Steve Jobs's latest Applefest was a nonevent, with nothing more to show than updates to the iPod line and iTunes software. But the cheers at the glorified press conference yesterday were as blustery as they ever are at Apple events. Newsweek's Dan Lyons must have been bored by what was being said on stage, because he was paying more attention to the rest of the audience. He reports that much of the crowd was clapping so loud because they were paid to.

I’m still trying to figure out why they held an actual event today instead of just putting out a press release. As a fellow filthy hack commented to me after the big show, “Can you imagine if Sony did this?” Nevertheless, there was much cheering and shouting and clapping and whooping, even though much of it came from Apple employees who had been instructed to remove their green event T-shirts so they’d look like regular members of the public. I’m not making that up. Friends, it’s true — Apple brings along its own employees and has them cheer like mad for their own products.

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