Ever since Gollum lost his fave ring in a scuffle with Frodo in Mount Doom, he’s been looking for a new precioussss - and he’s found it: an iPod touch.

Well, maybe not good ol’ Gollum himself, but actor Andy Serkis, who provided the voice and motion-capture for The Hobbit Formerly Known As Smeagol in The Lord of The Rings film trilogy, seems quite completely immersed in Apple’s Reality Distortion Field.

In a recent interview in The Guardian, Serkis admits to being a Machead and says that his iPod has made him anti-social.

I’m a die-hard Apple user and I’ve recently got an iPod Touch which is really cool. I’m just getting going on my directing stuff and it’s great for storing photos and music and all sorts of stuff.

It’s probably made me more anti-social. Because it’s widescreen, it’s perfect for filmmaking. The best thing about it is that format. When you store photos on it, it’s great, it’s the right ratio.”

Since the iPhone has recently become available in his little corner of Middle Earth, Serkis is thinking of moving up to one from his current iPod. But despite his fanaticism for all things Apple, he’s not quite sure if he’s a nerd or a luddite.

I’m very firmly with one leg in each camp. Sometimes, there are certain things I’m rubbish at. There’s the classic, the setting of the video recorder, I’m rubbish at that and I’m very slow on the computer. I’m quick at the applications I use a lot but I’m very slow picking things up.

Valleywag has posted a video where Apple founder Steve “Woz” Wozniak meets Dan “Fake Steve Jobs” Lyons. Woz introduces Lyons to the audience and presents him with a real black mock turtleneck from the Apple mothership.

Now all we need to wait for is when Fact actually meets Fiction - although I’m not quite sure how good a sport Real Steve Jobs is these days. Let’s all hope.

It’s hard not to talk about Apple and Steve Jobs without mentioning the other Steve - Steve Wozniak.

Long since parted ways from Apple, Woz was instrumental in the creation of the first Apple Computers and the Mac (and that’s putting it mildly: Jobs was just the sales guy, really; all the tech magic came from Wozniak), and he’s largely the well from which originally sprung the Apple mythos and ethic. Today the Apple co-founder does his own thing, but remains a big influence on the industry.

On the eve of the Leopard release, Laptop Magazine’s website posted a lengthy interview with Steve Wozniak on how he views all things Apple today, 30 years since he left, and is an interesting read. One great nugget, re iPhone hijinks:

From a business point of view, Apple owns what they have done. They have a right to lock it. But I am really for the unlockers, the rebels trying to make it free. I’d really like it to be open to new applications. I’d like to install some nice games. Why in the world can I not install a ringtone that I’ve made? How would that hurt AT&T’s network? Here is Steve Jobs sending letters to the record companies saying [they] should provide music that’s unprotected, but here he is taking the opposite approach with the iPhone. I don’t know to what extent AT&T is involved in the thinking and direction.”

Took the words right outta my mouth. Read more of Woz’s Words here.

Japan’s Apple Store in Tokyo is in the high-end shopping district called Ginza. Specifically, Block 3, or Ginza 3. The location is a bit intimidating for the budget-conscious among us, since it’s ensconced in a place where across the street is Tiffany’s and Bvlgari, but the prices seem to be roughly the same as in Manila, my home base. Its advantage is that everything is there.

It’s roughly in the middle of the enormous shopping area, and only the Ginza subway line goes directly there (the cab flagdown rate is Y660, so that option was out). You’d have to know which exit to get out of to avoid walking a lot. I was told to find exit A13 which pops out right across the street from the store, in front of the classy Matsuya Department Store.

The Ginza store has the distinction of being the first Apple Store to open outside of the United States, and I was excited to go there. I had broken off rooting for stuff in Akihabara (something I could have happily done for weeks) Friday afternoon to go to Ginza for the Leopard launch, not realizing that being an authentic Apple Store, they’d shut it down for a couple of hours before the 6pm release.

I was there 4:01.

There were some guys at the door, and oblivious me tried barging in only to be stopped by one of them saying in rapid Nippongo that I should line up like everyone else, or something like that. I took a look to one side and saw the forming line and it dawned on me I wouldn’t be able to get in for a couple of hours yet.

After the Apple guy realized I didn’t speak Japanese, he managed to explain that they had just closed in prep for the 6pm launch, and that I should line up. I went to the end of the line, which was nearly a block long already, and waited. The people around me all had white earbuds on, and they were all just calmly looking around. I realized I was among my kind and relaxed. (I did cause a bit of attention when I pulled out an iPhone to listen to music - their phone system requires 3G, so an iPhone was a rare thing over there.)

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Al Gore’s been put on the front page of the Apple website to honor him for winning the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts at making the planet aware of global warming. Another award! Way to go, Al.

We just wonder though if his being on the Apple board have anything to do with it. The bigger wonder is seeing Jobs be the suck-up this time around.

But, really, Al deserves it anyway.

(Sorry for all the screencaps and Macpics lately. Have been in Fort Ilocandia, Ilocos Norte for a conference for the past few days and it’s been hell posting anything from here. Things’ll normalize tomorrow, don’t worry.)