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Apple Businesses

Apple iWalk: Mac OS-X based PDA? 291

Posted by CmdrTaco from the holy-cow-that-looks-sweet dept.
Per Wigren noted that SpyMac claims to have pictures of the iWalk, the mysterious secret project scheduled to be announced any time now. It is apparently something between a subnotebook and a PDA running a scaled down OSX. Supposedly it can be a portable MP3 player, and it has apple's airport stuff built in. CT Nope. They announced the iPod instead, a lame MP3 player.
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Apple iWalk: Mac OS-X based PDA? More

Apple iWalk: Mac OS-X based PDA?

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  • Hard to believe these are real, considering they had very similar pictures on just the other night that were obviously rendered (badly).
    • Yeah, just like the cube.

      Oh, wait . . .

      -Peter

    • Take a close look at the shadows (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Lethyos ( 408045 ) on Tuesday October 23, 2001 @11:03AM (#2466003) Journal
      And look at the shadows coming from the cigarette box. They don't match up, do they? :)

      There seems to be two light sources. One immediately above and behind the photographer, like a florescent ceiling light, which is evidenced by the reflection on the keyboard. The other source appears to be an regular incandescent also behind the viewer, casting shadows on the cigarettes that goes up. The shadow from the iWalk device is going to the upper left. They just don't seem consistent. There's also a *very* faint shadow leaning *towards* the photographer. Also notice the wrinkles on the sheet of paper beneath the iWalk. The shadows cast by them are also going "up", like from the cigarette box. Funny how it's the only object in the scene that casts light in its own unique direction. Light also does not seem to fall naturally on the device itself.

      A few other observations I noticed... Zoom in close on the image. Other objects in the scene are slightly more crisp than the device itself.

      Maybe I'm wrong, but the scene just looks very unnatural, but this may only be become I'm looking at it so intently. But if you ask me, that is definitely a mock up. :)
      • Yep. The shading on the surface of the device is very ray-tracing-ish and the shadow on its left is going out too far in comparison to the cigarette box. This is an obvious fake. Not to mention that the Apple logo is the wrong way up if the iBook and TiBook are anything to base an opinion on. You'd think Apple would shoot for constistancy. =)
  • MacOS Rumors [mosr.com] has some information here [mosr.com] which details how secretive it is (under heading similar to, and along the lines of, 'non-project workers kept in dark until Monday').

  • Interesting... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Millennium ( 2451 ) on Tuesday October 23, 2001 @10:25AM (#2465758)
    ...but these look fake to me. Almost definitely 3D-rendered. Maybe useful as an "artists' conception" pic, but that's not what this was touted as.

    And besides, Apple already said "it's not a Mac." This looks a lot like a Mac to me, albeit a reeeeeeeeally small one.

    Why are people so obsessed with the idea of Apple releasing a PDA, anyway?

    • Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Tuesday October 23, 2001 @10:28AM (#2465774)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • >>Why are people so obsessed with the idea of Apple releasin a PDA anyway?
        >Because the Newton was so *close* to what we all wanted.

        Adding my $0.02: Not to mention that if Apple did come out with a reborn Newton, some of us [me] would buy it in a second and pay $$$ for it, too because out existing Apple PDAs are now several years old and heavily worn from use...

      • Too big to carry in your pocket, too small to use as a tablet? I don't think so.
    • And because Apple manufactured the first modern PDA...
    • When Apple came out with the Newton, it did well at first, then flopped over time. It was well ahead of its time, but there wasn't a big enough market to support it.

      "Why are people so obsessed with the idea of Apple releasing a PDA, anyway?"

      When the Newton came out, techies were amazed at its handwriting recognition software, and general ease of use. What they were also amazed at was its price tag.

      Both the NeXT and the Newton were ahead of the market, but very nice products. It seems the hype about this new device is possibly the fact that Apple tends to release new products that are ahead of the market, but are none-the-less fantastic.

      • When the Newton came out, techies were amazed at its handwriting recognition software


        I quote Dilbert :"Weave me a cone, bat".
        amazed might not be the best word, eh?

    • Re:Interesting... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by zulux ( 112259 ) on Tuesday October 23, 2001 @10:39AM (#2465836) Homepage Journal
      Evidence of Faked Photo:

      The Direction of the shadow for the IWalk doesen't match the direction of the shadow for the pack of cigerettes.

