A shot of an Apple Computer, Inc. “Its Showtime” event poster taken by an employee of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater has made its way online, as reported on Digg.
Apple’s special media event is scheduled for Tuesday, September 12, 10am local time at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater (http://www.ybca.org/), 700 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA.
Real or fake?
Full image: http://www.macvods.com/newipod.jpg
Alternate link: http://macdailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/647f2942.jpg
Why aren’t these things ever in focus?
Related articles:
Is this Apple’s 6G ‘iPod AV?’ – September 11, 2006
Speculation ramps up ahead of Apple Computer’s ‘It’s Showtime’ event – September 06, 2006
Report: Apple to unveil movie service with full-length Disney features on September 12th – September 06, 2006
It’s Showtime: Apple invites media to special event in San Francisco on September 12th – September 05, 2006
Analyst: Apple ‘iPhone’ finally ready for production – September 05, 2006
RUMOR: Apple plans blockbuster product announcements next Tuesday – September 04, 2006
RUMOR: Apple to launch iMac Core 2 Duo, movie store, new iPods on September 12th – September 04, 2006
damn
I don’t think it’s a Photoshop image.
That banner strikes me as un-Apple. It’s very askew. Also, why is the camera so blurry? If the building were that dark, how could the poster be so bright? I guess those lights could be shining on it… But then the camera wouldn’t be so blurry.
Dunno, though. The “the stars” thing seems like it goes along with the invitation Apple sent out earlier. I can’t remember exactly what it was, but it seems like it had something to do with movies.
If that is the new iPod, it’s pretty cool.
looks wrong…incorrect font for “the stars”. Its not apple myriad.
My god! I think I see bigfoot in the background riding a flying saucer too!
No seriously it looks good if it’s true.
And the CD icon is on an iPod why? They got CD trays now?
LOL, fake.
What kind of photo is that??
With all those artifacts around the outer border, and even some in the picture (little black rectangle in the middle).
Looks kind of fishy if only for those reasons.
Let’s just wait a couple more days to see what’s unveiled!
Fake. Isn’t that the dvd player icon floating on the screen? Not gonna have that on the iPod, eh?
it fits the rumors…touchscreen scroll wheel…has the aspect ratio and Frontrow GUI.
Why would there be an image of a DVD like there is in Front Row on the new iPod screen? Sorry but I don’t want an iPod big enough to play a physical DVD. Fake.
It’s fake. The top left of the iMac has a spot where the edges are not blured.
Aww, c’mon. If we all love Apple so much let’s just let Steve introduce this. I’m all for rumor mongering but this is like opening up presents 3 days before Christmas. You guys shouldn’t have posted this. 🙁
A fake, but good Sunday night entertainment.
hmm … also the apple logo is far too close to the edge of the banner. This is a design boo boo Apple would never make. Maybe it is fake.
a
The whole iMac would be pictured. FAKE!!!!
But I’m still holding on to my 50 calls.
you can fake whatever you want. look. it’s front row. as far as I know, new ipod UI won’t apply for this fron row. never. it will keep the same UI. it’s fake. don’t you realize that? how possibly Employee leaked this image? he or she will be fired. you didn’t see what happened employee who leaked mac os x 10.5 Leopard. they all got fired! so he or she is brave enough to give us leak? I don’t think so.
Fake!! The white is so bright, with very lo light source… very unrealistic. fake.
And besides, Apple doesn’t make banners for their own announcements, except the EXPO’s – the biggies, ya know? So, this is from a 21yr old amateur photshop user…
could be photoshop, but if it’s real, the cool part is that it’s running Front Row…. Now that’s interesting!
MW: “next” generation iPod
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It has to be a fake pic…
If you check out the source – it’s part of a banner that’s supposed to be hanging at the location of the event…
…The problem with that picture is that it is shown hanging in the interior of the Moscone Center… ( I live in San Francisco and have been there many times ) …
However – the event is at the Yerba Buena Center For the Arts theater – which is across the street. That is definitely NOT the inside of the Yerba Buena theater.
