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YouTuber Admits Aspects of Viral HomePod Glitter Bomb Video Were Faked (appleinsider.com)
New submitter ArchieBunker writes: A viral video featuring a booby-trapped HomePod box that pranked package thieves with a glitter bomb has been criticized for faking some of the reactions of the would-be "thieves," who were in fact acquaintances of friends of the video's creator. The video, "Package Thief vs. Glitter Bomb Trap" by former NASA engineer Mark Rober, featured the creation of a device constructed inside a HomePod box that spread out glitter once the HomePod box was opened, with four smartphones used to film the event and subsequent reactions from all angles. Clips were shown of people claimed to be package thieves, opening the box and being covered with glitter, before throwing the contraption away.
One thief's vehicle was found to have a number of similar features to one parked near to the house of a friend of Rober, used to film some of the illicit acquisitions, suggesting it was acquired by someone who lived nearby. Another person used Google Street View and Zillow to analyze the third thief's video from inside her home, and determined the side yard and outdoor area bore a striking resemblance to the home next door to the friend's house. Posted to Imgur, the thread of evidence led to others questioning Rober on some of his later edits to the published video, including deletion of small sections and blurring out details. According to Rober, he offered to provide the box to people who were willing to place it on their doorstep, with the offer of financial compensation for successful recoveries of the package, and one "friend of a friend" volunteered to help. Rober has since confirmed that two of the five reactions used in the video were suspicious, and were subsequently removed, but insists the reactions for times when the box was stolen from his doorstep were genuine. "I'm especially gutted because so much thought, time, money, and effort went into building the device and I hope this doesn't just taint the entire effort as 'fake,'" writes Rober in text placed underneath the video. "It genuinely works (like all the other things I've built on my channel) and we've made all the code and build info public."
One thief's vehicle was found to have a number of similar features to one parked near to the house of a friend of Rober, used to film some of the illicit acquisitions, suggesting it was acquired by someone who lived nearby. Another person used Google Street View and Zillow to analyze the third thief's video from inside her home, and determined the side yard and outdoor area bore a striking resemblance to the home next door to the friend's house. Posted to Imgur, the thread of evidence led to others questioning Rober on some of his later edits to the published video, including deletion of small sections and blurring out details. According to Rober, he offered to provide the box to people who were willing to place it on their doorstep, with the offer of financial compensation for successful recoveries of the package, and one "friend of a friend" volunteered to help. Rober has since confirmed that two of the five reactions used in the video were suspicious, and were subsequently removed, but insists the reactions for times when the box was stolen from his doorstep were genuine. "I'm especially gutted because so much thought, time, money, and effort went into building the device and I hope this doesn't just taint the entire effort as 'fake,'" writes Rober in text placed underneath the video. "It genuinely works (like all the other things I've built on my channel) and we've made all the code and build info public."
not about the 'reality TV' aspect of it.
Don't really care if the reactions were fake or real.
Once a cheater, always a cheater. Sure, you feel gutted. You got caught.
The thing that struck me the most was the number of 'thieves'. While 'porch pirates' are a real thing, they aren't so common that one guy or even a couple of them could in short order have so many packages lost to them.
The force that blew the Big Bang continues to accelerate.
He will forever be known as a lying con artist. I bet he didnt even build a working product, someone else did all the work.
Why did he need to offer friends financial compensation for successful recoveries? Poor guy. I'd let him put the package on my doorstep for free.
Someone has a future in politics . . .
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
The brains of the outfit strikes again
I suspected as much when the thief stopped, swept back his cape with one arm, stuffed the package into his top hat, and looked straight into the camera with an evil smile while twirling the end of his mustache between his fingers.
#DeleteChrome
At first I had to think "How much of an attention whore do you have to be, before you spend thousands of dollars designing and building a device like that, which just as likely as not will be smashed to pieces by an angry thief, just to get views on YouTube?", but then I read this, and I have to conclude: this so-called 'ex-NASA engineer' has brain problems. What was he fired from NASA for? Behavioral problems?
