Tidbits: Retail blackout days; 3G iPhone ad filming; iPhone GPS

[AppleInsider]

Apple has started to spread word of its own retail vacation blackout days. Meanwhile, the company's filming in Manhattan on Thursday was likely tied to one in Los Angeles a week earlier; the GPS chip inside the 3G iPhone has been paired with a supplier; and four teens have been permanently banned from Apple's international retail chain for extending the capabilities of an iPhone.

Apple retail blackout days

AT&T is blacking out vacation days for its retail staffers from June 15th to July 12, presumably in preparation of the 3G iPhone launch in late June. Apple, however, isn't asking the same of its store employees until mid-July, people familiar with the plans say.

Apparently, the Mac maker is expecting a flood of back-to-school shoppers starting the third week of July and running through the second week of August. As such, retail staffers in some regions are being told that back-to-back vacation days during that period are a no-no, as are multiple weekend absences.

The company's annual Back-to-School promotion will actually kick-off much earlier, and it's reported that this year's incentives will be even more compelling than last. Apple will be briefing its partners in higher-ed on the matter at 11:30 a.m. Pacific on Monday, meaning a formal announcement is likely that day or the next.

A tale of two Apple product shoots

We have a little bit higher conviction today that Thursday evening's filming outside the Apple Store Fifth Avenue in Manhattan was indeed tied to the upcoming 3G iPhone launch, and may have even been a continuation of a shoot that took place in Los Angeles last week (as first reported by our friends over at Gizmodo). Explanation follows:

In its report last week, Giz noted that it had it "on good authority that an iPhone ad is being shot today by a big name director." AppleInsider later noted that director was said to be David Fincher, an avid Final Cut Pro user and director of big-time flicks such as "Se7en," "Fight Club," and "Panic Room."

People familiar with the shoot in Los Angeles say Apple and its production crew built a replica Apple retail store interior on stage for the filming. It was said to be a typical production for the most part, until the "product" was brought on stage. At this point, all non-essentials were forced to vacate, leaving just the director, producer, props and camera assist crews.

One person on hand did not get the clearest of looks at the iPhone, but said "it looked pretty much like the current one."*Even so, "everyone knew they were working on the 3G iPhone commercial," that person added.

The set outside Apple Store Fifth Ave. | Image credits: The iLife.

Fast forward one week, and Apple's filming around what's arguably its most lavish retail exterior -- the giant 32-foot cube that sites atop its flagship shop on Fifth Avenue like a giant gemstone. Not much could be made of exactly what was going on by the folks at The iLife who were blogging the event, though there was bit of hoopla over some blurry photographs they took of black cases marked "Anonymous 5+4" making their way into the store.

Those cases, people familiar with the filming say, belong to production studio Anonymous Content and contained walkie-talkies used by the production crew during filming, not 3G iPhones or Steve Jobs. David Fincher directs for Anonymous Content.

GPS in 3G iPhone

Though its long been a given that the 3G iPhone will likely include traditional GPS functionality, it's getting a mention now because GigaOM is claiming to have tracked down Apple's GPS chip supplier.

"The company supplying the GPS to iPhone is going to be a big winner in this space; according to my sources, the contract has been nailed down by Broadcom, a relatively new entrant into the GPS market," writes Om Malik.



Om notes that Google’s Marissa Meyer told him last year that the Google Maps usage from iPhone was off the charts.

"Now imagine that Maps feature married to the built-in GPS; the combo could give location based services a big massive boost," he adds. "Pelago, an LBS social service has already received $15 million in funding for its iPhone application."

Teens banned from Apple Stores for life

And for kicks: Apple has banned two high-school students and their friends from its international retail chain, permanently.

Daniel Fukuba, 17, Eric Vicenti, 16, and two of their friends were detained by police outside the company's store in downtown Palo Alto for 2.5 hours last week. Their crime? Hacking an iPhone on the premise so they could install a third-party car racing game, then leaving the store.

Be on the lookout for these two scoundrels!

"We're halfway down the block when the manager comes running out and tells us to 'stop right there,'" Fukuba told the Palo Alto Daily News.