      There is no hard shadow under the IWalk.

      The scale is off - the whole cursor pad that has five buttons on the IWalk is the same size as the Apple 'flower' key on the keyboard. You'd have to have small fingers to press that!

      The bright reflection of the light on the IWalk is from a differing angle than the reflection on the cigerette box - the cigerette box relects the light onto the paper tward the upper left - indicating a bright light in the upper left, while the IWalk reflection indicates that the bright light is in the lower left.

      Perhaps the Iwalk exists, but I thinks it's more of a Web-pad sized instead of PDA sized due to the scale of the cursor buttons.

      • I've actually done 3d effects and compositing for a living and I believe the photo to be real. Thanks for the analysis, though. I guess we'll know soon enough.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • I hope it's a fake cos...it doesn't look "breakthrough" to me. Was only a matter of time until /. featured those fakes.


    *yawn*

  • This seems like a great product, surely designed to steal Palm's market share. The determing factor for success is going to be the price, which, if Apple stays true to form, is sure to be exorbitant.

    I'm guessing $699.

    • Re:$$? (Score:1)

      by Zurk ( 37028 )
      if it was $199 everyone would jump on it. and if it had a flash disk instead of losing all the data when the power goes out like the palmpilots. i know i certainly would.
      and running a NeXT/UNIX derived OS with an 802.11b port would be really cool.

  • Dell? (Score:3, Funny)

    by ipxodi ( 156633 ) on Tuesday October 23, 2001 @10:27AM (#2465768) Homepage
    Perhaps thay don't actually USE the Macs -- notice the DELL parts bag under the pack of smokes? Maybe they actually use PCs whenever Jobs isn't looking!

  • Remember: Rumors. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Xunker ( 6905 ) on Tuesday October 23, 2001 @10:27AM (#2465769) Homepage Journal

    No matter how much you want to believe this (and believe me, I want to), you have to notice two very important things: One, that the Apple rumor world isn't mearly as accurate as it was before the reign of heir Jobs, and the most important one is that Apple has said publicly on two occasions (that come to mind) that there will be no Apple Portables aside from laptops.

    I want this to be true as I still hold a candle for the lost Newton division, but I've seen these rumours before, and they've never come to fruition then either.

    But then again, we never thought we'd have a Mac OS with protected memory, either, so there is a (very) slim chance, I guess. But don't hold youir breath.

  • PDAs, Plasma TVs...I'll wait (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I'm a patient man. I'll wait for three years until the units are not only ten times as good as they are now, but a twentieth of the cost.

    I would appreciate it if the rest of you would fund R&D by buying first gen systems though.

  • A little late in the game for rumors (Score:4, Funny)

    by eXtro ( 258933 ) on Tuesday October 23, 2001 @10:29AM (#2465778) Homepage
    Reporting on rumors is fine, they're even entertaining. However when the real device is going to be unveiled in a few hours its a bit pointless. Besides, everybody knows its going to be the iBrator!

  • TOTALLY Doctored (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Paleh0rse ( 142139 ) on Tuesday October 23, 2001 @10:29AM (#2465779) Homepage
    I'm not saying that thing doesn't exist, But certainly doesn't belong in that picture. Just compare the shadows from the iWalk and the box of Cigarettes to the left.

    Not to mention that I doubt Apple would make anything with buttons that tiny so close together.

    Cheers.

    • Re:TOTALLY Doctored (Score:4, Funny)

      by Zico ( 14255 ) on Tuesday October 23, 2001 @10:33AM (#2465788)

      Not to mention that I doubt Apple would make anything with buttons that tiny so close together.


      Actually, seeing how this is Apple, it's doubtful that there would even be more than one button. Ya know, too confusing for the target Apple market and all. ;)

    • Re:TOTALLY Doctored -not (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      the shadow if fine, we are not dealing w/ a parallel light source it is a point sorce close to the device, the shadow is consitant w/ a desk lamp. though a pack of cigarets inside apple offices is odd.
  • I am not sure but the picture on spymac seems to have been manipulated. Look at the apple logo, there is a perspective problem.

    Another possibility is that the story is real and that the photo has been edited to make the device look like the retail product.

