Any time Apple sends out a
keynote announcement, like yesterday's "
fun new products,"
we kind of brace for impact around HQ for the glut of
bad
photoshops, fake rumors, and general mass hysteria within (and sometimes without) the Mac community. Which is why,
of course, we think it's so funny that the day after this announcement MacDailyNews gets some blurry cameraphone shots
(they're always blurry cameraphone shots, aren't they?) of a new Apple Media Cube -- the box you see above, with a
bunch of ports on the back side, and the intention to make it do something "media-related." Ok, we'll skip
past the very-likely-it's-fake and the looks-like-a-cardboard-box spiels and get to the meat: yes, Jobs does love Cubes
-- in fact, he's obsessed with them -- and yes, the Mac mini would never have enough room to become a full DVR. Where
would the tuner(s) go, where would the 3.5-inch drive go? So if we're to pretend, dear reader, that this is real, could
this then be the Mac mini media center box we've been waiting for?
[Thanks, Jimmie]
posted February 22nd 2006 8:44AM
Looks like the Apple logo is facing the wrong way.
And is missing its leaf.
I know they helped kill off the floppy drive with the original iMac, do they also intend to kill off CDs and DVDs with this? I would prefer something that I could replace my DVD player with. Plus, I know Apple prides themselves on simplicity, but you can't get any more simple than this.
Fishes,
narco.
What you doin stealin boxes fo'? What... you tryin to build a clubhouse or somethin?
It looks like a CG created image to me.
I love hearing about Apple and their latest designs, and in general, but honestly, this is pathetic. There is not a hope in hell that this is authentic, so why post it? Anyone would think you were a key and well paid part of Apple's hype machine...zzz...
I can't decide whether this was made with Strata or Infini-D...
thats an apple design award
http://www.panic.com/extras/designawards/
Looks like a cardboard box to me, Apple generally favours rounded corners, don't they? This just looks like a bad photoshop job. It's not even vaguely convincing.
I'm surprised there hasn't been much comment on the iCal calendar on the original announcement. I think it hints at an Apple PDA...
Nice. The sides look perforated a la G5, however the overall size looks allmost too big if we assume the apple logo is standard size, then that is one massive cube, looks like a subwoofer box. Lets have it anyway!
am i the only one that thinks this looks like a spraypainted ipod box from a 4g or 3g ipod? you can buy that "texture" spraypaint at walmart
As posted on some other site... This is actually just an Apple Design Award. Example seen here:
http://www.mekentosj.com/events/wwdc04/index_7.html
That looks nothing like the lid of a powerbook and the front of a powermac.
Its not an Apple Design Award. The apple is way too small.
A blurry pic with an apple logo, days before products announcements is the best way to boost traffic to your site...period.
I'm not sure it's actually perforated, it could be a artifact (or photoshop)
If it's really the media-box, it gotta have a DVD somewhere.
in my opinion it's a hoax based on the Apple Design Award
My what a perfectly lit and composed shot for a secret storage place!
The linked article mentions that there were buttons on that back...
If this were real why on earth would they be there?
geezus, lol, this is hilarious, its skewed off to the left it's not even straight who ever is the moron who made this.
Guys go get a perforated, square, metal trashcan and shove a powerbook in the top. Viola! Besides you can't have a media center that is almost as tall as my DVD plaer on end. iono, maybe its the new awards?
It looks like the apple is bigger on the design award than the apple this image.
Okay so it's the iPod box that's 'Shopped up. I will throw in that the healing brush tool used on the right side doesn't even do well with the use of light. That's my 2 pennies.
Brings new meaning to the term "It's just a box!".
Looks like the design award to me. Is it really this easy to dupe Engadget readers?
Maybe it's just a box that houses the "new fun stuff" coming soon...
It doesn't look like cardboard to me. Looks like it was done in 5 minutes in a 3D modeling app.
I just noticed that Moto's CEO is giving a presentation at the same time. Any chance of a simulcast launch of a new ROKR? Maybe those two on videoconference laughing about that joke they pulled on the world releasing the first one.
Faker than fake. That looks nothing like Apple design, and if Apple intended to make a media center, it would be more shaped like the mac mini; something that could fit on a shelf near the tv, not to sit on the floor.
ummm guys that isn't even a cube, the angles are all wrong. This guy is an amateur.
Looks nothing like the Apple logo.....looks more like someone has pulled a sticker off a box!
