Motorola used Linux company-wide for firmware development in 1992? That's not impossible, but seems pretty unlikely. Of course, "Linux" might just be laymen for "a Unix."

I don't disbelieve the story, since his primary thing was social engineering, but I don't know if I buy the "I was going to hack the firmware on my phone to fool the feds" angle. He would need their tool chain to build it and then a way to get the modified firmware on the phone. Back then a commercially available handset was probably not field programmable. I don't know that he's been connected to any particular technical hacking achievements.

I think his stories need to be taken with a grain of salt. Plenty of truth, but also exaggeration and self-promotion.

From the YouTube link:

Guy Gets Inside A Chinese Click Farm And Holy Crap, That's A Lot Of Phones

​Turns out if you want to run a business where you rate a bunch of apps and write fake reviews, you can't just spoof having a bunch of phones — you actually need the phones. And so that's what we have here: a room full of phones relentlessly rating apps and writing BS reviews because everything in life (and particularly on the internet) is a lie.

A Russian man visited a Chinese click farm. They make fake ratings for mobile apps. He said they have 10,000 more phones.

A Russian Went Inside A Chinese Click-Farm: This Is What He Found

On the day when Snapchat erased billions of market cap from investors (and founders) accounts - as the MAUs-means-money model seems to break - we thought it worthwhile taking another glimpse into the hush-hush world of 'click-farms' and the fakeness of the latest social network fads.

So, if they're not human, where do all those "likes," "retweets," and "followers" lighting up your social media accounts from?

Thanks to this Russian gentleman - who visited a Chinese click farm, where they make fake ratings for mobile apps and other things like this - we now know...

He said they have 10,000 more phones just like these.

As we concluded previously, the bottom line is simple: "The illusion of a massive following is often just that," said Tony Harris, who does social media marketing for major Hollywood movie firms, said he would love to be able to give his clients massive numbers of Twitter followers and Facebook fans, but buying them from random strangers is not very effective or ethical. And once the prevailing users of social networks grasp that one of the main driving features of the current social networking fad du jour is nothing but a big cash scam operating out of a basement in the far east, expect both Facebook and shortly thereafter, Twitter, to go the way of 6 Degrees, Friendster and MySpace, only this time the bagholders will be the public. Because "it is never different this time." The only certain thing: someone will promptly step in to replace any social network that quietly fades into the sunset.

Inside China's phoney 'click farm': Tiny office uses 10,000 handsets to send fake ratings and 'likes' for boosting clients' online popularity.

My brother had a cat back in the days of landline house phones, she would knock the handset off when the phone rang and drag the cable with her teeth into another room. He was always coming home to find the handset on the other side of the apartment and no voice messages.

Hehe, pretty accurate for a time where "car phones" still used corded handsets attached transceiver boxes.

1. So you are suggesting people who live on 40p a day would give two squirty shits about a smartphone? That is a result of global economic issues of which one person smashing a phone (they presumably own) is negligible to the point of complete irrelevance. Non sequitur, if this is really a concern to you then you need to go after the corruptions and inequalities in our very financial system. Handing down a phone (which is likely near the end of its useful life anyway) is not going to change anything of significance here.

2. I'm suggesting you are making an entirely subjective value judgement about the pleasure and practical use one could derive from the same investment of money/material. Lets not forget he generated around $7000 of personal income from a £50-100 investment. But more than that, perhaps to some people the pleasure and entertainment of smashing that phone was comparable to other activities that might cost the same (e.g. a night of drinking or a weekend away could easily exceed the cost of that handset). Are you suggesting spending £50-100 on leisure activities etc. is morally reprehensible? Let's not forget "smartphones" don't do anything essential for most people, they are luxury items. If you have a problem with 1st world culture that's absolutely fine (laudible even) but you can't be singling out this guy for making a very successful comedy skit when there are people everywhere who's lifestyles could be politely described as "a decadent waste of atoms".

3. Absolutely nothing is stopping that smashed phone from being recycled, many shops would give you a £50-100 trade in on a new handset even in that state as they are typically just melted down anyway (and your new shiny phone contract is worth more to them than caring about the state of your bag of broken phone bits).

Besides as a matter of pedantry my point clearly stands, doing NOTHING in a drawer is clearly inferior to generating $7000, and providing 2mins of hillarity!?!?!?!? (the comparison was between hammer and drawer not drawer and charity) What you did there was called a "straw man" (i.e. twist my word's to make a different argument that helps make your own point)

4. The phone is old and they are not built to last (again feel free to rant on our disposable culture but leave this guy out of it) as @Payback pointed out it's probably knackered anyway.


