Apparently that little deal whereby MacUser magazine got absorbed by MacWorld a few months ago touched a nerve. We've been hearing similar rumors for a while that MacAddict is going to merge with Mac Home Journal; in that manner, just as the two big "professional" Mac magazines combined due to lack of available advertising resources, so, too, would the two consumer-level publications be forced to merge due to the state of the market. We hadn't said anything earlier, in part because we hadn't seen a single indication that this rumor was true, no matter how plausible it sounded, and we're pretty sure MacAddict would have told us. It seems that we were right to ignore the reports, since MacAddict's editor has now posted an official denial of the rumor.

You all know that AtAT is an entertainment show, not a news one. As such, we're not above reporting completely unsubstantiated rumors and gossip, no matter how unlikely and/or bizarre. But while wild speculation is all well and good as far as we're concerned, when a rumor is easily confirmed or denied just by asking an involved party, we're usually not all that interested. It's one thing to speculate about whether the iMac will include a 56K modem, a Volkswagen hood ornament, and a free Trappist monk, since Apple "does not comment on unreleased products," or whatever. It's something else entirely to take it as read that two magazines are merging without asking anyone associated with either of them if the reports are true.

That being said, a friend of our landlord's niece told us that MacAddict, operating secretly from a large pool of Apple-provided cash, is quietly bribing the publishers of Wintel-oriented magazines to look the other way while hired thugs coat their pages with a topical mind-altering chemical similar to the stuff used in MacAddict's own publication. (You have noticed MacAddict's distinctive smell and page texture, haven't you?) As the chemical builds up in readers' bodies over the next several months, expect Apple's market share to increase. That's all we can tell you right now. MacAddict neither confirmed nor denied this rumor-- though, we suspect that might change if we actually asked them.