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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.
Former Apple engineer: FingerWorks may be a part of the tablet
The New York Times is the latest big source of tablet rumors today, and they went way back for the latest stab in the dark. All the way back to 2005, when Apple purchased a little company called FingerWorks, known for their work with gesture recognition on a multitouch interface like the Touchstream keyboard above. The Gray Lady says they spoke with "former Apple engineers" who have worked on the tablet itself, and those guys claim that it makes use of gesture recognition to operate: "for example, three fingers down and rotate could mean 'open an application.'" Another former employee told them that Apple's been putting together a multitouch version of iWork for years, and that the tablet is actually a full-featured Mac, not just an e-reader or larger iPod touch. Of course, we don't know how long ago these Apple engineers worked for the company -- given that the App Store has vastly changed things over there in just the last year and a half, the tablet itself could have changed its focus in that same period of time. At this point, given all of the things you can do with a multitouch screen, finger gestures are probably the least impressive. But then again, Apple's been obsessed with multitouch for a while, so it's not a stretch to think they might be included some of this FingerWorks technology in a larger multitouch screen. Wait and see, wait and see. Update: MacRumors now notes that some content on FingerWorks' website has been pulled despite being online since Apple made the purchase in 2005. Very interesting. [via MacRumors]
Microsoft's new retail hiring policy: shop at Apple
If you're an Apple retail employee, you might want to keep an eye out for coy glances across the Genius Bar or little notes emailed to your iPhone -- someone may be trying to offer you a job. Word comes via The Loop, citing anonymous sources, that Microsoft's ramp-up process to launching its new line of retail stores has resulted in the harvest & hiring of some Apple Store managers, who in turn are making offers to their hand-picked lists of colleagues with the promise of higher wages in Microsoft's mall outposts. Some managers have been offered relocation assistance to go along with their salary boosts. You can't blame Microsoft for going after the best in the effort to build out a retail presence (and apparently this kind of bodysnatching goes on all the time in the retail sector), but one does wonder how well the Apple team members will make the transition over to working for Microsoft -- it's a bit more of an adjustment than going from Victoria's Secret to Lady Foot Locker. It might not just be the lure of more money that draws the iCrew over to the new shops; some may be profoundly dissatisfied with their current working environment, according to an ifoAppleStore report noted by AppleInsider. Frustrations between employees and management at the Alderwood Mall store in Washington have led to the threat of a walkout scheduled for October 3rd, which would be the first such demonstration of labor power by Apple retail employees, according to the post. If you're an Apple Store employee and you've been approached by Microsoft directly or by colleagues who are jumping ship, drop us a line at tuaw.com/tips and let us know what's going down. Illustration via the Iconfactory, in belated honor of International Talk Like a Pirate Day.
BlizzCon 2009: Noobz on display
Noobz are a series of blank figures created in the form of armored Terrans from Starcraft. For the festivities at BlizzCon 2009, Blizzard put on display a special treat regarding these little Noobz. Two hundred and fifty Noobz figures had been passed out to Blizzard employees several months ago. The employees were encouraged to paint and decorate the Noobz for themselves. At BlizzCon, the best of the painted figures were put on display.I hope to get my hands on one of the blank Noobz soon. I didn't pick one up at BlizzCon, since my bags were already packed from taking so much other swag home. I think the idea of decorating one of these is awfully fun, and I totally salute Blizzard for promoting the idea.I especially think it's awesome that they featured the artwork of their general employees in this way. It really helps build a sense of community, and they should be commended for that. Besides, the employees who created the figures in our gallery below showed off a lot of talent, and I thought the Noobz were a lot of fun to see. Check it out yourself!%Gallery-70857%
Sons of the Storm to appear at BlizzCon, unveil another member
The Sons of the Storm is a kind of artists' collective connected with Blizzard -- they're responsible for the majority of the concept and game art coming out of Blizzard, from the Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo series. They count Samwise Didier and Chris Metzen in their ranks, along with many of Blizzard's most popular artists. And apparently their ranks are growing -- on their latest website update, they have posted a new group picture, along with a mysterious "eighth son" that they say they will introduce sometime later, possibly months after BlizzCon. From left on the picture above, you can see Samwise Dider, Chris Metzen, René Koiter, Travis Thammer, Glenn Rane, Peter Lee, Mark Gibbons, and the Eighth Son, who a commenter over at Blizzplanet speculates may be Wei Wang.Speaking of BlizzCon, the Sons site also says that all of the seven current sons will be signing at the convention, so be sure to bring your TCG cards, Warcraft novels, art books and anything else these guys may have worked on. We're sure there'll be a line, but if you're willing to brave the wait, you might get to meet some of the most creative minds behind Blizzard's beloved universes.