Hey, isn't that the Apple Design Award given to people like Delicious Monster and The Coding Monkeys?
Some team even had theirs CAT-Scanned.
It's not an apple design award, any moron can see that the apple is twice the size on the award as it is in this pic. This is, however, obviously fake. Look at the perspective of it. According to this pic, it's nowhere near a cube. It's lines are all wonky.
I don't normally over-analyze Mac rumors but this is obviously photoshopped. The perspective is VERY convincing for a camera phone's wide lens though.
I can only assume that a picture of a cube was taken via phone and a grey metal mesh was photoshopped over it... it's not difficult at all:
http://rvingusa.com/jeff/widget.jpg
There's apple's new gizmo in my office on top of a super secret new Epson printer (code named Stylus Photo R340, shh!!! don't tell!)
That is actually a cardboard box full of cell phone parts that I magically transformed into a spy photo by masking the sides and filling with color. I could've done a better job but you get the idea...
By the way, what the optical drive of an Apple media center would be? HD-DVD or BD? I somehow don't see it comming with normal DVD, its not Stevish enough.
I don't think it's a design award.
I think someone spray painted their old square iPod box silver and left the apple, but did a sloppy job and spray painted over the leaf.
Yep, it's the cube, I have it at home ;-)
And if you wanna know what's inside: http://www.mekentosj.com/goodies/cubism
Enjoy!
Stop it with these stupid "we know its fake but we are posting it anyhow" posts. It is just a waste of space/time.
Yeah... Not trying to be the stifler of creativity but if your going to build a media box why not make it in the same form factor as stereo equipment such as amps and equalizers? I know I would much rather purchase a device that fits nicely on my rack then a cube that has to sit where? Next to my subs? So it can be corrupted by some magnetic interference just look nice? I'd have to say that is a fake.
That's the worst design for a "mediacentric" device I can think of. Where in the world would thing go in my A/V rack?
unless it contains a subwoofer this isn't real. Apple would never ship a product with such hard edges, it would actaully be dangerous given the weight of it. The G4 cube and the mini, as well as all of apple's other products have rounded corners and non-sharp edges.
Uh, doesn't it look like a box to anyone else? My first thought was that the mac mini (w/ builtin tv-out) now optionally comes in black, so it can blend in with A/V components. There's no way this is the actual product.
IT'S A DESIGN AWARD.
Rumors are fun and all, but they're a waste of everyone's time if they're known to be false. At that point they're just lies.
I usually like the "secret mockups" people make before an Apple announcement, but this one is off target. If this is going to be a home media appliance that you can put in your tv/family room, this Mac should be made like AV components and dvd players. Maybe a little different, but not a square box like this mockup is.
Okay, can we stop overusing the word 'photoshopped'? How the heck does the term even apply to this box?
Geesh...kids...
Actually Gordy, the term Photoshopped applies very much to this box. The people who are saying its just a box are assuming the textures were added after the photo was taken using Photoshop. The folks that are saying its the design award are likely assuming the apple logo was scaled down in Photoshop. I actually dissagree them, I think its a blurred picture of a physical mock-up... blurred in Photoshop of course.
Can you say "NEXT" as in NEXT Computers, circ 1988
http://www.blackholeinc.com/specials/blackhardware.shtml
That does appear rather similar to this pic of the 2003 award: http://www.codingmonkeys.de/subethaedit/images/awards/appledesignaward.png
The newer awards have a much larger apple, but if the linked pic is any indication, it could be a photoshopped 2003 award.
My prediction for the Media Cube, would be something more on the lines of the Mac Mini, but vertically stretched to make it a cube. Same horizontal and depth dimentions, just taller, so that it could fit the 3.5" drive and tuner electronics. At least, thats what I would do.
Has anyone noticed that apple recently updated itunes? It includes facilities for converting yout personal video to ipod format. You reckon they're going to release something along hose lines such as the 'proper' video ipod?
Oh please. Apple would be smart enough that if they did create a media center machine, the would build with similar width dimensions of a dvd player so it would fit nicely with other components. This pic is a pure farce.
The perspective of the top face is way off. even if the camera had been moving when this photo was shot, the object wouldn't look that trapezoidal. Jobs isn't that avant garde.
> The perspective of the top face is way off. even if the camera had been moving when this photo was shot, the object wouldn't look that trapezoidal. <
You and lots of other posters in this thread don't know anything about wide-angle lens barrel distortion, do you?