It's a time-honored staple of the rumor hound's diet, and who are we to keep your from your recommended daily allowance of unsubstantiated dirt? Therefore, it is with great pleasure that we give you today's installment of Apple's Having Another Metaphorical Slap-Fight with a Graphics Chip Manufacturer Theater. The nutritionally aware among you will no doubt recall the vast stores of hot, nourishing drama we all mined from that alleged Apple-ATI tussle a couple of years ago, when ATI accidentally let slip a few juicy nuggets about Apple's upcoming Macs in a press release a couple of days before Macworld Expo. Mmmm, we all ate well that week, didn't we?

As you're no doubt aware, more recently Apple did the same sort of thing to its new bestest graphics buddy nVIDIA-- first by shipping new Power Macs with GeForce4 MX cards before nVIDIA had thrown that chip a coming-out party, and then later by issuing a press release touting the new GeForce4 Titanium as a Power Mac build-to-order option-- exactly a day before nVIDIA was supposed to unveil that product amid much hype and hoopla. There's no question that Apple knows it screwed up; the company retracted the press release due to "incorrect information" and then reissued the same piece, unchanged, the next day. Ever since, we've been wondering if sparks are flying behind the scenes.

Well, faithful viewer David Nagler tipped us off to an unconfirmed reader submission over at Mac OS Rumors about just that sort of nail-biting tension, and since when have we ever let a little thing like credibility get in the way of a good time? Head on over for the smack on how nVIDIA's lateness with the GeForce4 prevented Apple from unveiling the new Power Macs at last month's Expo, as intended-- and how Apple subsequently slapped an ATI RADEON in its new entry-level Power Mac and made liars of nVIDIA, who were forced to remove prominent links to its press release titled "NVIDIA Graphics Technology Now Standard in all Apple Desktops." Ooooh, it's just twisted.

Now, of course, it's entirely possible that these reports are a) exaggerated, or b) outright false, but we'd be surprised if there weren't at least a little tension between nVIDIA and the Cupertino crew right now. A smidge? Frosty looks exchanged? Anything? Hmmm. Maybe it's just us...