Peter Misek of Cannacord Capital once floated the idea that Apple and Intel might come together as partners. And well what do you know they did.

So now a prediction is floating around that RIM and Apple might come together . He speculates that RIM could incorporate iTunes into a Blackberry or Apple in its elusive non-cooperative quest for a cell phone ipod might join up with Rim.

RIM could definitely use some good press and a change in momentum coming off its public debacle surrounding a patent suit that almost brought the company down. Apple meanwhile has moved from a poor cell phone implementation partnership with Motorola, the debut of the iRockr almost sabataged by Steve Jobs with the introduction of the Nano.

Maybe this was intentional because the Irockr looked like a dog to Jobs or maybe he just has no tact and didn’t realize he’d kill one of his products with another of his products. My bet is on the former.

Never the less, Apple has wielded its growing monopoly with iTunes and the MP3 market haphazrdly with a partners be damned type of attitude. For RIM this could be a hail marry or an awkward forward lateral that might result in a fumble.

Or Peter Misek might just be pushing an idea pulling names out of a hat and predicting an iChing of iTunes and RIM as the next combo and the news analysts are picking it up eager for some nifty headlines like “RIM + Apple = Appleberry?”

Maybe we’ll move our predictions to less scientific methods like tea leaves or chicken bones, mood rings or a Zoltar game at the fair.

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Last November a Japanese spacecraft named Hayabusa came close to touching down on an astroid. The craft did return some interesting photographs. The pictures raise a number of questions that scientists will be struggling to answer for a few years to come.

The asteroid is approximately 500 meters across and considered one of the most common types of asteroids in our solar system and thus a good potential benchmark. The asteroid does not have water, but does have clear lake like configurations of small flat rocks.

1. Why do their appear to be loose bolder formations on this asteroid? The asteroid has a very low gravity, and it would seem to be difficult for the loose bolders to remain on the surface of a tumbling asteroid.

2. How did this particuluar asteroid form? Was it the result of an impact of two other asteroids or one that has been crumbling apart over time?

3. Previously, scientists suspected that small asteroids with low gravity were solid masses of rock, but this asteroid appears to be loose collections of rubble. What holds the rubble together?

One theory posits that asteroids and comments are compiled of the building blocks from the original creation of our solar system. Asteroids could help us explain how massess come together to form asteroids and even larger collections like moons or planets.

The big question from this trip will be answered in 2010. Did the Hayabusa actually touch down on the asteroid or was there a technical malfunction? Currently scientists don’t know and wel’ll have to wait and see if the Hayabusa brings back a sample of the asteroid.
Asteroid Probe Offers New Views of Near-Earth Object

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