And I'm sure the Patriots have legitimately won some of their games.
Does it matter?
They cheated in an attempt to win a Super Bowl multiple times. They are cheaters. Does anyone really care if they sometimes play well?
What a stupid thing to do. Pad a reaction video with some fake reactions. Damn, that cost him all his credibility. In today's fake news world there is no room for phonying up any video, news item, or posts. Stay pure and stay believed. Cheaters are losers.
1) figure out what people want to see on YouTube
2) script and film it
3) make up a story that could be true
4) ???
5) profit
Most likely the entire thing was faked, including the device itself.
You knew it was fake when the first "thief" didn't stomp the glitter-bot into the ground in frustration and anger.
=^..^= all your rodent are belong to us
"I'm especially gutted because so much thought, time, money, and effort went into building the device and I hope this doesn't just taint the entire effort as 'fake,'"
But...it was fake. You faked all of your test data and presented it as real results, therefore your entire research project is, at best, suspect. You deliberately mislead your viewers and now you're shocked at the result.
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
I bet they happily featured the fake video.
Corporatism != Free Market
No, he admitted **he** was duped. Not at all the same thing.
The brains of the outfit strikes again
So "fake but accurate" is good enough for your "news"?
As long as it reinforces your close-minded prejudices?
Come up out of the basement - you won't get the bends.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/21/politics/mulvaney-on-trump-in-2015/index.html -- don't take it directly from Trump's chief of staff, whatever you do, don't listen to him!
He likes to mention that he worked for NASA, which to me tells thats where he learned to fake it!
But of course an engineer wouldn't be stupid enough to commit a crime and then post it online for all to see. In case anyone was wondering, rigging up a bomb you expect to be stolen is illegal and will get you thrown in jail. Who are his poor friends who are now cleaning out glitter from their cars and rooms for the rest of their lives?
Does anyone know how common stealing packages off of door stops actually is?
Ridiculous. No one one do that because you probably wouldn't get them back.
A) They were GPS tracked the whole time.
B) That was the point of the incredibly stinky "Fart Spray", to ensure once the glitter had dispersed the thief would want to toss the package super quickly. If you didn't have that, yeah you were out $1k in phones or so (I don't think they were very high end phones).
It was probably enough value in phones to raise the theft to felony level...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Right. Obviously he doesn't recognize his friend's house where the package was opened by the fake thief. Sure sure.
fwiw, he posted yesterday that he found out a couple of examples were faked by collusion between some neighbors. He apologized profusely, and he realizes what kind of hit he has taken. I didn't bother with the vid once I saw there were some fakes.
His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
I have two takeaways from this.
First, it's scary the amount of imagery a person can find with a little googling, including the inside of a residence and inside of specific vehicles.
Second, an outdated looking, run-down, smallish three bedroom house costs $450k there??? I just don't get it. Do you really get paid three times more there than in the "normal" parts of the country? Maybe I'm just a country hick when it comes down to it.
Better known as 318230.
Because they're all friends who volunteered and it was fake!
When I watched it I thought something looked wrong, but I couldn't say exactly what.
All the major news outlets and FOX covered it:
FOX:
https://www.foxnews.com/tech/f...
CNN:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/18...
ABC:
https://www.abcactionnews.com/...
NBC:
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/new...
https://www.nbcchicago.com/new...
https://www.nbc-2.com/clip/147...
CBS:
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/...
Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com...
New York Post:
https://nypost.com/2018/12/19/...
Huffington Post:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com...
BBC:
https://www.bbc.com/news/techn...
I think the New York Times is the only major news organization that didn't cover it from what I can google, but I don't have a subscription so I may have missed their coverage.
This message is encrypted with Quad ROT-13 to protect the author's copyright under the DMCA.
I see you saved the only real news organization for first
I am mildly horrified that I cannot tell if this is sarcasm or not.
