This site's Writing on the Wall offers a one-glimpse look at where the IT industry, Apple, and the Mac are heading. For your consideration, here's another indication of a bright future for all things Apple: shopping mall photos by the famed Guy Kawasaki.

Yep, as you'd expect from the current economy, the pics show window after window of big "Huge Savings!" proclamations, with the view of said posters unhindered by any customers. 

With the exception of one brightly-lit store that has no clearance sale offers displayed – and is full of customers. Care to hazard a guess at what store that is?

Great products sell themselves, without desparate clearance campaigns. Great products let a company completely buck the trend of the day, and make a healthy business doing so. Go take a peek.

Signs of the Times

Apple announced two big shockers about the upcoming Macworld Expo 2009 in January: It'll be Apple's last appearance at Macworld, and Steve Jobs won't deliver the keynote speech.

Let's get the Steve question out of the way fast. Why is he putting the speech reins into Phil Schiller's capable, if less-anticipated, hands? We don't know. Expect lots of speculation about the CEO's health, and maybe another big stock price dip – but the truth is, it could be anything from health to schedule commitments to a personal feud with Macworld organizers to a grooming session for rising leader Phil to simply a lack of big announcements this time around. Who knows. 

The real news here is the announcement of Apple's last Macworld appearance – and thus the likely end of the Macworld show and conference itself. Macworld's demise was actually predicted long ago, by pundits tolling Apple's doom during its "dark days" of a decade or so past. So has their foresight come to pass?

Far from it. The pundits said Apple would become too small to sustain Macworld. In reality, Apple has outgrown the event. Steve's Macworld keynotes grab headlines around the world, but it's not the venue that transfixes the world; rather, it's the new products and directions that Apple introduces in those keynotes. And Apple now has its own focused media events, its own worldwide chain of stores, and of course its own heavily-trafficked web site, as venues for announcements – all without the tremendous cost, hassle, and scheduling straitjackets that are killing the trade show worldwide as a means of promotion.

Losing Macworld won't hurt Apple. Losing Steve Jobs as the keynote speaker at Macworld 2009 – or any future event from which he's absent – may take a little shine off the marketing buzz. But that's going to happen eventually, whether next year or whether (we hope) many decades later. There's no sense in fretting over it.

Let's face it: If there's any company that doesn't need a trade show or a big-name speaker to get attention, it's Apple. An Apple announcement read by a randomly-chosen janitor will still generate more "wow" than, say, a Dell announcement delivered by Queen Elizabeth, Brangelina, and the clone of Gandhi. Folks, don't fear for Apple!

Attention! A reader has an old TAM that won't power up. He asks whether there are any shops currently performing TAM repair or are interested in buying a TAM for parts. 

I came across an interesting online discussion at Apple Fritter, offering one possible fix (internal reset button) for a TAM that won't power up. It'd be great if that fixed the reader's problem!

I don't know any repair shops currently offering TAM service; I've seen some old links on old TAM sites, which are now dead. I would search for any and all shops offering Mac repair, and inquire whether they can fix a TAM, or whether they'd buy for parts. (Regarding parts, there's always the eBay option. I know many people look for TAMs on eBay; they usually want working ones, but there could be someone looking for a dead unit to cannibalize.)

Hmm, a really dedicated do-it-yourselfer could get hold of a PowerMac/Performa 5500, on whose motherboard the TAM is based, and scrounge parts from there. Naturally, I can't offer any guarantee that such a transplant is a good idea; it's an idea for the brave!

In any case, a question for all: Does anyone have info about shops offering TAM repair, vendors buying or selling TAM parts, or other advice about TAM troubleshooting? If so, please comment; I'd be happy to add good info to my Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh overview.

It's ready! I've posted a big online shrine to one of the most wonderfully strange laptops ever, the clamshell iBook. It was big, it was curvy, it was sexy, it was and still is an eye-catcher. It will forever be a Wacky Mac. 

I've got an overview, specs, video links, resources – and an original photo gallery of a rare and unforgettable face, the Key Lime iBook. Head in and take a look!

The clamshell iBook: the Mac with the sexy curves

Here’s to the wacky ones.

The cubes.
The clamshells.
The translucent candy cases.
The chrome necks suspending screens over white half-domes.
The ones who flaunt fields of flowers and dalmatian spots.
They’re not fond of beige.
And they have no respect for the floppy disk.
You can mock them, drool over them, gawk at them or yearn for them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They push the personal computer forward.
And while some may see them as the wacky ones,
We see genius.
Because the Macs who are crazy enough to think
they can change the computer,
Are the ones who did. And still do.

Introducing Wacky Mac, your guide to the strangest, most unusual Apple products ever to escape Cupertino. First up: an original hands-on guide to the most elusive Mac of all, the Twentieth Anniversay Macintosh! Overviews, specs, resources, video links, and a photo gallery of Mac'em X's own beloved TAM – I dare say it's the web's most complete guide to this stunning and little-known machine.

In progress: a look at the curvy original iBook – dubbed "the toilet seat Mac" by some! Watch for it soon – and let me know your vote for the next Wacky Mac entry. 

Wacky Mac