What an excellent way for two industrial design students to spread the newest Mac Quicktime Virus via a hoaxed iWalk video.
Did I say that out loud?
Fake! But I want one.
I would guess that the German office of CHiat / Day is behind this one. Nice post production, and a nice toy found in the trash can of Jonathan Ive's office.
I posted this in another thread, but what the heck:
This is an open letter to Apple Computer, its CEO Steve Jobs and its many wonderful employees:
Thanks for the biggest nostalgia-tinged hoot of the year!
This is the way it used to be in the old days multiplied by a million. Tease us in the morning and gig us at night, this is the best hoax I've seen in ages. It's April's Fool Day early, and well appreciated by some of us grizzled rumor-vets. I've got a great big grin on my face from the entire adventure....can't wait to see the real stuff next week.
<strong>No fake... Go see for yourself....!!!</strong><hr></blockquote>
What do you keep blabbering about? We all went and saw it. Instead of 3D blunders we now have physical blunders, and instead of Photoshop lense glare, we now have Photoshop cut&paste.
It's also convenient that you never, ever see the tip of the stylus actually touching the screen, you just see the words/letters after they've been written onto the screen.
God forbid that iWalk is a real product. Like the Cube, it has no market. Cool as the cube was, so would be an iWalk (or insert better name here). But nifty designs don't make up for a lack of good marketing.
<strong>God forbid that iWalk is a real product. Like the Cube, it has no market. Cool as the cube was, so would be an iWalk (or insert better name here). But nifty designs don't make up for a lack of good marketing.
What would be the iWalk's market?</strong><hr></blockquote>
The Palm market is crashing, but Compaq's 'iPaq' is a very big hit.
Microsoft hasn't been investing years and years and millions upon millions in this area (PocketPC) for nothing.
That's the market Apple is aiming for -- and aiming dead center.
I don't know whether the SpyMac pictures are of an early prototype or close to the finished product. But it sure isn't a fake. Duh.
Well, we'll see, as Apple Legal swings into action in the morning.
[edit: you say iPad, I say iPaq... let's call the whole thing off.]
<strong>God forbid that iWalk is a real product. Like the Cube, it has no market. Cool as the cube was, so would be an iWalk (or insert better name here). But nifty designs don't make up for a lack of good marketing.
What would be the iWalk's market?</strong><hr></blockquote>
In any case to answer your question, if it does prove to be real I am going to buy one so fast it'll make my bank manager spin. </strong><hr></blockquote>
That particular patent seems to be by employees of Palm, Inc. - not Apple.
Personally, I think the device shown is for real. I also think it is a prototype; Apple may release something like this soon, but I'm quite sure it look rather different.
If iWalk is a fake it was done by our friends at SpyMac. Did you look at the picture that has the browser going to a test page at SpyMac just for the purpose of seeing if it worked.
Who else could have done that? <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />
[quote]In any case to answer your question, if it does prove to be real I am going to buy one so fast it'll make my bank manager spin. <hr></blockquote>
You know it. , and what do you mean it has no market? It's the Apple branded PDA we have all been begging for. It looks soo cool to me. I'll be crying if Apple cant produce one, or something similar.
OK, after looking @ my iPod for a little while, I realized something. There is NO WAY they could fit the 5gb drive into the "iWalk". They need room for a circut board, a batterty, the screen, and RAM. Add the hard drive and it is thicker (I would say MUCH thicker) then the iWalk seems to be. Also, the stylus goes right where the HD would be. So, either it is a fake, or it doesnt have the 5gb drive. Either way, it sucks...
SpyMac contradicts themselves about the iWalk. The messages on the site want you to believe that they've been handed top-secret videos from an anonymous source:
[quote]<strong>
The SpyMac staff have finished verifying the authenticity of the iWalk video and have decided that the source of the footage is sufficiently unidentifiable.
We can clearly make out Firewire, audio-in and audio-out ports.
</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yet the camera shot shows the user loading up a spymac.com web site, written specifically:
<strong>OK, after looking @ my iPod for a little while, I realized something. There is NO WAY they could fit the 5gb drive into the "iWalk". They need room for a circut board, a batterty, the screen, and RAM. Add the hard drive and it is thicker (I would say MUCH thicker) then the iWalk seems to be. Also, the stylus goes right where the HD would be. So, either it is a fake, or it doesnt have the 5gb drive. Either way, it sucks...
