CrunchPad: Mike Arrington is One Smart (Whiny, Arrogant) Dude.

There’s been buzz about for the last few months that Michael Arrington, impresario at the TechCruch family of blogs was about to release something called a CrunchPad. The device was to be a mobile computing tablet that did just about anything, in a form factor that blew away just about everything. Have you heard about Apple Computer’s not-yet-released MacTablet? The CrunchPad was going to be better.

Today, Arrington announced that the device was dead, because his manufacturing partner had decided to rip him off.

I don’t know what the bigger story is here, that a supposedly very smart guy who happens to have been a corporate lawyer before becoming an internet entrepreneur was ripped off in this way (or not and is trying for lots of extra press . . . or both), or that it took less than an hour from the time Mr. Arrington announced his problems to the world for highly-trafficked, well-regarded blogs Gizmodo and Engadget to repeat Mike’s tale of woe.

At least Engadget acknowledged that the CruchPad was only vapor.

Particularly in the aftermath of the Tiger-Woods-Domestic-Violence news debacle from this weekend, it seemed important to point this out to you, and to remind you to be careful who you believe.