News orgs reported on the viral video without verifying there is no acting or misconception involved. That doesn't make them "fake news" for reporting an item of interest to x number of people, even if it turns out false.
It's taking quite the piss on reality to overlook Trump's recent claims for example and pretend reporting something viral and visually compelling that turns out false is the true dishonesty going on, lol.
(*Mueller will see you now, he was holding some tax returns or something, I didn't see..)
I was suspicious that too many edges had been sanded off the narrative: no data on how long it sat on the porch, no data on its final recovery after the last segment (what happened to the fart spray?), no data on anyone facing charges from police (there was way too much identifying data in these clips to prevent friends and relatives from recognizing the locations), and after the first segment, no data on who went out to collect the device.
Additionally, his tone leans slightly to the smug and away from the geeky.
I discounted my suspicions, because the risks of getting caught if it were fake were too high to countenance—for such a smart guy (now known as previously such a smart guy).
- one false move and the peasants are out with torches and pitchforks.
Meh.
Blue dye...simple and effective.
Both are obvious. It's a gamble between cost of hardware, liability and if the thief is prepared to out themselves as a thief to explore the possibility of liability.
That liability is only limited to worst possible iterations of this trap so I can't imagine the inventor being dumb enough to expose himself to any liability. At least he made a good joke out of why he covered up his address.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
Please excuse my typo in the subject.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
Once you've found a thief to apply blue dye to, finding the thief again is relatively trivial. The difficult part is enticing a thief to come to your porch in the first place.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
BBC was initially invented a propaganda effort, just a head's up, they have more in common with Fox News than they'd admit.
UPS and FedEx will stop leaving them. I've had this happen to buddies in bad neighborhoods and it sucks. Everytime you get a packge you've got to drive on down to the main depot to pick it up, and that's usually out in the middle of nowhere.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
LG makes $200 smartphones. They could have been used phones, as well.
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
If he actually did this for real, and they claimed some injury, I guess they could sue him.
The device wasn't faked because he posted blueprints and code for the whole setup. Unless he just didn't build the device, that would be quite of lot of work wasted to make those blueprints and code. All of it right here: https://github.com/IdleHandsPr...
I love all the condemnation by people who apparently didn't bother to actually READ what he added to the video. He solicited 3rd parties who would be willing to place the package on their porch. He offered to compensate them for it. It was those third parties who had friends fake stealing the package. When he found out that these alleged thieves were fake, he edited them out of the video and disclosed the issue.
It wasn't his friend's house. It was the house of a friend-of-a-friend who lived 2 hours away. And it wasn't even opened at that friend-of-a-friend's house. It was opened at the house of a NEIGHBOR of that friend-of-a-friend. Why would he be expected to recognize the inside of the house of a NEIGHBOR of someone he barely knows? And even if he did, why should he automatically know that the neighbor wouldn't steal a package? Some of my former neighbors would likely be my first suspects-- not only because they were a bit shady but because they would also be around to see a package sitting on the porch for an extended period of time and have plenty of opportunity to grab it without being noticed.
No, it only aired on Fox State TV
Shorthand for State TV
He posted this under the video. I believe him, as I've been watching his channel for years and he produces a lot of great content.
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Note about 2 missing the reactions in the video- I was presented with information that caused me to doubt the veracity of 2 of the 5 reactions in the video. These were reactions that were captured during a two week period while the device was at house 2 hours away from where I live. I put a feeler out for people willing to put a package on their porch and this person (who is a friend of a friend) volunteered to help. To compensate them for their time and willingness to risk putting a package on their porch I offered financial compensation for any successful recoveries of the package. It appears (and I've since confirmed) in these two cases, the “thieves" were actually acquaintances of the person helping me. From the footage I received from the phones which intentionally only record at specific times, this wasn’t clear to me. I have since removed those reactions from the original video (originally 6:26-7:59). I’m really sorry about this. Ultimately, I am responsible for the content that goes on my channel and I should have done more here. I can vouch for that the reactions were genuine when the package was taken from my house. Having said that, I know my credibly is sort of shot but I encourage you to look at the types of videos I’ve been making for the past 7 years. This is my first ever video with some kind of “prank" and like I mentioned in the video it’s pretty removed from my comfort zone and I should have done more. I’m especially gutted because so much thought, time, money and effort went into building the device and I hope this doesn’t just taint the entire effort as “fake". It genuinely works (like all the other things I’ve built on my channel) and we’ve made all the code and build info public. Again, I’m sorry for putting something up on my channel that was misleading. That is totally on me and I will take all necessary steps to make sure it won’t happen again.
