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Apple Releasing Home Media Center: iHome
John Leger writes "Despite legal challenges faced by the
rumor sites, The Apple Blog today is releasing what appear to be exclusive early concept models of Apple products." Interesting concept, and features a large disk drive, ipod dock, and wireless connectivity.
The tipoff is the 2GB of standard RAM. Apple ALWAYS under-powers their computers in terms of RAM.
Wow, what a novel idea...now if HP hadn't allready done that some 8 months ago and if releasing that kind of information was legal and the story was real...this might actually be pretty cool.
It's about time Apple brought their exquisite design into the home.
That really does look like a sweet piece of equipment.
Imagine a Most Entertaining, Action-Packed Beowulf Cluster of these!
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Where do ya get one of those 450GB HDs? Is this just another Apple foolz joke?
At least make the AFJ SLIHGTLY believeable!!!
since there is no power hookup in the back. yeah, and the 450GB hard drive.
-- these are only opinions and they might not be mine.
Where do I give my Amex number?
This isn't an April fool's joke, It's an April Stupid Joke(tm). April Fools jokes are at least capable of fooling someone into believing it, thus the name 'April fool'. Try to make a decent attempt, ok?
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
I'd love to have an Apple built set top box. Apple's thoughts on UI design and the importance of functionality would make a product with these features a great addition to my living room. Too bad it's April 1st.
Can I play PONG on it?
The is a remarkably cruel April Fools taunt for Apple fans and Mac owners. Good job!
- Crow T. Trollbot (Apple fan and Mac owner)
The Slashdot article itself says it's a concept. Are the editors even getting tired of April Fools? It's well after 12 PM pacific time, so you're only catering to Hawaii now.
slashdot gets duped by fake apple release of long rumored never gonna happen iHome on April fools day
interesting idea posted on The Apple Blog http://www.theappleblog.com/2005/04/01/apple-plant ing-iseeds-with-kitty/
still unlikely, but cool.
If you're going to make an April Fool's joke about a new Apple media center, at least come up with a new name, instead of re-using one that was already used for a well-known hoax when the rumors of the Mac mini first surfaced.
The U.S. Constitution needs to be ammended with a "separation of business and state" clause.
...with everything released/leaked/announced on April 1st, I'm always skeptical. As with gmail, I'll believe it when I actually use one. Though these do look nice and 'Apple' though and judging by the sucess of the iPod it should scream off the shelves.
Despite it's probably stellar price tag.
Alternatively, there is the other Apple 'hoodwink' over at the Register too...
They got CPUs wrong. There's no 1.5 ghz G5. Add 100 mhz and it's a little more believable.
That's so obviously an April Fools joke. The DVD remote had more than one button.
As it is, I think an iPod-like scroll wheel on the front side of a receiver-like thing makes for a poor input device for something that is more complex than an iPod... but I could be completely wrong. :-) What features do you guys use on your receivers?
-Rob
Marriage doesn't have to suck!
It won't seem so funny when you guys get sued.
Ludwig Wittgenstein
CmdrTaco: "I know! Let's post stories so implausible our readers will never even think they're funny!"
CowboyNeal: "Even better, let's fill up the entire front page with them. That way, if there's nothing else to see, maybe they'll think some of them are real!"
I really hate to sound like a troll (really I'm not!), but how about something a bit more well thought out? Perhaps change the entire page to make it look like you guys were purchased by Microsoft (kind of like Maddox did his page that one time). It's gone from cute to childish to downright annoying.
the tip-off is that its posted here, on /.
The editors forgot to mention that iHome includes the full-size version of iCopulate.
I fucking hate Slashdot on April 1st. Why the hell do I keep torturing myself by reloading the homepage?
I swear I'm going to jab thumb drives into Taco's eyes and then strangle him with a usb cable if I ever meet him.
This is about as real as the XBOX2 ThinkGeek (http://www.thinkgeek.com/) is selling.
:-)
To Ed: Okay, I plugged it, where's my cut?
What about posting some genuine news today? And now even an iCopulate banner on the top! Anyway I've never seen an Apple product released and publicized on Slashdot before Apple.com itself. Need some good jokes here, wops midnight here..
I'd love to have an Apple built set top box.
Actually Apple DID make a set top box. It was the vestigages of the Pippen, their ill fated game machine. When it didn't pan out, they switched gears and turned it into a set top box. Neither product really saw the light of day (though some of the set top boxes did since I have three of them myself).