    If it's a PDA, I hope it won't be too expensive so it can be a killer.
    • > If it's a PDA, I hope it won't be
      > too expensive so it can be a killer.

      Argh. I was about to settle on a PDA/cell phone device. If this is legit, I'll have to reconsider the whole shebang.
  • The photo that's with the article is a fake, clever, but a fake. The perspective on the "iWalk" is all wrong when compared to the fag box and the keyboard. Also the reflected light levels are wrong on the device. I will say this though. If the device is real, i'll be buying one.
  • The so-called iWalk is less PDA and more multimedia assistant. Rumors abound that it will serve as a airport-compatible music, video, and data (no, not personal calendar/address book).
    eWeek [eweek.com] will apparently have post-press conference coverage. (the press release for the iWalk is today at 10am PST).
  • The shadows on the "unit" don't seem to match those cast by the cig box right next to it.

  • That is the fakey-est fake picture that ever faked a fake.

    ~jeff

  • as usual we're doubtful (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    and if last time's g4 cube is any indication, we're gonna be wrong

    does anybody remember the seemingly percieving comments made about the g4 cube leaked pictures last time around?

    modified picture of a washing machine?
    power switch pops up instead of in and vice versa?
    impossibility of no fan?
    obviously retouched with blur?

    the slashdot community is amusing...i think it never learns
  • Wasn't Steve Jobs working with Amazon.com's Jeff Bestos on a "revolutionary transport" device? I doubt anything will be announced related to this today, but now is the time they said they would announce something. It is, however, "not a mac". So maybe.....
  • Right, this "i" prefix shit is getting out of hand. What the hell does it mean? Is it supposed to mean it's hi-tech or something?

    I thought Apple were meant to be the "marketeers" of the computer industry - making a fortune from selling shitty overpriced blue-Mactinosh's with limited expandability. But iTunes? iMac? iWalk?

    I won't start on Compaq. iPAQ? WTF is the "i" for? Anybody?

    • Re:"i" prefix......again (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      The "i" means it was designed using only integers.
    • Yeah, marketeers of the industry. No substance to any of their products. There was no substance at all in the first card expandable desktop PC (Apple 2), the first portable pc, the first windowing laptop, the first internet appliance, the first PDA, the first machine with Firewire, the first PC that could burn DVDs or in the first computer with a 16x9 aspect ratio.

      You PC enthusiasts sure come up with a lot of useful ideas. Subscription operating systems? Pop up ads for "free" internet? You guys are fucking geniuses

  • iWalk (Score:3, Interesting)

    by macpeep ( 36699 ) on Tuesday October 23, 2001 @10:36AM (#2465811)
    Do a search on iWalk on Google and you'll find an existing product with that name. The product is one that Wired covered a while back about some kind of artificial leg. It seems unlikely that Apple would use the name of an existing product. http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,39262,00.ht ml [wired.com]
    • Apple has used "iBook" even though another product has used that name. However I don't think that "iWalk" will be announced. Its a cool looking hoax in my opinion. My bet is "iKerbango". I had one ordered for six months at Amazon before it was cancelled.
    • Trademarks (tho not so sure about product names) are specific to industry. This is why apple was prohibited from adding music support to its early apple-II's, until Apple records (the beatles' old label) promised not to sue. Had Apple Computers been even marginally in the music buisiness, Apple Records would have had grounds to sue for trademark infringment.

      Whether Personal Trasportable Computers and Personal Commuter Transports are too close to each other, we'll let the courts decide.

      (yes I know that prosthetic legs aren't commuter transport, but the pun required some poetic licence to work)
      • This is why apple was prohibited from adding music support to its early apple-II's, until Apple records (the beatles' old label) promised not to sue. Had Apple Computers been even marginally in the music buisiness, Apple Records would have had grounds to sue for trademark infringment.

        I was under the impression that Apple Records did sue Apple Computer. To my understanding the lawsuit was over Apple Computers inclusion of the CD player in their computers that would allow computer users to install M$ Office (or other large applications) from a single CD rather than a skyscraper of floppies. (remember sitting in front of your system swapping floppies in and out for an hour or more?) Apple Records objection was that Apple Computers could then play music. And this somehow infringed upon Apple Records. (How this "infringed" I am not sure, but I do know that the inclusion of the CD-ROM mechanism was crucial to software and hardware development.)