Rumor: The9 loses WoW license in China to Netease
The9 has been the target of persistent rumors over the last few months that they're on the verge of losing their license from Blizzard to operate World of Warcraft in China. First, we heard about their financial troubles, and then came rumors that Blizzard was going to ditch them. And now we've got WorldofWar.net reporting a rumor that Netease will be the company to take over the reins there. It makes sense -- Netease has been growing a lot during their history, and they successfully operate Fantasy Westward Journey, an MMO with a US value of $761 million, with 400,000 average concurrent users. They're already supposed to take over Blizzard's Warcraft III and Starcraft II in China, so Blizzard will actually be consolidating their properties.The rumor supposedly comes from a leaked internal memo to The9 employees, which says that an unnamed company (supposedly Netease) is trying to pick up the rights and hardware for the game for a cool $22 million. The9 reportedly paid $73 million for the same capability, so they're losing twice on the deal -- both the license and the money they spent on it.Not good news for The9 if it all turns out to be true, but maybe this means Chinese players will get their expansions a little sooner. Of course, a lot goes into releasing new content overseas (translation is definitely not a small part of it), but having a more capable operator probably won't hurt.Update: Confirmed. Thanks for playing, The9. Their stock is down big time since the announcement, and Netease's is up.
Trion picks up ex-NCsoft employees for new MMO
The hiring of customer support personnel doesn't usually make the news, but when you consider Trion World Network's latest service side hires, it might be a different story. Of course we all know Trion as the studio in charge of the SCI FI channel's new MMO project. Some recent hires include ex-Blizzard developer and Carbine Studios founder Kevin Beardslee, and the tradition continues with Thor Biafore as Customer Support Manager, Jack Wood as In-game Support Manager, and Erik DeBill as Senior Platform Billing Lead.Wood and DeBill both come from NCsoft, with experience on more than a dozen MMOs between them, while Biafore previously served as the Global Director of Customer Service for Blizzard. Could Trion be competing with 38 Studios for the largest all-star cast? We'll just have to wait and see as both companies have yet to officially announce details on their current MMO projects.
Dear former Midway employee asking about unpaid wages, here's your answer:
Let's start off by assuring you that if you're a current or ex-employee of a company sending us information: A) We won't reveal your name if you ask to stay anonymous; and B) You really should leave a working return email address. As to the matter at hand, we have received a request for legal advice from an alleged former employee of Midway, who writes:"Those impacted by the recent lay off seem to have lost their PTO (earned vacation days). Class action law suit may be pending. Getting 2 months paid leave of absence was really nice, but that was required by law (the Mitchell Act) requiring 60 days notice for mass layoffs. After receiving a letter in the final week stating that the accrued PTO was NOT to be received in the final check, but in the following pay period, Midway declared Chapter 11 and evidently sent a subsequent letter stating that the PTO would not be paid at all. Evidently this is pretty common with bankruptcy. Is there a class-action lawsuit that people can join or should we all just file a claim in small claims court?"Lucky for you, we've got a talented lawyer (and LGJ columnist) on staff, Mark Methenitis. Read Mark's response after the break.
IBM exec: Games are great for employees
Hot on the heels of last week's news that employers are staying away from hiring WoW players comes this article from the BBC, quoting an IBM executive who says that gamers are actually exactly the kind of people you want on a team: David Laux, global executive in charge of games and interactive entertainment (wait, maybe that's why he's so keen on game players) says that casual games can improve memorization and the abilty to discern details, first person shooters can help with rapid decision making, and games like World of Warcraft can boost leadership skills. He says WoW specifically helps players learn how to work well on a team, assess risks, and put the group first to achieve a common goal.Which is true -- if you're actually the one in charge of groups. I'm of the opinion that it's very possible to play a game like WoW and get a nice boost to your leadership skills (leading a guild is often a job in itself), but I think it's also very possible that you could play WoW and not get a thing out of it -- I know quite a few people I've grouped with that I'd never want to have sitting next to me in a real office.The bottom line, as always, is somewhere inbetween the two opinions. If you're already interested in taking charge and being a leader, WoW is a great simlulation to let you do those things. And if you're already a lazy worker and interested in helping yourself more than whatever team you're on, WoW probably won't cure you of that (there are certainly plenty of selfish people running around the game every day). In short, if your hiring policies are based on whether or not someone plays videogames, you might want to reconsider them completely.
