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Visualized: Honeycomb statue sweetens up Google's campus
Well, it didn't exactly make the most timely appearance, but Google's statue-makers have now finally delivered a monument to the latest Android release: Honeycomb. As you can see, they've also gone the extra mile and actually included our friend the Android robot this time around, although it seems like it's about to come out on the losing end of its encounter with that giant bee.
Report shows vision of futuristic Apple campus
British architect Norman Fisher Foster is working on transforming Apple's latest purchase -- a real estate bargain from HP -- into a new campus designed to give the company some breathing room. El Economista reports that the 100-acre campus is to be modeled after Masdar, Abu Dhabi, the first city in the world without cars or carbon emissions. The new campus is being referred to as 'Apple City,' and both campuses are to be linked by tunnels. It's not surprising when you think about it. Apple has set out to revolutionize the personal computing experience, the mobile phone industry, tablet -- sorry, slate computers -- and your living room. Why not use these campus to test the ultimate Mac city, then eventually offer that technology to struggling municipalities? If this is Apple's next step to world domination, I can buy it. [Via MacStories and 9to5Mac]
Flurry agrees to stop device data collection
Steve Jobs said a lot of interesting things on stage at the D8 conference last night (I'm surprised I haven't seen a t-shirt with "My sex life is pretty good" on it yet), but he did put one issue to rest. Third-party agencies like Flurry Analytics and others who use iPhone applications to track device traffic were in a tizzy over a recent change to the iPhone SDK's terms of service which disallowed them from sending out device identifier information without the actual user's knowledge. They all figured that Apple was making this change because Jobs and company had their own analytics plan coming, and they were unhappy at being cut out of the action. But not so, says Jobs -- he just doesn't want information going out without users' knowledge. In his talk last night, he blamed Flurry specifically for logging data from devices inside Apple's campus, and said that wasn't kosher. Maybe Apple will let Flurry do something like that in the future, he admitted, with the user's knowledge and approval, but not right now. And now Flurry has agreed to comply, says AppleInsider. While the company has been working on strengthening its privacy stance, the CEO agrees that Flurry will back off of sharing the data that Apple doesn't want them to share. Of course, Jobs' statements don't preclude the idea that Apple is looking at implementing its own analytics (he's denied working on phones and tablets at past interviews, and we all know how that worked out), but for now, Flurry is backing down.
Incoming, outgoing Apple employees
A few Apple employees played some musical chairs this week. Executive Pablo Calamera, who was in charge of MobileMe while at Apple, is off to work as the CTO of Thumbplay, a company that peddles ringtones and music to mobile devices. HR shouldn't have to change the big "35,000 employed worldwide" sign, though: former Mozilla security chief Window Snyder was picked up by Apple this week. She'll jump in as a senior security product manager, a job that will take advantage of her work both at Mozilla and previously at Microsoft, where she worked on both Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Sure, she's got the experience, but has she ever worked for a company that does this for its incoming employees? Didn't think so.
Macworld 2010: TUAW goes to the mothership
No Macworld is complete without at least one pilgrimage to the mothership in Cupertino, and so yesterday, before the meetings and interviews we're planning today, David Winograd, Dave Caolo, and myself made the trip to the Apple Campus. In the gallery below, you can see what we saw, from the boxed versions of Mac software -- Popcap games boxed! Pixelmator boxed! -- to the endless souvenirs and trinkets for sale in the company store ("There are quite a few of us who know your site," winked the unnamed cashier to us as we checked out), to the original iPod box sitting in the office window, and the office desks full of multiple 30" Cinemas. It was glorious, all of it. Yes, even the woman who shooed us away with a "No pictures!" warning when we tried to take shots of the multiple basketball courts and volleyball court on campus. Check out all of the sights of our walk all the way around the Infinite Loop in the gallery below. %Gallery-85064%
Blizzard celebrates the WoW anniversary
The good folks at the Orange County Register got invited to Blizzard's official WoW anniversary party that took place last Thursday on their Irvine campus, and their report is now posted. It sounds like quite the event -- lots of free food and beer, head honchos regaling employees with their tales of the early days, and Rob Pardo suggesting that just like geek culture helped define this game, this game might help define geek culture going forward. The picture gallery included with the piece is a good browse, too -- you can see all of the Blizzard heavyweights hanging out together, and the great spread set up on the campus. The Register's also been asking Blizzard about their memories of the game -- they've got more memories from Samwise, launch day stories from Shane Dabiri, and some thoughts from Pardo and Frank Pearce (who, strangely enough, at first didn't believe that Blizzard belonged in a hardcore niche market like MMO gaming -- he didn't want to make "a game that never ended," he says). All good stuff. Congrats once again to Blizzard on five years, good to see they celebrated in style.
