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Evan Blass

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Evan Blass
Evan Blass
Born1978 (age 45–46)
Occupation(s)Blogger, Editor, Phone leaker
Known for@evleaks

Evan Blass,[1][2] once known solely by his pen name @evleaks,[3][4][5] is an American blogger, editor, and phone leaker. He gained international notoriety for a series of numerous smartphone and tablet leaks on Twitter,[6] spanning the period July 2012 through August 2014, that made him a trusted source for many technology journalists.[7] Blass announced his retirement from leaking devices in a tweet on August 3, 2014,[8] although he soon returned to leaking under his pen name.

Evan Blass is a native of Allentown, Pennsylvania and is a graduate of Vassar College.

Career

[edit]

From 2005–2008, Blass held several positions at AOL-owned technology site Engadget, including senior editor,[9] before departing to write briefly for the now defunct technology publication Obsessable.[10] From 2010–2012, Blass was managing editor of mobile technology site Pocketnow.[9]

Blass was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2004, and in November 2013 was the subject of a report on The Verge documenting a controversial Walgreens policy pertaining to the dispensation of narcotic painkillers.[11]

On November 23, 2015, Blass started writing for VentureBeat.[12]

@evleaks Twitter account

[edit]

The account was started in July 2012,[13] or August 2012.[14]

For nearly a year, Blass maintained the @evleaks account anonymously[15] —while some of his colleagues knew of his identity, he purposely kept it hidden from the public at large. In June 2013, Blass fully revealed himself in an interview with Android Police,[16] citing the inevitability of being unmasked as the reason for his decision.

As @evleaks, Blass was responsible for posting images and information pertaining to unannounced smartphones, tablets, accessories,[17] applications,[18] laptops,[19] and a webOS-powered TV,[20] collectively leaked from nearly every mobile device maker and US wireless carrier, often weeks or even months before their launches. He was particularly adept at obtaining information and pictures about Taiwanese manufacturer HTC Corporation and one-time Finnish handset maker Nokia, reporting on numerous devices those two companies planned during his two-year stint of activity.[21] Additionally, he leaked materials about the Moto X (1st generation),[22] Moto E (1st generation),[23] Droid Ultra,[24] Droid Maxx,[25] and Droid Mini[26] from Motorola; the Nexus 4,[27] Nexus 5,[28] G2,[29] and G3[30] from LG; the Xperia Z,[31] Z1S,[32] Z2 tablet,[33] and Z3 from Sony;[34] and the first two Padfones[35][36] and Padfone mini[37] from Asus.

From May 2014 until his retirement, Blass attempted to monetize his leaks by publishing them on his own website, evleaks.at, deriving revenue through advertising sales.[38][39][40] Immediately following his retirement announcement, however, Blass conducted an interview with The Next Web[41] in which he recounted the problems he faced in trying to monetize a stream of Twitter leaks. Dozens of publications covered Blass's retirement,[42] most notably the weekly BBC technology show Click[7] and an accompanying BBC Online feature.[21]

Following his self-professed retirement, Blass has continued to leak phones, including the Moto X (2014)[43] (at the time assumed to be called the "Moto X+1"), Nexus 6,[44] and Droid Turbo,[45] all from Motorola.[46] He later also leaked the LG G Pad X, Microsoft Lumia 735[47] and Samsung Galaxy S6 Active.[48]

Wired magazine included Blass in its 2013 "101 Signals" list of "the best reporters, writers, and thinkers on the Internet."[49] The Times of India profiled Blass (as @evleaks) in its May 11, 2013 edition.[50]

In early 2016, Blass continued to leak accurate details of then-unreleased flagship smartphones Samsung Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge, LG G5, HTC 10 and Huawei P9 through tweets and VentureBeat articles. He continued to leak throughout the rest of the year, 2017 and 2018.