LGJ: Wrath of the Discrimination King
Each week Mark Methenitis contributes Law of the Game on Joystiq ("LGJ"), a column on legal issues as they relate to video games: GamePolitics recent posted a report that some employers may be 'discriminating' against World of Warcraft players. In fact, there have been longstanding reports of gamers, generally, not being the most favored employee in some workplaces. Of course, as soon as anyone reads the word 'discrimination' they immediately think 'lawsuit.' Whether that's an unfortunate byproduct of the direction of the American legal system or something else entirely is a discussion for another day. Today, rather, I want to take a look at the question of whether gamer discrimination could give rise to an employment discrimination lawsuit.
Cheyenne Mountain responds to rumors of no pay for employees
As the story spread across the blogosphere yesterday concerning the website http://days-since-cheyenne-mountain-employees-have-been-paid.com, we at Massively remained interested, yet apprehensive on something that was little more than an anonymous url. Yet today we're happy to report on an actual response to the rumor and speculation.Kevin Balentine, senior Marketing Manager at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment released an official explanation of the rumors: "At Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, we have always been upfront with the media and our fans that we are a start up. Like many start ups, we face the same cash-flow issues that all pre-revenue companies face. We have maintained a core of dedicated investors, but the new economic realities are forcing us to seek out additional sources of funding and that's what we're doing. We continue to move forward on the Stargate Worlds project. We recently completed a successful phase of closed beta testing and we will start a second phase early in 2009. We invite all of your readers to come to our site, check out our fantastic community and sign up for our beta."
Motorola goes after RIM for nabbing employees, too
Moto's bleeding from a lot of places lately -- and the hemmorahging isn't just of the financial sort, either (it actually seems to have those cuts and bruises under control for the moment). Hot off a suit filed against Apple for making off with one of its higher-ups, the company is going after RIM for allegedly hiring away some 40 employees in Florida and the Chicago area since February, which coincidentally happened to be right about the time that things were falling apart in the patent cross-licensing negotiations. Motorola is seeking at least $50 large in damages (way to aim high and put a premium value on your staff there, guys), possibly egged on by RIM CEO Balsillie's brazen comments that he wants to poach "hundreds" of its people. Question is, with the economy in the tank, isn't there enough talent to go around without these types of tactics?[Thanks, Eric]
Apple's new strategy for hiring retail employees
If you've ever been to an Apple store, then you know how friendly and helpful the staff are. If you are the friendly type of retail employee in the vicinity of an Apple store, be on the lookout for recruiters from the fruity company.MacNN reports Apple recruiters have come up with a new strategy for hiring new employees -- just give friendly retail employees at other companies cards with the words "You're amazing. We should talk." on the front of them. On the back, the cards detail how the employee at XYZ company can become an employee for an Apple Store. This definitely helps with the hard work of hiring new Apple employees to fill the nearly 2,400 positions nationwide caused by the nearly 35-40 new stores opened each year. [via MacNN]
Linden Lab honored as top democratic workplace
The face of business is changing daily. Long past are the days of the ego-driven business model, as organizational democracy rises up through the ashes of the last five years in business. So WorldBlu, Inc., an Atlanta-based business specializing in organizational democracy and freedom-centered leadership, recently compiled an unranked list of the "Top 25 Most Democratic Workplaces". Among those on this list is Second Life's Linden Lab.It is reported that employees of Linden Lab are encouraged to choose their own work based on company objectives, which can be changed weekly. In addition, employees can show appreciation for each other by "sending love" through their Love Machine software application. Important company data is openly shared among all employees throughout the company in real-time, allowing a more open environment for sharing ideas and concepts.
EA employee survey shows positive change
Only a few years after "EA Spouse" exposed Electronic Arts as a white-collar sweat shop, the company released to GameDaily results of an internal employee survey showing it's changed since then. The survey, completed by 77% of EA's global workforce, showed that 63% felt motivated and excited about their job and are committed to making EA better.Gabrielle Toledano, Exec. VP of Human Resources, says that compared to three years ago when the survey was last done, the results showed a "significant improvement" at the company. This newest survey shows that there has been an improvement in overall satisfaction and morale, with much of the change credited to EA's restructuring into a "city-state" model. Toledano believes the survey shows a good start and that things at the company really have changed. "There's simply no tolerance at EA today for what was going on during EA Spouse."
