Top Stories for the Week of Nov. 16 - 20, 2009

The mythical Google Phone is "no longer a myth, it's very real," says TechCrunch, in case you're keeping score. The supposedly Google-branded, Google-designed device could render days-old relics like the Droid phone instantly ancient. Of course, in this case very real means doesn't exactly exist yet, and this picture we have here is fantasy art on the level of H.R. Giger. Why would Google "infuriate its partners" who make phones that use Google's Android software , by competing against them?, asks Daring Fireball. "Maybe it thinks companies making Android phones so far are doing a crappy job," suggests Business Insider. Uh, maybe it won't compete because technically it won't be a phone, Crunch argues back: it could be a data-only VoIP thing, so you wouldn't have to sign up for phone service. You'd sign up for data service, and merely use it like a phone. "It's unclear how supportive the carriers would be of a data-only Google Phone considering it directly affects their primary business," notes Android Central. Unclear, indeed. Gizmodo said it best: "Right now, we don't know much of anything." (But we know we love you, Google Phone, and that may be all we need to know.)

In other tech/fantasy news, Apple's "Kindle Killer" (say that three times fast without invoking Jimmy Kimmel) doesn't exist yet, but Wired magazine is already preparing a digital edition for it, says Biz Insider, Actually, Apple isn't saying a peep about whatever tablet you are referring to, but Wired publisher Conde Nast (GQ, Vogue, etc.) says it will have a digital version of the mag ready just in case and will eventually create similar versions for all of its 18 titles, says Media Memo. Electric Pig says the tablet is real--just delayed, so it can use a "gorgeous OLED" display.

But there's more in life than just imaginary handheld devices and OLED displays. Sarah Palin, for example. Her new book Going Rogue is very real. Beyond that, maybe not so much. Fox News aired video of "huge crowds" at Palin book rallies that was old footage, where people were holding McCain/Palin signs, reports ThinkProgress. McCain aide Nicolle Wallace says the book contains a fictional passage about the disastrous Katie Couric interview, according to TV Newser. Andrew Sullivan at The Daily Dish says "there are so many fabrications and delusions in the book, mixed in with facts, that just making sense of it--and comparing it with objective reality as we know it, and the subjective reality she has previously provided--is a bewildering task." But hey--The Live Feed says Palin got Oprah's biggest audience in two years. Meanwhile Newsweek may not be prepping an all-digital edition for the imaginary Kindle Killer, but it does have on its paper cover a leggy photo of Palin that was originally used in Runner's World. Palin has criticized it on her Facebook page, as NewsBusters' reported. ("The out-of-context Newsweek approach is sexist and oh-so-expected by now," she wrote.)

Palin at least is accustomed to having her material repurposed--remember William Shatner's dramatic reading of her tweets? Well, no idea stays original for long these days. Now Chris Walken's dramatic reading of a Lady Gaga song is getting links everywhere. Video of that performance is here at Vulture. Warming Glow presents a mashup video combining the Gaga original, Walken's goof, and a South Park take on the same concept. As our friend David once said: "Is this real life?"

Fake crowds? Illegally re-used magazine pictures? Imaginary phones and fantasy display tablets? Thank goodness Santa Claus is coming. And thank goodness for illicitly obtained print material that helps us understand the world better. Yes, we're talking about the leaked Walmart Black Friday holiday shopping circular that CrunchGear proudly displays. Wait, this just in: Walmart intentionally leaked and "approved the release of its entire clutch of Black Friday secrets ahead of its own Nov. 23 release date," reports the new economy blog. Ah, sob. Does that make this free advertising? Maybe next Walmart will hire Christopher Walken to read its ad and have it go viral.

Phew. Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Blogs.com! We'll be out next week celebrating--Best in Blogs will resume in December.

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