secrecy
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Apple tries to clamp down on leaks with mixed success
For the longest time, Apple product leaks tended to come from the supply chain: a factory worker would send parts or a design file to accessory makers eager to get a head start on their next iPhone cases. You might want to rethink that assumption. In a leaked secrecy briefing (ironic, we know) obtained by The Outline, Apple's David Rice revealed that leaks from the company's campuses were more common in 2016 than those from suppliers. This is more a reflection of Apple's success clamping down on third-party leaks than loose lips in Cupertino, although it does indicate that the tech giant will turn its attention inward.
The new CIA head hates WikiLeaks (when convenient)
The new director of the CIA has come out swinging against WikiLeaks, calling the organization a "hostile intelligence service." In his first public speech, Mike Pompeo called Julian Assange a "narcissist who has created nothing of value," adding that he "relied upon the dirty work of others to make himself famous."
Apple expects you to use its Watch in 10-second bursts
Apple doesn't want you to spend a lot of time with Watch apps. Specifically, if you're looking at your Cupertino-device adorned wrist for more than 10 seconds, that isn't ideal according to Bloomberg's sources. In addition to quick bursts of info, Watch apps also use location services, among other features, to keep the amount of distractions to a minimum so your wrist won't constantly buzz. For instance, saving specific personal email alerts until you're home from work. From the sounds of it, that should serve a few different purposes: conserving battery life and keeping annoyance levels down. The former of course is a common complaint lobbed at most smartwatches thus far.
Employees dish on what it takes to keep Apple's big secrets
As a former Apple employee, I know just how seriously Apple takes its secrets. Even today, years after my NDA has expired, I'm reluctant to talk about things that Apple flagged as confidential. One reason for that reluctance is because of the respect I have for the company and my friends who still work there, but of course another part of it is I don't want to make anybody there angry. But not all past employees are like me. And over at Quora there's a very interesting thread where past Apple employees talk about what it takes to keep the company's secrets. Interested readers should check out the thread in its entirety, but here's one of my favorites (this from an anonymous Apple employee): All prototypes are laser marked with serial numbers and tracked by a central tracking system (called iTrack). Physical security is also highly prioritized, with prototypes required to be locked up when not in use. Access to prototypes is also restricted, and the default assumption within the company is that your coworkers do not know what you're working on. Physical access to the areas of certain groups (product design, industrial design and reliability) is highly restricted by badge access. The most sensitive areas, such as the Industrial Design Studio, have receptionists, external cameras to screen guests, and require an escort to vouch for you. Within these areas and groups, knowledge of the product pipeline and access to prototypes is widespread, but that knowledge doesn't leave the group. And here's a rather humorous story that puts Apple's secrecy in perspective. This is from Adam Banks, editor of MacUser UK in the late 1990s: I was editing MacUser (UK) in 1998 when rumours surfaced that Apple was working on a completely new kind of Mac. By a series of flukes, we became the first magazine to print what turned out to be a pretty accurate description of the machine a couple of months ahead of its launch as the iMac. We got the details from someone who worked at a third-party site where Apple had seeded a test unit. Probably safe by now to mention what the site was. It was the Pentagon. Compared to the real secrets they were keeping, when it came to some plastic PC they'd been asked not to talk about, I suspect nobody gave a shit.
Microsoft: Surface was developed in an 'underground bunker' at first, we can play the secrecy game too
We commonly associate extreme secrecy around a product design with Apple, but it now looks to be in vogue with all the major technology companies: just days after Samsung revealed the Galaxy S III's secret sauce, Microsoft has explained to TechRadar that it developed its surprise new Surface tablets under a similarly tight watch. A special wing of Microsoft's hardware unit initially worked in an "underground bunker," according to the division's Stevie Bathiche, before moving to a more conventional building with an 'airlock' door -- the company was just that concerned that Bob from Accounts Receivable might spoil the whole thing. As we all know by now, that level of secrecy proved effective almost until the last minute and let Microsoft design to its heart's content; we still don't know if other PC builders were aware. The practice is a sharp break from Microsoft's tendency to telegraph its strategy well in advance, and it emphasizes just how much importance Redmond places on its self-developed Windows 8 hardware.
