Yep - the article did say that none of the usual hints, like patents being filled, or spy photos, would indicate it is still very much on the drawing board stage...
On a side note - the same mag showed that Honda are doing promo photos of a 3 bike CB500 based line-up, one of which is a CB500X - dual sport(ish) styling... tho it is all the same chassis and suspension, so the X version would have no better offroad capability than the fully fared CBR...