Debunk: punk kid tries to dupe gadget blogs with phony Apple rumor

We're sure there's a broad swath of our readers who think every Apple-related rumor is patently untrue (which, let's be fair, isn't the case by a long shot), and an even larger number of people who think the mere act of writing them up is idiocy. Well, we suppose this one goes out to all of you.

So as it turns out, a convincing (if suspicious) sounding tip written by none other than Google Product Manager Tom Oliveri made its way to number of select high profile gadget blogs this morning, promising the following inside information about Tuesday's announcements:

"Macbooks - no cosmetic changes will be getting santa rosa chips
mac mini [sic] will receive a stock 120gb HDD total form change, all brushed aluminum 15% smaller
and the iMacs will be, as rumored brushed aluminum
new ipods will be rolling around mid September," as well as this little nugget: "I will update you on our phone later this month ( one week prior to announcement )"

Just one problem though. Those who published the rumor obviously weren't in touch with Google's Tom Oliveri, else they might have realized they were getting their information from a 16 year old Australian kid who shares Oliveri's name (and obviously not his Google-genius-like sense of grammar). Woops. Full email published after the break.

Name: Tom
Email: [redacted]
Subject:

Macbooks - no cosmetic changes will be getting santa rosa chips

mac mini will receive a stock 120gb HDD total form change, all brushed aluminum 15% smaller

and the iMacs will be, as rumored brushed aluminum

new ipods will be rolling around mid September

I will update you on our phone later this month ( one week prior to announcement )

Cheers
Tom


Tom Oliveri, Google Product Marketing Manager
www.google.com

[Miles @ Aug 5th 2007 1:34PM]

This is why I read engadget.

[Warhorse @ Aug 6th 2007 9:23AM]

I hate double posters.

[Miles @ Aug 5th 2007 1:34PM]

This is why I read engadget.

[Miles @ Aug 5th 2007 1:35PM]

Argh, again with the double posts?

[paloooz @ Aug 5th 2007 1:37PM]

When you type your comment and press "Add Your Comments," that's all you have to do. It will not show up twice unless you submit it twice. If you submit it twice, that is your fault. It may or may not show up immediately after pressing "Add Your Comments" but it will eventually show up.

[Miles @ Aug 5th 2007 1:41PM]

I do, but I get redirected to http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/random-story/-1 when it happens.

[Argot @ Aug 5th 2007 1:41PM]

That's what you get for using a Mac, double-posts and errors.

[paloooz @ Aug 5th 2007 2:07PM]

Well, not necessarily "for using Macs" ... but that is what he gets for not using Firefox, or in his case Camino.

His fault, nonetheless.

[LiQuiD_FuSioN @ Aug 5th 2007 3:35PM]

The same thing happens to me sometimes. But, only when I submit more than one of the same comment (thinking the other didn't go through). And when I DO get the confirmation email, I never click "submit" more than once.

It's only later on that I'll see the other comment that was never confirmed actually POSTED. In short, If I only activated ONE comment, why would there be two?

[dom.rout @ Aug 6th 2007 6:58AM]

I find it hard to understand how you could pin such a bug to a specific browser...

[Warhorse @ Aug 6th 2007 9:22AM]

I hate double posters.

[chris @ Aug 6th 2007 11:34AM]

I hate double posters.

[chris @ Aug 6th 2007 11:35AM]

I hate double posters.

[Eric Leung @ Aug 8th 2007 3:03AM]

Or... it could be those crazy old-school Windows obsessed people that always double-click

[paloooz @ Aug 5th 2007 1:35PM]

Eh.

[Matt @ Aug 5th 2007 1:40PM]

How about a link to his blog....

[Matt @ Aug 5th 2007 1:41PM]

Opps maybe I should read it first :(

[strider_mt2k @ Aug 5th 2007 1:45PM]

Good thing you didn't call attention to it.

[Ashish @ Aug 5th 2007 1:51PM]

Please give us his e-mail ID. My Nigerian buddies will be happy to have it. ;)

[Ashish @ Aug 6th 2007 2:19PM]

Believe it or not, I was joking.

I don't feel any need for revenge. All I want to do is ask, what was your motive? Are people that bored now-a-days to want to create a rumour?

[lookmark @ Aug 5th 2007 1:57PM]

Heh. I love how Engadget refuses to mention gizmodo by name (and vice versa).

So, kudos for exposing Gizmodo's foolishness, but.... Ryan, do you not get the difference between C2D and C2D + Santa Rosa chipset? Until the MBs get Santa Rosa (which will happen at some point) they'll be using the GMA 950 instead of the GMA 965 / X3000.

[Ryan Block @ Aug 5th 2007 2:07PM]

That's a good point. I forgot about the chipset / bus speed part of the C2D upgrade, good call.