  • Obvious fake (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Masker ( 25119 ) on Tuesday October 23, 2001 @10:37AM (#2465819)
    There were earlier pictures that have been removed now, but were easier to spot as fakes. Here is some discussion on MacNN [macnn.com] about the "iWalk". Also note that "iWalk" is not a registered trademark of Apple.

    What is an Apple trademark, though, is the "iPod" [ipaustralia.gov.au] (NOTE: if you can't get the page to display, just start a new search for "iPod"). From the description, though, it does sound like a PDA...

    Nice of Slashdot to finally put a story of this up... The original invitations went out last Friday!
    • Wouldn't it be funny though, if "eWalk" was a registered trademark of Apple? Then everytime I told somebody that I had an eWalk in my pants they would think I was some sort of perverted Star Wars freak....

  • It's not real (Score:4, Funny)

    by m0nkyman ( 7101 ) on Tuesday October 23, 2001 @10:38AM (#2465822) Homepage Journal
    Apple's rabid lawyers haven't forced them to take it down yet, therefore it can't be real
  • From the story:

    [H]andwriting recognition (using former newton-technology so it's a lot better than current palm os recognition)

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Newton's handwriting recognition suck big time? (Even made an episode of the Simpsons, as I recall)

  • PDAs on Endor (Score:3, Funny)

    by Kartoffel ( 30238 ) on Tuesday October 23, 2001 @10:38AM (#2465829)
    Why not call it the eWalk instead?

    Imagine an Apple ad campaign with little furry creatures running around the forest carrying colorful translucent PDAs.
  • Seems like a very lightweight laptop to me... but with neither a NIC nor a HD it probably wont do that job very well...

    IF it had a NIC, it could mount NFS, and that would be more cool...

    Any "device" that can run a fully featured Unix with network support should be useful for some thing or some persons.
    • Wow. Poster must be wholly unable to think different. No HD because it (if it exists) is a PDA and needs a low power solution. No NIC because it (again, if it exists) has airport and doesn't need wires. MacOSX has no NIC and I mount NFS.

      Get your head out of your 486 and welcome to the 21st century. And if you want a portable UNIX machine, buy a small PC.
  • in Parade Magazine in the Sunday paper of all places....

    It's the size and shape of a cassette, and in addition to holding 64MB of music (or files?) and working as an MP3 player with headphone jack, it'll actually play when placed in a cassette player (say in one's car---does it respond to ffwd and rwnd controls?)

    Didn't trouble to look to closely since it's $230...

    As much as I too would like to see an Apple PDA, I just can't see that happening given what Apple has said in the past :(

    William

  • IT'S FAKE (Score:4, Informative)

    by ink ( 4325 ) on Tuesday October 23, 2001 @10:40AM (#2465847) Homepage
    I can't believe Slashdot got dupped. Oh wait, yes I can. :) Anyway:


    The MacNN forums (www.macnn.com ahem the most reliable) have debunked this as a doctored up Harmon Kardon amplifier and a Microsoft remote control.

  • ...Wireless Server/Client

    Here's something related:

    http://www.twomobile.com/content/771.php
    http://www.sensateinc.com/

  • Nice Fake (Score:3, Insightful)

    by msheppard ( 150231 ) on Tuesday October 23, 2001 @10:42AM (#2465858) Homepage Journal
    The 'icing on the fake' is the box of marbs middle right and the Rorschach Ink Blot middle left.
  • If the image was just a little better, I might believe the post.

    The shadow and highlights just don't jive with the cigarette package.

    Sorry, I'm iWalkin' away from this one.

  • with handwriting recognition (using former newton-technology so it's a lot better than current palm os recognition)

    LOL! First of all, the Newton sucked when it came to handwriting recognition. Second of all, the guy doesn't even seem to realize that Palm OS doesn't do handwriting recognition, it does gesture recognition with Graffiti, which is why it was successful. Palm was smart enough to know that handwriting recognition sucks and will always suck like voice recognition until we get better AI-based pattern recognition and language context theories (no, it won't be solved solely by processor speed).

    • The handwriting recognition was absolutely SUPERB. At least on the one I used.
      Sure.. it made mistakes at first. But you have to tell it about the mistakes... and pretty soon the little newton can regocnize my handwriting even when I couldn't!

