Okay, sure, there's always a period of sadness after a Macworld Expo; all the anticipation and excitement has built to a climax, Steve has said his piece, the new gear graces the pages of the Apple Store and begs to be purchased-- and for Apple watchers, it's back to the humdrum world of business as usual. There's no more heated discussion about what Mercury will turn out to be, because Mercury is right there-- it's the PowerBook G4. 600 MHz, or all the way up to 733? Don't bother debating; it's 733 MHz, plain as day on the Power Mac G4 page. True, the glistening novelty of the new products themselves is enough to keep us all entertained for a while, but soon that thrill wears off and we find ourselves impatiently awaiting the next big event.

There's one huge bonus to the "post-Expo doldrums," however. You know how as a particular Stevenote draws ever closer, the rumors surrounding Apple's secret plans get more and more specific? Early on, the sky's the limit when it comes to Expo speculation, but as the days pass, more and more leaked "fact" gets added to the mix. So whereas early pie-in-the-sky rumors about the PowerBook G4 may have indicated that it boasted two processors, built-in handwriting recognition, and a case made out of pleather and Kryptonite, by the time Steve's rehearsing the final draft of his keynote, those rumors have congealed into something far less whimsical (and far closer to the real thing). When you think about it, it's almost kind of sad.

That's why the post-Expo timeframe is actually a liberating experience, from a rumorological point of view. We're done wondering what Apple's going to include on the spec sheet for Mercury and the new Power Macs; now we can move on to far goofier subjects. Take Mac OS Rumors, for instance; as faithful viewer David Triska notes, the granddaddy of the Apple rumors world has pulled out all the stops in its latest description of the mysterious "CubeBook" that many expect to occupy the sixth slot in Apple's product grid. Most of us thought that the CubeBook would turn out to be a super-stylish Mac subnotebook, but now that the PowerBook G4 has basically assumed that role for itself, MOSR has whipped up a new guise for the CubeBook: that of "information appliance."

See, MOSR has embraced the freedom afforded it by the passing of yet another Expo and has plunged into the waters of rampant, unbridled speculation with both feet (and what those guys are doing speculating with their feet, we'll never know). Picture this: a CubeBook that's actually a sub-$600, water-resistant, shockproof, stripped-down Mac tablet, complete with just enough guts to run a Mac OS X interface, connect to the 'net via a 56K modem/Ethernet/AirPort, and run a web browser and basic applications. Stir in a little iTools integration (KidSafe, anyone?), and voilà: a mini-Mac that's kid-friendly and mother-approved.

Please note that even MOSR is careful to label this concoction as a "pipe dream," but that won't stop us from revelling in this post-Expo return to limitless possibilities. Imagine what this low-cost mini-Mac might do for Apple's shrinking slice of the education pie; finally, a computer that actually addresses the special needs of the K-3 segment of that all-important K-12 market. Enjoy it while it lasts, people, because as soon as, say, the July Expo starts drawing near, you can bet that the CubeBook rumors are going to get a lot less entertaining when viewed strictly on their own merits.