According to The Wall Street Journal, publishing company HarperCollins is in talks with Apple about bringing e-books to Apple’s rumored tablet. You know, the one that’s expected to be the focus of its January 27th event. That tablet.

Apparently other publishing companies have been in talks with Apple as well. Sure, e-book readers are what it’s all about at the moment, but soon after it will be all about being integrated into slates. It’s still unconfirmed and just a rumor, but this one makes logical sense and gels with what we’ve been hearing.

That’s right. Apple is holding an event on January 27th to show off what the company is calling their “latest creation.” The event will take place at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco, and will start at 10AM Pacific. Gee, I wonder what they have to show.

The splattered paint might be a giveaway as well as the use of the word “creation”. Both suggest that we will be seeing the long-rumored Tablet, and tips on how you can get creative with it.

I neither hate nor love Apple, but the company tends to have those that are at each extreme of the love hate relationship. I have an iPhone I really like, but I am not a fan of Mac computers. If you are a Mac fan and have wished for more screen sizes in the iMac line, your wish may be coming true.

A rumor floating around has Quanta building a new 22-inch iMac computer for Apple that is set to hit this year. There are no hard details on the rumor, but the screen size would fit in between the two existing models.

Apple files some interesting patents, some go mainstream, some don’t, but they are worth paying attention to. The latest patent involves proximity-based ads. The idea is that it would allow users to add contacts as icons on the home screen.

But it goes a step further allowing a business to contact people based on their proximity. So if you’re near say a burger joint, you could receive contact information, their address and special offers when you’re near. It could be established via wired or wireless communications, including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS.

For most computer makers a simple processor update isn’t a big deal to consumers. If Dell tosses a recently announced CPU in a notebook, most people don’t think much about it. When Apple changes something though, the hoards of fans get very excited.

Some Apple fans are probably giddy right now after an email from Intel sent to members of the Intel Retail Edge program was sent out showing a MacBook Pro with an Intel Core i5 CPU up for grabs. The email invited the members to enter to win one of two new MacBook Pro notebooks with the Core i5 processor.

Looks like several users on Apple’s Discussion Boards are claiming that their Bluetooth keyboards have been devouring batteries like crazy since they started using a Magic Mouse. Even after switching to rechargeable batteries and running all updates, the problem continues. Most of these users claim that they need new keyboard batteries weekly. That ain’t good.

The theory is that the Magic Mouse is preventing the keyboard from going into sleep mode, which makes sense. After one user swapped his Magic Mouse with a Logitech model, the problem was solved. Another user claims that Apple Tech Support says that this is a known Bluetooth driver issue and that a fix is on the way.

I am sure there are many people out there who found a new iPhone under the tree this Christmas. Those folks are sure to be downloading tons of apps over the coming week with many people off work and out of school.

PlayHaven, an iPhone game community, and MobClix, a targeted mobile ad exchange, have announced that they expect record game downloads for the next week. The two companies expect game downloads for the week from Christmas Day to New Year’s Day to be 28 times higher than the same period last year.

Previously it was looking as if the Apple Tablet could be launched in March 2010, but now word on the street is that the device could be officially announced in January 2010.

An article from the Financial Times states “Apple is preparing an announcement next month that many anticipate will be the official unveiling of its tablet, but the company has so far declined to confirm the existence of the device,”.

The Apple store is in a gift giving mood. Their gift to you? Not great prices, but a nice offer for those who are too busy to buy presents. The Apple store is offering free next-day delivery with no minimum order.

With this deal, you can shop as late as 1pm on Dec 23rd, and still receive your order before Christmas. Of course custom configurations will take longer and probably won’t ship on time. Great for those who are too busy to shop around.

We already knew that we wouldn’t be seeing the Apple tablet this year. The latest rumors have some analysts saying we’ll be seeing a 10.1-inch tablet in March or April of 2010, and it will cost $1000. They also say that the tablet’s multitouch screen will not be an OLED panel, but an LCD display that could be up to 12 inches with “stunning graphics.”

1080p video? The sources claim that manufacturers are getting ready up to drop up to 10 million tablets in 2010.

Is Apple field testing the next generation iPhone? Could be. iPhone developer Pandav noticed some usage records of an unreleased iPhone in the iBART app’s analytics. The iPhone that’s listed in the usage logs is iPhone 3.1, which I don’t have to tell you, does not match any current iPhone.

The iPhone 3GS is listed as iPhone 2,1. While it wouldn’t be surprising to see that Apple is busy working on a new iPhone, (There are rumors that Verizon will be getting an iPhone somewhere in2010) is this the one?

Looks like Apple store employees will be getting at least 3 exclusive and separate applications that will help with several important tasks. One of them will allow employees to swap iPhones or iPods on the store floor, which previously could only be done at the Genius Bar.

Another proprietary app will help employees in the stock room. The apps should make tasks done in all of Apple’s retail locations easier and more efficient.

All of the battery issues that we have seen over the last few years have forced me to reconsider using a laptop actually in my lap. I don’t mind the heat from the computer nearly as much as I would mind a battery exploding on my gonads. Typically, these battery explosions have been mostly limited to Windows computers, but today a new report of a MacBook Pro battery blowing its top has come in.

Engadget reports that the MacBook Pro is a 17-inch non-unibody machine that was being used on a desktop at the time the incident occurred. According to the user, a strange noise began and then got louder.

The mobile phone industry is hurting except for the high-end smartphone and feature phone segments. These more expensive devices are selling and smartphones are actually growing in popularity. The latest numbers for the mobile phone market are in and Apple is tops when it comes to profits.

According to Strategy Analytics Apple has posted $1.6 billion in operating profits for Q3 2009. The second place manufacturer is Nokia with $1.1 billion in operating profits. The impressive part here is that Apple is doing this with one or two models while Nokia has a full line of devices.

Apple only recently announced its new iMac line including the sexy 27-inch iMac with that big beautiful screen. Despite the expense and the fact that the new iMac just came out, iFixit has already torn one up for us to check out.

The big feature is that huge 27-inch LCD with 2560 x 1440 resolution. IFixit reports that the screen is made for Apple by LG. The iMac has an input that will allow you to play your Blu-ray through the iMac, but the machine does not ship with the adapter needed for connection.