The Blizzard Orc Statue and compass points of wisdom
Hey there WoW.com readers! You're probably wondering who the hell this guy is. And by this guy, I mean me. I'm a writer over at Joystiq, where we sometimes jealously watch all the fun stuff our sword and spell-wielding counterparts over here get to do. Luckily, and only by means of geographical location and the fact that they were showing off Starcraft 2, I got a chance to tour the Blzzard campus and take a lot of snaps if you know that I mean. Wink wink, nudge nudge.These will be featured in a story over on Joystiq at some point today, but in the meantime here's a sneak preview just for WoW.com readers. You may already know about Blizzard's massive courtyard Orc statue that's in the process of being installed in the front of the main building, but you might not know about the tenets engraved on each of the eight compass points that tout Blizzard's mottos. There's a peek at all of 'em in the gallery below, and they're also listed just beyond the break. Read on for more, check out the statue and points gallery below, and stay tuned today for the drool-worth tour photos.%Gallery-67016%
Apple: Paranoid
Do you remember the teaser ads for the iPhone 3G? Two uniformed guards carried a locked metal crate through a labyrinth of secure tunnels, keycard points at every door, and monitored by security cameras? Turns out the real Apple isn't too far from that, according to Brad Stone and Ashlee Vance at the New York Times. They cite former employees and analysts who all agree that Apple, as Gene Munster put it, "a total black box." Apple, in an effort to guard their company's secrets until the day they're launched have instituted a culture of fear among employees: Loose lips sink ships. Apple's campus is, according to the article, "a maze of security doors" where employees must swipe their badges and enter codes on numeric keypads -- presumably not only to restrict access, but to serve as a record of who was where if any information does leak out. Many work areas are monitored by closed-circuit TV. According to one unnamed employee, "workers in the most critical product-testing rooms must cover up devices with black cloaks when they are working on them, and turn on a red warning light when devices are unmasked so that everyone knows to be extra-careful." I've worked in high-security areas before for the U.S. military, and the big difference between the military and Apple is fear. Lots of fear. A secure military workspace is comfortable, but formal: If you catch a glimpse of something you shouldn't, it's not a big deal, just forget what you saw. Apple employees on the other hand, according to the article, are petrified of losing their job, being sued, or both. In Apple's quiver is another piercing arrow: Misinformation. Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster relates a story of how a high-ranking Apple executive lied to his face about having "no interest in developing a cheap iPod with no screen." Cut to a few weeks later, and Apple releases the iPod shuffle. Lying business executives are nothing new, and shouldn't be surprising in the least. But while many companies cultivate productive relationships with the media, Apple's is mostly antagonistic. "They don't communicate," Munster said. Why bother? The thrill. Sure, they're protecting their intellectual property, but it's all about the thrill. They can create these spectacles where they literally unveil a new product in front of a salivating audience -- including Apple employees -- who have never seen anything like it before. It's thrilling. Apple's business hinges on creating products that excite and creating that excitement surrounding them. They've found a secret formula that works. In the words of Steve Jobs, "there is no theory of protecting content other than keeping secrets." "The problem, of course, is that there are many smart people in the world, some with a lot of time on their hands, who love to discover such secrets."
Working at Blizzard: Sunshine, rainbows, claymores, backrubs
I know what you're thinking! "If anyone could write up a scandalous exposé of what working at Blizzard is really like, it'd be our old pal Mike. I bet he's got the inside scoop of what goes on at Big Blue behind closed doors. I paid for the whole seat but I'll only need the edge."Yeah, well. I'm going to disappoint you here and instead link you to an article from the OC Register, longtime reporter of all news Blizzard given the company's stature in the SoCal business world. They interviewed Blizzard COO Paul Sams about the studio's recent award of "One of the best places to work in Orange County" and why that award was deserved.