Apple removes hints of future products from a key file in iOS 6
Once upon a time eager rumormongers would download the latest iteration of the next generation of iOS, and like examining goat entrails to determine the next Caesar, they would delve into the USBDeviceConfiguration.plist to divine upcoming hardware products from Apple. But, with iOS 6, this is no more. Oh sure, the file is still there (and a previous version jokingly referred to non-existent software), but all traces of upcoming hints have been removed. Tim Cook wasn't kidding about doubling down on secrecy, and I have a feeling this is but the first snowflake to fall upon the tip of a silent iceberg that will soon seal the leaks bubbling around Cupertino.
Samsung's spoiler-police reveal how it kept the Galaxy S III a surprise
Samsung has opened up about the measures it took in order to maintain secrecy in the run up to the launch of the Galaxy S III. The project was so top secret that engineer Buyong-Joon Lee even flatly denied what he was doing to his 11-year-old son. Inside the labs, handsets were moved between facilities in locked boxes, while the prototypes were personally delivered by a globetrotting executive to network partners. The company went as far as producing three entirely different models, each one constructed as if it was the final product, so the team had to build and rebuild components to accommodate each design. Spare a thought for the procurement department, which had to rely on written descriptions of the handset in order to set the price and buy components -- enabling that May 3rd launch to go off with its surprises intact.
Apple's developer preview NDA is a load of Lion poop
UPDATE: A few things to note here. 1. Anyone on TUAW staff who has signed an NDA will indeed honor it. 2. As a site, we are not going to shy away from covering features in Lion that have been reported elsewhere. 3. It's entirely possible that certain sites have been given permission by Apple to report on Lion -- and that's outside the purview of the NDA. Remember the anti-drug ad where the drug-using kid tries to use peer pressure to get the straight-laced kid to try some? "Everybody's doing it," he chides the square. In the case of Apple's silent PR police, it would appear that everyone is indeed breaking the non-disclosure agreement purportedly required to download and install a preview copy of Mac OS X 10.7, aka Lion. In fact, I can't recall a previous time when I've seen this much explicit hand-tipping of an upcoming product from Cupertino with absolutely no reprisals whatsoever. Can you? Apple is legendary for its secrecy. Many things have been written about the great lengths management will go to ensure secrecy of its products and plans, whether it be hardware, software or simple business moves. It's not like other companies don't have secrets -- after all, corporations have to keep plans as private as possible until they are ready to release info. This used to be a carefully calculated game. In the case of high-tech, it is even more so due to issues involving manufacturing, intellectual property (and the legal protections thereof) and good old-fashioned publicity planning. Once in a while someone will suggest that things like leaving an iPhone prototype in a bar is a calculated publicity move. I would suggest that, up until recently, Apple did not play those games. The culture at Apple is built upon secrecy, which leads to surprise, which inevitably leads to delight from customers and pundits alike. A major OS release for an already-mature product, however, is an entirely different animal. Considering the changes happening in Lion, I would posit that the formerly tight-lipped mothership is tacitly OK with the dribs and drabs and full-on explanations of Lion's new features. Why? Read on.
The Lawbringer: A world without remedy
Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Running parallel to the games we love and enjoy is a world full of rules, regulations, pitfalls and traps. How about you hang out with us as we discuss some of the more esoteric aspects of the games we love to play? One of the very basic tenets of our society and our social structure is that when we are wronged, there is remedy. If your car is totaled by a careless driver, you have recourse through insurance companies or the driver's own wallet. There's someone you can sue, usually, and get enough money to make you whole again. The thing you lost, your car, has a certain value. The money puts you back in the position you were before you were wronged. Late last week, we learned about a startling occurrence in the games industry -- Crysis 2 was leaked. And not just any leak: Rock Paper Shotgun reported that not only was a developer build of Crysis 2 leaked with the full single-player content available, but also the multiplayer experience as well as a keystone master online authentication key, making CD key facilitation magnitudes easier for pirates. Leaks happen, but Crysis was mere weeks from release. The most interesting and potentially saddest aspect of this story is that when games leak out from the watchful gaze of their developers, there is little to no recourse for these companies on the scale that is required to be made whole. This week, I'm going to talk about a world without recourse, the location of one of the game industry's biggest and scariest problems, the world of online activation, and how Blizzard's tight-lipped security still doesn't prevent leaks even as one of the biggest gaming concerns running now.