-Paul</strong><hr></blockquote>
not true.
1.) the iPod drive is a type II PC card. very very small. could easily fit in there
2.) is it not possible the drive could be used as the RAM also?
1.) the iPod drive is a type II PC card. very very small. could easily fit in there
2.) is it not possible the drive could be used as the RAM also?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Im not saying that the drive isn't small. It is VERY small. Im saying that with everything else that they have to fit in there (f/w controler, Audio I/O, IR, Battery, etc.) there won't be enough room for the HD.
No, the HD could not be used as the Ram, it is too slow.
<strong>Its a complete fake. If you watch the video at normal speed but in full screen mode, you can see the pda moves slightly as it is written on, but the text does not move with the pda. Totally FAKE. FAKE FAKE FAKE</strong><hr></blockquote>
Good call. I thought it might be real until you pointed this out. Look at the printed text while keeping an eye on the border of the device. The text clearly "wobbles" a bit in relation to the frame, and it's a dead giveaway.
In between the leather case and the iWalk you can see a "ghost" pen which they have tried to hide... doh!
Bluring and obvious edits in between these two frames (a scroll wheel mouse is damned handy for this stuff).
The above mentioned "wobble" is also bloody obvious... (Mkae the movie full screen and watch the words "say hello" most obvious around 7 seconds through)
This one proves to me, that this iWalk thing is a fake. In the "Bootup" movie, the hand moves the wheel, but the wheel stays where it is. But after some moments, the wheel snaps to the point where the finger is.
That is a little strange, but I would attribute it to a loss of frames in the video or something, rather than evidence of fakery (keep in mind that I still think it is fake, just for different reasons). The thing is that I'm pretty sure that the physical "iWalk" actually exists, and is not the result of any kind of video trickery. It wouldn't be that hard to create something like the iWalk, and it would certainly be easier than trying to fake all or part of it digitally. The real fakery is related to the shots of the OS in action.
Comments
Did I say that out loud?
Fake! But I want one.
I would guess that the German office of CHiat / Day is behind this one. Nice post production, and a nice toy found in the trash can of Jonathan Ive's office.
But if it's real I'm buying one.
MSKR
This is an open letter to Apple Computer, its CEO Steve Jobs and its many wonderful employees:
Thanks for the biggest nostalgia-tinged hoot of the year!
This is the way it used to be in the old days multiplied by a million. Tease us in the morning and gig us at night, this is the best hoax I've seen in ages. It's April's Fool Day early, and well appreciated by some of us grizzled rumor-vets. I've got a great big grin on my face from the entire adventure....can't wait to see the real stuff next week.
Drewprops
<strong>No fake... Go see for yourself....!!!</strong><hr></blockquote>
What do you keep blabbering about? We all went and saw it. Instead of 3D blunders we now have physical blunders, and instead of Photoshop lense glare, we now have Photoshop cut&paste.
What would be the iWalk's market?
<strong>God forbid that iWalk is a real product. Like the Cube, it has no market. Cool as the cube was, so would be an iWalk (or insert better name here). But nifty designs don't make up for a lack of good marketing.
What would be the iWalk's market?</strong><hr></blockquote>
The Palm market is crashing, but Compaq's 'iPaq' is a very big hit.
Microsoft hasn't been investing years and years and millions upon millions in this area (PocketPC) for nothing.
That's the market Apple is aiming for -- and aiming dead center.
I don't know whether the SpyMac pictures are of an early prototype or close to the finished product. But it sure isn't a fake. Duh.
Well, we'll see, as Apple Legal swings into action in the morning.
[edit: you say iPad, I say iPaq... let's call the whole thing off.]
[ 01-03-2002: Message edited by: Hobbes ]</p>
<strong>God forbid that iWalk is a real product. Like the Cube, it has no market. Cool as the cube was, so would be an iWalk (or insert better name here). But nifty designs don't make up for a lack of good marketing.
What would be the iWalk's market?</strong><hr></blockquote>
It's probably a fake BUT they are up to something see <a href="http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US06295372__"; target="_blank">this patent</a>
In any case to answer your question, if it does prove to be real I am going to buy one so fast it'll make my bank manager spin.
