Filed under: Hardware, Rumors, Graphic Design
Nvidia CEO loves Apple, possesses mysterious alien device
Talk about burying the lead -- Shufflegazine did a piece on Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Hwang during a visit to Dubai recently, in which he talks about how much he and his family love their Macs, and Apple's machines add value, and in his house it's just "Mac, Mac, Mac," and OH MY GOD, what is that SITTING ON THE TABLE in front of him? OK, it's The thing is, this picture just appeared with Shufflegazine's piece, and while Hwang did go on and on about how much he loves Apple stuff (and yes, the two companies have a long history of sharing some hardware), there's not word one about that tablet or anything like it in the piece, no hint of any other hardware or partnership announcement. It could be a prototype, it could be another tablet we're just not recognizing, or yes, Hwang could have just thrown it down on the table during the interview, and Shufflegazine could have just completely missed it. [They didn't. -Ed.]
Though if that last one is true, we have no idea how it happened. How do you cover Apple and their gadgets and avoid being drawn to that tablet. It's so... thin and well-designed. We'll be honest, if we were in the room, we might have licked it then and there to claim it as our own.
Thanks to Nemanja for the tip.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Hickeroar said 8:27AM on 11-10-2009
Notice the single button at the bottom center... Looks remarkably
like a "home" button.
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jodamiller said 8:30AM on 11-10-2009
I believe the conventional spelling is "burying the lede". Otherwise you could be putting some metal into the ground.
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Ian said 12:58PM on 11-10-2009
They both work. "Lede" is a trade term used mostly within journalism. Everyone else terms the leading idea in a story the "lead".
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bury_the_lead
Daniel said 8:35AM on 11-10-2009
It's interesting that it has one rounded button at the bottom and something that looks like an iSight on the top. Does that say anything oher than that, idk, but it's kinda interesting to note that.
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cysouw said 8:35AM on 11-10-2009
Note that he is looking at "Ratatouille".
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DrWatson said 8:55AM on 11-10-2009
Maybe it's just a digital photo frame ;)
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ack154 said 9:13AM on 11-10-2009
It looks like he just threw that thing down on the table and was like "ya, I have an Apple table... wanna fight about it?"
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ack154 said 9:13AM on 11-10-2009
Grr... tablet. TABLET!
Fred said 12:08PM on 11-10-2009
"What bitch?!?! I'll cut you!"
Josh said 1:22PM on 11-10-2009
Leave it to the user with a Peter avatar to lay down that reference.
Daniel said 9:26AM on 11-10-2009
I think it is an Axiotron ModBook Pro, made from a 15" Appla MacBook Pro.
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Icello said 10:56AM on 11-10-2009
I did to, but it's not. Much to thin, and slightly different.
It might be a next gen one though.
terssi said 9:26AM on 11-10-2009
That red circle around the button looks soo Apple-ish.
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Mike said 1:14PM on 11-10-2009
It just looks like a table DVD player to me.... or maybe tablet blu-ray player....
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oZ said 9:56AM on 11-10-2009
The funny part is going to be that the tablet is likely something from ASUS or some other similar manufacturer, and then everyone's going to say how much it sucks or there's too much plastic, or it's not Apple so it must be horrible. ;)
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BeyondtheTech said 10:15AM on 11-10-2009
It's just a black iPhone 3GS. That damn perspective lens always skews the foreground of the picture.
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Kendall Tawes said 12:45AM on 11-12-2009
I own one and it's most certainly not. It's wide instead of tall. Perhaps that might be how a 3GS would look with its side to a black hole as it would be stretched as the gravity would increase from one side to the other. Though if you were that far into a black hole you would be already dead.
Wait... I was talking about a possible Apple tablet right?
milkmage said 10:15AM on 11-10-2009
using the water bottle for scale, it looks to be about 15" diagonal.
@Daniel - the pic above (larger version http://www.shufflegazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/DSC_0724.jpg) shows a "home button" with a red ring around. it the pic of the modbook pro here (http://www.axiotron.com/index.php?id=modbookpro) doesn't have the button at all.. (see the thumbnail towards the bottom) looks like a mic (?) right above the camera.
..that said, I can't see apple using a colored ring around the button.. the three "dimples" on the edge closest to the photographer aren't in line with apple's aesthetic either.
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mark said 10:05PM on 11-10-2009
Ever heard of the word "prototype"?
Matteo Risoldi said 10:16AM on 11-10-2009
In the comments section of the original article on Shufflegazine, one of the commenters asks if the device could be an Apple prototype. The author of the article replies: "Sorry to disappoint you don123, but no, it's not."
I suppose having been there and all, he could know what it is. He probably did not write about it as he's not allowed to.
In my opinion the NVidia CEO just let the device appear in the photos to create buzz about what it could be. They are probably working on something, and this is all free advertising for them.
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