A video tour of the Blizzard Entertainment campus
Tracey John from MTV Multiplayer was recently given a tour of Blizzard Entertainment's Headquarters in Irvine, California, just before BlizzCon 2008. Executive VP of Game Design Rob Pardo led them on the tour of the campus as they filmed the whole thing, from the Blizzard Museum (with a signed script of Make Love Not Warcraft) to a dedicated theater for the staff. It's an interesting look at some of the perks employees get for putting in all those hours, and the campus itself seems like a great place to work. Check out the video below the cut. One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!
Take a virtual tour of Infinite Loop
Join TUAW as we go on a weekend road trip to Apple's campus at 1 Infinite Loop. No, not really, but we can always take a virtual visit to Apple HQ thanks to Google Maps Street View, now that Google has finally completed their street level photography of Infinite Loop. This allows you to see the buildings in their full grandeur. Unfortunately, you cannot visit the legendary Apple Company Store. To start your virtual road trip, click here.
Apple to sell iPhone 3G on college campuses?
Ars Technica is reporting that Apple has considered plans to sell the iPhone 3G directly on US college campuses. Some campuses do already sell Apple products in their on-campus stores; however, this varies by university. If Apple marketed the phone directly to the students, this could definitely move Apple closer to the 18 million goal for 2008. Ars Technica also notes that a recent AppleInsider post speculates that a Best Buy deal could be in the works after the "old" iPhone's "grey-markets" put a hold on those plans. However, we know of one college that Apple probably won't be waiting in line to market their iPhone 3G to.[via Ars Technica]
Office Snapshots goes inside Apple's Cupertino offices
And they found ... not that much. There's something not-quite-right about these snapshots purportedly from inside Apple's Cupertino campus. They look like they come from almost anywhere -- despite the plentiful Apple products (and one notable Microsoft natural keyboard), there's no major signs of genius -- no "the crazy ones" posters, iTablet prototypes lying around, or "how to act around His Steveness" employee pamphlets. Could it be that the people who work at Apple are, strangely enough, just like us?No, surely not. These pictures are also a bit out of date, we're told, as rumor has it that the front lobby always shows off the new products, not the old iMacs. So clearly these snaps are from the late '90s, when the rest of us were using beige boxes and OS 9 to compute, and only Apple employees had the luxury of using thin keyboards and horizontal LCDs gone vertical (madness!) in their super-futuristic office space. There: our worldview is back to normal. As normal as it gets, anyway.Thanks, Steve!
Flickr Find: Apple sans-serifs signs
This might be the Mac-geekiest thing I've ever seen, but this is TUAW, so here you go. Sharp-eyed reader Morgan W has a flickr pool up of signs around the Apple campus in Cupertino, and notes that three of their newest building signs (at Bandley Five, Six, and Eight) have an updated logo with no 3D effect, and use Myriad for the font instead of Garamond, which the old signs used.Will Apple's stock prices jump around at the news? Probably not. but as Morgan says, just like the missing Open Apple, it's another sign that we're moving further and further away from the "rainbow and serif Apple of yore."
Rhode Island's gaming convention and the college gaming scene
When most people think of gaming conventions, they probably think of major national events like the late great E3, industry confabs like the Game Developers Conference, or even vaguely game-related fanfests like Comic-Con. They probably don't think of more local, personal affairs like the University of Rhode Island's annual gaming convention, which was held for the 16th time this weekend on the campus' Memorial Union. This is perhaps understandable, as the University's student paper explains the event had somewhat limited attendance due to a lack of advertising. But it's also a shame, in a way, that more people couldn't be persuaded to get together for the con's Guitar Hero II, Halo and Gears of War tournaments. We know college students play games -- hanging out with your buds and playing Madden or Halo all night is practically a rite of passage on most campuses. What we don't understand is why organized gaming clubs so often struggle to attract widespread interest on campuses that might have thriving clubs for everything from paintball to napping. Despite the common casual interest, most students don't seem to see gaming as something to join together over in an organized club setting. Or maybe our impressions are off. To our college readers out there: what's the gaming scene like on your campus? Is gaming mainly a personal pastime, or do students often get together to play socially? Let us know in the comments thread below.