Makes no sense that they’d have the banner hanging up in Moscone. I think there’s actually some other event going on there at the moment.
Well, bigfoot never was in focus, and come to think of it, Ampar never is either…
(just kidding Ampar, I always enjoy your comments).
As a graphic artist myself I noticed the ipod has a reflection at the bottom but the imac dosn’t. hmmm… As for the icons well the dvd icon could simply mean movies and the cd could just mean music. Why change the look and feel.
Fake. Poor PS slop.
Poster is a mess. Edges are wrong.
No phone camera shoots 16:9.
Not sure but dosent phone camera also include Exif data? The spects list Photoshop CS.
Where is the pix noize in the shot? Pretty clean!
i meant iTunes icon
Like everyone else I’ve followed Apple for a long time now. I have NEVER seen them tip their hat in ANY printed piece EXCEPT for the use of a CATCHY PHRASE. It’s out of character for Apple to depict the likeness of an unnanounced product on a poster, of all places. Consider this…many Apple employees aren’t privy to many secret products. Do you really believe Apple would allow a convention center’s staff or visitor to see what their own employees can’t see before its time? This is fake. Let’s be patient until Tuesday, please.
None of you have come close to convincing me.
Troll wants to know why it’s so blurry? It’s a cheap phone-camera lens with pitiful low-light resolution and no focus control taking a long-exposure shot. Real or fake shot, that’s why it’s blurry.
anthony thinks he can make out the font family in such a blurry shot! Amazing! He may be right, but he’s guessing all the way.
devnull thinks that circular blur (center? left?) shows a DVD. If that’s the case, are we supposed to guess there’s a Bluetooth drive nearby or that it has a slot drive? The latter is idiotic on the face of it (as noted … IF it’s supposed to be a DVD) and the former seems unlikely. But … is it rally a DVD?
Chester wonders about the “artifacts” in the picture. Welcome to the Digital Age, wanna see some pictures of Bo Peep?
MadMac thinks the iMac – shown for perspective – would be 100% in the shot.
This is pretty much what I expect to see when Apple announces the vPod. Is that what they are doing Tuesday? AFAIK it’s gonna be the iVid Movie Store. Maybe with a side-order of an OS X-mobile powered phone.
And MDN? You’re spelling your MW wrong.
Wow, that is a REALLY bad Photoshop image…
I wouldn’t be surprised if it were real. If Apple REALLY is delivering full movie downloads, then it needs to also offer a compelling device on which to watch it. I’m sorry to say that the current 5G iPod is NOT suitable for watch a full length movie.
I am going to stick my neck out and say that it is possolbly the real thing.
That picture is so fake. Just look at the composition of the supposedly new iPod to the text and iMac. It looks like the work of an amateur graphic designer. It is blurry because the designer wanted to hide subtle differences between all the different elements that went into this picture.
Should have photographed some white boxes in a lift buddy.
I hope not. The outer edge is too thick, it looks ugly. But maybe it wouldn’t in real life, who knows?
Out of focus, out of reality. If this is the real thing, forget MS, Amazon, and anyone else who wants a piece of Apple. It’s over. However, why would someone post such a crap picture? And why would Apple allow something like this to be uncovered several days before the event?
“Sorry but I don’t want an iPod big enough to play a physical DVD.”
The new iPod will play a physical DVD, but it is actually smaller than the DVD! It’s done using a Quantum wormhole so that part of the DVD is actually spinning a parallel universe.
There, Microsoft. Try to top that with your little Zune player… 😀
its totally fake.!
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as stated above…there is a section at the top of the iMac that is not blurred. what the hax! i guess the fabricator forgot that section….
and secondly. notice the iPod…the screen is not even centered properly. and the reflection does not mirror the iPod. the bezel is different widths.
nice attempt though. i love this sorta stuff.