      I was absolutely amazed at how well the handwriting recognition on it worked.

      • before US robotics / palm ever made a palm-pilot,
        they made grafitti FOR the newton. that's where
        it started.

      • Well, I have to admit that I didn't use the later models (and face it -- not many people did).

        In my experience with using systems like this, you are not so much training them as they are training you. The "learning" capability probably helps, but most people have to stick with it through a lot of trial and error before they can get it to work effectively, and it's primarily the user modifying behavior.

        I'm sure there are people who managed to get it to work, and work well. These people, like you, of course will claim that it's "great". But that's a long way from handwriting recognition that works well for everyone, which I simply haven't seen exist.

        If it was really was that good, which would be far better than anything seen before or since, Apple would be licensing it EVERYWHERE rather than simply killing it (although, another poster claims Apple licensed it to others). There is a reason that Graffiti was so much popular than handwriting systems: It worked well, it worked reliably, and it worked reliably for everyone, not just people whose handwriting happened to work well with the recognition engine.

    • Newton handwriting recognition sucked on the first couple versions of the Newton OS. However, Newton OS 2.0 and up had outstanding handwriting recognition. As for Graffiti, guess what....it was first developed on the Newton.
  • It does.

    It manages to fool even people here at slashdot.

    Now, look, I want an iWalk too...but this isn't going to be what Apple shows in about...umm.....20 minutes or so from my count.

    Meanwhile this is just a way to attract traffic to another mac rumor site.

    I loved the newton. So much better than any of the WinCE, Linux based (gasp!) or Palm units. They'd have years of development by now.

    But what will be announced? It sure as hell won't be a PDA.

    :-(

    But I'm still taking bets for the next fifteen minutes or so. 10 to 1 odds.
  • Look at the picture. It looks kinda doctored to begin with, but check out the shadows. One perfect shadow in one direction in what looks like a multi flourescent lit area. It doesn't even match up to the cigarette box's shadow. Bogus.

    Not saying it isn't going to look like that, but that picture is definitely fake.

    And WTF is with the Dell (eww) logo?
  • Cool, I'll take three iWalks, and some Alex Chiu Magnetic Rings for my toes and a ride on the back of a Yeti.

    Oh wait... this is a mac rumors site, the iWalk may not exist.

  • ...I'd be all over it. If not, it's cute, but, well, cute.

    Attention all PDA and phone manufacturers: we are sick and tired of carrying around a PDA and a phone. Got it? Put them together, preferably in a form smaller and lighter than a small boulder, and priced not too much higher than the two things separately. You'll be rich.

    If Apple could stick a phone into a sexy Apple OSX-based PDA that I could plug into my mac, they'd have another pile of my money double-quick, that's for sure. The more M$ scares me with their Big Brother plans, the more I'm dying to lock into something else. C'mon Apple, give me some hope.
    • They do. Verizon wireless (I think Sprint too) sells a Palm V that runs a phone application with a keypad, speaker, and mic. It's pretty neat. When used as a phone, it just looks a little bulky. Fold down the mic, speaker, and slide the keypad, poof, Palm V. I can't seem to find a pic of it though.
      • Kycera 6035. It's a PalmOS 3.5 based dude. The sweet part is that it can function as a full wireless modem for itself standing alone or for another computer connected via serial cable to it's palm cradle. Verison let's you use CDMA calling at not extra fee (your minuets are used like it's a normal call). Plus, since it's a PalmOS based device, you don't have to deal with watered down, propriatarily controlled HDML sites..you have a full HTML browser (well, as full as it is on the Palm V) with an independent modem link to whatever dialup ISP you have.

        Cons are that you now have a cell phone that is prone to crashes and it's a tad bulky (yet smaller than a full-sized Palm Pilot).

        http://www.kyocera-wireless.com/kysmart/kysmart_fa q.htm [kyocera-wireless.com]
    • Oh? Put them together? Like the Trium Mondo? Or the Nokia 90xx, 91xx and 92xx series? Or like the Siemens XL45? Or the Sagem phones? Or the Qualcom PDQ phones? Or the Ericsson 380? Or the Motorola Acoompi 008? What a great idea! Why didn't anoyone else think of that? :)
    • Attention all PDA and phone manufacturers: we are sick and tired of carrying around a PDA and a phone. Got it? Put them together, preferably in a form smaller and lighter than a small boulder, and priced not too much higher than the two things separately. You'll be rich.

