If there's anything we love about trade shows like CES, it's when big surprises are dropped on us. And if The New York Times Bits blog is correct, well, we'll just let them tell it.

On Wednesday, Mr. (Steve) Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, will unveil a novel take on a slate-type computer during his evening keynote at the Consumer Electronics trade show in Las Vegas, according to people familiar with Microsoft’s plans. The slate will be made by Hewlett-Packard and possibly available by mid-year, these people said.

Might this be the fabled Courier tablet, which Ballmer just a few months ago said he'd never seen (all be winking with his answer)? Only one way to find out. We'll be there live.

OK, so there's still no telling if Microsoft's rumored "Courier" project is real, or if it ever will see the light of day. But as a project, it's certainly gaining credibility with Gizmodo unearthing new details about how that slick interface works.

What's that have to do with Windows Mobile, you ask? Admittedly, not a whole lot. But it's another reason why we're expecting Windows Mobile 7 to not just be a new iteration of the operating system of yore. Also, tie it in with that mobile UI concept video we saw a while ago. (And if you want something more near-term, again, we'll point toward the Zune HD.) Even if the Courier never gets out of the concept stage, it shows that there are people thinking into the future. Now Microsoft has to let them loose.

And you thought the HTC HD2 was big? Hows about Windows Mobile 6.5 on a 7-inch LCD display, powered by the same Snapdragon processor? OK, so this is a tablet dubbed "Mangrove" and not a Windows phone, technically speaking, but it does sport 3G and WiMAX, WiFi, USB ports and a MicroSD card slot.

Next question: Considering what it would likely cost, what the heck would you do with it?

AVing via Engadget and jkkmobile

Attention Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader, Apple Phantom Tablet, iPhone, iPod Touch, netbooks, laptops, Newtons, Palm Pilots, calculators, spiral-bound notebooks, loose-leaf paper, pen, pencil and life as we know it:

This. Is. The. Future.

By now you've probably seen Gizmodo's leak of Microsoft's Courier project. If not, take two 7-inch multitouch tablets, sandwich them together like a book, throw in a camera and amaze the heck out of technophiles everywhere.

We wanted to sleep on things and try to digest exactly what we'd seen. And, like everyone else, we're blown away. Surprised it's from Microsoft? Don't be. These are the guys (and gals) who brought us Microsoft Surface. And apologies for beating this drum yet again, but add the Zune HD to that list. Microsoft can do UI. It can do hardware. And it can marry the two.

That said, remember that this is far from a production run. Far, far from it, we imagine, though Giz says it's in the "late prototype" stage. And there's practically no way this couldn't be completely out of the price range of 99 percent of those who'd love to use one. (Right?) Please, please, Microsoft, prove us wrong.

Says Giz:

Until recently, it was a skunkworks project deep inside Microsoft, only known to the few engineers and executives working on it—Microsoft's brightest, like Entertainment & Devices tech chief and user-experience wizard J. Allard, who's spearheading the project. Currently, Courier appears to be at a stage where Microsoft is developing the user experience and showing design concepts to outside agencies.

Says us:

Wow.

Head on over to Giz and check out more pics and a stunning video, then head back here and let us know what you think.