Somewhere in your argument is some righteous and commendable rage about the inequalities of the global market but you're focusing it in the wrong direction here. Be angry at the CEO and shareholders of Samsung who profit from human death and suffering in the Coltan mines, the Corrupt banks that hold a fake debt over the poor populations of the world or the Complicit governments that support them. Or maybe go after the Ideologues and philosophers that conceived and spread the culture of consumer and corporate greed driven economics.


Basically anything but rage at this guy for making a IMHO pretty funny video on a budget that utterly pales into insignificance compared to just about anything else.



Could he have handed it down? Sure. Could he have traded it for a crate of jack Daniels, a half ounce of weed, an animatronic chicken alarm clock, a present for his wife etc. etc. etc.?

Your argument taken to its logical conclusion would condemn anyone that spends money or resources on anything other than practical necessities or charity. I'm not saying that's what you meant, but that's what your argument as stated invites.

7 million views = about $7000 in youtube ad revenue. Sound investment I'd say!

Also that is actually a pretty old handset, probably only worth £50-100ish now at most.


Now if we're talking about the Congolese workers who mined the ore and the Chinese sweatshop staff that assembled it that's another matter, but then that goes for anyone who owns or has owned a "smartphone". How one chooses to use it irrelevant, smashing it with a hammer is no different to most of the mindless procrastination they get used for anyway.

It's a highly disposable industry and this beats just languishing in a drawer somewhere or being dropped down the toilet etc.

>> ^therealblankman:

>> ^lucky760:
>> ^therealblankman:
I'm a (very happy) Nexus S user. I'll be skipping this particular generation of handset but am hugely looking forward to an Ice Cream Sandwich update for my unit. Keep up the great work, Google.

I wonder if they'll even be back-porting Ice Cream Sandwich for older devices. I'd imagine not since they'd need to customize it for the unsupportable features (e.g., software buttons need to be removed if physical buttons exist).

Well, today's the day!!! Ice Cream Sandwich official release downloading onto my Nexus S now, even before the Galaxy Nexus is released! I'm so excited... it feels like Christmas. Hopefully won't break the phone.
update: Phone isn't broken (hooray), works great so far, really snappy operation- scrolling through menus and button presses happen like right now. Aesthetics are updated of course- new icons, some new bacgrounds.. App menu is different too... instead of one long list that you scroll down it's divided into pages with 20 icons on each- you flip through these pages.
Verdict so far, an hour into use is I like it! All applications tested so far work well and the updated visuals and operation are all improvements, though doesn't seem revolutionary. Time will tell of course, but well done Google!


That's fantastic! Congrats on the upgrade! However, the Galaxy Nexus was released 2 days ago. I got mine from Costco yesterday. I'm very impressed with it in many, many aspects, but I have had some rather bothersome problems.

>> ^lucky760:

>> ^therealblankman:
I'm a (very happy) Nexus S user. I'll be skipping this particular generation of handset but am hugely looking forward to an Ice Cream Sandwich update for my unit. Keep up the great work, Google.

I wonder if they'll even be back-porting Ice Cream Sandwich for older devices. I'd imagine not since they'd need to customize it for the unsupportable features (e.g., software buttons need to be removed if physical buttons exist).


Well, today's the day!!! Ice Cream Sandwich official release downloading onto my Nexus S now, even before the Galaxy Nexus is released! I'm so excited... it feels like Christmas. Hopefully won't break the phone.

update: Phone isn't broken (hooray), works great so far, really snappy operation- scrolling through menus and button presses happen like right now. Aesthetics are updated of course- new icons, some new bacgrounds.. App menu is different too... instead of one long list that you scroll down it's divided into pages with 20 icons on each- you flip through these pages.

Verdict so far, an hour into use is I like it! All applications tested so far work well and the updated visuals and operation are all improvements, though doesn't seem revolutionary. Time will tell of course, but well done Google!

I suspect alot of the iphones I see in Beijing are sciphones.

Chinese and other emerging market consumers can get quite alot out of a regular phone; that has always amazed me.

