Skullphone's Clear Channel billboards not hax0r3d, actually pa1d for

That Skullphone billboard hack we saw yesterday had everyone at Engadget HQ pretty impressed with the corporate-pranking hijinks. Too bad it turns out that Skullphone is actually a phony (and total buster, we might add) who had to pay The Man (aka Clear Channel) cold hard cash to "glitch up" the digital billboards. According to Curbed LA (and our reliable tipsters / commenters), Skullphone paid the massive media conglomerate for one-day Los Angeles-wide ads -- there was no hacking involved at all. From now on, he should just leave the signage-goofing to the pros, or at least make it clear there's some money changing hands. Fool us once, shame on you... and... we won't get fooled again.

[Thanks, Dakota]

[Photon Posted Mar 26th 2008 3:42PM]

I love how you're calling this guy is a "buster" yet he completely fooled you, a purported journalist, as to the real truth. What exactly does that make you?

[weirdo557 Posted Mar 26th 2008 6:01PM]

a blogger maybe...

[Brad Hubbard Posted Mar 27th 2008 12:54AM]

Lying about how you do something and then getting caught isn't "fooling" anyone - it's not getting caught in your lie when you make it. It still caught up with him, and it took less than 24hrs.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 27th 2008 1:05PM]

Where the hell does an 18 year old get enough scratch to buy city-wide billboards for a day? Daddy? The Skull Phone is his logo. He's advertising a brand, just like anyone else on there.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 26th 2008 3:45PM]

i knew it.

[Kabong30 Posted Mar 26th 2008 3:48PM]

Did anybody else read that last line, and hear David Caruso saying them? And then of course the obligatory, "YYYEEEEEEAAAAAHHHHH!!!"

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 27th 2008 12:23AM]

I Lol'd hard. Thanks for making my day :D

[sinai Posted Mar 26th 2008 3:55PM]

who the fuck is skullcandy and what the fuck do they do? should i even care?

[hotpuck6 Posted Mar 26th 2008 5:04PM]

don't they make cheap "hi-fi" headphones?

[psyclotron Posted Mar 26th 2008 5:26PM]

why the fuck should we care whether you care? do you think saying "fuck" 50 times per day on engadget makes you look all badass? stay in school or learn some anger management, troll.

[weirdo557 Posted Mar 26th 2008 11:58PM]

skullphone != skullcandy?

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 26th 2008 4:02PM]

What a bummer

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 26th 2008 4:08PM]

I too am dissappointed to find this a bust... But kudos to Engadget for the refrence to an ever famous George Dubya quote.

"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 26th 2008 4:54PM]

we suspected it wasn;t a hack BUT u never can tell whether someone has been crazy with Photoshop either. Our take on it http://www.dailydooh.com/archives/1364

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 29th 2008 1:53AM]

Lots of money and a shitty logo doth not an artist make!

I whipped up my own "art" in response to this schlemiel.

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/5230/skullphoneyet3.png

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 26th 2008 4:16PM]

@sonicwind: and of course, the fucking grammar/spelling nazi has to swoop and and make sure he points out a very tiny typo. Good job! I'm so happy that you are out here patrolling the internet making sure everything is spelled correctly. I can sleep better at night now.

[geekmorgan Posted Mar 26th 2008 4:34PM]

I love the subtle Bush reference, Josh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKgPY1adc0A

[Computermaster Posted Mar 26th 2008 4:56PM]

That stinks, I thought he actually hacked them.

[SOOPERGOOMAN Posted Mar 26th 2008 5:39PM]

I'm so making this into a t-shirt fromt his image and not giving him anything. POSER!

[decypher44 Posted Mar 26th 2008 5:40PM]

Did this Skull guy actually tell people it was a hack, or did people just assume it was?


/honest question

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 26th 2008 6:34PM]

Uhm I went to his website, and I realized he was a public 'multimedia' artist, and I put 2 and 2 together before this news came out. I knew it was not hacked, but just ran through the system like an ADVERT. As long as it's not offensive, most "advertising" channels won't care what you do. Why do you think some of the ads on tv now seem so cryptic. Like "Now What?" or the mini cooper ads.

[charles hamilton Posted Mar 26th 2008 6:52PM]

Won't get fooled again? Every day there is story about how yesterdays story was wrong.

[Joshua Topolsky Posted Mar 26th 2008 8:34PM]

Could you please provide examples of the incorrect stories year-over-year -- I assume you'll have a minimum of 365 posts in that period based on your comment. Also, since we sometimes run hundreds of stories a day, could you also demonstrate the ratio of "correct" versus "incorrect" articles? Looking forward to those figures.

[charles hamilton Posted Mar 27th 2008 8:51AM]

I don't get paid to be your editor, Josh. And I am not picking on you personally. It is a bit disturbing though how many times the major tech blogs just plain get it wrong. Then the next day or the next week they put up the "whoops, my bad" post. You guys are in the big time now, people expect better accuracy.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 26th 2008 7:15PM]

I wonder if it would still be considered a hack if they hacked a computer to get the money they used to pay for the add, and never claimed the street cred for the stolen money, only the billboard prank.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 26th 2008 7:24PM]

amazing last line

[CraigularB Posted Mar 26th 2008 10:27PM]

Man, I was totally loving this story when I thought it was hacked.

Now it's just insanely lame.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 27th 2008 12:50AM]

dudes, check this out: http://fffff.at/major-times-square-hack

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 27th 2008 12:53AM]

oh snap!

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 27th 2008 1:15AM]

"That Skullphone billboard hack we saw yesterday had everyone at Engadget HQ pretty impressed with the corporate-pranking hijinks."

So who exactly is the corporate entity pranked by these hijinks? Do you own a mirror?

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 27th 2008 6:59AM]

This is excactly what I was thinking when i read the first post. This has happened before couple of time in the netherlands. Dutch newswebsite/forum Geenstijl.nl did this last year, tricking people in hacking the commercialboards in the stadium during a soccer match. Also another guy made a video about hacking the roadsignal boards on the highway.

[joesko Posted Apr 1st 2008 4:29PM]

Looks like we all got worked...I went from pretty impressed, to mildly depressed. Remind me to never buy a SkullPhone unless of course it has cool skulls and crossbones on the GUI...iSkull?

That would be so RAD! Pfffft.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 27th 2008 1:04PM]

He is trying to go the Shepard Ferry route (Andre The Giant has a possee). He has an online store that sells his shwag. He is branding his own line. Clothing, x-mas ornaments, bags, skateboards. It is just a very "cool" company.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 27th 2008 2:13PM]

Max Cornelisse is Koning!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrXkmP_3kBs

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 27th 2008 3:24PM]

There's an old saying in Tennessee -- I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee -- that says, fool me once -- shame on -- shame on you. You fool me, you can't get fooled again.