Believe it or not, AtAT actually does have a few well-placed "sources" who occasionally choose to submit material for the show's scripts, purely on a freelance basis. Most of the time, we choose to defer talking about some of the dirt that gets dished because we consider the possibility of Apple losing a competitive edge if products are publicly discussed before Apple's ready. Well, despite having been fed tantalizing little morsels over the last few weeks, we were trying to do Apple a favor by not focusing attention on their Apple Media Player project, code-named "Columbus," but now that CNET's posted an article on it, it's all over the net like a rash; just about every Mac site has a piece of the action.

In case you've been negligent in your net-surfing duties, let's bring you up to speed: the Apple Media Player is one of Apple's "thin-client" projects reportedly based on Allegro Lite, the version of the Mac OS destined for Apple's next-generation of handheld computers. The AMP is reportedly an entertainment appliance, capable of playing audio CD's and DVD movies, while also allowing internet access. Yes, it sounds like a warmed-over Pippin, but it's actually something quite new, and it is rumored to be related both to Apple's Newton successors and to their NC's. We've even heard from one source that there's a possibility of an eMate-like device-- just a few pounds, in a sturdy plastic housing-- that basically combines a DVD player and a color LCD screen to yield what is essentially a Sony Walkman that plays movies. It's a neat idea, and if Apple manages to be the first company who can successfully build and market information appliances, well, that could be a key in their return to sustained profitability and growth.

And actually, it's not as if CNET broke the story-- Apple Recon's been talking about the AMP for quite a long time now, and in fact you may recall that its possible lateness is what supposedly has the whole town of Hollywood out for Steve Jobs' blood in one of Recon's latest posts. (You can understand the appeal of such a computer to the likes of Hollywood.) Still, we hope that this sudden media focus on Apple's (now formerly-) Top Secret project doesn't put them at a major competitive disadvantage-- they've had enough competitive disadvantages to last them well into the next millennium.