[Ziokendo @ Aug 5th 2007 2:09PM]

Exactly.
SantaRosa is another kettle of fish, different chipset, different graphic chip, different cpu. Anyhow, a product announcement in the middle of August ... bah, that seemed obviously fake.

Btw, could someone explain me the relationship between new apple products and a google executive ? o_O'

[Brian @ Aug 5th 2007 2:12PM]

Looks like Gizmodo posted an update and actually cited, by name and hyperlink, Engadget. Maybe we can all just get along!

[Fruition @ Aug 6th 2007 3:37PM]

@Ziokendo

I was wondering the exact same thing about Google and Apple. Since when does Google announce Apple products??!

[Erik @ Aug 5th 2007 1:58PM]

I still can't believe it's not butter.

[Aaron @ Aug 6th 2007 12:58AM]

Neither can Fabio...

[E. @ Aug 7th 2007 12:57PM]

Chuck Norris *can* believe it's not butter.

[Jay @ Aug 6th 2007 6:10AM]

I don't think 'tries' is the word because he seemed to pull the wool right over Gizmodo's eyes...

[strider_mt2k @ Aug 6th 2007 7:53AM]

When it comes to Apple stuff, their enthusiasm overshadows...everything.

Sad really.

[Bazza @ Aug 6th 2007 3:36PM]

I'm glad he showed up their stupidity and utter idiocy when it comes to their beloved fruit company.

Many blogs just eat it all up, whereas with rumors of other manufacturers, these same sites take them with a pinch of salt.

Good on ya Tom.

[Ashish @ Aug 5th 2007 3:11PM]

Lots of people apparently. That is why these rumours become big news.

[Iain @ Aug 5th 2007 3:16PM]

I have a question which I hope someone might be able to answer.

Given how well known it is in tech-blog circles that Apple are, to put it mildly, taciturn regarding up-coming products and that a large number of these sort of early announcements are false, why would a source supposedly from Google be considered legitimate?
I mean, if Apple don't tell anyone (which is the case), why would Google know?

[Karim @ Aug 5th 2007 3:28PM]

Looks like Gizmodo just issued a complete retraction of the story.

Good for them for owning up to it.

Good job, Engadget, for being on top the story.

[Mike K @ Aug 5th 2007 3:45PM]

"Good for them for owning up to it."

Um, what?! They didn't even do a cursory amount of research on the rumor, and then they only retracted after Engadget called them out.

[TheChaz @ Aug 5th 2007 7:22PM]

To be fair, Engadget recently posted an iPhone delay rumor that not only turned out to be untrue, but managed to actually hurt the company's share price, to the tune of 4 billion dollars.

The lesson here isn't that one tech blog is better than another, it's that because of the nature of blogging, erroneous stories have a much better chance of being published.

[strider_mt2k @ Aug 6th 2007 7:51AM]

They also offloaded the comments to another gawker site, so I don't know about "owning up" if they can't hang with it there.

[loci @ Aug 5th 2007 4:49PM]

he looks like an uglier john travolta

[Jono1 @ Aug 5th 2007 5:05PM]

Aaaah, I love my country.

(I'm Australian by the way)

[Dave @ Aug 5th 2007 8:08PM]

You would have to be pretty stupid to post this as fat, as they mentioned, the grammar is atrocious, "I will update you on our phone later this month", um iphone??
So another case of a rumor that's not true getting to engadget eh. I know they posted the article because it wasn't true but haven't we heard enough rumors about apple and their warez, we are now even getting fake apple news. I don't want to get sick of apple/engadget, I really don't.

[Eric @ Aug 6th 2007 12:00PM]

Not iPhone, the new Google phone that's no longer rumor.

[Surkhail @ Aug 5th 2007 7:17PM]

...... so is there gona be a new ipod iv read some other stuff but still confuzed

[Warren Frost @ Aug 5th 2007 8:33PM]

Odd picture because "I can't believe it's not butter" was rebranded in Janurary 2005 to become Flora Buttery Taste - totally different packaging.

Are we saying he's 13 there?! Unlikely! Maybe he was visiting the US!

[Warren Frost @ Aug 5th 2007 8:34PM]

In Australia I should have said

[Emceay @ Aug 5th 2007 8:54PM]

Hook, line, and sinker!

[Rob @ Aug 5th 2007 10:14PM]

Wow Tom... cool way to get real famous quickly. I read the story on Sydney Morning Herald. I wish I had a name of somebody who worked for Google. :)

[Clark Hummell @ Aug 5th 2007 11:16PM]

God bless the irony: "Phony Rumor"

[Richard Lai @ Aug 6th 2007 12:11AM]

S.O.B.

[Simon @ Aug 6th 2007 12:12AM]

HAHAHA and you American's will believe anything

Australia is in the northern hemisphere too ;)

[Simon @ Aug 6th 2007 1:48AM]

... And you Australians can't spell.

P.S. I'm not responding to myself - I happen to be unfortunate enough to share the same name.