The talks come as Apple is separately racing to offer a portable, full-featured, tablet-sized computer in time for the Christmas shopping season, in what the entertainment industry hopes will be a new revolution. The device could be launched alongside the new content deals, including those aimed at stimulating sales of CD-length music, according to people briefed on the project…

Apple is working with EMI, SonyMusic, Warner Music and Universal Music Group, on a project the company has codenamed “Cocktail”, according to four people familiar with the situation. The labels and Apple are working towards a September launch date for the project, which aims to boost interest in albums by bundling liner notes and video clips with the music.

The new touch-sensitive device Apple is working on will have a screen that may be up to 10 inches diagonally.

It will connect to the internet like the iPod Touch – probably without phone capability but with access to Apple’s online stores.

“It’s going to be fabulous for watching movies,” said one entertainment executive.

Book publishers have been in talks with Apple and are optimistic about their services being offered with the new computer, which could provide an alternative to Amazon’s Kindle.

Apple Tablet Artist's Rendering. Courtesy Gizmodo

Once upon a time, my former boss in a gadget distribution company confidently asserted that Apple wouldn’t come out with a phone—it wasn’t Apple’s area of expertise, she said. A week later the first iPhone debuted.

That’s the thing with rumors. You can speculate all you want, but there are only two ways to be really sure: during the actual product unveiling, or if someone from the inside leaks (or “leaks”) details. In any case, what’s wrong with a bit of speculation?

For

Apple increasing focus on the iPhone and iPod Touch—at the cost of “traditional” iPods—points towards a willingness to launch a tablet. The sales figures have made it clear for the company: one-(or two- or three-) trick ponies are on their way out, as customers choosing gadgets that can do more than just play music or videos. Any Apple Tablet should be, at the very least, a souped-up iPod touch.

Against

Why should there be an Apple Tablet? Hasn’t Apple already covered all bases with the iPod touch/iPhone (mobile), the Macbook (portable), and the iMac/Mac Pro (desktop)? Why would a company known for its perennially sparse catalog add to its product line?

What do you think? Feel free to comment below. (Source)

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What do you think of the rumored interface? It looks too flashy for its own good, taking too much time to animate elements unnecessarily. No doubt the eye candy is sweet, but as our source says, it will probably grow old quickly. Maybe there will be an option to disable the more complicated UI animations? In any case, word on the virtual streets is that the Sony Ericsson “Rachael” will:

• Be part of the Sony Ericsson Xperia family, joining the Xperia X1
• Run on a modified Android OS interface
• Use the Qualcomm QSD8250 Snapdragon platform. The processor-chipset setup promises speeds of up to 1 GHz, and is apparently capable of 3D graphics
• Support HSPA
• Feature an 8 megapixel camera with auto-focus
• Boast a 4″ touchscreen with WVGA (800 x 480) resolution
• Make use of a 3.5mm standard earphone jack and a miniUSB port

Updates to follow as they become available, so stay tuned!

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Not sure if this is legit, but future plans for the Dell’s Mini Inspirons have allegedly been leaked.

Another thing to note is the internal question asking whether future Dell Minis should run on 1.86Ghz Atom processors or not. The additional brain power is a plus, but the $75 addition to the price is a minus, and may turn off buyers.

This leak (if true) is good news, because it’s yet another sign that Dell’s sticking to its promises for the Mini Inspiron 10. Reported leaks on the more full-sized Mini Inspiron 12 were also made available. Click on the thumbnails below to see larger-size versions of the documents purportedly proving the leak.

(images and source: NetbookNews.de)

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The legacy of Microsoft continues to be Internet Explorer 6. The widely-used browser continues to cause nightmares for both web developers and visitors alike. The former needed to take special, arbitrary steps to make their creations work properly, while the latter discovered the dangers of the online world through IE6’s security flaws.

Because of this legacy, Microsoft’s dropping of (or at least stopping support for) IE6 has some wide-reaching consequences. As The Inquirer opines:

[Microsoft] has a few other problems if it wants to kill off IE. The first is the awful lot of investment some outfits have put into Active X. The other is that too much of the Web was tweaked to handle IE 6 and there would be some difficult HTML problems for any new browser.

So if the rumor is true, good luck Microsoft!

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Other juicy tidbits: the PSP 2 will be entirely digital, meaning all content will be stored on-board. If true, then the UMD format is now scheduled for obsolescence. Just rumors for now, so stay tuned for updates. Maybe it’s time to start budgeting for a new console purchase.

Thanks Gearlog!

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Now that the rumored price is out of the way—as well as the rumor that the February 24, 2009 release will kickoff with a launch sale, continue reading to see an entire gallery of apparently intentionally-leaked marketing pics.

(click on the thumbnails for larger-sized versions; click those to see the full-size jewels)

I’ve never really been into e-readers, but I did enjoy reading The Count of Monte Cristo via iSilo on my long-lost Handspring Prism Deluxe (those were the days).

(Images courtesy of MobileRead)

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