Apple Store retail employee discusses what it's like to work there
Although doing so usually ends with a current employee becoming a former employee, one Apple Store retail worker recently had a lot to say about his experience working for the company. In an article over at Popular Mechanics, an unnamed employee spilled the beans on everything from being in the dark about new products until the Keynote Address (just like the rest of us), the undercover plain-clothes security working in every store, how working the Phone Room is like working a suicide hotline, and how talking to the press about your experiences can get you fired. In that case, one hopes he has another job lined up now that this article was published! We have, of course, seen articles before about what it's like to work for Apple and confirmation that Apple Store employees are usually in the dark about new products, but the article is definitely worth a read to get an insider's view as to what it may be like to work retail for Apple. If you were thinking of trying to get a job with Apple yourself, you may be able to glean a little info as to which subjects to avoid during your interview.
Former Apple manager accused of hiding $125k in shoeboxes
Back when I was a kid, I kept my most valuable possessions, my baseball and basketball card collection, in a shoe box. Apparently, so too did former Apple employee Paul Devine. Devine is accused of wire fraud and conspiracy on the basis that he collected more than $2.5 million in kickbacks from Apple's suppliers. And during their investigation, officials found $125,000 stored away in shoe boxes at his home, as well as more than $20,000 worth of foreign currency. Prosecutors also allege that Devine may have other sources of cash. In Devine's position as a global supply manager at Apple, it's alleged that he was privy to information such as projected sales of Apple products, the cost to manufacture an Apple product, and the prices of bids from competing suppliers. Prosecutors allege that he leveraged this knowledge by providing it to those in the supply chain in return for kickbacks. The allegations against Devine are noteworthy, given Apple's penchant for secrecy. For instance, according to reports, Apple employees must test unreleased products in secret rooms under covered workstations, and are not allowed to follow other employees too closely. [via Macworld]
Apple's growing pains, culture of secrecy and the iPad
On Saturday, when you plug in your shiny new iPad and peruse the App Store for apps, you'll see 'HD' or 'XL' designations for iPad-specific apps. You may wonder what that's all about. It's about a lack of solid information, driven by a top-down policy of secrecy. When a company like Apple fosters a culture of anxiety amongst third-party associates and low-level employees, you're going to wind up with some bad decisions being made in the absence of clear policies. True, the iPad offers more pixels than the iPhone, but it is hardly "HD" (whatever that means to begin with). Clearly, these suffixes are designed to let you know that they are "jumbo" versions of apps with more features than their iPhone companions, right? That may not be the case. While they might be bigger, they may not be badder. In fact, they may be more stripped down than their developers intended. Why would these apps be less feature-filled than devs would want? It comes down to this: Apple's rush to innovation has caused a vacuum of information for developers. Around this vacuum lies fear. It is a fear generated by Apple as a byproduct of the company's own paranoia, favoritism, and lack of empowerment for middle managers unable to "think different" and use common sense. Apple is a powerhouse of innovation because it can control things completely, but the other edge on that sword is its own fear of losing control. The machine lurches forward, but is it sustainable?
