Gadgetory

hey I'm Kareem levy and I'm Emily Dreyfuss and welcome to rumor has it the show where we round up the week's biggest tech rumor and then we vote on which ones on legitimate seems like it will never ever happen and remember that you can vote along with us so keep your eye out for the poll in the interactive player if you're watching on CNN first cult of Android reports that a sous may be working on a new low-priced Android tablet that's just a little bit stripped down from the Nexus 7 why do they think that because someone apparently tested an asus tablet matching these specs on benchmark site GL benchmark com now a sous is the manufacturer of the Nexus 7 and there had been rumors that it would team up with Google to make a $99 version but then that rumor was called into question when digit times reported that Google was going to work with someone else not a sous on the lower-cost Nexus 7 so this rumor could mean that maybe Google is going to work with asus on the lower Nexus after all or that asus is just making this all on its own or that these benchmarks are an error this tablet doesn't exist and that we can go back to watching homeland and not worrying about this rumor amen next up we have the birth and death of a rumor all in a matter of days TechCrunch reported that whatsapp was in talks to be acquired by Facebook whatsapp messenger is a popular cross-platform mobile chat program with about a hundred million daily users the thing is however we don't buy it and here's why this week Facebook announced its own new messenger app which is essentially an instant messaging network complete with separate apps to use the service but people need only a phone number and no facebook account to use it so it's basically a whatsapp copycat because of that we conclude that techcrunch's sources were wrong barring some behind-the-scenes story that we're not anticipating there's just no incentive now for facebook to acquire a pre-existing chat app finally an apple rumor that some of you are excited about is heating up again back in September we reported a rumor that apple was coming out with a streaming music service and now market research firm BTIG research predicts that this will in fact happen sometime in 2013 the research report insists that I radio as it's being will be quote unquote vastly superior to Pandora with a global solution increased skips and most importantly perhaps extended caching so that wireless dead zones are no longer a problem remember that Apple bought the music streaming site lolla calm in 2009 and according to a New York Times report in September the only reason that Apple didn't announce this service at the iphone 5 launch event was because of a failed negotiation with sony/atv music and that is precisely why I think that this report is bunk Apple is not good at wooing industry execs they famously don't play by the wining and dining rules that music labels operate on so unless their pricing scheme is radically better for the labels in Pandora's I don't see the labels getting on board with this and I really don't see Apple offering a better profit margin in Pandora that is totally not their style but like I said back in September I think that this report is likely true pandora is the one product that Apple has not yet tried to kill and making the radio button more prominent in iTunes 11 is further evidence that Apple has something up its sleeve and it could be awesome it would have access to your music library so would already know what you like without you having to tell it what do you guys think will Apple enter the murky mire of streaming music to release I radio in 2013 and how do you think it could be better than pandora leave us a comment and don't forget to vote while we check in with the cnet council the cnet council is composed of five editors who cast their votes anonymously their opinions are not an endorsement by cnet or CBS interactive obviously because these are rumors folks and the cnet verdict is split three out of six of our editors think that Apple will not come out with a streaming radio app 3 think that they will and only one editor was optimistic enough to believe that it'll be vastly superior to Pandora now we had so many great comments last week about Darth Vader's new role in Disney star wars franchise that it was a really hard to pick a favorite some were funny some were angry many were creative all were delightfully nerdy but this one seemed like it was the most probable will you please read this in your best nerd voice sure my nerd voice has allergies okay this one came from triarii 3 in the episode between three ad for Darth Vader took 20 years to travel around the galaxy and head out Jedi it hi dikh after the Jedi purge I can see some epic story even a trilogy that bites pit out for this time frame which could also give us more insight on the early days of the rebellion that is her show everyone please share your rumors with us I remember has it cnet com where call is at 1 800 750 cnet or tweet to us and tune in next week for more tech reverse