That’s the ‘fakiest’ poster that I’ve ever seen in the history of apple rumour posters.
So much fake that even my word ‘fakiest’ is fake.
I think its a new HD display. I wish Apple would buy Apple Records and then merge with RIMM and with Google. To boldly go….
If it’s real, then it was probably shot with a Camera Phone.
It looks interesting, at least.
I’m amazed at how hostile some of you people seem to get over something like this, whether or not it’s real, Photoshopped or whatever.
The bottom line? It’s kinda fun speculating about all this!
Looks too big. I don’t think Apple would ever exceed the iPod’s current dimensions as it would get too bulky, like the competition. It needs to fit easily in the palm or pocket.
FAKE:
1. HexFiend says:
<xap:CreateDate>2006-09-05T20:33:22-07:00</xap:CreateDate>. <xap:ModifyDate>2006-09-05T20:33:22-07:00</xap:ModifyDate>. <xap:MetadataDate>2006-09-05T20:33:22-07:00</xap:MetadataDate>. <xap:CreatorTool>Adobe Photoshop CS Macintosh</xap:CreatorTool>.
So…unless they sat on the pic for 5 days…(not likely).
Anyway:
2. Small square in the middle of the picture shows the unblurred edge of the iMac. They must have screwed up in the PSD or maybe it’s a clue.
3. Bezel on the iPod is not symmetrical (Apple would never do this).
4. Reflection for the iPod 6G is abysmally done.
5. The distortion transformation is not correct for either the iPod or its reflection.
6. Font is wrong.
7. iMac desktop is solid blue…never!
8. Front Row icons won’t be appropriate here. Yes, it will have a Front Row style UI but not have a DVD icon as such.
9. Although well-blurred, it isn’t quite blurry enough. iMac and iPod are too distinct.
Nice try, I hope something like it comes out but…FAKE.
2006-09-05T20:33:22-07:00
So someone on Tuesday, almost a week ago, took this picture?
And, at best, maybe it was dumped into a new Photoshop document, by someone somewhere in the Mountain Time zone?
Err….yeah…
I’m sure they’d have sat on it for almost a week, a full 2 days before the event.
What, did they have to swallow their camera’s SD card and it only now “came out”? 😀
Yerba Buena doesn’t have ceilings like that..
As Strong Bad would, “Check out this blurry photographic evidence!”
Ok, there are many comments above that are awesome about the invalidity of this photo…..I’d like to add one:
-Check out the the edges of the picture…you can tell that there are very visible lines of “grainy” and “smooth.” Like someone was cutting and pasting blocks of noise. Check out ALL edges of the picture. Noise…no noise…..noise…..no noise…..
-Check out the right edge of the iMac. The banner just conveniently bevels down eith the iMac and then flares out again at the bottom.
**A word to those that are the pranksters…Sure, this is fun to look at and go “Oh my GOSH!! Is that it!” But seriously, if you are going to make one, make it look “Apple” or don’t make it at all……..
Fake. Look at the perspective of the Dock on the iMac, it doesn’t matches with the perspective of the display.
COME ON PEOPLE!!! SO FAKE. SERIOUSLY LOOK AT THAT BANNER. ITS NOT EVEN GOOD PHOTOSHOPPING!!
Definitely fake. The rightside of the banner is not straight, and the bottom of the banner has a bend, which might indicate a wave in the banner, and yet the image of the iMac and ViPod don’t indicate that.
Is this Apple’s 6G iPod?
No
As long as the guesses are still free, here’s mine. I think Lisa has it.
It is not an iPod (next month), but a 30″ or 42″ Mac/HD screen (thus the Front Row image). There will also be Airport Extreme for video. And, what do you send wirelessly from your Mac to the Mac/HD screen on the wall… Disney & Pixar films downloaded from the iTunes Music/Video store of course. I don’t think it is a banner, but the screen that the presentation is shown on. I think the photo caught the presentation in mid-frame as the title was moving off screen and the next part was going to show how the video is sent to the Mac/HD screen on your wall.