All Mac University
Everybody knows that the Mac and higher education are supposed to go together like, well... like two things that go really well together. However, those of us that have spent a lot of time on campus lately realize that is often not the case. At my own university (and the one I recently left), the Mac is distinctly a second-class citizen (though there are some Macs around here, and a very passionate band of Mac-heads that keeps the IT people from abandoning us completely). For instance, when I got here I was issued a Dell which sits quietly in my office doing, well, nothing and the university recently standardized on Microsoft's Exchange server and Outlook as a putatively cost-saving move.With that said, it's nice to see someplace moving in the right direction: Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, PA recently announced that the campus was going 100% Mac. According to Scott Byers, a Wilkes vice president, "Macs are constructed with superior technology and hardware and their ability to run Windows means we still have access to any Windows programs... It's the best of both worlds." Apple's marketing department could hardly have said it better! The university is spending $1.4 million on the switch over and "expects to replenish its 1700-computer network with Macs in the next three years" to create "a virtually virus-free IT network." Let's hope that this marks the start of a trend.[Via MacVolPlace]
Mario wall art invades UNCC campus
University of North Carolina, Charlotte student newspaper The Niner is reporting on the surprising appearance of chalk-based Mario pixel-art on the brick walls of campus buildings. Knuttz.net has pictures of five of the six works of art, which include a Koopa Troopa, Cheep Cheep, Pirahna Plant and Super Mushroom (not pictured, according to The Niner's description, is a character called "Bob-Boom." Are you looking for Bob-omb, perhaps?) The article gives no hints to the creator of the spontaneous works of art, which use each brick as a pixel to create life-size versions of the familiar characters. What's worse, despite receiving no calls or complaints about the drawings, campus authorities say they plan on washing the chalk off the walls "as soon as possible." Why bother? All these works are doing is adding a little whimsy and fun to the days of some no doubt terminally bored students. Besides, it's not like the artist did any permanent damage to the buildings -- the chalk will wash itself off during the next rainstorm anyway. Let the magic last until then, at least. [Thanks, Matthew] [Update: Joystiq reader Jamie had seen this pixelated wall art before. Actually, he and his wife snapped some pics (like the one above) last week, which he just sent in for us to enjoy. Thanks, Jamie!]
Cult of Mac: "Ten Questions Apple Must Answer in 2007"
Leander Kahney and Pete Mortensen at Wired's Cult of Mac have penned Ten Questions Apple Must Answer in 2007, an article which thankfully delves beyond the typical 'where's my iPhone?' to examine interesting aspects of Apple's future. Leander and Pete briefly discuss that second campus Apple recently bought, what they see as the company's relatively stagnating industrial design, where the iPod can go next and - of course - whether Apple can stay successful once Jobs inevitably steps down. The article is a nice, short summary of many of the key points Apple very well has to wrangle with during the next year, and it will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
iTMS offers cultural explorations through music with new Back to School section
Just in time for a new fall semester, the iTMS has introduced a Back to School (iTMS link) section, offering playlists based on the many cultures, cliques and stereotypes that (love it or hate it) exist and collide on so many college campuses across our great planet. Groups like Hipsters, Hippies, Greeks, the Honor Roll, Club Kids, The Faithful and even Cowboys (and more) all are represented, with playlists ranging in price from around $25-$45 USD.If you ever needed a stereotyping microscope to peer into what these hooligan cliques are into these days, or if you're looking for a way into said cliques, these Back to School lists might just be the ticket.
Apple employee gets fired for hilarious standup/poetry routine
I love the 'six degrees of everything' effect of the world wide web. I especially love it on a Sunday morning that is the second day of my spring break, as I have the time to check out this hilarious video of a standup/poetry routing from a talent show on the Apple Campus (thanks to TUAW commenter Mike). While the routine is a riot, what (apparently) came out of it is not: the employee says Apple's VP, who was hosting the event, fired him for it.I have embedded the video from Google Video in this post, and you'll need Flash to view it. I'd recommend actually going to the post at Google Video and downloading it while you can, before Apple legal attempts to obliterate it from the 'net.
