But don't think for a second that Apple somehow came out the loser in this half-week-long paean to rich guys and the geeks who follow them online. Au contraire: There's no way Apple's going to drop anything juicy at someone else's party. Remember, these are the guys who rent out theaters and hire Bono to hawk new music players, and upstage all of CES by previewing a cell phone that won't ship for another six months. Announce an iPhone launch date and reveal its surprise features? Unveil the new subportable MacBook? Not at the Wall Street Journal's Party. Apple saves the goods for its own stage, a stage that by design need not be staged with Bill Gates' magic table nor Jeff Hawkins', uh ... uh ... whatever the Palm Foleo is supposed to be.

So with WWDC and the iPhone launch right around the corner (be they simultaneous or separate events), el Steveo wasn't about to waste his flavor at D5. But he also had to show something. So he threw Walt the YouTube bone. Pretty smart move. Why? Three reasons.

First, Apple basically kept an eye on what hackers were doing with Apple TV and legtimized one of the cooler things they saw. Apple TV has more or less flopped thus far - sure it's easy to use, but it's so outclassed, features-wise, by most every other media streamer out there, it's hard to imagine it ever gaining traction outside of hardcore Apple fanboys and modders. Adding YouTube compatibility gives Apple TV a fighting chance by hopping on a huge bandwagon without laying out much in the way of R&D or mission creep. Also, since nobody minds lousy video quality on YouTube ("It's so much fun, who cares?" -- sound familiar?) anyway, it's the perfect content source for Apple and their stubbornly non-HD TV box.

Second, Apple played nice with the other kids at D5 while managing to keep iPhone mania (and its baby sister, WWDC mania) alive and kicking. YouTube on Apple TV is noteworthy without being overly revealing. Everyone cares about iPhone, and a decent chunk of people care about Leopard and MacBook Pro refreshes, and those are clearly the next big news items to come from Cupertino. But YouTube on Apple TV is going to raise a few eyebrows and move a few units, so it was a worthy mention without, you know, being important enough to save for the next Applefest. Hence the iPhone (et al) hype machine will continue in overdrive for a few more weeks.

Third, look at the two big products to be announced at D5: Microsoft Surface and Palm Foleo. Neither one really matters to consumers right now. Surface is, on first glance, potentially worthy of superlatives like, "paradigm shifting" and "revolutionary." But it's saddled with a $10k price tag and bound for retail outlets and custom-install business clients in the near term, so it's nothing the average Joe is going to put on his Christmas list. At least not this year. Foleo, on the other hand, is a mess. If I wind up eating those words in a few months, fine. But the more I think about it the less I can believe that Palm staked what might have been its last real breath on this. In Palm's own words, it's a "Smartphone Companion." You can check out Palm's website if you need more than that. At any rate, it's hard for me to imagine Foleo flying off the shelves.

So that leaves Apple in a prime position to get some free press for a minor software bump that could actually drive a few sales while - I'll say it again - not wasting any of their carefully choregraphed hype on a shared spotlight. That's what Apple's all about - buzz. Okay, buzz and innovative products. But nobody does buzz like Apple.

Meanwhile, now that time has passed since I started writing ... Steve got to share a stage with Billy Gates and basically make nice and talk tech for awhile. And maintain Apple's primo standing with Uncle Walt. Lovely. Bring on iPhone and WWDC.