Be kind now, it’s just a guess.
C’mon folks. I mean really. Some of you get far to excited about whether or not it’s fake. Nobody is asking for money based on this image, why all the anger?
Seriously, go for a walk or something, try to work it out.
MDN magic word “possible” as in It’s very possible you need a new hobby, or a date even.
Ah, com’on, you guys can have more fun than all that muttering…
the DVD is on there because the new vPod will also be the remote for the new videoExpress
…now how cool will that be!!!
I’m guessing it’s real. It’s been Photoshopped to straightened the photo (see the solid color blocks on the sides) and there is a piece of blackened rectangle at the top left edge of the iMac, but the noise in the photo matches the surrounding. Low light level gives a certain pattern of noise and the banner’s noise certainly matches the surrounding. It’s a lot easier to make a fake from a clean photo than to make one from noisy photo like that.
As far as the wave mentioned by a poster above, I guess he didn’t look closely enough. The bottom of the iPod is not straight and matches the shape of the wave. It’s not as pronounced as the edge, but that is normal to have less waviness as it gets closer to the pole.
As for having DVD on the iPod screen, that is an inconclusive evidence that this is a fake. It may just be that this iPod will work as a remote control for Front Row too. Why not? It’s supposed to be wireless, multifunctional with adaptive interface and it’s supposed to be a media iPod.
“Why aren’t these things ever in focus?”
Because if they were, I’d be out of a job!
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http://www.homepage.mac.com/daddysteve
==
“Low light level gives a certain pattern of noise and the banner’s noise certainly matches the surrounding. It’s a lot easier to make a fake from a clean photo than to make one from noisy photo like that.”
==
Trivial to fake.
Take a picture of a solid 50% gray using a crummy camera phone.
Use that as your noise pattern to place over a clean photo (and mockup layers).
It’s so fake, it hurts.
Look at the meta data of the jpg file. It says “Creation Software: Adobe Photoshop CS Macintosh”
I’m inclined to say that this is fake at the moment.
Clearly photoshopped.
It still could be real, but you’d have to wonder why anyone would touch up a real photo and risk the obvious criticisms that it is a fake.
Therefore, 99% probability a fake.
Nevertheless I think we’re we’ve all been hoping the new iPod will look exactly like that.
I also failed to mention that traditionally, Apple uses white backgrounds for their consumer products and black for their professionally oriented products.
Personally, I’ve never seen an iMac banner (or any consumer oriented product like the Mac mini & the Macbook) that had a black background.
Taken by the same guy who took all the shots of UFO’s over the past 60 years.
You would think he would have learned to hold his camera still by now?
Leo
mmhm
Unfortunately this is not the 6G iPod.
Peter, I like the wormhole theory but I somehow don’t think so. But for some reason it made me think of the old pink Sony walkmans where half the cassette was actualy sticking out of the player when inserted. Maybe that could work with the new iPod, it only has to be half as wide as a disc. Picture a hand held circular saw. Might scratch the discs though.
Was this picture taken with a quicktake 150?
no , this is
revolutionary new ideas abound
I’d like to think that maybe Apple throws these things into the ether on the run-up to major events just to distract people from what’s really happening.
They probably don’t, but it would confirm all of my thoughts about Job’s control freakery if they did.
daniel, when you take a photo and upload it, then download/copy it somewhere else, is the same file or a copie that’s somhow been filtered through the net and lost all its meta. Or does the photo retain all original metadata. What I mean is whoever took the shot may have done a save for web or resaved it and some of the data may have been lost/altered. Just curious.
um….. the effing iMac is sticking outside the banner….. come on
and apple always covers its banners and waits till after the event to show em off.
“Why aren’t these things ever in focus?”
Because they’re always fake.
Yeah this is fake. The lighting on the sign doesn’t match the rest of the photo.
