The rumour really started on tech site The Verge, which claimed that Microsoft was building “Xbox Surface”. The device would be a gaming tablet, The Verge said, and it would be a seven-inch device. An allegedly leaked spec sheet added more details

The trickle of rumours and leaks has become a flood, and that can mean only one thing: Apple’s about to launch a new product. We know what it is – the iPad 3 – and now we know when it’s going to be unveiled: according to the usually-reliable All Things Digital, Apple is preparing a launch event for the first week in March

As a rule of thumb, if a shop fires all its staff and boards up the windows it’s safe to say it’s ceased trading – so what are we to make of the latest shenanigans from Fusion Garage, creator of the rather nifty-looking Grid10 tablet? Its website disappeared last weekend, and while it’s back now the site’s online shop says “we are running out of stock. Thank you” if you try to order anything.

The killer app for the Kindle Fire is Amazon itself, and on that front it delivers. It’s very easy to get hold of your Amazon ebooks, music and video, as well as magazines and TV shows, and there’s a huge selection. Apps are much thinner, though: the Kindle Fire uses Amazon’s app store, not the Android Market, so there’s around 10,000 titles compared to Android’s 300,000-plus.

What would happen if you left a tablet and a TV alone together with Barry White on the stereo? Motorola may have the answer: its forthcoming Corvair device is a weird cross between an Android tablet and a TV remote control.