[DaveGee]

Okay PDA Fans...

A new is now on that wannabe MOSR site http://www.spymac.com/

Safe money says this too is a fake but they say they have video they are gonna put up... (I have to think that either the video will show little) or someone has hand built a case for someone elses hardware so it looks like it could be an Apple (no easy task mind you) but then again 'Apple Legal' and or bandwidth could be used for a no-show of the video...

Anyway check this out:



Cheers and if anyone here does get to see the video (if it ever gets posted) REMEMBER TO SAVE IT 'just in case'!

Dave

[ 01-02-2002: Message edited by: DaveGee ]

[Nephron]

Hmmm

Seems fake.

spymac.com seems to make its living off this iWalk thing. They had lots of spy shots prior to the last MacWorld, and nothing came of it. Now we have a "movie" from them, with a new iWalk, which looks like an iPod, and nothing at all like their previous iWalk. In both cases it looks like a fake. I am not an expert by any means, but to my eye the unit does not blend properly with the background. The old iWalk spyshots had this same issue.

Well .... I would like to be wrong, but I have to say, this is worse than rumor. File in the category of "Possible Deliberate Deception"

Cheers,

Originally posted by DaveGee:
<STRONG>Okay PDA Fans...

A new is now on that wannabe MOSR site http://www.spymac.com/

Safe money says this too is a fake but they say they have video they are gonna put up... (I have to think that either the video will show little) or someone has hand built a case for someone elses hardware so it looks like it could be an Apple (no easy task mind you) but then again 'Apple Legal' and or bandwidth could be used for a no-show of the video...

Anyway check this out:



Cheers and if anyone here does get to see the video (if it ever gets posted) REMEMBER TO SAVE IT 'just in case'!

Dave

[ 01-02-2002: Message edited by: DaveGee ]</STRONG>

[DaveGee]

Well one of the videos did make it out... before they password protected the site.. here is a link (2MB) the effing thing sure looks real but some say it could be a newton but since I've never played with a newton I could say...

Here goes one of the (3) movies... The other two couldn't get yanked before the passwords we put on the site.
http://home.socal.rr.com/jdoc/sayhello.mov

or
http://www.mikezornek.com/!sayhello.mov

Dave

[SMacSteve]

This is no Newton. I think this is the real thing and it looks awesome! I hope it legit. I want one!

[zeebe]

Here is another web site with pictures and movies: http://www.interfacestudio.net/iwalk/

Although, 2 of the movies don't work.

[anim8ing]

Hi all, I'll tell you one thing. That is NOT a newton. I've owned 3 in my time and the handwriting recognition is nowhere NEAR that good. However if it is a fake, it's a GREAT one. For some reason, when the person is writing, it just doesn't look real. This is my huimble opinion, but if it WAS real, i'd be first in line to get one!

Anim8r

Originally posted by anim8ing:
<STRONG>Hi all, I'll tell you one thing. That is NOT a newton. I've owned 3 in my time and the handwriting recognition is nowhere NEAR that good. However if it is a fake, it's a GREAT one. For some reason, when the person is writing, it just doesn't look real. This is my huimble opinion, but if it WAS real, i'd be first in line to get one!

Anim8r</STRONG>

Get outta the way cause I've got first dibs!

I kinda feel guilty for seeing this thing early and stealing the thunder from old Jobsy but I think this thing should sell handily. (As long as it's not $799+).

[Kickaha]

Put my vote in the Fake column.

As a longtime owner of a Newton, the handwriting recog portions look... wrong. Check out *CLOSELY* where the ink shows up on the screen, and it doesn't seem to correspond to where the stylus tip would be given the angles. It always shows up about 4mm to the left of where it should be, from what I can tell. Also, the ink looks way too crisp compared to the rest of the display. Also note that you never actually *SEE* the stylus tip on the screen, the hand is always in the way.

It's a fake. A very very *good* fake, but a fake. At best, it's a damned good demo video designed for a private audience of a possible product pitch.

[DaveGee]

Are we having fun yet?!?!

I've seen two outta the three movies all 10 of the large photos and damn if it ain't real... (damn them to hell) Oh and in the turnaround movie you see the IR port a stylus hole/holder in the bottom as well as something that looks like it may be another port...

On the top is are the firewire, microphone and headphone ports also some other unknown port on the top (or it could be the on button - too hard to tell) the pic is blury but the text/icon either says 'on' or it is a thin line a circle and then a thicker line... kinda like this....

