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

[fenrir Posted Aug 6th 2007 1:49AM]

Just some kid trying to get attention from the world that he is not receiving from his parents or the opposite sex. Wow, the time these people have on their hands. Not that i care about mac rumors anyhow...but...seriously..find something better to do.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 6th 2007 9:10AM]

I know tom personally and I'll stand for the fact he's quite the ladies man...

We in Aus don't just pawn off somebody clever having fun with an overtly gullible American world as unloved, nor do we blame everything on them... Unlike some countries starting with U ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=imyS7XG4bTM :-p

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 6th 2007 11:35AM]

Yeah, actually Tom doesn't seem like that bad of a guy nor really a "punk". I mean his comments above make him seem pretty down to earth about the whole thing.

It seems more like a hoax thing. If you f*king computer nerds really get that much of a hard on about whether or not a new computer has brushed aluminum and a big hard drive, I'd say you're the bigger punks for falling for such corporate advertising.

Also, I'm not sure who's journalistic integrity is worse here: gizmodo for not doing the smallest bit of fact checking and looking at who their sources are or engadget for taking up actually writing a calling-out neh-neh-neh-neh-neh article about a mistake their competition made...

Or all the people, including myself, who actually took the time to read this fluff and comment on it. It seems like WE'RE the real punks here.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 7th 2007 4:56AM]

I love when people say *YAWN* It's so cool. And not at all old.