Oh, he "found out" that he accidentally faked them. That's cute.
Oh, my bad... I just saw the evidence that it was not opened at a neighbor's house as I previously stated, but at Cici's (the friend-of-a-friend's) own house. But I probably wouldn't have noticed the similarities either. After all, being a family man, I seriously doubt he went and hung out for an extended period of time inside the house of a random lady he only knows as a friend-of-a-friend and who lived two hours away. In fact, it's likely he talked to her at the door and never even entered her house. And he probably didn't spend a lot of time taking in the details of the neighbors' houses or look to see what cars were in front on google street view, or the inside of her house on Zillow, because why would he? I surely wouldn't have. And let's be honest, if he were going to intentionally fake the video, why on earth go to all the trouble of asking for people who wanted to help out and then driving two hours away to create the scam with a lady that was just a friend-of-a-friend, instead of just faking it with his own friends who lived much nearer? That's just silly. And when someone figured out the connection between Cici and her two "thieves," Rober could have easily just ignored it. But instead, he chose to very publicly acknowledge the mistake and correct the video by removing the fake thieves. His public acknowledgement is the only reason the the news is even covering that there were originally two fake thieves. I've watched Rober's videos for a long time. They are fun, clean, and entertaining. He seems like a class act to me, and I really don't think it is just an act for the camera. But even if it were, they would still be fun, clean, and entertaining, and certainly less false than any of the completely-staged "reality" shows on TV.
Who would risk 4 phones on a NASA salary....
If he faked this part, what else was faked? He's good but he comes off at times a bit of a know-it-all....
Most likely you should stop talking when you don't know wtf you're talking about, but that clearly doesn't stop you.
No, he found out that somebody else purposely faked them. There's a big difference.
I actually posted on the slashdot about this that it was blantently fake simply based on the victims talking to themselves and explaining there feelings or loud, something that never happens and I am actually work in mail theft. It was obviously scripted with actors as victims.
The package was opened at the same house from which it was "stolen". It has GPS tracking. Draw your own conclusions.
Except professional journalism is supposed to involve research and verification. Without investigation and verification it's not news, it's just broadcast entertainment repeating social-media content. Any "news" outlet that does that kind of "reporting" deserves to be called out for their professional malfeasance.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
I saw this video the day it came out and thought the whole thing was a pretty obvious fake, just like most of the other "justice served" porch pirate videos on youtube. 1. the reactions just seemed off...especially ones where the thief laughs 2. doubtful you are going to be able to recover the device successfully even once, yet he did it 5 times? Come on, no one is going to open the thing up? 3. I doubt this wealthy youtuber lives in an area where he would have multiple packages stolen off his porch in a period of a few months and 4. My ASS he used his own porch. I think he's too smart for that. The kind of people who steal packages off of your porch in broad daylight might also be the kind of people to come back and vandalize your car or burn down your house over being pranked with a glitter/fart bomb. As of this moment, he's gotten almost 45 million views...I think that probably equates at least a few hundred G's, even before all the NordVPN revenue. Wouldn't surprise me if it was Mark himself who was feeding the "shocking" fraud revelation to the news wires. I guess he really is a genius.
Hollywood, we're coming for you next! No more of these fake stories about fake people, fake ghosts, fake alien invasions, fake centipedes. From now on, we want the real stuff, you hear! If a guys loses his leg, he better not be seen with it off-set a few days later!!
