When Michael Arrington asks for something, people tend to listen. Back in July of last year, the TechCrunch founder posted about his dream project--a $300 touchscreen tablet with no hard drive, designed to simply surf the Web. That project, naturally, was deemed the CrunchPad.

Pictures of the device have subsequently "leaked out," showing up, among other place's on Arrington's own CrunchGear site.

The blogger addressed the leak today on TechCrunch, writing,

[F]rankly we weren't planning on talking about it at all, it just isn't the right time yet. But, to make a long story short, someone accidentally published some photos we took to the Web.

The device is admittedly not yet ready for prime time. So, did the device really leak out without Arrington's consent? Did he intend to float the thing to gadget blogs he knew would be more than willing to snap up a few blurry shots? My guess is that either way, Arrington's enjoying the added traffic push this morning.