My Reply
I believe Dennis is right to a certain extent. I do believe that the
device did have a working computer inside of it. I still do not know
what it was and my lack of understanding about other handheld
platforms does not help me trying to figure this out.
My proof is this:
The stills and the video were from one large video. I figured this
out by looking at the blur in many of the photos. The main give
away that made me know this was an actual device is that the
clock appropriatly ticked the minutes. I noticed the clock starts at
10:35 and goes to 11:06 which seems to me, that the original
video lasted 30 minutes, which is a lot of time. What if this was a
Windows CE machine, inside a really nice case, with a Flash
movie made up too look like a new OS? Can't Windows CE
machines play Flash movies?
The other question is the case which I can not get. It would have
cost a lot of time and money to produce such a good case. I am
stumped on this.
The main thing that made me consider this as a fake, was how
close it actually resembled a Newton. It seemed too close for me
to believe this is what Apple would bring back, even the same
hand writing script. It just made me doubt, especially knowing
about how SJs feelings and Apple's many comments about a
handheld. Remember when Phil Schiller flat out said we are not
working on one, never has Apple been so blunt about anything.
Even with their retail stores, they never flat out said they were not
going to do it.
Another debate point: Remember that once Apple posted its first
loss about a year ago, that some projects were canceled. Could
this be one?
Maybe we will never know
My final feeling is this: 80 % of me feels that it was a fake, but with
a real PDA probably a Windows CE machine inside a case, 20 %
of me feels like it was a prototype or an actual future product.
My take.
______________________
Date: Wed, 09 Jan 2002 04:24:00 -0500
Subject: [NTLK] iWalk
From: Denis Krasnov <dkrasnov_at_nyc.rr.com>
Now after the hype is down, I think it©ˆs time to discuss, the iWalk
rumour
in more detail.
I think then we first saw the infamous videos a week ago the blood
pressure
jumped and turned us all temporarily insane. The very thought that
our
lusting wait for the New Newton is finally , suddenly and totally
unexpectedly an it©ˆs end was simply too much. And then all
those troubles
we have to go through to save money for new unit , the tempting
alternative
to call it an infidel and traitorous and stay with the good old
MP2000U -
this is what was on my mind. And of course the ability to analyse
what I
see was compromised by the danger of being ridiculized in a
week time if it
turns out it©ˆs not being announced after all (that©ˆs what
happened and it
happened before) .
Now it©ˆs all over. I looked on the videos again , and again, and
again. I am
an expert in video and 3d . I showed it to many other experts in that
area.
The thing is flawless. There were millions of negative responses
on the net,
but none of them was indeed critical , most of them were simply
emotional
exclamations pointing something that is not there to point.
Something like
saying that text jiggles, no it doesn©ˆt ! As far as noise due to
video
compression allows to see the text and the unit are perfectly
aligned , and
the bump at the end of one of those movies only supports this. I
could image
stabilise it in Commotion to show it irrefutably if someone is still
doubtful.
The most outranges of all those remarks was of course the one
mentioned on
macrumors , it was about HWR being unable to work the way it is
shown in the
movie, obviously by one of those Gates Lovers who never even
saw Newton. And
as an answer someone shot a movie of his Newton doing similar
writing on it.
It looked so much the same way as it is shown in iWalk movie ,
only
recognition was a bit slower ú the angle , the way the actual
contact with
the screen is obscured by the hand, everything. And this was what
really
made me start thinking.
Now there is no doubt that there was an actual physical object
which is
shown in the movie. It is not made of papier-mâché and so far we
failed to
recognise as being some other gadget masqueraded.
So then comes the idea of overlaying an image of the screen. I
give 98%
probability that it©ˆs not. Putting aside the way interface is made ,
both
believably roughish on finishing and nicely pleasant in petty
details, like
the way button bar appears with a delay. The way colours match,
two shadows,
light obscuration by the hand, reflection in the screen and in the
knob .
Let©ˆs put it on vote, but only among those who actually done
some
bluescreening and video composite making.
Than look here . Just two month ago no one would believe anyone
who would
show a movie of iPod either. And at the same time Apple had a
department
working on design of iPod, everyone in the world was dead sure
that Apple
ceased any development of handheld devices. And there definitely
were many
prototypes of iPod made , probably even very stupid looking and
with much
more ambiguous things on them then ©¯unrealistic jog-dial©˜ and
people walked
around using them, filmed them, break them. Lets accept it, we
know nothing
what happens at Apple.
It©ˆs obvious that Apple has a handheld division still working, and
to be
completely true there is a OS (sort of) on iPod which is not OSX, so
there
are programmers working on development of some software
components deviating
from the big ©¯only one OS plan©˜, the thing that SJ made us
believe.
And here is my point :
I think it really was a prototype of an Apple handheld device.
The question is not as much what it is, but when it is, and where it
is.
Cold it be that it was made long time ago, theoretically ?
We saw Paul Guyot making the ATA driver single-handedly in a
year and not
only that, new hardware has been made mass available ú SER01
and screen
replacement is on the way. How much it would take Apple to
produce a
prototype like this iWalk in last five years ? Plausible ? At list more
plausible then existence of group of geeks that produces virtual
gadgets
better then Hollywood does for fun. If they really do exist, they are
looking for a job at ILM right now and iWalk would be their
triumphal work
and they would be going around boasting to everyone how they did
it !
Still the question is who could film it, and where.
I©ˆm not touching the dilemma of will the iWalk ever be seen in
our hands.
I am a hardball pessimist and I am dwelling on the idea of all the
good
things being killed brutally sooner or later.
So I©ˆd say NO.
But lets just be fair and realistic .
Denis Krasnov
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