      I wouldn't buy one for a darn good reason. I want my information at my fingertips, and my phone on my ear. I want to be able to listen to somebody while I enter the phone number that he/she is dictating to me. I actually *use* my palm, and I need to use it while on the phone.That is why there is virtually no market for such a device. IMNSHO

    • Check out danger.com [danger.com]

      They're doing exactly what you want, and it's much cooler than PalmOS.

  • Yes you can tell it's fake by the picture....But the biggest givaway is the statement that says it will be available by Christmas. When was the last time something from a major tech company went from prototype leakage to the street in 3 months time. Get real people.
  • How scaled? I'm not a mac guy, so I haven't payed close attention, but I remember reviews saying that OSX was sluggish on dual G4s with 1.5G RAM. Seems to me there'd be a WHOLE LOT of scaling to do to get it usable on PDA hardware.

    I'm sure a few of you are running OSX, how is it? What is your opinion on how successful a scale-down would be? Would it be better to try and scale down the whole thing, or maybe just the key parts of it, like the kernel, and build the rest from scratch maybe using the OSX GUI as a guideline? And is it really worthwile for Apple to throw resources at something like this?

    • Re:scaled down OSX (Score:2, Informative)

      by David Ham ( 88421 )
      I have a Dual G4 800MHz with 1.152 GB of RAM and an iBook 500MHz G3 with 320 MB of RAM.

      It's *really* fast. On both machines.

      The things that were slow were window resizing, etc. And that's mostly fixed now (though resizing Internet Explorer or Mozilla still seems to drag a big when it's doing a complex web page, but that's to be expected).

      As far as a scale-down... I think they could do it. The biggest resource-eaters would be Aqua & Quartz, two of the underlying graphics technologies. If those were eliminated or replaced with something faster, I'm sure one would get decent performance with a scaled down OS X.

      As far as Apple throwing resources at it... we don't really know what "it" is... yet. 17 minutes to go. But really, if it is a small PDA-like device, I think it will be a big hit. People *loved* the Newton and have been dying for something like it for a long time. So yes, it would be worthwhile for Apple to do so.
  • Notice that this is the ONLY thing on their site? The paint is still drying on this site, and with no prior content, they are offering to sell ad space already?

    Perhaps they anticipated the Slashdotting, so they'd cash in on the deal by offering to sell ad space in conjunction with said fake product(notice the shadow lines on the lower 1/5th of the image) to give the illusion of a big tech gossip site.

    Nope, not buying it.

  • Highly anticipated (Score:2, Informative)

    by caryw ( 131578 )
    Quick tidbits:

    This product has had the mac world biting their nails for the past week or so.
    Two of the most popular mac news sources, MacSlash [macslash.com] and MacOS Rumors [mosr.com], are currently down, and MacNN [macnn.com] has been slowed to a crawl.
    The official announcement from apple is expected to happen at 10:00AM PST.

  • Everyone goto MacMinute! (Score:2, Informative)

    by caryw ( 131578 )
    MacNN/MacSlash/MOSR are down, but we still have MacMinute [macminute.com].

    "MacMinute is in attendance at the media event and will bring the news as we learn of it."

    And it looks like in the time it took me to type this post, the action has already started:

    Apple CEO Steve Jobs is currently recapping Apple's digital hub products, including iTunes, iMovie 2, iDVD, and Mac OS X's Image Capture application. [October 23 - 13:10-13:20]

    Hell yeah! It was just announced! (from MacMinute):

    Apple introduces iPod, a digital audio player (MP3, MP2) with a 5GB hard drive (1000 songs). 20 minute skip protection. [13:25]

  • iPod (Score:2)

    by toupsie ( 88295 )
    The new is in. Apple introduces iPod, an MP3 player with a hard drive. Big freaking deal, I already have one, its called an Archos jukebox 6000.
  • Looks like some kind of MP3 player called the "iPod." FireWire equipped, a 5-gig hard drive, etc, etc, etc.

    To be honest, thus far I'm disappointed. This is what Apple calls "breakthrough"?

