Quick Take: What’s Really Happening In Macdom.

It’s been a busier than normal week. If it’s not politics it’s baseball history. If it’s not new Macs it’s new software. Clearly, there’s more going on than any one could possibly keep up with. Except me, the blonde. I’ll keep it brief.

Yankee’s fans are licking their wounds, while Apple fans lick the good news. More Apple retail stores on the way. The latest strategy? Mini-Me stores near the larger Apple stores. Business 2.0 says little Apple store are coming.

The current stores range from 4,500 square feet to 20,000 square feet in size. The mini-me stores will weigh in at 300 to 1,500 square feet. Is Apple planning to sell other small consumer electronic devices besides the iPod?

If you haven’t heard yet (New Yorkers are in depression and may have missed it; Bostonians are too giddy to understand or care) Apple released new iMacs. Faster and cheaper at the same time.

Apple also announced a special music event scheduled for next week. Look for a black iPod pre-loaded with U2 music. Oh, how about iTunes Music Stores for the rest of Europe, Australia, and Canada? On their way. New iBooks? Below.

New PowerBooks? Below.

Amazon announced that Mac OS X Tiger would be served on March 31st of next year. Then quickly retracted the news and order ability when the Yankees lost their third straight to the Sox. Once the Sox had it bagged, Amazon moved the Tiger release date to June 2005.

Everyone’s favorite multi-platform legal download music service won an award as the best download music service. Click Here to see why iTunes is still the best, what won the People’s Choice Award for best music website (unofficial); hint, it’s Madonnalicious.

What? Security holes in Safari, Mozilla, Firefox, and Camino? Good thing I switched to OmniWeb. Click Here for Secunia’s latest wolf whistle.

OK, we got security holes, but no PowerBook G5s until next year. In an unusual move, David Moody, Apple’s VP of Worldwide Mac Product Marketing, says Apple fans should not be looking for new PowerBooks before Christmas. Now, should we not be looking because they want to sell what they have and then surprise us for Christmas? Or should we not be looking because they don’t want us to stop buying while we wait?

I may be blonde but I know a line when I hear one.

Oh, about those iPods you had trouble getting earlier this year because there were not enough to go around? There may be a few more million sold between now and New Year’s 2005, but “holiday demand could make the mid-’80s run on Cabbage Patch Kids look like child’s stuff.”

So says writer Todd Inoue in an article about Steve Jobs, retail stores, and records (you know, those things people swapped before MP3s). Click Here to find out how someone can equate iPods to cabage patch dolls. And why.

Finally, in a stunning turnaround, MacWorld/MacCentral magazine (the online guys) have decided that shareware is for real and will now give us reviews of all the applications we’ve been reviewing for many moons. Or more. Click Here to get the scoop on Default Folder X, DragThing (required to be a writer on this staff), and others.

One final note. Are Bill Gates and Steve Jobs friends again (photo above)? Sure, just like John Kerry and George W. Bush are good buddies. They share a stage, but each has his own agenda.

Oh, New York. Who’s your daddy?

Check out the daily list of our 9 Word mini-Reviews at NoodleMac, and Kate's daily in-depth Mac software reviews at PixoBebo.