The Last Podcast

According to a press release on ThinkSecret.com, the Apple rumor blog and Apple Inc. have settled their lawsuit and ThinkSecret is shutting down:

Apple and Think Secret have settled their lawsuit, reaching an agreement that results in a positive solution for both sides. As part of the confidential settlement, no sources were revealed and Think Secret will no longer be published. Nick Ciarelli, Think Secret’s publisher, said “I’m pleased to have reached this amicable settlement, and will now be able to move forward with my college studies and broader journalistic pursuits.”

I guess part of the settlement also stated that Nick had to say something nice about the settlement. The press release sounds a bit too nice to me.

How long will people pretend that Apple is the better company? A rumor site like ThinkSecret is worth millions to the company, I would think. Apple’s secrets are only interesting because there are sites like ThinkSecret out there who speculate about the company’s next move.

Bad move Apple. You should be ashamed of yourself.

Now the question is, what blog are they going after next? This has to have a very chilling effect on anybody who reports about Apple, without having any positive effect whatsoever on Apple’s image or bottom line.