As mentioned already, the Apple logo is almost touching the left side, is bright white while the title is a very light gray. Also if the logo is suppose to be on the same baseline as the text, it’s off. In relation to the top edge of the banner the logo should be higher.
The screen isn’t even centered on the “iPod” and the reflection doesn’t match.
There is just too much wrong. This was a BAD attempt.
A low-res phone camera taken at a distance then cropped for a close-up would yield a low quality photo. That can explain all such blurred photos – but doesn’t mean some aren’t forged anyway.
If it’s real, with all the icons displayed around the screen like that, it looks more like some sort of FrontRow menu, which, if you had a touch screen iPod, would be cool…
If it’s fake, someone’s put some thought into what the next gen iPod could be like…
iPod – schmiPod….
I want my Core 2 duo MacBook Pro!
I’m going out on a limb here…it may seem so fake that it is possibly the real thing. Someone had to very quickly whip out the camera phone and quickly take this blurry picture if it is real.
The Front Row CD/DVD icons would be real if there were wireless built-in, allowing the iPod to be used as a controller. The design looks simple and unintrusive to the content, as Steve would imagine it.
I have trouble believing that someone would go to all that trouble in Photoshop, especially creating the poor light, blurriness, etc.
Oh well, we’ll see tomorrow.
Here we go again…iPhotoshop.
Can’t believe this is even being reported. C’mon MDN, post something of value.
Why is everyone concerned with the CD/DVD, they are currently Front Row icons. As well as iMovie and iPhoto.
My question is what the “Deathstar” looking icon????
I’ll simply add a question: What in the hell is that grey trapazoid behind the top left corner of the ipod?
I say the banner is fake, but what were Mr/Ms Fakey thinking there?
COOL….IT HAS A DEATHSTAR FEATURE? Does it only work on Zunes and iRivers?
What is this? XFiles? How hard would it be to get a focused picture with a point and shot from that distance?
It makes it exciting and all that, I guess…
Fake. Apple simply NEVER ALLOW a poster of this nature hanging around uncovered before a show of this magnatude. I don’t even need to analyze pixels or metadata to know that this could not be real.
That photo was actually taken six years from now. That’s why it’s blurry. OS X 10.9 has a pretty kick-ass version of Time Machine. Ballmer attempted to use his ever-growing gravitational pull to stop the transmission. Damage to local crops and livestock was inevitable.
Well, me really finks it fake, but it COULD be a tablet mac finally ! controllinfg all the macs in your house and delivering the media to your tellys via airport videoexpress !
the reflection underneath the ipod is the best argument that its real. look at every mac template for iweb/pages/keynote. the fact that its running front row is interesting as well. also, have you guys ever used photoshop? it would be FUCKING an intense effort to match the grain and perspective all the way around. the person who said that they hide these banners until the event is correct. but….they dont hang them up with them on. there is a little time in between. and where in the moscone center would this be? this looks like the entrance to yerba buena to me. moscone is MUCH different.
my vote is real.
zach. im going to cupertino tomorrow to watch the live feed. we will see then. i love working for apple.
Fake. DVDs in an iPod? Are they going to come with external optical drives?
I think not.
Hey, they could be showing us their bluetooth remote access of the actual content on the iMac next to it (or any other computer nearby).
This could be their answer to Microsoft’s wireless ‘Zune’ with purported wireless capabilities or similar to Sony’s Location Free Player for the PSP.
If they made their Front Row act like the slingbox that allows you to stream your content to a remote device, wouldn’t you want it?!?! I knew you would.
It indeed doesn’t look like a convicing photo, but speculation is rampant. Why not feed the fire!
I’m with Geir Werner. They are doing more than just video downloads for the next gen iPod, iTunes. They have their media experience tied into their computers for now. Its all about providing a seamless experience. I think we’ll be pleasantly surprised tomorrow.
http://www.ipod-club.com/news/1142120269/
My God, it’s full of stars…..
The Real Deal: Impressive.