>> ^Diogenes:

heh heh, nice vid...
here in china, the iphone is all the rage - but like the vid implies, people here buy it mostly for the name recognition and 'prestige' ... even when the features don't match up to the latest devices by samsung, htc, etc
although most of these phones and/or their components are made right here, the masses seem less tech savvy than westerners
case in point, i'll be sitting around with chinese friends and everybody's got their smartphones at hand... i'll start doing a comparison of the various handsets, and they'll just stare blankly... go silent for a minute or so, and then blurt out, 'but this is an iphone!' hahaha
right now they're all excited about the iphone 4s, and especially siri - i haven't yet had the heart to tell them that siri doesn't support chinese (in fact, most people don't seem to be aware that siri was available over a year ago, but apple snapped up the company, reworked the app, and launched it with the 4s as something new and revolutionary)
anyway, it's all funny - i'm pleased as pie with my htc... with better camera, vid resolution, memory, processor, screen size, and gps -- zero problems and more fun and free apps than i have time for... as well, my provider gave it to me for free (~us$700) after 10+ years of customer loyalty
only possible gripe would be battery life, but between the recharges i get while driving, sitting at the comp, or even with my portable recharger (us$28), it's never really been much of an issue

>> ^Diogenes:

i'll start doing a comparison of the various handsets, and they'll just stare blankly... go silent for a minute or so, and then blurt out, 'but this is an iphone!' hahaha


I've seen this attitude too. I dislike Apple's closed way of doing things but I have to have a grudging respect for how they've cultivated this aura. Quite a few people seem to think that iPhones are filled with some sort of magic pixie dust.

When it was launched, it was well ahead of the game but not now. Windows Phone 7.5 is apparently very usable and I like Android - although as per my previous post, I'm under no illusions about Google being some morally superior, caring big friend.

heh heh, nice vid...

here in china, the iphone is all the rage - but like the vid implies, people here buy it mostly for the name recognition and 'prestige' ... even when the features don't match up to the latest devices by samsung, htc, etc

although most of these phones and/or their components are made right here, the masses seem less tech savvy than westerners

case in point, i'll be sitting around with chinese friends and everybody's got their smartphones at hand... i'll start doing a comparison of the various handsets, and they'll just stare blankly... go silent for a minute or so, and then blurt out, 'but this is an iphone!' hahaha

right now they're all excited about the iphone 4s, and especially siri - i haven't yet had the heart to tell them that siri doesn't support chinese (in fact, most people don't seem to be aware that siri was available over a year ago, but apple snapped up the company, reworked the app, and launched it with the 4s as something new and revolutionary)

anyway, it's all funny - i'm pleased as pie with my htc... with better camera, vid resolution, memory, processor, screen size, and gps -- zero problems and more fun and free apps than i have time for... as well, my provider gave it to me for free (~us$700) after 10+ years of customer loyalty

only possible gripe would be battery life, but between the recharges i get while driving, sitting at the comp, or even with my portable recharger (us$28), it's never really been much of an issue

My brother's cat would do something like this. If nobody was home it would knock the phone off the hook when it rang, then drag the coiled phone cord with its teeth as far as it could stretch it. My brother would come home to find the handset in the next room or down the hallway, pretty funny.

Consensus in the Geek community is yes for the Nexus S, if not for the more locked-down models. Though any Ice Cream Sandwich update will obviously absent some features such as the aforementioned soft buttons and the barometer related content. That's for me really the big reason that I paid for an un-subsidized and factory unlocked Nexus unit, I don't want some carrier or handset maker standing between me and the software I want to use simply because it interferes with their revenue model. The Nexus models represent what Google intends the Android experience.

>> ^lucky760:

>> ^therealblankman:
I'm a (very happy) Nexus S user. I'll be skipping this particular generation of handset but am hugely looking forward to an Ice Cream Sandwich update for my unit. Keep up the great work, Google.

I wonder if they'll even be back-porting Ice Cream Sandwich for older devices. I'd imagine not since they'd need to customize it for the unsupportable features (e.g., software buttons need to be removed if physical buttons exist).

>> ^therealblankman:

I'm a (very happy) Nexus S user. I'll be skipping this particular generation of handset but am hugely looking forward to an Ice Cream Sandwich update for my unit. Keep up the great work, Google.


I wonder if they'll even be back-porting Ice Cream Sandwich for older devices. I'd imagine not since they'd need to customize it for the unsupportable features (e.g., software buttons need to be removed if physical buttons exist).

I'm a (very happy) Nexus S user. I'll be skipping this particular generation of handset but am hugely looking forward to an Ice Cream Sandwich update for my unit. Keep up the great work, Google.