Rumours are generally a good thing in technology. They get people talking about a company’s upcoming product, and in most cases, the same people end up buying whatever the new device is once it hits the shelves. But rumours can also be a bad, bad thing. Especially when not only the small(er) websites write about them, but when major publications like the New York Times chime in.

The problem is that they hype people up and then, low and behold, that one super cool feature you thought the next MacBook Pro would have, doesn’t actually exist. For example: my mom held a barbecue party at our house last month and during dinner one of her coworkers started talking about all the new features the new iPhone will have. Now I follow a lot of Apple blogs and websites, and while I’ve seen pretty much every Apple rumour that has surfaced in the last two years, I can pick apart the realistic ones to the pool of concept-like ones. So I told him that the chances that what he’s talking about comes out on the upcoming iPhone are slim to none. (By the way, he was going on about the laser keyboard the “iPhone 5” will have.)

Simply skip the rumours, so when that new shiny device comes out, you are filled with excitement and not disappointment because it can’t fly to you at the snap of your fingers.