viz.

Preparations being made for today's media event.

(Image credit: Luis Gutierrez)

Apple’s set to release some new products later today, and I thought it’d be fun to round up the most credible rumors and then we can all check back later and evaluate the quality of my intel. As a recent Secretary of State complained, “But they don’t tell us when; they don’t tell us where; they don’t tell us who; and they don’t tell us how.” I predict that later today Apple will give us a new iteration of the iPhone, stretched to new dimensions, and an additional iPad model, shrunk but with its big brother’s current dimensions. These things sound cool. Honestly, my only hope is that they don’t call the new iPhone the “iPhone 5,” as that would present a dilemma for those of us keeping track. Let’s pretend that the first iPhone was iPhone 1, then the iPhone 3G would confusingly have been the iPhone 2, which means the iPhone 3GS was the iPhone 3, and the iPhone 4 was (thankfully) the iPhone 4, all of which means that last year’s iPhone 4S was the iPhone 5. We already have an iPhone 5. Is it premature to worry that later today Apple might be giving us something that we already have?

Image Credit: NPR

Who said the book was on its way out? Last week saw the publication of two exciting new volumes. Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs biography has seemingly been touted in every major news organ, and literary-minded folks are currently devouring Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84, fresh off the press. The design of each volume is gorgeous, especially 1Q84, and it’s hard to imagine anyone wanting to read these works on an iPad/iPhone or a Kindle. That said, just yesterday Amazon.com announced a lending library for the Kindle, wherein members of Amazon Prime can check out for a limited amount of time any number of 5,000 volumes from an online repository. Who could possibly want to check out IQ84 or the Steve Jobs biography when the physical volumes are so absolutely gorgeous?