Macworld will be starting up in a little under three hours, but its two most interesting developments seem to have already leaked -- or at least convincing hoaxes have been created to back up the two most talked-about rumors.

First up: the new headless iMac. There are some pictures here, although irritable Mac zealots seem to think they might be fakes. I guess I'm sort of hoping they are -- iHome is an unfortunately dopey name. A sub-$500 Mac would be exciting whatever it looked like, though. I'm not likely to ever switch, but I've got to admit they're sexy machines. It'd be nice to be able to buy a computer that just works when Grandma decides she wants to try email.

Second is the iPod micro. An Italian Mac news site claims to have seen the device, and the answer to everyone's question: there's no screen. It's shaped "like a small remote control". They also have photos of banners being put up for the product's announcement. The slogan? "Life is random". Er... great. They're not going to sell you on the device, they're going to sell you on shuffle mode.

Well, it's true that lots of folks are stupidly excited about shuffle mode. And it's true that some of those people are journalists with nothing worthwhile to write about. But I think Jobs may have miscalculated if he's counted this as a cultural phenomenon that can Apple can cash in on. The iPod is a runaway hit because it's pretty, because it was first to market, and because of its interface. Aside from that nifty scroll wheel, you can get more bang for your buck from a variety of other products. Get rid of the screen and you're getting rid of most of your interface advantage. I have no doubt it'll be a beautiful piece of gadgetry, but at $150 for a gigabyte of storage, paying for that Apple cachet is getting harder and harder to justify.