SHUFFLIN' ON DOWN, DOIN' IT FOR YOU

So I went up to the big Macworld Expo last week and realized something I hadn't about the iPod Shuffle.

It's bling.

No screen? No scroll wheel? Not the point. The point is, "I have an iPod" and, perhaps more importantly, "You don't." All over the convention floor I saw people wearing newly-purchased iPod Shuffles around their necks. The thing was, they weren't listening to them. They didn't even have the headphones plugged in. They were just wearing them. For the hell of it.

"I have one. You don't."

ALSO: Little seemed to be a theme at Macworld. Tiny iPods. Mac Minis. Unfortunately, the show itself also seemed to be going along with that theme. While there are usually two huge show floors -- one with the major players and one with the mom and pop operations -- this year there was but one.

So, while I normally avoid the secondary showroom, the combined expo floor meant that I had the opportunity to be accosted by some guy at a booth asking me to "join the fight against the establishment media." Much to this guy's surprise, I was actually interested in what he had to say. So he told me all about how they were fighting to publish The Truth -- about what I never found out -- in a diatribe that continued until he looked at my name badge and realized that I WAS the establishment media. Our conversation then quickly turned to the NFL Playoffs. (Speaking of: Fucking Patriots. I'm getting sick of them.)

MEANWHILE: Check out the footnotes on Apple's iPod Shuffle page... and it seems one of the top search phrases for my Web site this month is "Steve Jobs loves smoothies." But you know, who doesn't?