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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."
I don't need to watch any videos to see if he cheated, because he already admitted that he cheated. The case is closed. He's a cheater.
Get Famous, people will track you down. What you called doxxing is just a Millennial buzzword for what paparazzi have done forever. The internet gives anyone a chance to be Famous, and also gives anyone a chance to be paparazzi.
Status Quo, nothing to see here.
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
You're not really looking at the evidence in the video. He left the package on his doorstep, some unknowns picked it up, those reactions are legit.
However, read the synopsis more closely, he left the package with acquaintances, then their friends opened the package (*their* friends, not Rober's friends). His mistake was to trust the third-party to follow the rules he'd outlined for the video.
A real criminal would not toss it, they'd destroy it out of spite.
A package is stinking up your car or home. Why on earth would you spend a second long than you had to with it? Remember this is a REALLY powerful smell. You say "real criminal" as if it was some determined noble warrior, not some lazy looser who does the easiest possible thing - which includes tossing a stinky package instead of actively seeking to destroy it.
Stomp, crush, burn, etc
Yeah that's a genius move for sure, to stomp on something you already know smells horrific, and was trapped enough to spread glitter all over you...
Noone tosses it out the window with fingerprints on it
You have watched WAY TOO MUCH CSI Mr McGruff. What "no-one" does is care at all about package thieves or fingerprints unless some truly serious crime is in play. Have you ever TRIED reporting package theft? Even with video the police just laugh. A package by the side of the road will mix with all the other trash and just be ignored.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Those were LG G5 models, they are available very cheap, because they were built very cheaply. They are renown for being universally of poor build quality and unreliable. Used copies generally go for less than $100, and are easy to find for less than $50 even, depending on what level of wear you're okay with. Since they were only desired for their cameras, it would probably be okay if they had shattered displays, so they could have been very cheap indeed.
Regardless, that was not a big investment. Unlikely to top $300 at most.
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.
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.
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.
Except he didn't cheat.
He was cheated. Or scammed.
Basically he lent the unit to a friend of a friend. And being someone who would be compensated for the video, he offered that person some of the compensation because it's the fair thing to do.
Turned out that person was greedy and had their neighbour "steal" it, and probably didn't offer them compensation. Just to get that money.
And to his credit, he edited out the part that was faked once he found out and re-posted it. Anyone who knows YouTube means when you do this, you LOSE all those views - you cannot edit a video and retain the comments/likes/views. You delete that video and re-post it, which means the comments/likes/views starts from scratch. It's one of the most requested features especially now you can't add annotations afterwards so if you make an error, it's there forever unless you want to scrap it all.
Of course, there are reasons for and against YouTube allowing re-posting of videos and retaining the comments/likes/views.