--o==

Screw the surprise and just take my cash!!!!! I'm so EFFEN psyched!!!

Dave

[DaveGee]

Originally posted by Kickaha:
<STRONG>Put my vote in the Fake column.

As a longtime owner of a Newton, the handwriting recog portions look... wrong. Check out *CLOSELY* where the ink shows up on the screen, and it doesn't seem to correspond to where the stylus tip would be given the angles. It always shows up about 4mm to the left of where it should be, from what I can tell. Also, the ink looks way too crisp compared to the rest of the display. Also note that you never actually *SEE* the stylus tip on the screen, the hand is always in the way.

It's a fake. A very very *good* fake, but a fake. At best, it's a damned good demo video designed for a private audience of a possible product pitch.</STRONG>

No way Kickaha!!!

This is for real!! I'm sure of it... (I NEED IT TO BE REAL) but I've heard the nay sayers pick apart the Cube as well as the pics of the latest case rev on the G4 tower... they were SO sure those were fake and well we know what happened....

Did you look at all the pics and did you get to see the other mov's?

I mean you can believe what you like but that is a working device... Some have gotten all three movs to play and they even show it working 'widescreen' or 'longscreen' (in otherwords the pda can be flipped sideways and used that way...

Too effin cool!

Dave

If this isn't real... the a pox on the spymac house!

[ 01-03-2002: Message edited by: DaveGee ]

This is a STUPID Casio Go look!

[litche]

It's best to me..
and big thing.
:-)

[Kickaha]

Dave, it's good, but not perfect. As pointed out by someone in another forum, take the sayhello.mov file, and double its size in QT Player. Watch *very carefully* at the fonts/ink on the screen. They don't move, even though the unit does, ever so slightly. They're a video paste-in.

Yes, I've seen all three movies, and all the pictures available in various places.

I still say it's a fake. The screen's lack of backlighting, yet increased clarity could *only* be possible with a reflective LCD, which while possible, is still way beyond commercial consumer product pricing.

The button on the front is just ludicrous. I just received an iPod over the holidays, and I can't see the same company that made that, making this thing. Doesn't feel right.

Trust me, no one more than me wants this thing to be real, but I just don't see this being it, from this 'evidence'.

[derbs]

nope, this is a fake, but a very very good one! Certainly a lot better than their last iWalk effort - remember the one in the bathroom...?

I agree with kickaha - strange how the word 'Say' on the sayhello.mov stays perfectly still when the whole unit moves.

Nice idea, but this is a sharp pda playing full screen video
http://www.sharp.co.jp/products/mie1/

also - the iPod is $400, this baby would be at least $800 - why not get an iBook?

That's not the only site that mentions the iWalk. Take a look at http://www.macfreak.org/1-nieuws/1-nieuwsflits.html


Cool shit mates!

[Gee4orce]

The Gameboy Advance uses a reflective LCD, and that sells for about �80UKP...

I say it's the real deal - but I think it's a prototype and not quite the finished article that we will get on Monday. No way can SpyMac have got this sophisticated at hoaxes this quickly...

[oranjdisc]

Originally posted by Kickaha:
<STRONG>Dave, it's good, but not perfect. As pointed out by someone in another forum, take the sayhello.mov file, and double its size in QT Player. Watch *very carefully* at the fonts/ink on the screen. They don't move, even though the unit does, ever so slightly. They're a video paste-in.</STRONG>

I was completely believing these movies until I tried this, and you're absolutely correct. Not only do they not "move", but the letters have a slight opaque halo around them that at times encroaches on the horizontal lines.

Yep, it's a fake. But good God, what a dupe it is. I can't believe someone would spend this amount of time on faking something, but I guess they enjoy us talking about them.

One thing is for sure, the guys aren't bad product designers. Great idea, though that large round Apple button on the front feels a little un-Apple to me.

[mbperk]

zdnet UK has picked up the story....zdnet UK iWalk story I guess cnet will be next. here we go...

[itomato]

Here's a link to a mirror of the videos..
http://www.stovalldesign.com/iwalk/


The handwriting recognition looks fast as HELL!! I'm too used to my MP130
Wow! It boots so fast!

Kinda makes me wonder about the validity, though..

[ 01-03-2002: Message edited by: itomato ]

Its absolutely a fake. As mentioned by others, by enlarging the quicktime movie "sayhello", you will notice the text on the iwalk is a video layover. Also if I notice correctly the power button is on the bottom of the device, thus far too easy to turn on accidentally. There are other tell-tales that this is a fake just from paying attention to the video work and product display of whoever shot it.

