Apple tries to squash el-cheapo rumour

Ultra-secretive Apple gives nothing away when it comes to future products. Worse, it gets antsy when anyone else lets slip details of imminent new Macs, iPods or whatever.

Like today, when Apple got all heavy-handed and called in the legal attack dogs on Mac rumour site Think Secret for its report last week that a super-cheap iMac (under $500, but without a monitor - you wish!) and a competitor for Microsoft Office were on the way as early as next week.

This is the second similar suit by the company in the last month (a third is somewhat justified, being about leaked software). Frankly, Apple needs to get a grip. No one else in the industry is as paranoid and the slow-burning hype built by rumour sites around hot new stuff does anything but harm.

The lawsuit merely confirms what we didn't know for sure - that the cheap iMac, etc, is a reality and will be unveiled on January 11 at Macworld Expo in San Francisco.

Also confirmed for next week, according to Think Secret, is the tiny new flash-based iPod first mentioned here in November. It's likely to come in two versions, 1GB and 2GB, priced at $150 and $200, with a radio on-board.