2011 was a total cluster-schmutz of terrible, embarrassing, questionably-sourced, often outrageously-premised and bombastically-written Apple rumor stories that never came true, a truly hallmark year for getting things totally and un-apologetically wrong about Apple's future plans and products.

The end of December is, besides being a slow point in the tech news cycle, an ideal time to look back on how we all went so wrong; so don us now our 20/20 hindsight goggles (with 4G LTE and a bigger display screen!) and give a toast to everyone with an anonymous source who gave them awful information: Better luck next year, fellows!

Welcome to The Worst Apple Rumors of 2011. As you may know, I do a weekly roundup called This Week In Apple Rumors, a running catalogue of all those who claim to know anything about Apple's upcoming products; you can follow that thread weekly , or, if you want up-to-the-minute baseless, link-baiting Apple speculation, you can follow me on Twitter .