    Live coverage of the conference is at MacMinute [macminute.com] (but they'll get swamped soon enough...)
  • It's insulting that someone, anyone would release a crappy fake picture like that and try to insist that it's a real device.

    It's an annoying picture, because the objects in the foreground, the supposed object of interest is in soft focus, while the stuff in the background is crisp and clean. Tell me, is this person's digital camera so bad that it can't take a picture of three objects in close proximity without all three of them in focus? Please.

    Another thing that makes this stand out on the bullshit alarm is that it is NOTHING like the real leaked pictures that people release of new products. Usually, when people take pictures of new products, they're as technical as possible, lining up the device like they were in a studio showing the device open, closed, any neat features, and most importantly, what the screen and OS look like.

    This crappy fake looks as though it was from the background of that crappy Hackers Movie with Angelina Jolie. You don't expect us to believe for a second that this picture was an accident, taken by someone who didn't even realize what they were taking a picture of, do you? What an insult.

    The third, most damning piece of evidence I enter into the fold is the crappy lighting and texture effects the moron who made this used. What the hell kind of surface is that on the device? Granite? Some space-aged material? It doesn't reflect light, like the laptop in the background. It's obviously textured. Is it Olsonite, or some other space age material? I think its Fakelite.

    My final point: look at the shadow on the pack of cigarettes. It casts a faint shadow away from the camera, what you'd expect from flash photography. Now, look at the shadow of the fake device. It casts a harsher shadow to the left, as though there was a strong light source to the right of the person taking the picture. Where's the shadow from that light source for the pack of cigarettes? It's got to be a powerful light source, because it was bright enough that the flash wasn't able to drown out its shadows.

    This picture is a total fake and an insult to our collective intelligence.

  • $


    The Apple Store [apple.com]

    The Apple Home Page [apple.com]

    The iPod Product Page [apple.com]



    iPod is the size of a deck of cards. 2.4" wide by 4" tall by .78" thick 6.5 ounces
    * One hour recharge, 10 hour battery capacity charges over FireWire -- no charging cable needed
    * 20 minute skip protection FireWire built-in. fast -- entire CD download in under 10 seconds

    * "To have your whole music library with you at all times is a quantum leap when it comes to music. And iPod fits in your pocket. Never before possible."

    3 breakthroughs in iPod: 1. Ultra-portable. Ultra-thin hard drive. 1.8 inch hard drive is .2 inches thick. 5 Gigabytes. 1000 songs at 160K bit rate.

    * MP3 (incl. VBR), WAV, and AIFF playback. Holds 1000 songs.
    * Music players: flash (MP3) player, hard disk player, CD player, MP3 CD player

    Apple's new device is a hard drive-based music player: iPod.
    * It's a part of everyone's life. It's a large target market. It knows now boundaries. And there is no market leader.

    No one has really found the recipe yet for digital music. And not only will we find the recipe, we think the Apple brand is great for this.

    * We are executing on this stuff today. Nine months from having a strategy, and we're basically shipping all of it -- iDVD will ship early next month.

    iApps know all about the devices. But a thought occurred to us late last year -- the devices don't know anything about the iApps. There's never been a device built to take advantage... what if there was?

    And we decided to do it.

    The field we chose was music.

    Why music? Well, we love music. and it's always good to do something you love.
    * Jobs demos iMovie -- showed clips of baby videos

    * iDVD2 shipping early November

    * Jobs then showed a four-piece pie chart: video (iMovie 2), Music (iTunes), DVD (iDVD), and Photo

    * Let's start with the digital hub. This is a strategy we announced in January 2001. We believe Mac can become the center of your digital lifestyle. In other words, we're being surrounded by these amazing digital devices these days.

    * We have something really stunning for you today -- we have a lot of things going on.

    * Steve Jobs comes onstage:


    Don'tcha just know I gotta add this to my collection!
    Curious George

  • MacMinute [macminute.com] is at the event, covering it live. It's called the iPod, and it's an MP3 player.

    • 5GB HD space
    • 20 minute skip protection
    • Firewire
  • Several news (not rumor) sites are claiming that Apple has announced the "iPod", a sort of mp3 player with HD...
  • MacCentral coverage of the iPod [macworld.com]. It is basically an ultrathin mp3 player. Here are the specs...

