I was reading an article over on lowendmac, about the 500 day tenyear of Gil Amelio, and in it, they mentioned the canceld Powerbook: project mercury. I know "Mercury" was the codename for the original Powerbook G4. but, this is what was mentioned in the article:
"The most glaring example was the PowerBook Mercury. Designed for mobile salespeople, the notebook had a detachable display the could be propped on an easel for presentations or held in a hand to read a spec sheet or other document.
The product was cool, but there was a flaw. The logic card, power supply, and battery were all housed in the display, making it almost impossible to use Mercury as a notebook - the computer would dive backwards.
Amelio canceled the project immediately."
I was wondering, does anybody have any more info on this intreguing cancelled project? things like known prototypes out in the wild, photos of the beast, confirmation of it's existance, etc.?
thanks. -digital 
You know, it wouldn't surprise me if the PowerBook 3400's body wasn't at first the prototype body for this Mercury. The 3400's display housing has a LOT of extra space (ostensibly for the extra two speakers)...
Maybe...maybe not...
I've heard about that machine, and as far as I know, it never got far enough along to even have a prototype.
It had to be in some form of prototype if they had discovered it would fall over..
Naaah, a napkin sketch would have made that obvious.