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Microsoft may be thinking of hitting the market with its own Windows 8-branded tablet by the end of 2012, according to sources cited by Taiwan's DigiTimes.

If the rumor eventually holds true, the company would create the tablet by partnering with Texas Instruments and various Taiwanese equipment manufacturers to supply the hardware.

In response to CNET's request for comment on the matter, a Microsoft spokesperson said that "we have nothing more to share at this time."

The new tablet reportedly would borrow Microsoft's branding strategies from such products as the hugely successful Xbox 360, the … Read more

Links from Wednesday's episode of Loaded:

A new augmented-reality app lets you see what around you is for sale on eBay as you walk down the street

Google lets you manage multiple Gmail accounts from one Gmail login

Microsoft's Kin gets canned by Verizon, finally

Google purchases a company called Zetawire that allows mobile phone payments using near field communication technology

Google Voice will learn your speech patterns better using personalized recognition on Android phones

Google Voice also comes to the iPad

Like any other business venture, gadgets fail--some quietly and others spectacularly.

For Microsoft's Kin though, its return this week marks a rarity in the tech world: a product that, despite a strong push from its maker, simply didn't get off the ground, but is then brought back from the dead. No, it's not being touted as the hottest, newest phone by carrier Verizon, which a Microsoft exec once told The New York Times played a part in the device's sales woes the first time around. Rather, it's being offered up for sale alongside phones that … Read more

All the news today was totally shocking: MySpace and Facebook having an announcement? Together? Stuxnet now the "biggest threat to industry" everywhere? National Unfriend day!? What!? Also, the scariest robot we've ever seen: Snakebot. Oh, and I have my own dirt track to nowhere in the UK. Suck on that, haters. --Molly

Editors' note: This post was updated at 7:28 a.m. PT with new information about data plan options.

They're baaaaack.

Confirming earlier reports of their return, the Kin One and Kin Two are back on sale at Verizon with new names and new price points. Rebranded as the Kin Onem and Kin Twom, the two youth-oriented handsets are available for $19.99 and $49.99 respectively, with the usual two-year service agreements. In addition, Verizon is offering a buy one get one deal with the Kin Twom (the LG Ally is your only option for this offer).

The … Read more

Brian Cooley's on the show today to issue some bizarre challenge to the chat room, related to an old Dick Van Dyke movie he thought was only available on 16-millimeter film. That kind of thing just happens when he's around. Also, iOS 4.2 delayed, Facebook's Gmail killer, and why is working at Google so bad? Too much time in the ball pit? --Molly

Those who were wondering what happened to leftover Microsoft Kin devices that did not sell may have just gotten their answer.

According to what blog PPCGeeks, and now Engadget claims to be a leaked road map of Verizon devices hitting store shelves in Q4 are two familiar faces: Microsoft's ill-fated Kin One and Kin Two.

The phones, which lasted less than two months on the U.S. market before being pulled ahead of an international launch, were presented to consumers as something in between a smartphone and a feature phone, offering up things like social networking and Microsoft's … Read more

Microsoft has a lot riding on the success of the upcoming Windows Phone 7. The same could also be said of CEO Steve Ballmer.

Consider, for instance, the recent judgment rendered by Microsoft's board, which has signaled some dissatisfaction with Ballmer's job performance by cutting his bonus for 2010. One key reason: Microsoft's aborted mobile foray with the short-lived Kin.

Other reasons Ballmer didn't get his full potential bonus, according to the board, included the overall loss of market share in the mobile phone business, along with the need for Microsoft to "pursue innovations" … Read more

You say Flashback, I say Unicorn of Rock! Go!

There's a fix coming for the iPhone 4's antenna problems: Apple will make the signal strength meter go higher, no matter what. Seriously? Yes. Also, Steve Jobs did not say, "It's just a phone," Microsoft doesn't care which way you insert your batteries, and there is no space dust on Hayabusa.