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Reports: Smaller iPad to be revealed Oct. 23
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -  Apple Inc. is set to reveal a smaller, cheaper version of the iPad at an event on Oct. 23, according to several reports published Friday.

The reports from Bloomberg News, Reuters and the AllThingsD blog are based on unnamed sources "familiar with the plans."

Apple Inc. hasn't said anything about a smaller tablet, a concept company founder Steve Jobs derided two years ago. But company-watchers have assumed for months that an "iPad mini" will appear before the holiday season.

The screen is reportedly about half the size of the iPad's, which measures 9.7 inches diagonally. Analysts speculate the starting price of the device could be about $299.

With the device, Apple could close an opening in the tablet market for rivals like Amazon.com Inc., whose Kindle Fire is half the size of the iPad and starts at $199. Google Inc. and Barnes and Noble Inc. also sell tablets in the same size and price range.

Elvis' Beverly Hills

 estate up for sale

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The former Beverly Hills home of the late Elvis Presley and his wife Priscilla is up for sale for a cool $12.9 million.

Real estate website operator Trulia says the home hit the market Wednesday.

Like Elvis' home in Memphis, known as Graceland, Elvis fans have for years flocked to visit the property. According to the listing, the four bedroom, five bathroom French Regency estate sits on a 1.18 acre promontory overlooking Los Angeles.

According to Elvis Presley Enterprises, Presley first rented the house before the couple bought it in 1967. It was sold in 1973, the same year Elvis and Priscilla divorced.

The estate was formerly available to lease for $25,000 a month.

Wholesale prices jump

1.1 percent in September

WASHINGTON (AP) — A second month of sharp gains in gasoline costs drove wholesale prices higher in September. But outside of the surge in energy, prices were well contained.

The Labor Department says wholesale prices rose 1.1 percent in September following 1.7 percent gain in August which had been the largest one-month gain in more than three years.

In both months, overall prices were pushed higher by gasoline, which rose 9.8 percent in September following an even larger 13.6 percent rise in August.

Core prices, which exclude food and energy, were unchanged in September, the best showing since they were also unchanged in October 2011. In August, core prices rose 0.2 percent.

Food prices, which had jumped 0.9 percent in August, showed a smaller 0.2 percent rise in September.

American will work on

 seats on more planes

 

DALLAS (AP) — American Airlines says it will modify seats on 49 more planes to prevent rows of seats from coming loose during flight.

It's addressing the same problem that caused the airline to ground 48 planes last week — the seat rows aren't locking properly into tracks on the floor.

Crews will add a "secondary locking device" to seats in most of American's Boeing 767s. Those are wide-body planes used on international flights.

Seats came loose on three U.S. flights involving two different Boeing 757s earlier this month. There have been no similar mid-flight incidents with the Boeing 767s, but the airline is reinforcing the locking systems as a precaution,.