Say, we were just scoping out a calendar trying to find out when "Sneak Some Zucchini onto Your Neighbors' Porch Day" happens to fall this year, when we suddenly realized something: aren't we about due for another big iPod revision? After all, by our count it's now been over a year since the third-generation models sashayed down the runway, showing off their new svelte forms, their backlit touch-buttons, and their sudden lack of anything resembling a standard FireWire port. Sure, there have been minor revisions since then which boosted disk space and added support for On-The-Go playlists, etc., but unless you count the miniPod (which we don't, because it's marketed as a separate product), the iPod hasn't experienced a major facelift since April 28th of last year. One just has to be coming soon, right?

Well, AppleInsider sure thinks so. The site claims that the new player is now close enough to a public debut that the marketing folks have gone ahead and stuck it in front of a camera: "Apple has just recently wrapped up the filming of a new iPod commercial starring the yet unannounced 4th-generation iPod." Provided you believe that the report of filming is true, that's a pretty good indicator that the 4G iPod is done-- at least, done enough to appear onscreen without looking all prototypey and gross. (Technically, we suppose all it really means is that the enclosure is ready for prime time; for filming purposes, the guts may well be nonexistent. But we doubt it.)

We have to wonder just how long Apple plans to make us wait before these newfangled 'Pods make the scene, though; seems to us that an introduction alongside iTunes 4.5 would have been a natural pairing, but that didn't happen. Unless maybe we just missed it. (We didn't, did we? Because we know we've been distracted lately, but man that'd be embarrassing.) Let's see, here... if filming just wrapped, figure on up to a month for the editing... what do you think, should we bank on an iPod "special event" right smack in between the iTunes Music Store anniversary conference call and WWDC?

Of course, before you get your hopes up too high, you might want to remember to consider your sources when it comes to info like this. On the 4G iPod front, keep in mind that AppleInsider has previously stated that the new units would include a "2-inch color screen" and a "video output jack," and while we're certainly not saying that's definitely untrue, it's perhaps worth considering that Steve Jobs himself has publicly and repeatedly downplayed the likelihood of the iPod gaining major non-music, non-toast-related features such as any sort of video capabilities. Personally, we're hoping he's just smokescreening, because we actually like the idea of toting a few episodes of The A-Team around with us wherever we go. Like the one with Boy George. No one should ever leave the house without that one.