After being detained by the cops and lectured by the manager on the dangers of "hacking" into the phones, the teens were photographed and told their pictures were being sent to all Apple stores so employees could be "on the lookout" for them in the future.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[deep]

If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine...

[sapporobaby]

Originally Posted by deep

If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine...

Sweet !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Matthew Yohe]

They are lucky for the punishment they received.

These guys are just a couple of script kiddies.

[nagromme]

I don't blame the kids too much for not thinking it through, but hacking someone ELSE's phone is what the problem is here. As to whether the entire Apple organization REALLY puts huge effort into tracking these kids around the world, or whether it's just what some manager SAID would happen when he snapped at them, is another matter. (And having seen how some kids behave in stores, I can well imagine a manager eventually snapping and saying things that went too far.)

[SteveLV702]

I think the kids should get an award and a Security Consulting Job with Apple so they cold secure the iphone so won't get hacked...

[wheelhot]

Silly kids

[emoeric87]

What's going to happen when Apple rolls out iPhones with third-party apps in a few weeks?

[8CoreWhore]

"...that director was said to be David Fincher, an avid Final Cut Pro user..." Well, which is it - avid or FCP? What's wrong with kids today. Sheesh! When I was growing up, we would've just ran!

[aria505]

Originally Posted by SARO91201

I think the kids should get an award and a Security Consulting Job with Apple so they cold secure the iphone so won't get hacked...

Are you kidding me?

If a guy walking down the street picked up a brick and threw it through the front glass window of an Apple store would you give him an award and a Security Consulting Job to secure the physical perimeter of the store? I don't think so.

Where does this ridiculous idea that "hackers", in this case script kiddies, should be rewarded for vandalizing other peoples property come from? If you want to hack your own phone then go for it! Play around and learn how things work, but don't start messing with other people's property without their permission.

[Panu]

I think Apple's reaction was entirely appropriate. Anyone who goes into any store and vandalizes the merchandise should expect the same treatment. There are actual monetary damages, because they have to pay an employee to fix the phone, just as they would have to pay someone to clean graffiti off the wall, so the kids are lucky that Apple was kind enough not to press charges. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the pictures are really sent around to all the stores, because they may repeat the behavior, especially since they have a cheering section in these comments. I doubt Apple will make good on their threat to make it a lifetime ban.

[mdriftmeyer]

Oh my gosh! Broadcom! A virtual unknown!!

Broadcom and Wireless tend to go hand-in-hand.

[mdriftmeyer]

Originally Posted by aria505

Are you kidding me?

If a guy walking down the street picked up a brick and threw it through the front glass window of an Apple store would you give him an award and a Security Consulting Job to secure the physical perimeter of the store? I don't think so.



Where does this ridiculous idea that "hackers", in this case script kiddies, should be rewarded for vandalizing other peoples property come from? If you want to hack your own phone then go for it! Play around and learn how things work, but don't start messing with other people's property without their permission.

Your storefront's broken.

No it's not.

*crash* Now it is. I can help you with that problem and seeing as I'm looking for work you could just hire me on the spot.

[sigs21]

they should have to wash steve's black Benz....

[Virgil-TB2]

Originally Posted by SARO91201

I think the kids should get an award and a Security Consulting Job with Apple so they cold secure the iphone so won't get hacked...

That's insane. I bet any kids you have are monstrous.

What you want in a security expert is intelligence, a clear idea of the difference between right and wrong and a keen sense of responsibility. Those kids have the opposite of all that.

They were dumb enough to get caught, had no idea that fooling with other peoples stuff was "wrong" and no sense of guilt or responsibility for their actions.

Additionally, to hack the iPhone that fast inside an Apple store they must have just cracked it by visiting that web page we all know about. In other words, they don't necessarily have any hacker skill at all.

[bloggerblog]

This is so retarded, it takes less than 10 min to restore the iphone. And what a stupid store-manager! I would have him fired for banning kids from the store, or claiming to have done so, and calling the cops!! What a loser!! Computer stores should be fun and kids are expected to explore things every now an then, look at the mac line-up, it's mainly for schools (imac, mac-mini, ibook), Apple has always been for schools, starting with the Apple II. I don't see anything that's worth "punishing". Apple has obviously hired a looser for a manager.
DON'T CALL ME DUDE!

