Coastalbeat.com

First of all, before you start reading about the intense list of Apple rumors and supposed leaks, go and check out TheSpeedGamers.com for the end of their 72-hour Mega Man Marathon. They've been playing since earlier this weekend sunup and sundown and running a fund-raiser for the Earthday Network (EarthDay.net) with a goal to reach $7,000 by the 19th. The marathon is centered around multiple Mega Man games, including some favorites of mine like the Legend series, and it should end around 6PM CST Sunday. One last thing: there is actually a rock band based in Los Angeles, CA, called The Megas, and they're music is focused on Mega Man and they've done covers of the original in-game music. Add that to your trivia bank. Now, onto the rest of the article!

If there is ever any tech company that can produce such an exciting buzz or crazy anticipation leading up to future products and releases like Apple, I can't say that I've seen one. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Apple: I don't own an Apple product to this date, although there are a handful that do interest me. It mostly comes down to the age-old Mac vs. PC debate, and I'm a PC. There is no other way of saying it, and even the truth that for many people there is still this cultural division between the two bothers me. If you look at Apple's great “Get a Mac” campaign, you'll see it in the discourse between John Hodgeman (representing the PC or Windows OS) and Justin Long (representing the Mac and Apple's OS X). Windows has made it's own remarks in some of their Laptop Hunter's campaigns where they focus on the price difference between Apple and various Windows-based systems, I remember an example where an actor once said with disgust: “I'm just not cool enough to be a Mac person.” You can call it culture, you can call it marketing, but this divide between the two can aggravate some of the hardier techies like myself.

That being said, when there is an outburst of questionable Apple leaks and rumors showing off a new piece of hardware or some list of upcoming feature, I turn into the giddiest kid on Christmas Eve! I just go nuts at what lies around the corner, on the edge in anticipation when making each turn, and this latest buzz is no exception. What has been going on for some time now, although at a much quieter volume, is talk of an upcoming Apple mobile-tablet device. This item would be much larger than the size of your generic hand, and therefore expected to be bigger than your iPhone device. It's speculated to be a large multi-touch screen with the similar capabilities of a netbook or possibly a fully-capable notebook computer, entirely interacted by the facet of touch like the iPhone or iPod Touch. The name is, as always, still being guessed at in a number of fashions since most rumored Apple devices aren't confirmed until they appear in some official press release, or are displayed during a large conference event. However, some of the names given to this concept are iTablet, MacTablet, iTouch, and iPad.

Just recently some intriguing information has leaked out of various places, and are fueling the fires of my inner-child's heart in excitement for this concept. The large bookstore company Borders had for some reason listed an unknown Apple “iPAD” device in an online customer survey, saying that it was a large-screen reading device. Any possible confusion between the iPAD and the iPod Touch may not be possible since they also include the iPhone and the iTouch (more correctly known as the iPod Touch) in the list. Also note that they say the device would be available to purchase later this year. Although this is not any confirmation that an iPAD actually exists, it's just another puzzle piece to add to the picture.

Another piece would be a supposed leaked picture of the device on a French blog (although with no listed source), and it appears to be a small laptop-like display with one single button near the bottom of the face of the device. Now, even though so many of these allegedly “leaked” photos of other then-unreleased or never-released devices end up being confirmed fakes or poor photoshop products, this image actually looks pretty decent. And note that the popular technology blog Gizmodo had originally made a post regarding this leak earlier, but it has since disappeared from their blog article index entirely, for whatever reason that may be. The image itself can lead us to think that the device is driven almost entirely by touching the display screen, with an easy returnable home button on the front panel. It looks much larger than a mobile cellphone placed next to it for size comparison, too.

One last puzzle piece I'd like to mention is that Apple recently did some secretive commercial filming in a diner located in Truckee, CA, for an unreleased product, which meant that security was high and information was passed around on a need-to-know basis. This happened only on this last Tuesday, which would play in the timing of the more recent leaks and rumors as mentioned above. In addition to that, there have been other “leaked” pictures of a new iPod Touch with a camera. However, those have been tossed back and forth as fakes even more than the picture of the iPAD I spoke of earlier.

If you ask me, I'm shocked at the comfortable fit with all of these puzzle pieces laid before us. However, I'm well aware of the highs and lows of the Apple rumor wheel, so these may all just be duds before us... but whatever it may be, it's bound to happen very soon.