Remember the fuss stirred up last month when an Intel exec talked about a future iPhone that would be powered by one of Intel’s Atom chips? (See Anatomy of a Rumor: The Atom-powered Newton iPhone.)

What gave the rumor legs — and generated more than a dozen headlines on Techmeme — was the kind of iPhone that the Atom was alleged to be powering: a mini-tablet device like the ill-fated Apple Newton.

Well, the story is back, but this time in a form that makes more sense — and may shed light on what that Intel exec was really talking about in May.

On Thursday, JoAnne Feeney, an analyst with FTN Midwest, reported in a note to clients that the next generation of iPhones will in fact be powered by one of the CPUs in the Intel Atom line — a class of microprocessors designed for use in ultra-mobile PCs, smart phones and other portable and low-power applications.

As Barron’s Eric Savitz helpfully notes, Feeney is not talking about the iPhone 3G set to go on sale July 11. That one is still powered, as far as anyone outside Apple or Hon Hai knows, by the same Samsung ARM that drives the 2G model. She’s talking about a new and presumably better iPhone, due to arrive in 2009 or maybe 2010.

Neither Feeney or Savitz say anything about a mini-tablet.

Neither, for that matter, did Intel Germany CEO Hannes Schwaderer, speaking at an Intel event on May 14. Here’s the passage that set off last month’s rumors, as reported by ZDNet.de and translated by MacRumors:

“As part of an Intel event for the 40th birthday of the semiconductor company at Munich’s BMW World, Germany managing director Hannes Schwaderer confirmed today what has long been a rumor on the Internet: namely, that there is an iPhone with Intel’s new Atom chip. The device is slightly larger than the current version, Schwaderer said. That is not, however, because of the Intel chip, but because of the larger display used in the new iPhone.” (link)

Intel later denied that Schwaderer mentioned a larger display — or said anything about any future Apple (AAPL) products, for that matter.

Which makes a next-generation Atom-powered iPhone important news for Intel (INTC) and, presumably, Samsung (SSUN.F). But for the rest of us, not so much.

[Update: the stores are back up and sure enough, the iMac product line has been updated. Same prices, better specs. Apple press release here.]

Apple’s online stores were closed early Monday around the world, a pretty dependable sign that new products were about to be announced.

The most likely candidate: an upgraded iMac. Last week Geeksugar, a rumor site with a good track record, passed along word that Apple would soon be refreshing its line of desktop computers with bigger hard drives and faster (presumable Intel Penryn) processors. (link)

According to AppleInsider, a memo out of Cupertino gave some of Apple’s (AAPL) U.S. retail partners a heads-up on the new iMacs and that placeholders for the computers have appeared on BestBuy’s computers. (link)

The successor to the original 1998 Bondi-blue iMac G3, the current Intel (INTC) Core 2 Duo aluminum iMac was introduced Aug. 7 in two models, a 20″ and a 24″.

Apple usually announces new products on Tuesdays.

MacRumors has issued an update of its immensely useful Buyer’s Guide — a consumer-oriented cheat sheet that tracks the update cycle of Apple’s product line and offers informed opinions about whether you should go ahead buy that MacBook Pro you’ve been lusting after or wait for the next model. As MacRumors put it:

Apple updates their products in a very consistent manner. A Mac comes out at a certain price with certain features. The price and features of that particular Mac stay exactly the same throughout the lifespan of the product. So, if a customer buys on Day #1, they are getting the fastest/newest technology for the dollar. The problem, however, is that 8 months later, on the day prior to its refresh, that Mac costs the exact same money, but contains 8 month old technology. (link)

Although based on rumors and second-hand reports, the Guide is pretty dependable, especially since Apple (AAPL) switched to Intel chips. Intel (INTC) is quite open about its product plans, and Apple tends to switch to their newest processors in a fairly predictable timeframe. (Although as MacRumors notes, Intel’s switch to the Nehalem microarchitecture, due late this year, could stretch out some Apple product cycles.)

To see the full 2008-2009 Buyer’s Guide, click here. This is a summary of their recommendations:

• iPod classic: Buy only if you need it - Approaching the end of a cycle
• iPod touch: Neutral - Mid product cycle
• iPod nano: Buy only if you need it - Approaching the end of a cycle
• iPod shuffle: Buy - Product recently updated
• Mac mini: Don’t Buy - Updates soon
• Mac Pro: Neutral - Mid product cycle
• MacBook: Buy - Product recently updated
• MacBook Pro: Buy - Product recently updated
• iPhone: Buy only if you need it - Approaching the end of a cycle
• LCDs: Don’t Buy - Updates soon
• Xserve: Buy - Product recently updated

There’s lots more information in the full Buyer’s Guide, including historical release dates, days since update and links to recent news.

One caveat: you take a risk when you buy a computer on Day #1, as MacRumors suggests. You might want to monitor Apple’s discussion boards for few weeks to see what problems emerge. Let the company and the users who like to live on the bleeding edge work out the kinks before you buy.

Apple (AAPL) just released OS X 10.5 Leopard, but a team of programmers has already figured out how to install the new operating system on off-the-shelf Intel PCs. See DailyApps‘ tutorial here for step-by-step instructions.

The procedure is still experimental and has not been thoroughly tested. Some system preferences, like Sound and Network, may never work.

It’s a tour de force nonetheless, one that reminds us of the remark Samuel Johnson made in less enlightened times about women preachers. Like a dog walking on his hind legs, he said, “It is not done well, but you are surprised to find it done at all.”

Warning: Using Leopard this way is a violation of Apple’s license agreement, which states: “This License allows you to install, use and run one (1) copy of the Apple Software on a single Apple-labeled computer at a time.”

[Image courtesy of mac.nub]

How times have changed.

In 1998, while I was still working for TIME magazine, Andy Grove stopped by to chat with the editors about the wrenching changes the Internet was going to force on the computer industry. Future PCs, he said, wouldn’t be general purpose computers to which networking has been added as an afterthought, but networking machines that also do computing. “The iMac embodies a lot of the things I’m talking about,” Grove said. “Sometimes what Apple does has an electrifying effect on the rest of us.”

I went back to my desk and banged out a one-graph story for Time.com. “Intel chairman Andy Grove,” I wrote, “has seen the future of computing and it is … a Macintosh.”

The next day I got a call from Intel PR. Grove wasn’t particularly happy about the piece, but he was positively livid about the headline that ran above it — ANDY GROVE LOVES HIS MAC — because it implied that the chairman of Intel (INTC) actually owned an Apple (AAPL) computer. We printed a version of the story in the magazine the next week with a different headline, and Intel was mollified — although the next time I saw Grove he smiled and said if I ever did that again he would sue.

I’m reminded of all this by a Q&A I read yesterday with the current CEO of Intel, Paul Otellini. He’s not ashamed to admit that he uses Apple products. In fact, he says,

“My wife and I both have iPhones. My wife came in with a jacket for her phone. She was all excited. It’s a flimsy little thing. It cost $39. It probably cost 6¢ to make.” He adds that he uses a ThinkPad for work and a MacBook Pro for his personal life, including his personal photos and music. (link)

Only nine years have passed, but how times have changed.