Apple continues to work the company's mastery of rumor mill magic with a number of ongoing rumors. The rumor Verizon is going to announce their own iPhone—this time for sure!—again this month, for example, keeps getting recycled on the hopes that it will eventually be proven true.
Verizon is already selling another Apple product, the iPad, which is the subject of another rumor: the upcoming second-generation iPad will allegedly include not one, but two cameras. The iPad 2, as it's being creatively called by rumor mongers, is predicted to support Apple's FaceTime video conferencing application, and apparently will also be the world's most awkward handheld digital camera and video recorder. What it means to you: Maybe you should wait on buying that iPad. Reality check: It's going to be a while before Apple refreshes the iPad, so don't hold your breath.
A rumor that's a little closer to its big reveal than the Verizon iPhone is anticipated next week: Facebook will launch an email service to compete with Google's Gmail. The alleged "Project Titan" , rumor has it, is scheduled to be unveiled on November 15 at a Facebook event. What it means to you: Now you can let Mark Zuckerberg and his friends handle all your electronic interpersonal relationships; the only thing missing is Facebook video chat, which it gets indirectly through a relationship with Skype. Reality check: the evidence that Facebook is planning some big messaging capability is pretty strong, and Facebook's war with Google is getting more and more heated. So bet on it.
And now for something to add to your holiday shopping list. If you like your technology served with humor, ThinkGeek is preparing to release some of its April Fools products from this spring as real products for the holidays. They've announced the first already: My First Bacon, a plush toy strip of bacon that speaks when you squeeze it:
The bets are on for which of the other "fake" products ThinkGeek produced for April Fools this year will be turned into real products. And I'm predicting that the Dharma Initiative Alarm Clock will be one of them—a perfect present for anyone pining over the end of the series, Lost. What it means to you: a really geeky wake-up call for someone in your family. Reality check: Well, the bacon is real, at least.