<strong>
It's probably a fake BUT they are up to something see <a href="http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US06295372__"; target="_blank">this patent</a>
In any case to answer your question, if it does prove to be real I am going to buy one so fast it'll make my bank manager spin.
That particular patent seems to be by employees of Palm, Inc. - not Apple.
Personally, I think the device shown is for real. I also think it is a prototype; Apple may release something like this soon, but I'm quite sure it look rather different.
Who else could have done that? <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />
You know it. , and what do you mean it has no market? It's the Apple branded PDA we have all been begging for. It looks soo cool to me. I'll be crying if Apple cant produce one, or something similar.
-Paul
[quote]<strong>
The SpyMac staff have finished verifying the authenticity of the iWalk video and have decided that the source of the footage is sufficiently unidentifiable.
We can clearly make out Firewire, audio-in and audio-out ports.
</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yet the camera shot shows the user loading up a spymac.com web site, written specifically:
[quote]<strong>
"to see, whether or the browser works."
<a href="http://www.spymac.com/test/Test.html"; target="_blank">http://www.spymac.com/test/Test.html</a>;
</strong><hr></blockquote>
Likewise, we would generally expect a top-secret Apple product to be built and tested in Cupertino, or in Asian production facilities.
Yet, on turnaround.mov German can clearly be heard ("Bitte", and something else.) Note that Spymac.com is on a German webhost:
[quote]<strong>
bill-c-title
bill-c-firstname
bill-c-lastname
bill-c-organization
bill-c-street
bill-c-pcode
bill-c-city
bill-c-ccode
bill-c-phone
bill-c-fax
bill-c-email
</strong><hr></blockquote>
So either iWalk is real, yet for some reason they're lying about their relationship to the source...
...or else iWalk is a fake, made by Spymac themselves.
Which explanation is more consistent?
P.S. I see onlooker made a similar point while I was writing this post....
[ 01-03-2002: Message edited by: Mithras ]</p>
<strong>OK, after looking @ my iPod for a little while, I realized something. There is NO WAY they could fit the 5gb drive into the "iWalk". They need room for a circut board, a batterty, the screen, and RAM. Add the hard drive and it is thicker (I would say MUCH thicker) then the iWalk seems to be. Also, the stylus goes right where the HD would be. So, either it is a fake, or it doesnt have the 5gb drive. Either way, it sucks...
-Paul</strong><hr></blockquote>
not true.
1.) the iPod drive is a type II PC card. very very small. could easily fit in there
2.) is it not possible the drive could be used as the RAM also?
<strong>
not true.
1.) the iPod drive is a type II PC card. very very small. could easily fit in there
2.) is it not possible the drive could be used as the RAM also?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Im not saying that the drive isn't small. It is VERY small. Im saying that with everything else that they have to fit in there (f/w controler, Audio I/O, IR, Battery, etc.) there won't be enough room for the HD.
No, the HD could not be used as the Ram, it is too slow.
-Paul
Edit:forgot to address your 2nd point
[ 01-03-2002: Message edited by: psantora ]</p>
<strong>Its a complete fake. If you watch the video at normal speed but in full screen mode, you can see the pda moves slightly as it is written on, but the text does not move with the pda. Totally FAKE. FAKE FAKE FAKE</strong><hr></blockquote>
Good call. I thought it might be real until you pointed this out. Look at the printed text while keeping an eye on the border of the device. The text clearly "wobbles" a bit in relation to the frame, and it's a dead giveaway.
Certainly a lot of effort put into it, though.
Still can't get the bootup one to work, FWIW.
Alex
In between the leather case and the iWalk you can see a "ghost" pen which they have tried to hide... doh!
Bluring and obvious edits in between these two frames (a scroll wheel mouse is damned handy for this stuff).
The above mentioned "wobble" is also bloody obvious... (Mkae the movie full screen and watch the words "say hello" most obvious around 7 seconds through)
[ 01-03-2002: Message edited by: J3kyll ]</p>
View it here in slow motion:
<a href="http://www.olivergruber.ch/stuff/iwalkfake.mov"; target="_blank">www.olivergruber.ch/stuff/iwalkfake.mov</a>