Recent Leaks That You Might have Missed

In a world were there is such a thing as the Internet, it is very hard to ensure that sensitive information is not leaked to the whole wide world. This is especially true when the said Internet is coupled with handheld camera-enabled devices. As the sizes of these things diminish, spy shots become rampant.

Nowhere is it as true as in the wonderful world of technology. As we wait with baited breath for the next gadget-licious wonder from the haloed halls of our favorite manufacturers, we are more than willing to pounce at the slightest hint of leaked information and spy shots. May be it is the voyeur in us that revels in such situations. But when it comes to highly anticipated technology, it is more likely to be excitement of finally seeing it. Okay, so may be it is both but don’t we all like to indulge in such activities? Why don’t you read on and find out for yourself.

We have all been looking forward to the Google Chrome OS and as mentioned in an earlier post, it has a lot of potential. Enough potential to change the way we look at netbooks and then probably laptops. So it is completely understandable that people (and of course  geeks like me) simply cannot wait to set their eyes and mouse pointers on the new OS. The amount of hype that has been generated (and I do believe it is worth it all) could easily be judged when fake screenshots of the Chrome OS showed up early last month.

While many of responses were highly skeptical and some outright called it a fake, the newly opened blog did get a lot of press. All the tech-sites and quite a few news sites linked to the WordPress blog.

The blog owner later made follow-up posts confessing that the pictures had been faked. He said they were just his idea of fun and he had no intention of letting it run for too long (which he didn’t, to be fair). It is quite possible that he is telling the truth because he never tried to monetize the traffic with ads or anything.

However, the 124,000 plus hits that he got within that short period of time shows beyond the shadow of a doubt the amount of curiosity technology can invoke in people.

Two days ago, more spy shots of Google Chrome OS emerged and on a different site this time [via slashgear]. This site is Mashable and they say that the pictures were sent to them anonymously and without any attempts at providing further evidence or information, so they do not claim to be real. But just like them, I too believe that these screenshots are far more credible than the ones that have been debunked.

They show a highly minimalist design and a dock sitting at the top of the screen. Surely enough, the entire dock has Google Apps galore and there’s also a search area. The Chrome window shown on the screen lacks a border and there’s only a small taskbar like area on the screen that displays the time, the battery status and the Chrome logo. With such an interface, web centric devices such as netbooks will be great to use.

Talking about web centric devices, more spy shots of an alleged Android MID (Mobile Internet Device) have surfaced on Pocketables.net.  The device itself is quite sleek and shows design features reminiscent of Apple’s iPhone. With the Chrome trimmed edges and button-less façade, almost everyone would’ve been inclined to think that this is the iPhone tablet had it not been for the prominent display of the Android Logo. The device is most obviously a touchscreen and it has a screen size estimated at about 30% bigger than that of the iPhone. From the looks of it, it is quite sleek and once Android kicks up in to high gear a lot of people are going to want one of these. It does not matter that techies are lusting after it right now. We always want these things yesterday!

The source, according to the website, says that these pictures have been doing their rounds on Chinese tech sites and while all of them mention a forum as their source none of them link to it or give a name or a hint. So the source and the website is no position to provide further information. The pictures look quite real and unless Apple really does come out with a tablet, this device could be a serious competition fro the iPhone. No word on who is making this mystery MID device but Archos is said to be making a similar device [Archos via Engadget].

Again, if it wasn’t an Android device we would’ve thought it was the Apple tablet especially after news that a top secret Apple fourth generation iPhone device has gone missing from the Foxconn factory in China. The person in-charge of this went through interrogation and a house search. The shame and accusations proving to be too much for him, this poor employee committed suicide soon after the search was conducted. [via MacRumors.com & Twit.tv]

No one knows for sure what this stolen/misplaced Apple device is/was but everyone would like to believe it is the rumored/fabled tablet.

As for the mystery Android running MID, thankfully it is quite inconceivable that the Apple will use Android after developing something like the iPhone OS. Everyone’s expecting a modern-day Newton from Apple. If the success of the iPhone is anything to go by, it is going to be big and everyone is going to be doing it no matter what the Tablet ultimately turns out to be like.

So there you have it – a lot of speculations from the rumor mill. The rumors of these highly anticipated things are flying thick and fast now, signaling their onset sometime soon. Of course, in development talk that might as well be sometime next year like the official date of the Google Chrome OS and the unofficial whisperings of the Apple tablet. Whatever happens, rest assured that every juicy bit would be covered by OtakuGadgets. So stay sharp and do not forget to subscribe.

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This article was posted as Recent Leaks That You Might have Missed at Otaku Gadgets.