As of right now, AtAT's complex and inscrutable probability analysis algorithms have proven conclusively that virtually all of the show's viewers are now expecting Apple to unveil new iMacs at Macworld Expo Tokyo in a couple of weeks. We say "virtually all," because apparently there are still three of you who aren't convinced. (You know who you are.) Well, never let it be said that we at AtAT don't bend over backwards to accommodate the educational needs of the few at the expense of the entertainment of the many. Those of you to whom new Tokyo iMacs have long been old news, please amuse yourselves with shadow puppets and amusing limericks while we lay a little science on the unbelievers.

The obvious signs of Apple's intent have been done to death, so we'll just recap quickly, here: Apple admitted that consumers wanted CD-RW drives; iTunes directly supports Apple's internal CD-RW drives; iTunes is clearly a consumer-oriented application; the iMac is a consumer-oriented desktop Mac. (Follow the bouncing logic diagram.) Add to that the additional fact that all of the new Power Macs have CD-RW capabilities, and we think it's pretty obvious that Apple has both the motive and the means to add CD-RW drives to most of the iMac line-up as soon as possible. With us so far?

Next up: external clues. Sure, Steve is clinically obsessive about preventing leaks from within, but there are certain signs that simply can't be suppressed. One is the discontinuing of a particular product. Anti-Leak Steve can deprive his engineers and designers of all external human contact all he likes, but at some point well in advance of the new gear's debut, Apple has to tell its resellers that the current Mac has been discontinued. There have been several reports floating around that all iMacs are showing up in various resellers' inventory systems as "end of life." Heck, as faithful viewer Icestryke pointed out, iMac DV+ systems are even "temporarily unavailable" at Apple's own online store. And if you think that's just because they're selling so briskly that Apple can't crank 'em out fast enough, you clearly haven't seen any iMac sales numbers recently.

It's all about inventory clearance. Apple needs to sell as many of the "old" systems as possible before the new ones come out, or else it has to eat the cost on a slew of obsolete products that depreciate faster than Walt Flanagan's dog-- which means that Apple's own promotion programs are another clear indication of upcoming product changes. Remember all those rebates Apple offered on PowerBooks and Power Macs purchased before last December 31st? Remember what Steve revealed nine days later, at the last Macworld Expo? Gee, new PowerBooks and Power Macs! Now, let's think about this for a second: Apple is currently running an iMac promo that offers $200 back on any Apple Store iMac DV Special Edition purchase, and the offer ends on February 12th. (Seeing as iMac DV Special Editions are now also "temporarily unavailable" at the Apple Store, evidently the promotion worked.) Now what formerly-mentioned big event takes place just ten days later in a country that really likes small computers?

This concludes our little lesson, and now hopefully all of you AtAT viewers are on the same page. After all, we want to make sure that our happy little television family is uniformly smugly unsurprised when Uncle Steve takes the wraps off his latest toys in sixteen days-- or uniformly stunned into sheepish disbelief when the iMacs fail to show and we all look like total doofuses. When all's said and done, it's all about togetherness, right?