Apple Store employees in the dark about iPad
If you want to get an inside tidbit, or even a glimpse of an iPad, don't ask an Apple Store employee. They don't know any more than you do. An article at Reuters describes the cloud of secrecy that continues to enshroud the device, even among its primary sales team. In interviews with anonymous employees (they're barred from speaking with the media), Reuters notes that none of them have seen an iPad, including store managers and Geniuses. "We haven't seen it; we never do," said one employee. Additionally, the Apple Store Geniuses haven't yet been briefed on how to repair iPads. The iPhone's launch in June of 2007 was monitored just as closely by Apple. In fact, Reuters reports that one Apple Store saw two pallets of iPhones arrive 24 hours before launch day; one contained boxed iPhones while the other was just a decoy. Additionally, an assistant manager was told to remain in his store overnight, to provide added security for the iPhone prior to launch. The moral of the story is, don't bother poking around the store and pestering the bright-shirted workers. There's nothing they can tell you. [Via MacNN]
iPads sent out to select developers, kept under cover for now
Last week at GDC 2010, I talked to quite a few iPhone developers, big and small, and they all told me exactly the same thing when I asked about the iPad: "No, I haven't gotten my hands on one yet." But apparently there are at least a few developers out there who've gotten test models from Apple, according to Business Week, and the requirements that come with them are as strict as you can imagine. There are 10 pages of rules and regulations, and those include that the iPad has to be kept secured to a fixed object in a windowless room, and the company actually requires photographic proof of compliance before they'll actually ship the device out. Sounds crazy, but clearly there's reasons for such a strict agreement from both sides: developers really want to get a head start on what will surely be a huge market for apps and content starting on the iPad's release, and obviously Apple wants to make sure that the device stays under cover until it releases. You might think that they'd actually benefit from a little exposure, but don't forget: this is Apple -- they depend on the hype and interest that secrecy before release creates. After it comes out, seeing the iPad out in the world will likely sell even more units, but pre-release, Apple's customers are happy to stand in line to be the first to use the iPad. Of course, this is all from anonymous sources -- it'll be interesting to see if any of these "iPads in the wild" find their way out to the public in the form of pictures or video. Until then, the rest of us (including many developers who've played big parts in building up the App Store to where it is today) will have to wait until April 3rd. [via Engadget]
Apple's obsessive secrecy hurting relations with overseas suppliers
Apple's obsession with secrecy is legendary. For all the rumors and leaks that stoke media attention, very rarely do we have a clear picture of a new product until Steve Jobs comes out on stage and shows it to us. Even people who work for Apple often have very little idea what the company is up to; retail employees at Apple Stores usually don't know any more about upcoming products than anyone else, and retail managers have told me the first clear picture they get of new products is when they arrive on a truck. Even people who work in Apple R&D on products like the iPad operate in a "cone of silence," with security measures in place at Cupertino's labs that sound like something out of a James Bond film. And last year, an employee of Chinese supplier Foxconn allegedly leapt to his death to avoid further interrogation after he "lost" an iPhone prototype. A new report from Reuters offers more insight into Apple's cloak and dagger world. Confidentiality agreements are only the beginning when it comes to Apple's tactics with its overseas suppliers. Apple contacts suppliers at the last minute, often only weeks before a product's release, and provides information about its products on a strict "need to know" basis. Apple also divides its projects between multiple suppliers, meaning that for a product like the iPhone, no one supplier is responsible for producing or assembling all of its components. As a result, even most of the people who are standing on the assembly line making Apple's products have no idea what they look like when they're finished. Only a handful of very closely monitored workers are responsible for final assembly. Apple also has a unique vetting process for its contractors: it will switch up product suppliers occasionally, issuing them different products, all in the name of hunting down and squashing leaks. Well, that and an attempt to thwart cheap knockoffs -- a somewhat common practice in certain parts of the manufacturing world. One South Korean supplier has stated Apple makes "unreasonable requests." The company's demands for customization in its designs means suppliers are left with equipment and components that can't be used for other clients, and excess inventory cannot be repurposed. The Reuters report paints a very dark picture of Apple's relations with its suppliers. The company has its reasons for being secretive, some of them more valid than others, but it seems incredibly ironic that the same company who satirized George Orwell's 1984 in their iconic Super Bowl commercial now employs the same sort of police-state tactics with both its own employees and its overseas contractors. As much as I enjoy using Apple's products, reports like the one from Reuters make it hard for me to like the company itself. Read the Reuters report for yourselves, and then let us know how you feel about Apple's obsession with secrecy in the comments. [Via AppleInsider]
Black Ops MMOs: Games in development under the radar
Our colleagues over at Big Download have listed several PC games in development that they call "Black Ops" projects. The idea is that these games are operating out of sight, under the radar; nobody knows what's going on. It's all very hush hush and mysterious. The game industry and secrecy go hand in hand, after all.We're bringing this up because there are a bunch of MMOs in the list. In fact, they pretty much dominate it. Titles mentioned include the KotOR MMO, the Red 5 Studios project, 38 Studios' Copernicus, ZeniMax Online Studios' MMO (which is possibly Elder Scrolls-based), and of course Blizzard's mysterious "Next-Gen MMO." Interesting stuff. Head over to Big Download to find out what's up on the down low.