It is a excellent fake and one tends to wonder who put all this time and effort into a "gag". Who knows maybe apple is behind it? It goes something like this:

3 DAYS TO MACWORLD SAN FRANCISCO
IWALK? THINK AGAIN

[crazynyckid]

I find it interesting that www.iwalk.com goes to a site already in use by someone else. Why would apple name a product that they could not get a hold of the url for the product they sell. This should be a clear indication that this is a VERY slick hoax. Nice job.

Have you checked ibook.com lately? I guess my ibook is a very good fake?

[bipto]

That video has been there for the better part of the day now (and perhaps since yesterday based on the 01/02/02 date stamp). If it were real, Apple's legal thugs would have been 'round to smash a few kneecaps and throw a thermonuclear legal threat at them. Unless Apple has changed tactics when the beans get spilled, this must be a fake.

I also agree with a previous post. The button does not look enough iPod-like...

I thought it would be the real deal... seeing that Apple still has the Newton ftp still up, but the say hello to iwalk movie says otherwise... look at the date at the top of the pda screen, then look at the date on the doc title...

one says 10.52 the other 10.51... now I'm sure the Newton OS 2.x wouldn't be that careless?

sorry about my previous post... I could be wrong... seeing that the top time says the current time, the other, the time the note was created...

though I do remember reading an article from www.macosrumers.com that a guy went into a Apple store spoke to a lady their and when he went to purchase his goods, he noticed that the lady was taking it down on a newton like device, that i might add had Newton/MacOS X features... this is going back like last october... so it might look like this is real...

probably steve lost interest in getting the big boys stopping stories like this... come next week, or 2 weeks after when they say that the G5 will show its head... Apple January 2002 will kick arse!!!

[milhous]

My hat's off to spymac in making the fake, a damn good fake at that.

[DaveGee]

Originally posted by &lt;my7200&gt;:
<STRONG>I thought it would be the real deal... seeing that Apple still has the Newton ftp still up, but the say hello to iwalk movie says otherwise... look at the date at the top of the pda screen, then look at the date on the doc title...

one says 10.52 the other 10.51... now I'm sure the Newton OS 2.x wouldn't be that careless?</STRONG>

Hah! This one backfired on you.... (sorry didn't read your next post) - edit

The notepad title was created when a 'new note' command (or whatever) was issued... since that time the next minute went by so now the clock at the top is different finally the person started the demo.

Had this been a hoax then I'm pretty dern sure they would have made the to times the same...

Now I'm sure someone is gonna say.. "Yep and that is exactly why the times don't match..."

All I know is if this does turn out to be a hoax I'll be man enough to admit I was wrong...

Those who are trashing the pics and vids, wanna know the'll be doing? They'll just change gears and start bashing the product or silently fall into the group who likes and believes these are real...

I'd also love to know how many who think this is a hoax also thought the Cube and the new summer 2001 tower leaked pics were hoaxes...

Somehow I get the feeling NOBODY is gonna admit to that... Hmm maybe I should try to do some searching... Too bad the AI boards lost all of their old messages. Tons of ppl were calling the Cube a total fake up till the very morning of the announcement. HAHAHAHA!!!

Dave

[ 01-03-2002: Message edited by: DaveGee ]

I don't know what to believe. If it is fake, then this is the best damn fake i have ever seen. If it isn't, then i need some cash.

[PMG4DP]

Originally posted by crazynyckid:
<STRONG>I find it interesting that www.iwalk.com goes to a site already in use by someone else. Why would apple name a product that they could not get a hold of the url for the product they sell. This should be a clear indication that this is a VERY slick hoax. Nice job.</STRONG>

www.macosx.com is registered to somebody else also. That doesn't mean anything

[PMG4DP]

I don't know what to believe. If it is fake, then this is the best damn fake i have ever seen. If it isn't, then i need some cash.

[TT Esq]

I've looked at the videos and the pictures very closely, and just had to throw in my two cents. . . .

There are a number of posts that think that the video is cut-and-pasted onto a fake body. I think that this is impossible. It looks far too good for that. There would be obvious lines or blurry areas between the hand and the pen and the screen. Also, picture fits into the screen far too perfectly. There is a slim area of no pixels all the way around, and it is far too perfectly-aligned.

