I promise this will be the last time I mention the iPhone, really

Those boys and girls at Apple continue to throw a few scraps out to the hungry, tired internet masses as we continue the death march toward MacWorld. The latest not-really-confirmation-but-maybe-possible-suggestion of the iPhone comes in the form of a curiously-timed iChat update, which was just released, a few days shy of Steve's keynote. Hmm, an iChat update, you say? So close to the release of Leopard? Well, why would they ever release such a thing now? It's not as if Apple is planning on releasing some sort of device that might sync up with iChat... While you're filling in the blanks there, I'll let you chew on this, Apple's official statement that accompanies the update, which allegedly "renews the .Mac certificate required by iChat for encrypting text, audio, and video conferences." That's all? Well, there's also a little bit of "This document will be updated as more information becomes available," to fan the flames of speculation. First one to crack open the code and discover any sign of the iPhone gets on the front page of Digg!

For more on the iChat update:
- see this post at Engadget