Woo, what a downer that was. What say we lighten things up a bit with a little wacky pop culture hoo-haa before we sign off? Now, we all know that the iPod officially made the leap from "cool product" to "wide-ranging social phenomenon" sometime within the past year or so, but we have to admit that we weren't quite aware of just how deeply entrenched this whole thing has become-- possibly because we don't live in New York City, where the iPod has apparently welded itself permanently to the city's gestalt consciousness to such a degree that it's always hovering at the edge of everybody's mind. You know, like pizza. Or Bullwinkle.

Don't believe us? Well, maybe you'll believe WIRED, which reports that a simple search through NYC classified ads turns up far more (and far more revealing) references to iPods than just simple "for sale" notices. The iPod has become so firmly ensconced in the social order that it's now the bartering tool of choice, often requested instead of cash in exchange for performing certain, ahem, personal services. When cash is requested instead, it's often because the person either wants to buy an iPod or needs rent money because he or she already bought one. There's one guy asking for advice because his girlfriend dissed the swanky purse he bought her and wants an iPod instead. Another guy offered an iPod to any girl who'd pose as his girlfriend while his parents were in town. It's everywhere, we tell you.

And it's not just used as currency; indeed, the reason it's practically legal tender is because it's such an omnipresent accessory in the Big Apple. The iPod makes frequent appearances in the personal ads, both in lists of likes and dislikes (generally in the "likes" column, but not always) and as an identifier for "missed connections" ("Where are you my iPod man?"). It also serves as a continual topic of philosophical discussions among posters who debate the "meaning of the iPod on New York's streets."

WIRED lists a slew of examples of such listings in the New York craigslist classifieds, and notes that searches for iPod references in craiglists for "San Francisco, Los Angeles or London fail to return anywhere near the volume of posts, or anything like the same results." So why such rampant iPodism in NYC? Well, some people argue that the people in that city are simply more evolved than the rest of us who live in two-bit podunk burgs, but our sources report that New York is actually the guinea pig in a years-long Apple experiment involving certain behavior-modifying chemicals deposited in the city's water supply. Finally, a reasonable explanation for Apple's wild-eyed opposition to Macworld Expo's move to Boston!