Man, the power of old media. A purely speculative prediction article in the L.A. Times, wondering if Larry Page's CES keynote on Friday might be used to announce a Google PC, was splashed around on the Digg front page as if it were reported fact. The rumor pipeline is red hot. This is not the first time the idea of a Google PC has surfaced and caught everyone's imagination. Perhaps it speaks to the blood lust of Microsoft haters that speculation gets more insistent each time. The only hardware Google has ever produced is the Google Appliance, and enterprise search server. It is hard to imagine any company ramping up mass production of computers out of the blue. If the manufacturing is outsourced, it's difficult to see how it could meet the ultra-low price points being tossed around. the proposed scenario is that Google would distribute its machines through Wal-Mart.

Remember the build-up to Google's announcement with Sun Microsystems? That turned into a pretty wispy deal, and it's hard not to look at the present build-up in that light. Still, I won't be ignoring word of Friday's keynote.