[Ronbo]

Originally Posted by bloggerblog

This is so retarded, it takes less than 10 min to restore the iphone. And what a stupid store-manager! I would have him fired for banning kids from the store, or claiming to have done so, and calling the cops!! What a loser!! Computer stores should be fun and kids are expected to explore things every now an then, look at the mac line-up, it's mainly for schools (imac, mac-mini, ibook), Apple has always been for schools, starting with the Apple II. I don't see anything that's worth "punishing". Apple has obviously hired a looser for a manager.
DON'T CALL ME DUDE!

Wow. It's like every single thing you said is wrong. Which one of those kids are you?
As for all the other people who have already posted, let me say that it's nice to see people with an appropriate sense of right and wrong.

[bloggerblog]

Originally Posted by Ronbo

Wow. It's like every single thing you said is wrong. Which one of those kids are you?
As for all the other people who have already posted, let me say that it's nice to see people with an appropriate sense of right and wrong.

I don't think tinkering with stuff on display is a bad thing, these macs and iphones are easily restored; however, if they actually break something or go to porn websites, well that's different. And yes Apple has always been big on schools, and incase you haven't read the latest news, Apple is planning it's largest back to school sale yet.

[maCar]

Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer

Your storefront's broken.

No it's not.

*crash* Now it is. I can help you with that problem and seeing as I'm looking for work you could just hire me on the spot.

I can't stop laughing!

[Booga]

Originally Posted by bloggerblog

I don't think tinkering with stuff on display is a bad thing, these macs and iphones are easily restored; however, if they actually break something or go to porn websites, well that's different. And yes Apple has always been big on schools, and incase you haven't read the latest news, Apple is planning it's largest back to school sale yet.

Going to a site that intentionally takes advantage of a known security hole in the iPhone to inject user code on a phone that's for sale is okay, but naked people is evil enough to ban them in your mind? Give me a break.

[kpluck]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

... "on good authority that an iPhone ad is being shot today by a big name director." AppleInsider later noted that director was said to be David Fincher, an avid Final Cut Pro user and director of big-time flicks such as "Se7en," "Fight Club," and "Panic Room."

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

The first rule of filming a 3G iPhone commercial is you don't talk about filming a 3G iPhone commercial. The second rule....

-Keith

[jawporta]

So Gay, and I mean Gay in the non homophobic way.

[Rot'nApple]

Originally Posted by SARO91201

I think the kids should get an award and a Security Consulting Job with Apple so they cold secure the iphone so won't get hacked...

Yeah and it should be the 'Blue Box Award' personally handed out by Jobs and Woz...

"Blue Boxes
In a television special produced by WGBH in Boston, Steve Jobs talked about how he and Steve Wozniak, the famous founders of Apple Computer, got their start. "Woz and I had known each other since I was about 12 or 13 years old," Jobs said. "And our first project together was, we built these little blue boxes to make free telephone calls, and we had the best blue box in the world. It was this all-digital little blue box.""

Its karma Steve, what goes around comes around...

On the bright side, you got your first native app...

Meanwhile, at the Apple store, a "Wanted!" poster just went up...

Have you seen this man???

[AtomicGarden]

oh my.... why not throw them in prison, send them to a boot camp or let his holiness mr steve jobs I torture them personally... - in twenty years time they might become one of those famous examples: "thrown out by apple, employed by whoever - millionaires today"...

apple is going all nuts - as much as I love my iPod and Mac, I don't agree with Apples philosophy of doing business at all - they are becoming worse than Microsoft in more and more cases...

[Slewis]

Null.

[winterspan]

Originally Posted by Ronbo

Wow. It's like every single thing you said is wrong. Which one of those kids are you?
As for all the other people who have already posted, let me say that it's nice to see people with an appropriate sense of right and wrong.

All of you defending this Apple store employee remind me just how many nutjobs there are in the world. The kids didn't "vandalize" anything you old stiffs. They simply visited a webpage that exploited a bug that then allowed them to download a 3rd party game. The manager is obviously some incompetent lunatic that completely *overreacted* for the situation. If he was one of my employees, he would have been fired on the spot. In fact, being so obviously devoid of judgment, he would have never been hired in the first place.