Ok, now THAT seems real, The Real Deal…
If they are fakes, they got a lot of things right both photoshop-wise and iPod/Apple design wise, kudos.
Just not sure of the AV moniker. I guess it’d work IF they also sold “regular” click-wheel iPods for the poor people. Otherwise I think it’d just be called iPod.
If it’s fake, then at least some effort was put into it…
Y’all are forgetting about the recent apple patent filing that surfaced:
http://www.macnn.com/blogs/?p=98
There is a whole slew of info about how an iPod could be used with DVD technology such as this one example:
“the hand-held device may include a removable storage device such as an optical disc player that receives and plays DVDs, or card slots for receiving mediums such as memory cards (or memory sticks). Because the form factor of the hand-held device is small, the optical drive may only be configured for mini DVDs.”
Far fetched? Possibly… but then again if it is a dvd icon in the pic it could be a remote controll feature as well to control your set top players?
If they said it was a Tablet computer, then I’d be more likely to believe it. Like someone’s already said, “What’s the CD icon for?”
HAHAHA real deal. those pics are SUPER old and have been CONFIRMED as fake MONTHS ago.
It’s a fake…
just look at the whole bottom right corner – it looks stupid
ok guys. the cd icon. ITS AN ICON for movies. doesnt mean it actually plays dvd’s. im not sure you guys are familiar with the word icon. its like the itunes icon. its A CD with a green note. doesnt mean it actually plays cds. anyone familiar with front row knows that it just means movies. either way. we shall see tomorrow.
OK, I’m guessing it’s a fake. The perpsective is seriously off in the photo. But the CD icon brings up a thought…what if the vPod also acts as a remote for an iMac to run front row on the iMac…hmmmm…What if there’s a TWO-WAY wireless interface between the two? The possibilities are intriguing.
Fake…Fake. Poor PS!
I’ll guess that it’s fake.
As one poster mentioned, it looks very “un-Apple.” The Apple logo on the banner looks too close to the edge, almost like it’s going to be cut off.
Also, the top and right edges where the iMac photo bleeds, and is cut off by the edges of the banner, doesn’t appear to match the banner edges.
But I could be wrong.
It’s fake. Steve Jobs won’t have a banner hanging out for everyone to see the thing when they first walk into the theatre. It would spoil the drama.
The first appearance of the new iPod will be when he removes it from his pocket.
Is that the new 60-inch Apple iPod?
This is weak. At least when I make a product concept I do it right.
Photobucket user who faked this photo, look here for inspiration:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rstrb8r/sets/72157594152270838/
Rastor,
Decently photoshopped, but seriously weak designwise. Seriously. You shouldn’t be taking pot shots.
S
Man, this site is getting so sketchy.
This image is from a banner which was so obviously photoshopped. The iMac image on the banner (which has been cropped out) didn’t even fit on the banner.
This fake was done by an amateur.
And this tacky site cropped out all of the flaws.
Sketchy.
Besides the obvious rubbish layout that no ad agency would allow to leave the building, the font is most definitely not Apple’s. Just compare the ‘a’ in ‘stars’ with anything on apple.com.
Others have already commented on perspective issues, lighting, refections etc which all show that it’s a bad fake. But to see how really bad it is, download it and open in Photoshop. Use the Levels adjustment with the middle slider cranked to the left and just look at the artifacts.
There are fakes and there is this thing which is the mother of all fakes.
To those who insist this thing is real, I hope you enjoy the flavor of crow.
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Pathetic.
Look at the bottom of the iMac. It has a lump bottom left of the apple logo. This looks like where it has been extended. Now look at the bit to the right of that lump. Pay careful attention to its perspective. Now look at the bit to the left. The perspective is wrong! Its just a picture of a 20″ iMac which has been extended. As for the iPod, I’ve seen that mock-up picture before. People have been speculating about a full screen iPod for months now, and this is one of the pics someone posted about how they want it to look. This is definately a photoshopped image. If I’m proven wrong, I’ll eat my hat.