Flickr Find: Lehigh Valley Apple Store grand opening
The Lehigh Valley Apple Store opened its doors yesterday in Whitehall, Pennsylvania, and TUAW readers were there with cameras in hand. Mike Hoff sent a whole flickr set of pics from the event, including pics of those trendy geniuses, and all the blessed souls who made the journey to stand in the awe of a brand new Apple Store. Ron also sent us photos as well, and while pulling up Photo Booth is fun, I always like to leave TUAW on the screen whenever I'm at the Apple Store. Y'know, like a little hint.And Ryan Joseph sent not only his flickr set of pics, but a firsthand account of the happenings-- apparently the Apple opening got a little spillover from a Pottery Barn opening, and vice versa. Good thing the two were separated before anything serious happened-- we could have seen Mac Pros outfitted with their own accented lighting before the day was through. Ryan also grabbed what sounds like a cool tshirt (which he didn't show off in the flickr set!) that says "Designed by Apple in California." I'm confused-- does that mean they designed the shirt, or the person inside it?Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
The voices of Azeroth
Last week we looked at who made the soundtrack of Azeroth (and I heard-- and saw-- those very people at the Video Games Live BlizzCon concert), and this week, olanthe on WoW Ladies wants to know who's behind the other, very memorable part of WoW's audio: the voices.Unfortunately, just like the music, Blizzard doesn't actually credit the talent part by part, so while it's easy to find a list of who's voiced something in game (the IMDB entry is probably the most comprehensive, as it contains all the names from the booklets to both shipping WoW and Burning Crusade), finding out who's done what is a little harder. Tony Jay did the intros for all the races, and Cam Clarke has been pegged as the male Blood Elf (among others, including Nexus-Prince Shaffar and Medivh). Voice actress Erin Fitzgerald has done quite a few voices in Burning Crusade, including Dorothy and the Wicked Witch, as well as Sarannis and the Essence of Desire in the Black Temple. Kath Soucie, another well known voice actress, has also done voices in BC, as has Michael Dorn (yes, Worf).But most surprising on the list is probably the sheer number of Blizzard employees-- some, like Samwise Didier, Chris Metzen and Mike Morhaime, are well known, but others, like Tracy Bush, Derek Duke, and Glen Stafford, are usually working on the music of Azeroth. And even others-- Michele Arko, and I'm sure a few other names that I just don't recognize, work in completely different departments of Blizzard, from QA to Administration. So it seems like they invite a lot of their local employees to come in and record voices for their games, and not until recently, with the Burning Crusade, have they turned more often to more high profile actors.Unfortunately, that doesn't exactly answer the question of who the female Night Elf is. But especially for the shipping game, odds are that it's someone who works at Blizzard, not a professional voice actor.Update: You guys are the best. A reader of ours is friends with the Night Elf voice, so here she is: Debi Mae West. And yes, her goods really are of the highest quality. Apparently, she was also Meryl in Metal Gear Solid.
The CMs ain't so bad after all
Eona from Durotan saw a picture of Drysc (perhaps via that very helpful faces of BlizzCon guide yesterday), and determined something that might surprise you: the CMs are people after all. Who knew?But seriously, I've always kind of felt for the CMs-- they're given the responsibility of transmitting messages to the community without actually being given all the information. There might be all kinds of good reasons that your class buff didn't show up in the patch, and yet while they may even know some of them, the CMs can't just say it was because the devs wanted to wait until the Northrend expansion, or because they clashed with something you'll find when the actual patch is released in a few days, or because this really amazing item that hasn't dropped yet makes it irrelevant anyway. At times, Drysc, Neth, Eyonix, and all the rest can seem like the Iraqi Information Minister, but more often than not, I'd guess they're just not allowed to tell us the whole story.So if you do see the CMs at Blizzcon, suppress that urge to run up and ask them why Shaman clearcasting got nerfed. Instead, give them a hug show them your support in a completely nonphysical and nonthreatening way. Because while the CMs may play as NPCs, apparently they really are people too.
Apple employees' free iPhones arriving?
The free iPhones seem to be flowing for the Apple employees promised them at the Apple town hall meeting last month. Thinksecret is reporting that the first bunch to get the lootbags are Apple retails folks. We have to admit, we're pretty envious of "Generous Jobs" move to hand these out to all the staffers at Apple. Of course, we're hoping that at least a few of em have some programming skills and are inspired enough to hop on over the iPhone Dev Wiki to aid in the effort to tame and unlock their shiny new gift.
Apple employees are receiving their iPhones
We've heard from a source inside an Apple Store (thanks!) that the free iPhones promised to every yearlong Apple employee have started to appear. If you know one, now is the time to offer to take them out for ice cream. And, you know, if they need someone to hold their new iPhone while they finish off that Chunky Monkey, you'll be right there.What's unclear is how that $12M bill will appear on Apple's bottom line - maybe we'll hear in the earnings conference call tomorrow. From what we've heard, AT&T employees probably aren't happy, as they get no discount at all - on the phones or the plans. Thanks a lot, Randall Stephenson. Thanks for nothing.