    * Apple design -- stainless steel also a FireWire hard drive

    * iPod is the size of a deck of cards. 2.4" wide by 4" tall by .78" thick 6.5 ounces

    * One hour recharge, 10 hour battery capacity charges over FireWire -- no charging cable needed

    * 20 minute skip protection FireWire built-in. fast -- entire CD download in under 10 seconds

    * "To have your whole music library with you at all times is a quantum leap when it comes to music. And iPod fits in your pocket. Never before possible."

    * 3 breakthroughs in iPod: 1. Ultra-portable. Ultra-thin hard drive. 1.8 inch hard drive is .2 inches thick. 5 Gigabytes. 1000 songs at 160K bit rate.
  • I can't get through to just about any Mac info site right now, but here's what I managed to sneak off MacNN before it got hosed again:

    Apple's special event began slightly after its 10:00 am anticipated start time with Steve Jobs recapping Apple's digital hub vision. Jobs then introduced the iPod, a digital audio player with a 5GB drive, 20-minute skip protection, a FireWire port, and an advanced Lithium-polymer battery with up to 10 hours (and fully charges in just over an hour). The portable device is the about the "size of a deck of cards," with a backlit LCD display, and offers support for playlists, ID3 tags, and iTunes. The portable device fits in the palm of your hand (about the size of a credit card and less than an inch high), has a backlit LCD display, and offers support for playlists, ID3 tags, and iTunes.

    No price info, though. I'm sure we'll see more later.

    (apologies if someone else has already gotten this info into the discussion...)
  • It's up now.
    Have a look

  • the device is called the iPod (Score:3, Informative)

    by deander2 ( 26173 ) <public@MOSCOWkered.org minus city> on Tuesday October 23, 2001 @12:57PM (#2466945) Homepage
    Just released:
    The size of a deck of cards (2.4 x 4 x .78 in.)
    * 5gB HDD
    * 10 hour bttery life
    * 20 min skip protection
    * COOL ASS intigration with iTunes2
    * crossfader: automatically fades between songs. new equalizer button next to burn and eject buttons, with presets, 10 sliders plus a preamp slider
    * built-in. fast -- entire CD download in under 10 seconds
    * If you add songs or re-arrange playlists, iPod automatically updates

    see: http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0110/23.event. php
    see: http://www.macnn.com/news.php?id=10182
    • FYI:

      That is supposed to be:
      * Built in FIREWIRE is fast - can download a CD in 10 seconds.

      Also really cool is that it can recharge from the firewire port in 1 hour! No carrying YAPB (yet another power brick) around with you everywhere. :)

      Also, $399 MSRP. (that sucks, but hey, 5 gigs in this small of a package? god damn that's slick. :)
  • iPod [apple.com]:

    - Holds over 1000 songs
    - Weights just 6.5 ounces -- fits in your pocket
    - Plays up to 10 hours with 20 minutes skip protection
    - Auto synchronize all your music with iTunes
    - Transfer a whole CD is less than 10 seconds
    - Charge with the included power adapter or over FireWire
    - Breakthrough UI with an innovative scroll wheel
    - 60 mWatt amp powers high-fidelity sound earbuds
    - Ultra-slim 5-gigabyte hard drive doubles as a FireWire disk

    Price $399
  • Mac Central [macworld.com] has the lowdown. It's an MP3 player. "Apple's new device is a hard drive-based music player: iPod. " -Steve Jobs.

  • I've found one little feature of this device that might actually convince me to get one. It's got a rather fast read and write speed, and it can hold things other than mp3s... which means it's a really, really small portable 5GB firewire HD, and I actually need one of those for transfering large software projects from mac to mac without dying over the DSL line... broadband is OK, but it's not fast networking. Given how long and tedious it is to burn three CDs with the latest version of the project, or to do reliable diffing across the whole thing, and the fact that this is more portable than the CDs... and add the bonus of having the music, and I might go for it.

  • Python PDA (Score:3, Funny)

    by Ukab the Great ( 87152 ) on Tuesday October 23, 2001 @02:59PM (#2468143)
    It's only a model.
  • "They announced the iPod instead, a lame MP3 player."

    The iPod is not a PDA, but it probably is the best all-around MP3 player on the market, and certainly the best size/storage space ratio.

    - Scott

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