There's a disturbing and inexplicable new trend sweeping the Mac world, similar to the CompUSA Ladder Syndrome of yore. We refer, of course, to the bizarre phenomenon of large stocking ladders mysteriously appearing in the middle of the Apple stores-within-stores at CompUSA's nationwide, blocking the demo machines and Mac software, in what appeared to be a deliberate and coordinated attempt to short-circuit sales of Mac merchandise. When we first heard about this syndrome, we assumed that the few isolated sightings were mere coincidence-- but then the mail started pouring in. Dozens of reports from all over the country, from faithful AtAT viewers who had visited their local CompUSA's only to find the mysterious ladder invading the Apple area, blocking the merchandise, lurking like some kind of alien surveillance pylon. And thus was a story "too strange to be true" proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, with still no satisfactory explanation in sight.

So what's the new story? This one involves a recent rash of improperly-packaged PowerBook G3's just rattling around loose in the cardboard box when they arrive in the homes and offices of excited buyers. Inside the box along with the Incredible Bouncing PowerBook are two end-pieces of styrofoam which apparently have popped off of the computer at some point in its trip from the plant. And again, when we first heard about this happening a couple of times, we thought it was a simple coincidence, but O'Grady's PowerPage nukes this theory by compiling a vast collection of email messages from PowerBook G3 buyers all over the place, who report the exact the same contents of their own boxes: one PowerBook kicking around loose, and two detached pieces of styrofoam. Even more disconcerting, perhaps, is the fact that in the vast majority of cases in which this happens, the PowerBook itself is fine-- testifying to the nigh-invulnerability of Apple's new laptop design, even if the division who designed the styrofoam packaging should be dragged screaming into the Cupertino sunlight and slapped around like the rubber ball at the end of the elastic on a paddle game. Or better yet, send them over to Microsoft-- that brand of "design flair" is apparently welcomed over there.

What makes this story particularly irksome is that the original PowerBook G3 Series packaging was nothing short of brilliant; an ingenius network of inflatable plastic tubes was wrapped around the sleek PowerBook chassis, buffering it from all sides with a cushion of pressurized air. Apple's engineers were even thinking different about packaging. The original method produced less waste and provided better protection than traditional styrofoam-- and a lot more protection than styrofoam that's just rattling around in the box with an unprotected PowerBook.