Let's get some perspective, here. There is ABSOLUTELY ZERO permanent consequences of what the kids were doing --- It's all a bunch of ones and zeros being moved about.
And it's not as if the kids set the phone to display explicit porno to other customers --- they downloaded a race-car game for god sakes. Should the kids be doing that on the iPhones in the store? Probably not. Does that mean they should be chased down the street and interrogated by police? Obviously, anyone with a functioning cerebrum wouldn't think so. If the apple store manager didn't want third party games on the iPhone, he could have restored the demo unit in about 3 minutes. I hope this idiot lost his job.

[bobertoq]

Originally Posted by Slewis

So you're basically saying kids should basically be discouraged from exploring? Restoring the iPhone means plugging it into a Mac and hitting Restore, then putting it back out on display, meanwhile the kids are banned for having a little fun, and hell, if that iPhone was left out on display, a lot more people might have had fun with the game they installed.

Sebastian

I couldn't agree more. I don't understand why Apple punished them like this. They banned them from all the Apple stores and publicly released their picture, that wound up on the internet? To tell you the truth (I'm under 18) if Apple did this to me. Well I'm not sure how to put it into words. They were just having fun! They should ban the kids that auto-BSOD a couple computers at the library by my house. hahah that was funny

[jmadlena]

Originally Posted by winterspan

All of you defending this Apple store employee remind me just how many nutjobs there are in the world. The kids didn't "vandalize" anything you old stiffs. They simply visited a webpage that exploited a bug that then allowed them to download a 3rd party game. The manager is obviously some incompetent lunatic that completely *overreacted* for the situation. If he was one of my employees, he would have been fired on the spot. In fact, being so obviously devoid of judgment, he would have never been hired in the first place.

Let's get some perspective, here. There is "ABSOLUTELY ZERO permanent consequences" from what the kids were doing --- It's all a bunch of ones and zeros being moved about.
And it's not as if the kids set the phone to display explicit porno to other customers --- they downloaded a race-car game for god sakes. Should the kids be doing that on the iPhones in the store? Probably not. Does that mean they should be chased down the street and interrogated by police? Obviously, anyone with a functioning cerebrum wouldn't think so. If the apple store manager didn't want third party games on the iPhone, he could have restored the demo unit in about 3 minutes. I hope this idiot lost his job.

I agree that the punishment seems disproportionate to the crime, but the excuse that they kids should be allowed to "explore" is bull. Such a hippy answer. It doesn't matter if there was ABSOLUTELY ZERO permanent consequences (they could have bricked it for all they knew). It is not their property, and so they have no right to disobey the owner's wishes with that property.

And I really disagree that the store manager should be fired, and the kids let off the hook. What kind of Bizarro world are we living in today? Perhaps they didn't deserve a police interrogation, but that is what you risk when you do things you aren't supposed to.

They shouldn't be banned for life.
But they shouldn't be messing with the store's property, and Apple has a right to protect its property.

End of story. Don't want to get banned? Don't mess with O.P.P.

PS And yes, they did vandalize the property. It doesn't matter if it only takes "3 minutes" to fix. Imagine if they had to do it to every iPhone every day? That is a lot of extra work. It doesn't matter how little time it takes to repair, it doesn't make it right because it is only "3 minutes." If they wanted to hack an iPhone, they should have bought it.

[DisneyEcho]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

...the teens were photographed and told their pictures were being sent to all Apple stores so employees could be "on the lookout" for them in the future.

I bet the picture was taken in a hurry on the iPhone and shows the return of Mr. Blurrycam! LOL

[zeasar]

I bet you those kids must have done it many times in the pass, possibly at different stores. And that is why when the manager chase out and shout "stop", they just stood there thinking "what seems to be the problem here?".

Seriously, back in the days if someone shouts stop, I will run like there's no tomorrow.

[lostkiwi]

Errrrr..... shouldn't the cops be out arresting actual criminals rather than trying to scare some script kiddies? IMHO that is a terrible waste of taxpayer funded police time.

[shuffler]

I agree, they should be going after robbers and murderers. Kids can be handled by security guards i suppose.

