Cube, Colors and Oblong Mouse Highlight This Year's Macworld

It's not every day that a new computer mouse moves thousands of people to applause. Macworld only happens once a year.

Apple's (AAPL Quote) annual New York trade show kicked off Wednesday with a keynote address from CEO Steve Jobs. His presentation was met with the usual enthusiasm from the rabid Apple faithful, who greeted each new iMac color that was announced -- indigo, ruby, sage and snow -- with all the reserve of a college hockey crowd.

Product highlights included an oblong optical mouse that replaces the round device that many users have found awkward to operate, and a new line of Power Macs with dual-G4 processors. Jobs concluded his keynote by unveiling Apple's new desktop product, the Cube -- a G4-powered machine that's crammed, as its name suggests, into an 8-inch cube suspended in a clear plastic case. ...