Peeve Farm

g r o t t o 1 1

Peeve Farm
Breeding peeves for show, not just to keep as pets

  Blog \Blôg\, n. [Jrg, fr. Jrg. "Web-log".
     See {Blogger, BlogSpot, LiveJournal}.]
     A stream-of-consciousness Web journal, containing
     links, commentary, and pointless drivel.

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.clue

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Thursday, January 3, 2002
09:59 - The iWalk Won't Die http://www.spymac.com	(top)
A site called "SpyMac" claims to have come into possession of exclusive video footage showing a new Apple-branded PDA called the iWalk. I can't remember whether SpyMac was the hours-old site that claimed the iWalk was the name of the "breakthrough digital device" that turned out in fact to be the iPod, but whatever site that was deserved whatever forced obscurity it slipped into after the rumors it posted turned out to be so false (remember the photo they had? It was a flip-top, TiBook-looking handheld thingy with a lopsided button pad). Whatever the origins of SpyMac, they have a page with still photos and video footage of the new purported device, and it's password-protected, but the password is freely sent out after e-mail registration. I'm looking at the page now, and the photos (which I won't post here out of courtesy, except for the one on SpyMac's main page, which appears to the right) ... do in fact look authentic, to say nothing of the videos. I was all set up to scoff at the Walking Undead Apple PDA rumor in its current laughable form, but now that I'm watching the footage, which looks pretty dang hard to fake, I have to concede that it may well be real. The device has a color screen considerably bigger than the usual Palm's; in fact, the size of the machine is about halfway between a large Palm and the Newton. The only physical control is a jog knob with the Apple logo on it that you twist to change the screen layout from landscape to portrait, and other stylus-activated functions are controlled by on-screen icons along the bottom. It has Newton-esque handwriting recognition, what looks like an integrated web browser, FireWire, some kind of mysterious port that SpyMac alleges is "Gigawire", wireless networking (?), pages with a brushed-metal-and-rounded-edges look that resembles iTunes, security features, and other stuff too blurry to be faked except by someone with lots of discipline. Now that I look closer, the security screen looks suspect. The challenge phrase ("Please enter the passwort [sic] or draw the graphic below in order to unlock the iWalk.") appears above a password window with a line for text entry. What graphic below? How is drawing a given graphic (which I don't see anywhere) a security feature? More like a test of drawing ability. And why does it say "passwort"? It's possible that it's a really good hoax by someone skillful in everything except spelling. But only very remotely possible. Oh, and the power supply next to the device is the old-style flying-saucer one, if that's significant-- not the new white "chiclet" one. And in any case, okay, a PDA, that's cool, but-- I'm sorry, but an Apple-branded PDA is not breakthrough. It's not "beyond the rumor sites". It's been the very meat of the rumor sites for the past two years. Attendance at this thing's introduction would not be "a back-stage pass to the future". PDAs are commodity items now, and they're really not terribly sexy. Everybody I've ever known who's had a PDA (myself included) used it for the first two months-- and then you seldom saw it again. PDAs lose their interest and usefulness. They have yet to prove indispensability in any of our lives. Besides, referencing Palm's sales woes and the ever-present WinCE threat, Steve himself said not so long ago that "I'm not sure [the PDA world] is a fun place to be right now." So unless the iWalk has something truly original to bring to the table-- like, oh, I don't know, a built-in hard drive-- I can't see how it would form any part of a useful business venture by Apple. Especially if it costs-- what? Bets? $500? Where does all this leave us? I have no idea, but I've saved the pictures and QuickTime movies from the password-protected page to gather opinions at work. Eek! I'm gonna be late for work now. Thanks a lot, SpyMac.