Cell phones have shitty mics (because physics). You would need a condenser microphone for low level noises. Around $100. TV camera crews have them, not even one stood around waiting for the sounds?
Even better, hang it from a 20' cable below a drone and fly it over. Stream the audio back in case they somehow manage to disable the drone. I'm sure lots of people in the Bay Area have the equipment right now to do this, just a matter of if anyone cares.
In a few years we'll just have autonomous micro-drones flying directly into Apple's secret buildings streaming video back.
Looks like a small data center under construction by converting an existing building. Large amounts of HVAC equipment for the size of the building. Cooling towers. Big fuel tank. Cummins Diesel emergency generator, size around 1MW. Lots of electrical conduit on outside of building.[1] Picnic area and half basketball court. Several construction trailers on site, so some remodeling is going on. Beeping trucks and bangi…
A residential area in Sunnyvale seems like an inopportune place to put a data center.
Why? Not an expert on DC location or construction. What makes it any better or worse than somewhere else?
Cell phones have shitty mics (because physics). You would need a condenser microphone for low level noises. Around $100. TV camera crews have them, not even one stood around waiting for the sounds?
Even better, hang it from a 20' cable below a drone and fly it over. Stream the audio back in case they somehow manage to disable the drone. I'm sure lots of people in the Bay Area have the equipment right now to do this, just a matter of if anyone cares.
That would hardly explain the hypervigilant security people harassing bystanders on public property and thoroughfares.
Isn't hypervigilant security normal for Apple?
No: I cut through parking lots and walk right next to lots of other Apple buildings in Sunnyvale. Occasionally I would see a guard in a car, but I'd never get stopped or questioned.
Even better, hang it from a 20' cable below a drone and fly it over. Stream the audio back in case they somehow manage to disable the drone. I'm sure lots of people in the Bay Area have the equipment right now to do this, just a matter of if anyone cares.
In a few years we'll just have autonomous micro-drones flying directly into Apple's secret buildings streaming video back.
a few years? who's to say it's not already happening?
Sure. That's why you don't build an electrolysis cell in a location where electricity is (sometimes) scarce. I'm half thinking that this is all shadow games, Apple having two guys running around and making mechanic-sounding noises to stir up the rumor mill. Mainly because a) making cars isn't really something that produces a lot of noise and b) because you don't put your real skunk works in a residential area. But yo…
Lockheed Martin might have OPSEC needs that require building a fake skunkworks, but Apple certainly does not. One imagines they put it in the suburbs because it was an area which is convenient to commute to, which was a boon to recruitment.
They might not need it for OPSEC, but they do have a stock price to worry about. Financial analysts are making increasingly frequent statements that Apple needs a new market to be the game-changer in if they are to sustain their growth, and Cook has said that anything car-related and groundbreaking will, if it exists, be relatively far into the future. Thus the need to stoke the rumor mill.