As far as the "issue" of the unit moving while the font doesn't move, I think that this can be written-off possibly to an artifact of the substantial compression of the movie. For anyone who has spent quite a bit of time with highly-compressed low-quality video, artifacts like that show up all of the time. Indeed, if you look at it in full-screen mode, the edge of the entire unit appears blurry for a while, almost ghostly. And the woodgrain that is blocked by the hand takes a few frames to redraw.

Simply, the video is not of high enough quality to hold it to that kind of scrutiny. If you ever look at a low-quality QuickTime movie, sometimes the credits at the end jump all over the place. Simply artifacts of the medium.

Another interesting thing that I have not seen mentioned -- there is a leather (or something) case with what appears to be a raised, metal Apple logo on it in some of the scenes. The case is about PDA-sized. Has anyone ever seen this case anywhere? I don't believe that Apple sells such a thing.

That being said -- I'm slightly towards the side of "hoax" at this point in time. That knob is obnoxious. For a unit that should be small and sleek, putting a car-door handle on it would have been vetoed early on! But it is also common practice to camoflauge pre-release products in many industries. If this were real, no doubt that it could be a beta version -- it may ship with an iPod type jog dial.

But my money is on a hoax. It's probably another brand's PDA playing a movie. True, the pen tip doesn't seem to match the handwriting. And what about the application time not matching the "system" time?

[KellyHogan]

How can a green LCD become color when switched on? Shouldn't the LCD look black when the PDA is off?

[M�lum]

Originally posted by KellyHogan:
<STRONG>How can a green LCD become color when switched on? Shouldn't the LCD look black when the PDA is off?</STRONG>

ever seen a gameboy?

[KellyHogan]

Originally posted by M�lum:
<STRONG>

ever seen a gameboy?</STRONG>

Yes. The Gameboy Advance's screen goes black.

[SOLIDAge]

i think the most striking thing about it being fake is the headphone jack picture
why would apple create something to compete with the ipod.
the idea that it can play movies is fine, but that also means it would have to play music or some sort

also i don't think the video could be cut and pasted that easily, the handwriting demo proved that due to it's complexity, and the hand over the screen

[TT Esq]

Well, it's gone. . .SpyMac has removed the movies and pictures due to a request from Apple legal. So hopefully we've all saved copies to our hard drives?

If true, that would mean that there is something to it. Because Apple wouldn't be able to demand that "secret" material be removed unless it had a right to that material. Thus, if the "iWalk" didn't have a nugget of truth, they couldn't rightly demand that it be removed any more than demanding other sites remove the mock-ups that people are submitting. (I suppose they could object to those containing the Apple logo.)

However, if SpyMac were trying to perpetuate a hoax, then what better way than to say that they had to remove the content due to a legal request by Apple -- just like so many pre-release stuff in the past on so many other rumor sites.

I've e-mailed SpyMac and asked them to post the letter -- I'd bet the good money is on them NOT posting the notification, because there isn't any. . . . ;-)

[sMACk]

Just part of the hoax. In the notice they say 'by legal request...' Nowhere do they mention Apple legal.

[sMACk]

I just ran through the movie in slow motion and the biggest discrepency I noticed is that all of the text, especially in the top menu bar, jump around due to, I believe, the compression. But the 'hello to iwalk' text stays solid. This leads me to believe the 'hello...' text was added later.

[rworne]

Originally posted by Kickaha:
<STRONG>Dave, it's good, but not perfect. As pointed out by someone in another forum, take the sayhello.mov file, and double its size in QT Player. Watch *very carefully* at the fonts/ink on the screen. They don't move, even though the unit does, ever so slightly. They're a video paste-in.
</STRONG>

I agree it may be a paste in, but I have seen these types of artifacts before with video compression. DVD's and Digital satellite do this all the time with billboards in the background, PDA's and whatnot show this behavior. All you need is a nearly stationary object and the encoding sometimes cheats and does this kind of thing.

Rather than fret over whether this is a real product or not, I am damn impressed with the fine job this video actually is, assuming it is a fake.

Robert

[JFischel]

I'm thinking Apple has every right to ask them to remove the items in question because they are using copy righted logos and the company name. SpyMac is using Apple property without permission. That's all there is too it I'm guessing...

Josh

[Nephron]

Hi gang,

Everyone predicted that they would remove the files in a couple of days, claiming "legal letters", etc.

If this is a hoax, then this would be part of the plan to make it legit.

If Apple did send them a letter, it does not change whether or not this is a real product. If the iWalk is real, then clearly Apple's lawyers would need to shut them down. If it is a hoax, then Apple's lawyers would still need to shut them down, as this site claims that this is an Apple product, and the iWalk that appears in the pics and movies clearly has Apple trademarks displayed. Apple, like all big companies, aggressively defends the use of their trademarks (and rightfully so).

