Okay, this one’s totally out of the blue, but we’ll post it to see what you think – and because it looks kind of cool and mysterious.
Early this morning MacDailyNews received a blurry photo and a brief bit of text from an anonymous source.
The text that was included with the photo:
I was only able to snap one quick shot of this as I was only in there for about 30 seconds. I sort of stumbled upon it – can’t say more about how or why. I only got about half a sec to look around back – there are a bunch of ports (and maybe a button or two) neatly arranged on the back (?) of the cube in a line along the bottom edge. It’s about 8-inches square and 8-inches tall – a perfect cube. It seems to be made out of a similar material as a Power Mac – aluminum perforated with a round hole pattern, but they’re smaller holes than found on a Power Mac. The top is the same material as the sides with the addition of the Apple logo, even though it doesn’t look like it in the photo – I had to snap it quick, sorry.
I don’t have any real detail on exactly what it’s designed to do, but I know from other things I can’t mention that it’s media-related. Apple “Media Cube,” maybe? Anyway, thought you guys would be interested.
That’s all we know. Obviously, this could be a fake, but on the off chance that it’s not, we’ll post it for Photoshop experts to pick apart (example). Unfortunately, this is the best quality image we have of this mystery cube.
What do you think? Is Steve Jobs going to try the “cube thang” again? Is this what’s coming next at next Tuesday’s special media event (see related article)? Or it is just a fake?
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Related article:
Apple to hold special media event next Tuesday – February 21, 2006
As Strongbad would say, “Blurry photographic evidence”.
I think its a gremlin myself
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I’d like this to be true, but it looks like a cardboard box to me, and the logo on the top looks distorted. Why do insiders always have the crappiest cameras? I’d like to see the “spy shots” be in focus someday.
Tera finally gets her tablet Mac. Think wireless iBook cut in half with a touch screen and iSight camera. Woo hoo!
Or, maybe I’ll finally get my Airport Express AV. Then I can plug in my Mac to my TV via wireless.
Or, maybe it’s just a new Intel-based Mac mini…
Or, maybe it’s the new Media Mac; wireless, Intel audio/video in/out
Or, maybe it’s the new VOIP iPhone
Or, maybe it’s the new iTunes iPhone (1000 songs)
Or, maybe it’s a new audio video input/output device
Or…
Whew. I’m dizzy.
Tera Patricks
TeraTalks
Looks just like the Apple Developer Conference prize. Hmm…
bla, bla, bla . . . Applejuice !
Is it a UFO?
these damn pics get worse all the time, when are you n00bs gonna learn to actually try to make some good fake shots, and this is for sure a rendered image
Applejacks!
Ask the guy what type of camera he used.
That is an original iPod box from 2001.
Looks like Bigfoot. Or a cardboard box. Or maybe a UFO designed by the Borg.
The cube looks rendered to me…
As a photographer and Photoshop retoucher, I have to questioon the authenticity of this photo. As far as the point of only having 30 seconds to photograph it, I believe that. It must have been a quick shot because the perspecive is off and its out of focus. But, I believe that was the intention, to trick us into believing it was real. The Apple logo looks fake (I don’t see the stem) and the shadows on the front don’t portray real lighting, because the light source is coming from the left, yet the object is brighter in the front. The message along with the photo- “there are a bunch of ports (and maybe a button or two)” makes me sceptical. Anyone who knows of this site or reads this site, would know what kind of ports are on the back. The overall size is too big, why make something this big, when you already have a Mac mini? But, if I’m wrong, and this is for real…. expect this to be a new Mac Mini on Steroids with an Intel VIIV chip, DVR capabilities, and 3 internal hard drives for massive recording and downloading storage. We’ll see.
Or maybe it could actually be an Apple Design Award
http://developer.apple.com/ada/
If the picture was taken using a digital camera, or a camera phone; this picture is too perfect.
There’s no barrel distortions whatsoever. It looks like that it is rendered.
So far I think that it is a fake.
If the pic included the ports on the back, I’d believe it … but anyone could make a box like that and take a blurry photo.
Forget the box, look at the light and shadows on the table. As pointed out by earlier posters, it’s definitely rendered.
it’s rendered.
badly too. Just look at the cheap “marble” texture under it and the extremely unrealistic shadows.
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Hhm, a logo that can’t be backlighted like in a Powerbook and still made of the same material? Not an Ive-idea…
I am quite certain that this is indeed an Apple Design Award.
Curious on what is inside? Look on the site of Mekentosj!
If you look at the right edge of the box it doesn’t go straight to the table it actually slants inward which would not make it a cube. It would be a straight line up and down.
It’s not an Apple Design Award, the Apple Design Award doesn’t use the same material in the blurry shot (the grill-metal look from the G5 tower) and the Apple logo is bigger on the ADA.
See?
funny , he seems to have changed the laws of physics with his camera , the table edges don’t align with a certain little thing called perspective…
ie:
that’s a chop !
Oh dear. MDN has fallen for the ” I was only able to snap one quick shot” line. Its a fake you idiots! Nobody does a quick shot with perfect lighting and fails to include the side with the buttons, etc. etc.
It’s a cardboard box containing the name of the person who has just downloaded the billionth iTune.
The official counter may say otherwise, but surely nobody believed that it was showing an accurate figure at the correct time ?