References

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  1. ^ Bush, Ian (9 August 2017). "Source: Here's A Look At The New iPhone 8". Archived from the original on 16 October 2017. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  2. ^ Ruddock, David (28 June 2013). "Evleaks Revealed: Android Police's Exclusive Interview With Evan Blass, The Man Behind @evleaks". Android Police. Archived from the original on 29 September 2017. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  3. ^ Palazuelos, Félix (24 August 2014). "La historia de Evleaks". Hipertextual (in European Spanish). Archived from the original on 19 July 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  4. ^ Tecnología, BBC Mundo. "El rey de las filtraciones tecnológicas revela sus secretos". BBC Mundo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 17 July 2017. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  5. ^ "Evan Blass: King of the leakers". BBC News. 23 August 2014. Archived from the original on 28 February 2017. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  6. ^ "Qui est Evan Blass, ce leaker vedette adulé par les fans de high-tech et détesté par les grandes marques ?". TechGuru (in French). 9 August 2016. Archived from the original on 28 April 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  7. ^ a b Kwek, Nick. "Evan Blass: 'My leaks give phones a buzz'". BBC. Archived from the original on 27 August 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  8. ^ Pelegrin, Williams (2014-08-04). "Popular device leaker @evleaks calls it quits (to find a more stable job)". Digital Trends. Archived from the original on 2014-11-29. Retrieved 2014-11-18.
  9. ^ a b "Well known tipster Evan Blass (aka @evleaks) announced he's retiring". India TV. 2014-08-04. Archived from the original on 2014-08-08. Retrieved 2014-11-18.
  10. ^ Chowdhry, Amit (2008-09-24). "Gadget Blog War Heats Up; Obsessable.com Taking On Engadget, CrunchGear, and Gizmodo". Pulse 2.0. Archived from the original on 2014-12-20. Retrieved 2014-11-18.
  11. ^ Toor, Amar (2013-11-22). "A renewed war on powerful pain meds threatens to hurt patients". The Verge. Archived from the original on 2014-08-07. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  12. ^ Brandão, Mário Rui André, João Ribeiro, Rita Pinto, Marco (28 March 2017). "@evleaks, o "estraga-surpresas" da tecnologia". Shifter (in European Portuguese). Archived from the original on 28 January 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ Singh, Jagmeet (18 September 2017). "The daring life of world's renowned tech leaker Evan Blass". International Business Times, Singapore Edition. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  14. ^ "Meet Evan Blass, the king of smartphone leaks". Killer Features. 7 October 2017. Archived from the original on 16 October 2017. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  15. ^ Patkar, Mir. "From the shadows". Times of India. Archived from the original on 11 October 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  16. ^ Ruddock, David. "Evleaks Revealed: Android Police's Exclusive Interview With Evan Blass, The Man Behind @evleaks". Android Police. Archived from the original on 2014-08-15. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  17. ^ Whitney, Lance (2014-03-13). "Razer iPhone game controller leaked online". CNET. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  18. ^ Richardson, Aaron (2014-02-20). "Is Apple About to Let You Replace your On-Screen Keyboard in iOS?". n3rdabl3. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  19. ^ Pena, David (2014-03-02). "Evleaks Posts Image of the Samsung Chromebook 2". AndroidSPIN. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  20. ^ Mlot, Stephanie (2014-01-02). "Photo of LG WebOS TV Leaks Ahead of CES". PCMag. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  21. ^ a b Kelion, Leo. "Evan Blass: King of the leakers". BBC. Archived from the original on 23 August 2014. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
