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When a (claimed) Barnes & Noble rep said that the company’s imminent eBook reader would be colour, some folks over at Plastic Logic, B&N’s hardware partner, were listening intently. Mainly because they had no idea what he was talking about.

Says the company:

The video report is inaccurate and the individual (who was apparently filmed while attending a trade show was not an authorised Barnes & Noble spokesperson) was misinformed.

We are excited to have Barnes & Noble powering the Plastic Logic e-commerce store. While colour is on Plastic Logic’s roadmap, it is not on the map for the Spring of 2010. Plastic Logic has said for quite some time it is working on colour, but not for a product in the coming year

So not only was the dude wrong, he might not have even been a Barnes & Noble representative at all. Which is frustrating, sure, but also kind of awesome.

In light of all this drama, let’s take a step back to the innocent days, you know, before the Fall of Rumour. Here’s what we had: Months ago, B&N was tied to Plastic Logic in a fleeting rumour that the two would make an eBook reader together. Since then, B&N has opened their store to others, but fuelled the rumour of a branded reader with an FCC filing. Then the WSJ stuck their necks out to say that the reader is coming as early as next month.

Things got interesting when we got a tip from within B&N that the device would run Android, which is a categorically fantastic idea. And finally, an October 20 release date re-materialised, alongside a theory that the reader would allow person-to-person book sharing.

And so now, as then, we sit waiting. Just, a little wiser. [PCPro via Geek]

Credit to Nicholas Thompson over at Epicenter, who spent some quality time with the bill:

[I]n its original form, did have some seriously bad ideas in it. For example, in an emergency, the president could “order the limitation or shutdown of Internet traffic to and from any compromised Federal Government or United States critical infrastructure information system or network.”

And then, Senate procedure happened. The softened, pared-down language of the current bill would only entitle the President to, “In the event of an immediate threat to strategic national interests involving compromised Federal Government or United States critical infrastructure information system or network” help to “direct the national response” to the crisis “in coordination with relevant industry sectors”. As Thompson notes, nothing scary is granted here, and the President definitely hasn’t been authorised to take over private networks for kicks, or whatever the suspicion was.

In reality, the bill might actually aid transparency, oddly enough: Thompson highlights a theory that, by ensuring the government’s digital emergency management powers are kept out of the less accountable hands of the NSA, and in the public view. So there’s that! [Wired Epicenter]

First, the above chart: it clearly indicates the existence of an 8GB 3GS—look at that checkmark!—which seems to lend credence to an earlier, shakier report from BGR that the carrier would launch an 8GB version of the handset. But then, this:

That’s from the same site, on the front page. If there was an 8GB version of the 3GS, it’s safe to assume it’d be cheaper, and just as safe to assume that Rogers would advertise this fact. Rogers spokespeople were unavailable for comment this morning, but we can confirm their salespeople know nothing of the device, telling us that the only 8GB iPhone available is the 8GB 3G. Of course, the chart could reflect leaked info about some future announcement, but I’m leaning toward some intern screwing up a chart over a bizarre, irrational shakeup to Apple’s—and by proxy, Rogers, AT&T, 02 and others’—product line. [MacRumors via BGR]

iPhone Rumours
The biggest batch of rumours had to do with the phone, and man were some of them off base:

• “iPhone Video” name? NOPE

• “iPhone 3GS” name? YEP

• Video shooting? YEP

• iPhone matte black finish? NOPE

• iPhone front camera and videoconferencing? NOPE

• $US99 iPhone? YEP

• Glowing Apple logo? NOPE

• Autofocus 3-megapixel camera? YEP

• Magnetometer/compass? YEP

• OLED screen? NOPE

• iPhone Speed and Memory Boost? YEP

• aluminium “unibody” iPhone? NOPE

• Verizon iPhone or some other Apple phone? NOPE

• iPhone Nano, whatever that is? NOPE

Other Apple Rumours:
It was easy to dismiss the tablet rumour early on, but there were other speculations that were a little easier to swallow:

• Apple tablet? NOPE

• 13-Inch MacBook Pro? YEP

• Marble look-and-feel for Snow Leopard? NOPE

• 64GB iPod Touch? NOPE

• Steve Jobs appearance? NOPE

(Note: If I left any out, go ahead and throw them into comments. There’s no way I can verify that I got ‘em all above.)

So, did we get took? Or did we take home quite a bit? From this tally, out of 19, only 7 came true, but when you factor that in with some unexpected fun, like the Find My Phone remote MobileMe feature, or the voice controls, or the MacBook Pro’s new SD card slot (which is nice, though not an HDMI port), it was a decent haul despite any disappointment. In case you haven’t had enough, here’s the full coverage from WWDC. [WWDC 2009 on Gizmodo]

A MacRumors’ forum member also claims that he created the other front-facing camera image.

As I said before, this calls for the:

[Thanks Dirk and Akin]

As you can see in this image, the general “dispersion of artifacts” is not consistent with an unedited picture. In other words, all of that confetti you’re seeing around the ports and power plug are pretty suspect. Zoomed in to the pixel, the image also reveals the use of multiple macroblock types.

But apparently the expert’s most damning argument has nothing to do with the image quality itself. It’s the placement of the Mini DisplayPort and Mini DVI—the ports don’t appear to be lined up with the motherboard, which is a big design no-no. [9to5Mac]