An Apple hire from earlier this month ignited rumors that a composite, fruit-branded smartphone may be in the works. Kevin Kenney, the employee in question, assumed the position of “Senior Composites Engineer” at Apple after a 14-year stint making carbon fiber bicycles. The origin of this latest, notebook related rumor seems to be a blend of Mr. Kenney’s hiring, sprinkled with a dash of information published by iLounge earlier this year — stating that a “milestone” update to the MacBook Pro laptop family was due in 2012. The most recent Apple fodder has the company revamping its MacBook Pro line with a black, composite casing and improved specs. Not a lot of firm ground to stand on with this one, but worth mentioning nonetheless.

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We would like to extend a warm, Apple-rumor fueled welcome to Mr. Kevin Kenney. Technology blogs have picked up on the hiring of Kenney, a San Francisco-based mechanical engineer, by iDevice maker Apple, Inc. Via Kenney’s LinkedIn profile, we see that he is now a “Senior Composites Engineer” for the Cupertino-based company. The engineer has spent the last fourteen years working for Kestral Bicycles where, as 9to5 Mac reports, he was “building carbon fiber bicycles.” The hiring has ignited rumors of carbon fiber iMacs, iPads, and iPhones — personally, we’re holding out for a carbon fiber Magic Mouse. Kenney has worked for Apple on a contract basis for the past several years, and his name is on at least one carbon fiber-related Apple patent. If you read that the iPhone 6 will be made of composite materials , you now know where the rumor started.

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We typically reserve our FCC exhibit ogling for cell phones as you well know, but this little guy just popped up and we couldn’t help but take notice. LG’s X Series line of notebooks/netbooks/laptops/whatever-the-kids-are-calling-’em-these-days is a moderately priced line featuring pretty decent specs and, in the X120 at least, integrated 3G. As such, our guess is this new addition to the family — referred to in FCC documentation as the X13 though we imagine it will be released as the X130 — will generally stick to the same formula. Not a whole lot can be gleaned just yet unfortunately as the FCC was only testing Bluetooth and WLAN, but safe guesses include a Windows OS, an Intel Atom processor, a 160GB hard drive, a 10.1-inch display and integrated 3G/HSPA. Oh, and let’s not forget that saucy carbon fiber-look case. We also hope it retains the X120′s “SMART ON” feature that lets users access web applications, music & chat when the notebook is switched off by just pressing SMART ON button. Sweet. Hit the jump for a few more shots and sit tight for more info.

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Well boys and girls (and especially CDMA BlackBerry-lovers), your much-awaited BlackBerry Tour launch date is getting closer and closer. To try and make it easier on you, we’ve got our hands on a retail Verizon BlackBerry Tour and put together a quick unboxing for you. Part 2 of our popular BlackBerry Tour review will be coming soon, but in the meantime, couple sneak peaks:

• The battery door isn’t all glossy anymore which was scratch city. It’s got soft-touch rubber on the outer part and the inner part is a carbon-fiber material. Really, really sharp.
• The dark chrome bezel which is also found on the BlackBerry Onyx looks stunning on the Verizon Tour.
• The device comes with a BlackBerry leather holster!

You’ll have to wait until the second part of the review is done for more, but in the meantime, check the gallery!

Click on over to our Verizon BlackBerry Tour Unboxing gallery!