Also in Apple news, say hello to the Magic Mouse. It’s a “two button” laser mouse, which has one button and no scroll wheel. Instead it has a multitouch surface across the top that allows you to do similar gestures like with the Mac trackpad: two-finger swipes, single-finger horizontal and vertical scrolling etc.

The wireless mouse has an impressive four-month battery life, and is available today for $69. Apple is marching toward a future devoid of buttons entirely. In case this mouse doesn’t make that clear.

Attorneys for Apple have initiated a legal response against the largest supermarket chain in Australia. At issue is a logo that Apple says is too similar to its own trademark. You can judge for yourself, but I think Apple is way out of line on this one.

It all began when Woolworth’s Supermarkets announced in August 2008 that it would refresh its corporate branding strategy with a new logo. The Australian company hasn’t mentioned apples at all in relation to the new logo. They claim that the stylized ‘W’ has been paired with “an abstract leaf symbol” to represent fresh food. But it didn’t take long for others to note its similarity to an actual apple.

It’s been a long and wild ride with the Apple tablet rumors and it isn’t over yet. iLounge has itself a reliable source that has revealed more information on the upcoming Apple Tablet.

According to the source Apple is all set to reveal the touch-screen tablet on or before January 19, 2010. Some other tidbits are that Apple has created at least three prototypes. Version 1 has a 7” screen, which was too small. The latest version has a 10.7” screen. It runs iPhone OS, and it looks like an iPhone 3G, complete with a curved back.

China Unicom and Apple signed a deal a month or so back, that resulted in the iPhone 3G getting ready to head over to China with the 700 million mobile subscribers in the country. What we didn’t know is when the phone was coming and how much it would cost.

China Unicom announced today that it would be selling the iPhone at a standalone price of 5,000 yuan or about $732.50. Most people will opt to choose a subsidized package that will bring the cost of the phone down significantly.

Apple has announced yet another milestone along with all of the other milestones it has hit. In the iPhone and iPod Touch App store, they have now reached 2 billion iPhone apps downloaded.

This news comes only five months after Apple announced that their app store had reached the 1 Billion mark. One wonders how many fart and booby apps that accounts for.

Many users have switched to AT&T just to get the iPhone, while some of you have been waiting for it to be available on another carrier. Well, if you are one of the ones who have been patiently waiting, there may be good news.

Gene Munster at Piper Jaffray believes that within a year, iPhones will be available on other U.S carriers. In Europe, when Apple switched to multi-carriers, it enjoyed a dramatically higher market share. So it makes sense that when the AT&T exclusivity expires, Apple would do the same in the U.S.

We have almost zero info on this beauty, but it has us drooling like a rabid dog. It’s a little touchscreen device that’s running Android and looks like it’s about 4.5 inches by 4 inches, like a larger version of the iPhone. Looks like it has two buttons on the top of the device and SD storage.

It may be a prototype. We don’t know who makes it or if it will even be for sale. Hopefully we’ll learn more about this device soon. If it’s real and the price is good, this could be a pretty neat open-source tablet. It’s sexy no?

Here’s the latest “leaked” image of Apple’s upcoming tablet. Images hit the net this morning. It’s likely fake, though it comes from a French blog with a decent track record. The image certainly jibes with the iPhone/iPod touch and iMac, and with the rumors we’ve heard. But the thing that jumps out at us is the placement of the home key, which is odd.

You’ll also notice OS X on the display. Analysts have been guessing that the device would run some version of the iPhone OS. What do you think? Fake? Or the real deal?

The Apple tablet saga continues. Here is the latest. Brian Lam of Gizmodo received a mysterious call from someone who claims to be an Apple insider. Their discussion lasted for awhile. Over an hour. The bottom line here is that Brian believes to “a high level of certainty” that the information is the real deal.

Here are some juicy details: The Tablet is basically a 10″ iPod Touch that comes with or without webcam (education version), it can be used as a touchpad for Macs, chances are that it will be launched for the holiday season and the price will be a staggering $700 to $900.

We’ve heard our share of stories involving overheating iPod batteries. Well, there’s an article in today’s Times UK about 11-year-old Ellie Stanborough, whose iPod touch blew up last month. Her father contacted Apple for a refund, got a little bit of a runaround, which is not unusual, and was eventually sent a settlement agreement offering a full refund as long as the family agreed to keep the deal confidential.

That’s pretty standard practice in these situations, but the agreement had a lot of lawyer-speak with a bunch of stuff that could be interpreted as vaguely threatening language about how breaking confidentiality might result in Apple relentlessly going after you. So the media coverage gets all amped up.

According to a report in Barron’s, a “veteran analyst” is claiming to have actually handled Apple’s rumored tablet-device. If you believe the report, the tablet is still on for an announcement in September with availability in November.

The analyst claims the device will cost between $699-$799 and will be aimed at users as a media player and gaming device. Apparently the tablet is just waiting on Steve Jobs to give it the final go. He also claims that other ODMs have put a hold on new products until they see what Apple has up it’s sleeve.

According to the Financial Times, Apple is all set to launch the Apple tablet in September, along with some fancy new iPods. Word is that Apple is working with record labels and book publishers on new iTunes features for the new device. Companies like EMI, SonyMusic, Warner Music and Universal Music Group. They’ve apparently codenamed the project “Cocktail”.

If you believe the Financial Times’ sources, the device will have a 10-inch touchscreen and run iPhone OS. The tablet will be able to connect to the Internet using Wi-Fi and looks like it will also have a book marketplace.

Apple may act like the Microsoft Laptop Hunters ads are no big deal, but behind the scenes the company had a different response, according to Microsoft’s Chief Operating Officer, Kevin Turner. Turner says that he knows the ads are working because “two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department saying [...] ‘Hey, you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices.’”

Turner also noted that “they took like $100 off or something,” and that it “was the greatest single phone call in the history that I’ve ever taken in business” He did however think it was a joke at first.

I am a big fan of games on my iPhone, but I haven’t been so thrilled about the apps that require you to fling the iPhone around. I don’t want to hurl my iPhone across the room and break it. That said, the iSamurai Bluetooth app looks cool.

The application lets up to two players play via Bluetooth and there are four different strikes and four different blocks that players can use. The iPhones make sounds to let the players know if an attack was successful or if it was blocked.

Sometimes it seems like the technology world survives on Apple rumors. The new iPhone was rumored each time a new Apple event was scheduled. I guess if you predict that a new Apple product will launch each time Apple holds an event, eventually you will be right.

The long rumored Apple tablet computer has been refreshed with the new rumor putting an October launch date on the device. The rumor also says that the tablet will cost about $800.