See, people frequently tell us here at AtAT that we are too paranoid, that there aren't any conspiracies in Cupertino, and that we should really switch to decaf. To those people, we collectively state the following: the AtAT team has been caffeine-free for a long time now, ever since Microsoft covertly bribed their fellow Washingtonian monopolizer Starbucks to spike the U.S. supply of caffeinated blends with blandness-inducing drugs. (Just another factor in the story of Windows dominance.) And if there are no conspiracies hatched inside Apple's walls, how do you explain the "Light-Up Mouse" coverup?

That's right, we speak of the revisionist stance Apple has taken towards the iMac's translucent mouse, which, early on, appeared to light up when used. Apple has since denied that this feature ever existed, claiming that tales of the mouse's luminosity are an "urban legend" brought on by spotlights hitting the translucent mouse in a certain way during the unveiling last May. Well, AtAT wasn't there, so we can't say for sure, but the QuickTime movie over at iMac2Day sure makes things crystal clear. Taken from a CD-ROM distributed to dealers, the movie is a snippet of footage originally shown at WWDC, and clearly shows the iMac's mouse lighting up like a tremendously gaudy Christmas tree ornament. If you step through the footage frame by frame, you should be convinced that the light is coming from inside the mouse and not fron a spotlight or a light-up surface; as the mouse moves, its shadow doesn't change the way it would if the light were external. (We're filing this evidence away with our digitally-enhanced footage of the Zapruder film.)

So there you have it; proof positive of the conspiracy of the day. Apple ditched a cool feature for an unknown (but possibly very good) reason, and is now covering up the fact. All of this leaves the door wide open for a third-party manufacturer (Kensington?) to create a USB mouse that matches the iMac's unique style and coloring, and includes a small light inside that draws power from the USB bus. Personally, we'd like to see it stay unlit while remaining motionless, and then slowly light up as motion increases, and slowly fade back down when it stops again. You'd get a sort of pulsing, glowing, living effect, which would be incredibly cool. And heck, while we're at it, throw in an extra button (or two or three) that can be mapped to control-clicks, custom menus, etc. We'd certainly buy one-- but only if it didn't disrupt the icy-blue design integrity of the iMac itself. (Hey, if anyone steals this idea, at least have the decency to send some free ones to the AtAT office, okay?)