They're not alone in either the tablet PC or scurrilous-rumors category, though: Gizmodo has been drilling deep into the Courier, a tablet/booklet that will supposedly run on Windows 7, with Microsoft-crafted hardware, and let you take notes and run applications. On Nov. 4, the blog hit the proverbial motherlode, publishing several slides and a short video of Courier allegedly in action.

I'd been hearing rumors about Courier for awhile, mostly on the blogosphere, but I thought that all those images and video circulating online would finally convince Microsoft to offer up some sort of confirmation. No such luck, though; a Microsoft spokesperson offered me the standard-issue "Microsoft does not comment on rumors or speculative news stories."

Which was unfortunate, to say the least; if only because that response yet again crushed m