We all knew this was coming, and it doesn't change a thing.

Cheers

P.S. My vote (if not obvious from above) ... still a hoax. Looking forward to seeing what happens Monday, and would love to replace my iPaq with something from Apple. Now to go and weep over my dead Newton Messagepad.

[zekemon6]

More mirrors:

http://gloin.dyn.dhs.org/iwalk/

and

http://unixgen.muohio.edu/~runyonr/c...quirrel/iwalk/

[macanonymous]

.....And here are some of the goods.....

MacAnonymous

[ 01-04-2002: Message edited by: macanonymous ]

[KellyHogan]

That device and OS in the pics and videos would have cost several thousand German marks to produce. To make a single prototype device, even without anything inside, is expensive to produce. Why would someone spend all that money to fake something and have someone laugh at them later?

Time will tell. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe in 6 months.

[Nebrie]

Originally posted by KellyHogan:
<STRONG>That device and OS in the pics and videos would have cost several thousand German marks to produce. To make a single prototype device, even without anything inside, is expensive to produce. Why would someone spend all that money to fake something and have someone laugh at them later?

Time will tell. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe in 6 months.</STRONG>

LOL. That's no prototype. That's a $30 and 1 hour. It's an empty box with photoshop work. Expensive, even without anything inside? What are you smoking. I can buy the plastics for that down the street for $20 and create that casing myself. You don't think it's easy to photoshop a screen onto that either? Take a look at the Apple iJerk PDA

[KellyHogan]

Originally posted by Nebrie:
<STRONG>

LOL. That's no prototype. That's a $30 and 1 hour. It's an empty box with photoshop work. Expensive, even without anything inside? What are you smoking. I can buy the plastics for that down the street for $20 and create that casing myself. You don't think it's easy to photoshop a screen onto that either? Take a look at the Apple iJerk PDA</STRONG>

Go and do it then. I dare anyone here to go down the street and spend $30 and spend one hour to make that. In the Say Hello video his hand casts a reflection on the screen that is not faked. It's a real reflection and that means a powered screen. the only wire connected to the device is firewire and if it has a battery it must be very thin.

Then we come to the build quality. It is solid, moulded plastic and almost the same quality as the iPod. To ask someone to build only one prototype casing like that would cost more than an iPod in a shop. I'm not saying the iWalk is a real Apple device, but money, time and effort has been spent on that thing and it's not a cheap one hour job and some Photoshop. iJerk proves the difference in quality.

[WinsOBoogi]

I don't know what to think...it seems pretty..solid.

However, if you notice, one of the videos shows the "iPuck"..the older power adapter.

Surely a NEW Apple product would be given a NEW power adapter, I think.

My guess: a fake.

[a holck]

Come on Kelly! of cause this is a fake!
Notice that nothing but the text is animated in this shot. How they did it:

1. they crafted the box, which is a pretty good job, I believe its a tranparant plastic box painted from the inside.

2. the screen you see is a mockup done in photoshop, which is then printed on photo grade paper.

3. the above print is then put inside the box, behind the screen, like most prototype samples. This will give you the reflection you talk about.

4. Video is shot with the guy doing the writing.

5, The text and handwriting is put on screen easily in After Fx or Commotion, this looks pretty lame in the spymac version as the overlay is not following the slightly moving background.

I did a try this procedure with the iJerk video, which I could have made perfect in a second try.

The problem with this procedure is that the hand casts a shadow on the backlight screen which is NOT possible in the realworld.


EDIT: The puck adapter is for the Titanium Powerbook, visible in some of the stills.

[ 01-07-2002: Message edited by: a holck ]

[KellyHogan]

Doesnt matter if it is a fake Apple product. Look at the SayHello video. You CANNOT put reflections on the screen in Photoshop. My question is why someone would spend so much money only to make a fool out of himself. That is a moulded case. That is a backlit screen. The rest might be bullshit. But the case and the backlighting alone would cost far more than the $30 dollars one hour job some people think. Look at the quality of the dial knob thingy in the Turnaround video.

[KellyHogan]

Ahh, the only way he could have put those reflections on is if he used some kind of glossy image pasted on the screen area. Maybe that image is fake. Maybe he programmed a simple animated GUI in Flash or something. But that is still a heck of a lot of effort if it is for nothing.