C'mon, fucking STOP the lame jokes. No one is laughing. Everyone knows it's just being done to annoy now. Well guess what?
It.
Isn't.
funny. We get it. It's over. Move on.
If this is a april fools day joke I'm going to be pissed!
The glass is half-full. With poison. And there are cracks in the glass. The dirty, dirty glass.
Trying to use the wheel with the tip of your index finger, especially while the unit is not at chest height would prove to be very annoying, very quickly.
Registrant:
iHome, Inc
8400 Miramar Road,
Suite 290
San Diego, CA 92126
US
Domain Name: IHOME.COM
Administrative Contact:
Knox, Maria mariaknox@aol.com
iHome.com
8400 Miramar Road
San Diego, CA 92126
US
858 578-7912 fax: 858 578-2513
Technical Contact:
Network Solutions, LLC. customerservice@networksolutions.com
13200 Woodland Park Drive
Herndon, VA 20171-3025
US
1-888-642-9675 fax: 571-434-4620
Record expires on 12-Nov-2006.
Record created on 23-Dec-1995.
Database last updated on 1-Apr-2005 17:00:13 EST.
Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.MEDIATEMPLE.NET 64.207.129.18
NS2.MEDIATEMPLE.NET 64.207.128.18
Come on! thinkgeek's stuff was barely believable but this late in the day and this long after the last keynote any apple rumor is just plain foolish...
I'm off to OSNEWS. At least there I know they have no sense of humour.
However, the $1,500 base price doesn't include the optional iBathrooms, iBedrooms, iKitchen, iLivingroom, and iDen, or that it will be available only with varying configurations of these 'optional' components preinstalled, which is expected to drive the price up to a range of between $40,000 and $500,000, depending on configuration and delivery location. While there are currently no plans to offer an iGarage, the iHouse will come standard with a docking adapter, the iCarport.
This is great, not only is everyone getting pissed but even the ads are advertising the fake products thank you slashdot thank you
...those are, very easy to see.
and the writing mistake of "digiatl" on the back input panel render.
(BTW. There are a powercord input on the far left back, its the new one also used on mac mini)
Why fill slashdot with april fools all day? One of good quality would have done it.
How often do you use the controls on your reciever?
/.ed so I cant say, but I would assume that any such device would include a remote.
I know that I've used mine a total of ~2 times in 6 years.
The site is
My brother has a microwave with a knob that acts like an iPod scroll wheel. It sucks hard to use that thing, mainly because the first item that comes up is not "cook something" but "bacon" (alphabetical you know.)
My amazing wife - Artist, Author, Philosopher - Laurie M
Are you trying to tell me that my wishlist is a joke?
...iBullshit
It was clearly a joke, and yet for all the bitching and whining, "we" still managed to take them down. Who is the Fool now? :-)
...you guys aren't even trying anymore, are you?
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
That can't be right, you how can someone like HP come up with a home media center?!?!
Apple is the only one & first company to produce such innovative products, like mp3 players, flash based mp3 players, mp3 players that can display photos, a unix based operating systems, a small computer case, a store that sells DRMed music files, etc!!!one
ive got to give them props on the pictures, they look like they came straight out of apple's design department
I agree, these look a lot more like actual Apple products than the last batch of design ideas commissioned by Business2.0 did.
The only fatal flaw I see is that I think a real Apple universal remote would incorporate the iPod's click-scroll-wheel interface rather than discrete rectangular play/stop/fast-forward/rewind/pause buttons.
Nonetheless, I think this hoax is TOTALLY EFFIN SWEET and I hope the real Apple product devlopment teams see some things they like in these designs.
That that is just cruel. There are already a ton of concept products out there people have photoshopped that i only wish Apple would adopt, now the list is even longer :( an iNewt or any of hte varies of updated newtons, Tablet Powerbooks, video ipods (which a tabletPB with a 9" screen would work for as well ;) ).
The linked-to article has a further link to a web page describing a new PDA: the Apple iNote.
The iHome (as described) is *almost* realistic. The disk drive and DRAM are a bit too big. Otherwise, the imaginary iHome would be a good product, and welcomed by many.
On the other hand, the iNote (as described) is pure comedy.
... welcome our new Apple Overlords in the Living Room
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Nothing in the above quote claims this actually came from Apple. "early concept models" can very-well be that the author woke-up one morning early, scratched his ass, and spent the next 72 hours relentlessly drawing-up those images.
This April Fool's joke would have been even cooler if TheAppleBlog had retained the same level of ambiguity on their site as the "submitter" of the story kept.
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