Happy hump day! Perhaps the giddiness of being halfway finished with the work week kept reporters and bloggers from honing in on just one theme, as they are so often wont to do. Here are the most interesting tidbits from today's mixed bag o' news.

Where is she now? If you've ever wondered what became of the green-eyed, heavy-lidded Ellen Feiss, arguably the most famous subject of the Apple Switcher ads that started running back in 2002, check out Macenstein's recent interview with the teen, who's now in college. Since appearing in the Apple ad, Ellen has starred in an indie film called Bed and Breakfast that she describes as "ridiculous" and still uses the same PowerBook G4 she owned when she was tapped for the Switcher role.

A shorter wait for iPhone? Rumors that the iPhone could be available as early as April have been circulating since Monday. The leaks seem to come from the Cingular Wireless camp, which begs the question: Steve, are you still convinced that Cingular was the best choice?

On outdoor and indoor sports. iPods are making their way into more than just the pockets and bags of students, commuters, road warriors, and music lovers. ESPN.com reports that batters for the Rockies, including Todd Helton, have improved their averages thanks to the ability to study their "greatest hits" whenever, wherever on their video iPods. There's good news for sports fans, too. If spending all day Sunday glued to the Super Bowl isn't enough for you, head to the iTunes Store Monday morning to fill up your iPod with video highlights from the game.

Vista vs. Leopard. If you're not sick of this topic yet, check out one former Apple employee's take. David Sobotta - whose Applepeels blog offers a perspective on Apple developments from someone who worked as an Apple sales executive for many years - writes that neither operating system really has anything to fear from the other. Rather, he says, "The bigger challenge for all operating systems is to provide real value in a world where more and more applications are moving to the web." For its part, though, Microsoft seems more interested in using Vista to make deeper inroads into the PC gaming market.

Mac users phone home. After a two-and-a-half-month beta period, the gold version of Skype 2.5 for Mac is now available for free public download. The Internet communications utility lets Mac users in on the free calling fun, offering the ability to send SMS messages to any mobile phone, hold conference calls, and make phone calls to other Skype users and even mobile and land-line phones (for a fee). Now, go call your mom.