So, did Apple really conspire to force MacWEEK to change its focus? That's the question put forth in a recent WIRED News article. Conspiracy theorists the world over whisper that Apple was hacked off one too many times by the weekly Mac publication, who frequently ran high-profile stories revealing information about Apple projects that Apple wanted kept under wraps. Indeed, we at AtAT weren't the only ones who frequently referred to the magazine as "MacLEAK;" an ex-staff member even recalls Cupertino dumpster-diving forays meant to uncover top secret info in Apple's garbage. (Instead of just emptying their Trash, we suppose Apple should have been Burn-ing their documents.)

A 30% decline in advertising revenue was reportedly a huge factor in MacWEEK's decision to rechristen their print publication as "eMediaWeekly," which will focus on digital content creation in a platform-agnostic manner. The drop in advertising dollars resulted in part because of the Mac's shrinking market, but primarily because of the sudden guillotining of the cloners, who, since they had Apple doing most of their R&D, had plenty of funds to funnel into buying big splashy ads in MacWEEK designed to cannibalize Apple's existing market base. (Not that we didn't like the ads-- Power Computing's were brilliant, in particular.) And in addition to ad revenue going bye-bye, MacWEEK also had to contend with Steve "Steel Clamp" Jobs' crackdown on corporate moles who were leaking sensitive information to the press. Once the flow of juicy info all but dried up, MacWEEK had to rethink its direction. And Apple fully admits that they're pleased about that.

So was it a secret conspiracy or not? As you are all painfully aware, we at AtAT are the undisputed masters of finding conspiracies where only the most tenuous of indications exists. (For those of you who still don't believe that Bill Gates is tracking your online shopping habits and frequently-visited web sites via hidden functionality in Internet Explorer, just wait. The truth is out there.) And yet, our "Oliver Stone sense" just isn't tingling on this one. Sure, Apple's happy that MacWEEK won't be broadcasting their trade secrets to the rest of the world anymore, but who wouldn't be? To see a conspiracy here, you'd have to believe that Apple plugged its leaks and killed the cloners all as steps in an elaborate and fiendish plan whose ultimate goal was the elimination of MacWEEK and the exacting of their revenge. Hmmm, actually, on second thought, that's not half bad...