two.

So it's with a nervous constitution that we noticed an awful lot of surprisingly confident predictions at Go2Mac lately. Despite the fact that Apple has publicly stated that Steve's Seybold agenda won't include major new product releases, one Go2Mac article bucks the conventional wisdom and flatly states that we should "expect a new iBook [today] at Seybold SF," while a "beta release of a certain new Mac OS is almost certain." Another article reveals "evidence" that the long-awaited PowerBook G4 may surface today: a PowerBook G4 special deal is being advertised at Outpost.com. A simple typo, or a slip of the lip sure to incur the Wrath of Steve? (Since the PowerBook G4 ad links to PowerBook G3 listings, we're betting on the former.)

In any case, we'll know in mere hours whether or not the Go2Mac "Apple Laptop Release Date Prediction Curse" has worn off. We'd love to see new iBooks and PowerBooks today, not just because shiny new Apple gear always makes us feel all sunny inside, but also because we hate to see anyone strike out.