Some snippets of goss i've heard around the traps...

Cyberdog is dead, it got hit by a speeding OpenDoc making a hasty exit from 1 Infinite Loop. It's a pity really as it was an excellent idea. I think its problem stemmed from too much too soon. Yes Apple is an inovator and minister bonding technology with people, but sometimes jumping evolutionary steps on the way.
  One of the beautiful aspects of Cyberdog (or was it OpenDoc) was that nothing was fixed. You could Play a QuickTime Movie, Browse the Web, Download a file and reply to someone all from within the same eMail (or any document for that matter).
  Well all hope is not lost for those who liked this Oneness of everything with Apple Data Detectors. Powered by AppleScript, they can scour your documents for all sorts of "Transports" such as phone numbers, mail addresses etc which can be associated with other Applications. All of this is very similar to what OpenDoc could do albeit clunkier.
  For a more in depth look check out http://applescript.apple.com/data_detectors

Apple Centres Nationwide (Australian... unsure about the rest of the world)have started a campaign to entice computer users of any description to purchase one of a selected range of Apple computers. Apple is offering A$500 trade in on any working computer higher than a 386 or a Mac Classic, with keyboard and monitor etc. (please correct me if I got the requirements wrong)

Steve Jobs (Apple Interim CEO) recently declared the beginning of a new advertising campaign, the theme of which being "Think Different"
  The campaign kicks off with a sixty second commercial (that you can check out now at Apple's site). The ad reflects the lives of people who made changes in history by "thinking differently".
In a recent letter from Steve Jobs to the Apple Staff, Jobs emphasises the strength of the Apple brand name and acknowledges that it has seen much neglect in recent years. The campaign aims to bring back this brand strength and emphasise what Apple stands for.

New Apple Ad (here in Australia anyway)

Recently I saw another Apple advertisement in a popular U.S. Mac Mag (alas not in the wild). It was for Mac OS8 and the caption was, "An Operating System so advanved it could only come from Apple (Or did it?)". Behind the caption is an image of a UFO with its traction beamed on the Mac OS8 package. I found this ad quite interesting, trying to work out what it was implying.
  Was it saying:

• a) That OS8 is so good that it must have been developed by alien lifeforms superior to our own?
• b) That Apple was a bit late getting on the X-Files alien hype bandwagon?
• c) Apple is humorously acknowledging they bought most of it from NeXT?

Apple seems to have exercised its muscle (possibly with the pocketmoney from Mr. Gates) and purchased the Mac OS licence back from Power Computing. For the uninitiated, Power Computing is/was a manufacturer of Macintosh clones. They provided systems which were usually one step ahead of those being released by Apple themselves.
  Apple seems to feel that Power Computing was taking Apples own market share as opposed to expanding the Macintosh platform.
  A step forward... Doesn't look that way at the moment.

It seems Australians can do things other than drink beer and eat Vegimite. Recently "Starfire" (the name the hacker went by) won the Crack a Mac contest in which entrants attempt to break into Mac Web Servers in order for the Software companies to find the flaws in, and improve their products.
  The server was running Mac OS8, File Sharing, Open Transport 1.2, WebStar 2.1, and Lasso (for connecting to FileMaker Pro databases).
  The whole ordeal lasted about 15 hours (= 3 panfried pepperoni, 2 BBQ Meatlovers with cheesy crust, 2 Hawian and 10 litres of Coke), and was achieved by exploiting a flaw in Lasso. Apparantly Starfire couldn't find any flaws in WebStar or the MacOS components.
  Have a look at hacke.infinit.se

Spawn...the movie that is. Seen it? Done on Macs.

Party of Five, a vice of mine: Bailey finally gets it on with Kali. Lucky Pri... Lad. If he wouldn't, well... Unemployed student going cheap!
(N.B. we are a little behind the U.S. here in the land of Oz.)

Rockstar Studios, the Gurus that brought us FreePPP (whose talents and expertise in simplicity, Apple would have better off buying than Power Computing) have released FreePPP 2.6. Rockstar boast a 30% improvement in throughput over version 2.5. (Haven't tested it yet as my Modem died on me again last week.)
  At present FreePPP 2.6 is a component of their latest effort at simpification of the whole Net Thang, Gearbox. Gearbox is sort of like Peter Lewis' Internet Config, but on a serious dose of Rhino DNA (even uses some of Internet Configs settings).
  I had a look and it was pretty cool except for the fact that it trashed my MacTCP DNR file. I don't know why but fortunately I had a backup (the one time I've backed up my faithful IICX since I bought it 3 yrs ago). I think it's (Gearbox) optimised for Open Transport which I don't use as at 16MhZ it's a tad sluggish.
  A free 30 day fully functioning demo is available from Rockstar Studios as we speak. Verdict: Definitely worth a look (especially for this cool little Tab animation in the Gearbox interface)

This month I saw an Apple advertisement for the Black Performa in the Computer section of the Classified Ads in the Sydney Morning Herald. Maybe there'll be another one next year. Good work Apple. But be carefull, you don't create too much hype.