Sneak Peaks and Inside Leaks: Tomorrow's Gadgets Today

Jan. 3, 2010— -- Technology gurus love to get their hands on new gadgets. But perhaps more than they love to get them, they love to gossip about them. And the newest, highly classified tech secret -- the much-hyped "Google Phone" -- is fueling the latest gadget gossip frenzy.

Technology insiders are speculating that on Jan. 5, Google will announce its long-rumored Nexus One smartphone at a Silicon Valley press conference. Gadget gossip Web sites are clamoring to be the first to get their hands on the device, and they are pumping their cyber sources for sneak peeks.

"It's faster than anything out there right now, and it's got a nicer screen than anyone," said John Hermann, contributing editor for the technology trend Web site Gizmodo.com. "A lot of people are projecting onto this phone. They're projecting their dreams."

Leaked documents obtained by Gizmodo indicate Google will sell the phone online for $529.99 unlocked -- meaning it will operate with any carrier -- or $179.99 through T-mobile, with a two-year contract.

A few top-secret Nexus One s have been handed out to Google employees and technology gurus, and some early reviews boast the Nexus One could be the first real competition for the iPhone.

The most intriguing is "cloud computing" rumors, Hermann said. This would potentially allow a Nexus One user to store digital content like music, movies and photos online, and then access them seamlessly on the smartphone, without ever having to download them.

On the other side of Silicon Valley, Apple is at the center of even more rumors. The company's much-hyped "Apple Tablet" electronic reader, which technology experts speculate will revolutionize the way the public consumes print media with "touch" capabilities based on the iPhone rather than a keyboad, is the ultimate object of current tech gossip. Gizmodo says it will allow consumers to download print media easier and faster than other eBooks.

Insiders Estimate High Volume Sales for Apple's Tablet

Silicon Valley insider Guy Kawasaki was an original Apple employee, but like so many others, he is also in the dark about the Tablet.

"Knowing Apple, it'll be a beautiful industrial design, really thin and [with] a horrible battery life," Kawasaki jokes.

Fueling the rumor mill Kai-Fu Lee, a former Apple and Google executive, leaked insider tidbits on his blog about Apple's plan to sell 10 million tablets in 2010. Comparatively, Apple sold only about 5.4 million iPhones the first year the device was introduced. Lee speculates Apple may be banking on the tablet to be even more popular than the iPhone.