Of course, everybody's talking about, hinting at and arguing over all the non-existent tablets of tomorrow. You've heard a lot about , for example, which could hit the market as early as March.

News broke recently that Apple has taken control of the TabletMac trademark. The tablet formerly known as CrunchPad (now unfortunately ; ) goes on sale today for $499. Asustek is said to be planning to launch a . And Dell may show a at the Consumer Electronics Show, or CES, next month.

I'm sure this is one seafaring hazard metaphor too many, but all this tablet news is just the tip of the iceberg. You can expect small touch-screen tablets from all major vendors, and minor ones as well.

As Ian Paul argued today in a PC World column, "." (Paul is one of the few , but his recent piece indicates that he may be coming around to the inevitable.)