I get lots of e-mail from listeners/readers complaining that I don’t always post iPhone news as fast as some of the other iPhone-related sites. There’s a reason - I try to actually verify each story before I run it. The Internet is full of wannabe iPhone blogs and podcasts that will report every rumor as truth without a shred of research. That often leads to the echo chamber being dead wrong.
Such was the case with the recent rumor that a developer had the SDK and that it was accompanied by a new firmware update 1.1.4.
We did report what the developer said about the ability to work with the SDK, but never reported the 1.1.4 rumor because that was a fact we couldn’t confirm elsewhere.
Reporting what the developer SAID about working with the SDK was one thing. Reporting it as TRUTH is another. We decided to leave the 1.1.4 rumor off the table because we couldn’t find a credible source to back it up.
Turns out the whole thing was a lie.
This is the sixth time that the echo chamber started spreading a false rumor based on one lone - unverified source. Each time, we’ve avoided being caught in the trap here.
Starting with the idiotic Engadget iPhone delayed debacle to this current round of misinformation and lies, we fight hard to insulate our audience from bogus iPhone information.
So remember where the TRUE iPhone news lives - Apple Phone Show.
It’s things like this that are the primary reason I’ve never wanted to jailbreak my phone.
I’m sure there are a lot of white hat hackers that have nothing but good intentions. But one ‘jackass’ as the macalope likes to call them does something that screws with you instead of helps you and its all over.
Wouldn’t install anything this guy writes, ever.
Well done guys - I just wish more sites would do this.
I just laugh at certain bloggers who believe that the “blogosphere” will one day take over from the old “news media”. God (aka Big Steve from Cupertino) help us if that ever happens as the race to be the first always seems to overlook the measured pace that it takes to ensure accuracy.
This is also one of the reasons why I no longer read Digg. Some of the headline people post are incredible. Citizen Jounalism? No thank you.
This little incident is ironically summed up in a posting on Macforum “allegedly” (did you spot that!) posted on Macrumors forum by the instigator of the page that started the rumour:-
“All of it should teach everyone at these rumor sites WWWide to not trust anything that did NOT come from the mouth of Apple.
8 lines of text were published on Friday, by Sunday those lines of text are one of the biggest talked about and debated lines of text across Apple related internet sites. This goes to prove anyone can register a domain one week and less than two later be believed, talked about, debated over, defended, ratted on, bashed, requested to be interviewed on DowJones Newswire and everything else under the sun. The power of the internet is amazing.”
Wisdom beyond your years.
@Hutch-
The race to be the first to report a story is hardly exclusive to the “blogosphere.”
Have you watched a local newscast recently? The last couple of days we’ve been blessed with “live coverage” of “breaking news” with top reporters standing in front of a closed court house at 5:00 AM in the morning because a drugged out head case has-been singer was going to be in a child custody case later that day. I loved yesterday’s coverage of the missle that was to be shot down, with a local Los Angeles reporter standing on the beach at Santa Monica, at 6:00 AM, because 12 hours later, someplace over the Pacific Ocean a missile would be launched.
Kudos to Scott and crew for trying to have some integrity in reporting news, despite their position that they are pundits, not journalists. Meanwhile, let’s take all media for what it is, advertising driven rat race to get the most eyes on their feed (whether it’s radio, TV, print, or web pages) where being first is more important than being the most accurate or the best.
The biggest one of these rumors, now taken as complete fact, is the “5 year exclusive contract” Apple has with ATT for the iPhone. I’ve never heard any substantiated source definitively say 5 years. All Steve said originally is “multiyear” I believe, in the 2007 MacWorld keynote.
But now everyone just states it as fact.
I’ve heard, however that it’s actually a 3 year contract. I won’t say WHERE or WHO I heard it from, because they might get fired. But TRUST me. it’s 3 years. :rolleyes:
In case your sarcasm meter is off, the above is tongue-in-cheek.
@DistortedLoop
that is an excellent point - yes indeed 24 streaming news media suffers from this same “need for speed”.