[gar]

It's criminal behavior...

Next time they get bored, they rape a 13 year old girl just to explore their potential and have some fun!

Or come after you with a baseball bat to explore the thickness of your skull, take your MacBook from your cold hands, remove your account and put a new password on it... just for fun!

It isn't fun, it is vandalism.
It isn't exploring, it is boredom

dump kids... bah

[Somynona]

Originally Posted by 8CoreWhore

"...that director was said to be David Fincher, an avid Final Cut Pro user..." Well, which is it - avid or FCP? What's wrong with kids today. Sheesh! When I was growing up, we would've just ran!

That's what I was thinking.

[Professor P]

Originally Posted by gar

It's criminal behavior...

Next time they get bored, they rape a 13 year old girl just to explore their potential and have some fun!

Or come after you with a baseball bat to explore the thickness of your skull, take your MacBook from your cold hands, remove your account and put a new password on it... just for fun!

It isn't fun, it is vandalism.
It isn't exploring, it is boredom

dump kids... bah

How is raping a 13 year old girl or mugging proportional to downloading something on a display item?

I hate to break this to you, but people do this to display computers all the time - change the backgrounds, set passwords, etc. Display units get reset a lot.

[nasdarq]

Originally Posted by deep

If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine...

Acknowledge sources of your 'wisdom', man ...

What does not kill me, makes me stronger.

Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols, 1888

Btw, for some reason, I empathise with those kids too ...

[nasdarq]

Originally Posted by Virgil-TB2

What you want in a security expert is intelligence, a clear idea of the difference between right and wrong and a keen sense of responsibility. Those kids have the opposite of all that.

Wouldn't be entirely sure about the correctness of your statement. People who have real passion for something are usually rule-breakers by default, and the notions of political-correctness - and, even more-so, corporate understanding of 'right' and 'wrong' - may escape them, especially given their age ...

Their only fault was actually in being caught - that just means they are yet to become real professionals in order to have a shot at working as security consultants for Apple!

[ncee]

Originally Posted by bloggerblog

I don't think tinkering with stuff on display is a bad thing, these macs and iphones are easily restored; however, if they actually break something or go to porn websites, well that's different. And yes Apple has always been big on schools, and incase you haven't read the latest news, Apple is planning it's largest back to school sale yet.

Let's see you go in and mess with a Mercedes, Porsche or Lamborghini before you take it for a test ride … I don't think so.

It's not what they did it to, it's the fact that THEY FU%$CK around with some that DIDN'T belong to them.

Hey leave your MBP, iPhone, iPod around, that them pick it up and FU$%#*CK around with it, and then tell me you are ok with it … NOT!

There are rules, laws for a reason. Which is also why some folks say "You know the difference between right and wrong, choose wrong, and pay the consequences.

Wrong is wrong, it's that simple.

Now let us not forgot, what they do in public, is a direct relation to how they are brought up!

It's all about accountablitity! If they are not taught the difference between right and wrong, someone else ALSO has to step up and take a hit too.

IMO

Skip

[nasdarq]

Originally Posted by AtomicGarden

Apple ... are becoming worse than Microsoft in more and more cases...

Absolutely. The sickness of grandeur. Among few examples:
- Opening iTunes to .mp3 but not .avi - don't you see a paradox there as both are formats for 'stolen' playbacks?
- Quicktime - who the hell uses it anyway?
- Disgrace with not fully enabling all Bluetooth capabilities on iPhone - that could give so much more to a user (apart from the downside of being attacked by proximity advertising messages).
- Tying all their machines to Safari - which sucks more and more to compare with its counterparts (have switched to Firefox since 2 years now, and never going back).
- Their increasing distrust of all innovation by Adobe and Google (apart from allowing youtube on iPhone, ironically - since youtube is also by an large only a bazaar of 'illegal' uploads).
The list can go on and on.

[cnocbui]

To use a photo of someone, or in which a person appears and is identifiable, for commercial purposes, don't you need a model release signed by the person/s in the photograph?

I am not a lawyer, but Apple engages in commercial enterprise and if it is using images of these two as part of furthering its commercial activities...