While reminiscing about the heady days of college, your AtAT staff members recall the adrenaline-and-caffeine-drenched thrill of skipping class all semester long, only to spend the last nine days before the final permanently camped out in the 24-hour coffee house, desperately trying to cram three or four months' worth of learning into a week and a half before exam time. (The "exotic" hours at which we commonly broadcast new episodes should indicate that we haven't exactly outgrown our bad habits.) But one rumor making the rounds is noteworthy, precisely because it indicates that Apple's currently in the same kind of panic-stricken catch-up mode as AtAT often is.

See, Reality is reporting the incredible news that Apple has flat-out ceased production of all desktop Power Macs at every single one of its manufacturing plants. And, in fact, while it would be nice if those plants were chugging away at assembling high-end PowerBook G3's to fill the massive backorder, it appears that all production of PowerBooks has also ground to a screeching halt. Assuming those facts are true, it doesn't take a Mr. Peabody to figure out what's going on. Yup, you guessed it-- Apple is dedicating 100% of its manufacturing backbone to cranking out iMacs. As of right now, the little blue munchkins are being assembled as quickly as possible, as Apple gears up for their introduction in two weeks.

Apparently Apple figures it's best to cut their losses on the PowerBook availability fiasco; if they can't meet at least most of the demand for their much-higher-profile iMac when the rabid fans hit the stores in a fortnight, then the press will have a field day and we'll see so many "Apple is run by boneheads" articles flying around that you'd think it's 1997 again. Given all the signs of an impending iMac-buying frenzy, we're increasingly doubtful that many iMac-laden customers will be walking out of CompUSA on August 15th-- unless they happened to walk clutching a pre-order receipt. For those of you who want one of the first units, sell your kids and put down a deposit now, now, now.