  22. ^ @evleaks (2013-07-20). "Motorola Moto X: First Press Shots". TheUnlockr. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  23. ^ Kleinman, Jacob (2014-05-12). "White Moto E Leaks Ahead of Tomorrow's Announcement". TechnoBuffalo. Archived from the original on 2014-07-17. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  24. ^ Ruddock, David. "Evleaks Reveals The DROID Ultra In Full Press Shot Glory, And Yes, There Is A Lot Of Carbon Fiber (And A New Kind Of Camera?)". Android Police. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  25. ^ Seifert, Dan (2013-07-06). "Motorola Droid Maxx for Verizon pictured in leaked image". The Verge. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  26. ^ Graziano, Dan (2013-07-10). "Droid mini photo reveals Motorola's new smartphones". BGR. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  27. ^ Smith, Chris (2012-10-24). "LG Nexus 4 press photo (ev)leaks, showing Nexus branding and Google Now with Google Maps card [Update]". Android Authority. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  28. ^ Kastrenakes, Jacob (2013-10-27). "Google's white Nexus 5 appears in leaked images". The Verge. Archived from the original on 2014-08-02. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  29. ^ Smith, Chris. "Is this mystery LG device the Nexus 5 or Optimus G2?". TechRadar. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  30. ^ Nagy, Anton (2014-07-05). "Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile LG G3 versions leaked". Pocketnow. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  31. ^ @evleaks (2013-01-01). "Sony Xperia Z: first press shot for the full HD flagship". Unwired View. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  32. ^ Staff. "Sony Xperia Z1S press image leaks". GSMArena. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  33. ^ Swamy, Rohan (2014-02-18). "Sony Xperia Tablet Z2 spotted in purported press renders". NDTV. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  34. ^ Page, Carly (2014-07-23). "Sony Xperia Z3 leak reveals near identical specs to the Xperia Z2". The Inquirer. Archived from the original on 2014-07-29. Retrieved 2014-08-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  35. ^ White, Charlie (2011-05-29). "Asus PadFone Tablet Hides Smartphone Inside". Mashable. Archived from the original on 2014-07-07. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  36. ^ Wong, Raymond (2012-10-15). "ASUS Padfone 2 images leak out ahead of October 16th announcement". Yahoo! News. Archived from the original on 2014-11-29. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  37. ^ Lawler, Richard. "ASUS PadFone Mini 4.3 pictured ahead of its launch next week". Engadget. Archived from the original on 2014-08-10. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  38. ^ "Evan Blass aka @evleaks, leaks his own retirement on Twitter". Christian Today. 2014-08-07. Retrieved 2014-11-19.
  39. ^ "Evleaks - Tomorrow's news, yesterday". Internet Archive. 2014-08-30. Archived from the original on August 29, 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-19.
  40. ^ "evleaks.at Site Overview". Alexa.com. 2014-11-19. Archived from the original on 2015-02-15. Retrieved 2014-11-19.
  41. ^ Russell, Jon (2014-08-03). "Why @Evleaks is Giving Up Reporting Phone Scoops". The Next Web. Archived from the original on 2014-08-08. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  42. ^ "Evan Blass explains why he's leaving tech news and retiring @evleaks, a source of phone scoops (Jon Russell/The Next Web)". Techmeme. Archived from the original on 2014-08-06. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  43. ^ Walter, Derek (2014-08-22). "Behold @evleaks' 'retirement gift': A crystal clear Moto X+1 leak". Greenbot. Archived from the original on 2014-11-29. Retrieved 2014-11-18.
  44. ^ Mohan, Komal (2014-10-15). "Google all set to launch Nexus 6, Nexus 9: Report". Times of India. Archived from the original on 2014-10-18. Retrieved 2014-11-17.
  45. ^ Epstein, Zach (2014-10-20). "This is the new Droid Turbo, and it looks amazing". BGR. Archived from the original on 2014-11-25. Retrieved 2014-11-17.
  46. ^ Blass, Evan (2014-11-17). "The Unlikely Resurgence of Motorola". Know Your Mobile. Archived from the original on 2014-11-19. Retrieved 2014-11-17.
  47. ^ T., Florin (2015-05-13). "PhoneArena". Meet the LG G Pad X and Microsoft Lumia 735 (both for Verizon). Archived from the original on 2015-05-15. Retrieved 2015-05-13.
  48. ^ T., Florin (2015-05-13). "PhoneArena". New Samsung Galaxy S6 Active renders show the phone's camouflage versions. Archived from the original on 2015-05-15. Retrieved 2015-05-13.
  49. ^ Staff (2013-08-15). "101 Signals: You Only Need to Listen to 16 People to Know What's Up in the Tech World | Gadget Lab". WIRED. Archived from the original on 2014-08-20. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  50. ^ Patkar, Mihir (2013-05-11). "From the Shadows". Times of India. Archived from the original on 2014-11-29. Retrieved 2014-08-10.