If they'd consulted me, it would be called "iSlice."

But nobody ever listens to me, so the new tablet will probably have some dumb, boring, unimaginative name like iSlate. They also gave the iPhone some boring, humdrum name, and look where that's gotten them: no one in Korea bought one for years.

Anyhoo, on Wednesday Apple is expected to make a big announcement about a tablet computer. Here's a gushy article from Wired about the whole thing.

I will be sure to get one — especially if it comes with a virtual keyboard — as soon as I engineer an excuse to cough up the $1000 or so it is expected to cost, which will be difficult after having bought a new MacBook Pro just last August after the infamous grapefruit juice incident.

Unlike some Apple aficionados, I don't buy every Mac product that comes down the pipeline. I wanted a MacBook Air, for example, but I didn't buy one. I was, in fact, the perfect demographic for that: I already had a desktop at home to use as an "anchor" or "parent" for the MacBook Air (which is extremely light but also is meant to be a bit lightweight when it comes to performance). Well, perfect demographic except for the low income (I'm a grad student, after all).

But depending on this iSlate's capabilities, it may supplant my desire to buy the iPhone 3Gs (I have the 3G) when AT&T says I'm able (sometime this spring), especially if it truly is that Holy Grail of phone, computer, gaming device, iPod, and everything else.

We shall see.