What's old?

It isn't just loose-lipped employees and alert gadget enthusiasts that find and leak information. Much information is also readily available from other sources, such as governments and disgruntled workers.

Governments

Many national governments (including the U.S. government) publish product information as part of the patent, trademark and licensing processes. One of the best sources of leaks is the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, which must approve new cellular devices. When it does so, a shocking level of details appear on the FCC's Web site, including full specifications, color photos, preliminary user manuals and other documents. Here, for example, is a to the FCC's posting for the AsusTek o2 XDA Graphite smart phone, which doesn't even have a ship date yet.

Another example: The U.S. Patent Office posts on its Web site details, often in the form of diagrams, of all patents granted in an easily searchable format. Gadget bloggers and columnists frequently visit the U.S. Patent Office Web site to search for company names like Apple, Microsoft and others. Seeing what product ideas and design concepts companies patent may expose, at least in outline, future product plans. The Patent Office also posts searchable trademarks.