Booby traps are a crime. If the news didn't already know it was a show, they wouldn't have run the piece. It was most likely a paid promotion in the first place, so of course they know.
Damn, that cost him all his credibility.
Actually it cost him a small amount of credibility. The fact that the device is open source, has full designs available and still works as intended helps retain his credibility a lot.
Mind you my first reaction was:
a) this video will be boring.
b) did it take him 5 months to get all those packages stolen or does he live in a really shitty neighbourhood.
c) some of those are probably actors.
Blueprints and code doesn't mean the device existed. Christ. There is no way he built it and got that video from that. He just used a regular camera. Total fake.
Awww sorry your buddy ended up being another Youtube fake. You will get over it.
No it further proves Trumps statement. Rober even asked his CBS relative to cover it on the news. He got free air time and publicity. He is an attention whore.
There are a lot of rage filled comments here about him being a liar, when it seems to me his main crime was gullibility?
I've occasionally watched his videos for years, and he seems to be a fairly decent, very smart guy. He did formerly work for NASA as an actual engineer - his interactions with current NASA personnel are proof of that.
His story is that obviously he couldn't get that many thief interactions on his own doorstep, so he loaned the build out to friends, and friends of friends with a cash reward for interactions with recoveries...I think that was his mistake. Once you bring money or fame into it, people are assholes; with both involved it's almost guaranteed. So some of them staged the reactions, ostensibly for the cash, but imo more for the internet fame...and now that's screwed him over.
His "crime" if anything isn't lying, it's being gullible and trusting.
-Styopa
The github repo is very sparse. There is no Eagle cad file for the PCB layout, no 3D model for printing the support structure, etc.
it's like an inherent and native dishonesty in this culture. Anything to be seen and get noticed.
"Except professional journalism is supposed to involve research and verification." You have not seen this is literally decades. I am surprised Wolf Blitzer hasn't said this yet, "I am pretty sure I saw Trump fucking a chicken in the background of one of the vids." And most folks here have been quite happy with that tactic.
Are they now. Can you please post excerpts from the relevant part of the criminal code?
No shit, Sherlock. The guy used 4 expensive phones to take the video and then left them for strangers to take, but everyone tossed them away. If the guy was a decent engineer he could have made something with a couple raspberry pi's and some camera sensors.
Why is HE falling on the sword instead of the ones who staged it? "I am so out of my comfort zone" said Rober. Apologizing for other cowards is another HUGE discomfort.
Cost him all his credibility? Fake news works, sadly.
So you think the iPhone advertisements use real facial expressions of real people : who are not professional actors showing those expressions for a fee ? How about ads of Pfizer products ?
And if an actor in the ads is found " faking "the expressions : iPhone clearly doesn't work ? Or the drug ?
Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
It's not a booby trap or any kind of trap at all. A trap is something that holds you in place or kills you. This thing just tags you with glitter and fart spray.
And if you do want to charge the guy with anything you have to admit your theft and criminal tresspass before any judge will listen.
Because a business owner is responsible for those they employ
The first time he could recover and reuse the machine I swallowed it, but being able to use the same machine three times? Nah, reality doesn't work like that.
You are quite right, and I see no reason to stop calling them out loudly and regularly over that fact. At worst it keeps a reminder in the face of those all those fellow voters able to overlook that fact. Journalism has pretty much died in the U.S., and those wearing its garments deserve to be publicly spat on with regularity, for the good of everyone. With a lot of luck maybe it will even inspire real journalism again, if only as a fresh new competitor in the attention market.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
Although people stealing things is a heck of a problem, glitter is an environmental pollutant. I don't know how much in comparison to waste caused by duplicate online orders, but even so, is there something better than glitter that could be used here?
Why UNIX?
That is definitely a valid point. I suppose you could go with iron or aluminium filings, but that could cause electrical issues in a car and open you to liabilities. Very fine sand could be very annoying as it gets into everything.