Thanks to the WhoIS of a domain name, bloggers revealed Apple's plans

The authors of the MacRumors blog, using WHOIS data for the iSlate.com domain, determined that this is the name of the company's tablet computer. The computer is scheduled to be announced in January of next year.

The domain name iSlate.com was registered back in October 2004 by Eurobox Ltd. The domain was later acquired by Data Docket Inc., and the following year by MarkMonitor.com. This company provides domain name and trademark registration services for Apple.

This isn't the first time that the disclosure of domain WHOIS data has revealed Apple's plans. Several years before work on the iPhone began, bloggers similarly analyzed the iPhone.org domain data.