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Evan Blass

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Evan Nelson Blass
Head shot of Evan Blass
Occupation(s)Blogger, Editor, Phone leaker
Known forFounding @evleaks

Evan Nelson Blass, once known solely by his pen name @evleaks, is an American blogger, editor, and former phone leaker. He gained international notoriety for a series of numerous highly accurate[1] smartphone and tablet leaks on Twitter, spanning the period July 2012 through August 2014. Blass announced his retirement from leaking devices in a tweet on Twitter on August 3, 2014.[2]

Early career

From 2005-2008, Blass held several positions at AOL-owned technology site Engadget, including senior editor,[3] before departing to write briefly for the now defunct technology publication Obsessable.[4] From 2010-2012, Blass was managing editor of mobile technology site Pocketnow.[3]

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.[5]

@evleaks

For nearly a year, Blass maintained the @evleaks account anonymously—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,[6] 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,[7] applications,[8] laptops,[9][10] and a webOS-powered TV,[11] 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.[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] Additionally, he leaked materials about the Moto X,[23] Moto E,[24] Droid Ultra,[25] Droid Maxx,[26] and Droid Mini[27] from Motorola; the Nexus 4,[28] Nexus 5,[29] G2,[30] and G3[31][32][33][34][35] from LG; the Xperia Z,[36] Z1S,[37] Z2 tablet,[38] and Z3 from Sony;[39][40] and the first two Padfones[41][42] and Padfone mini[43] 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.[44][45][46] Immediately following his retirement announcement, however, Blass conducted an interview with The Next Web[47] in which he recounted the problems he faced in trying to monetize a stream of Twitter leaks. Dozens of publications covered Blass's retirement,[48] most notably the weekly BBC technology show Click[49] and an accompanying BBC online feature.[50]

Following his retirement, Blass has continued to leak phones, including the Moto X (2014) (at the time assumed to be called the "Moto X+1"), Nexus 6, and Droid Turbo, all from Motorola.[51][52][53][54]

Wired magazine included Blass in its 2013 "101 Signals" list of "the best reporters, writers, and thinkers on the Internet."[55] Times of India profiled Blass (as @evleaks) in its May 11, 2013 edition.[56]

References

  1. ^ "Evleaks". Sorsed. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  2. ^ Pelegrin, Williams (2014-08-04). "Popular device leaker @evleaks calls it quits (to find a more stable job)". Digital Trends. Retrieved 2014-11-18.
  3. ^ a b "Well known tipster Evan Blass (aka @evleaks) announced he's retiring". India TV. 2014-08-04. Retrieved 2014-11-18.
  4. ^ Chowdhry, Amit (2008-09-24). "Gadget Blog War Heats Up; Obsessable.com Taking On Engadget, CrunchGear, and Gizmodo". Pulse 2.0. Retrieved 2014-11-18.
  5. ^ Toor, Amar (2013-11-22). "A renewed war on powerful pain meds threatens to hurt patients". The Verge. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  6. ^ Ruddock, David. "Evleaks Revealed: Android Police's Exclusive Interview With Evan Blass, The Man Behind @evleaks". Android Police. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  7. ^ Whitney, Lance (2014-03-13). "Razer iPhone game controller leaked online". CNET. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  8. ^ Richardson, Aaron (2014-02-20). "Is Apple About to Let You Replace your On-Screen Keyboard in iOS?". n3rdabl3. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  9. ^ Pena, David (2014-03-02). "Evleaks Posts Image of the Samsung Chromebook 2". AndroidSPIN. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  10. ^ Parrish, Kevin. "Rumor: HP is Working on a Gaming Laptop". Tom's Hardware. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  11. ^ Mlot, Stephanie (2014-01-02). "Photo of LG WebOS TV Leaks Ahead of CES". PCMag. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  12. ^ Welch, Chris (2013-01-16). "First leaked image of HTC's rumored M7 flagship Android phone surfaces". The Verge. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  13. ^ Sinha, Robin (2014-02-20). "HTC One successor 'M8' aka 'All New One' leaked in Gold colour variant". NDTV. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  14. ^ Constantinescu, Stefan (2013-05-01). "Leak: The HTC M4, brought to you by @evleaks". Android Beat. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  15. ^ Mlot, Stephanie (2014-05-05). "Leaked HTC One Mini 2 Photo Highlights Colors, Camera". PCMag. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  16. ^ Subramaniam, Nikhil (2013-04-03). "HTC First, the Facebook phone, leaks ahead of April 4 announcement". Tech2. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  17. ^ Sarafolean, Nick. "HTC One Remix image leak shows Verizon logos". Android and Me. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  18. ^ Hatchimonji, Grant (2011-05-24). "Alleged Nokia Lumia 820 and 920 Images Leak Via Twitter". Brighthand. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  19. ^ Callaham, John. "Supposed Nokia Lumia 520 and 720 images leak". Neowin. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  20. ^ Blagdon, Jeff (2013-07-03). "Leaked 'Nokia Lumia 1020' image reveals 'Pro Cam' and AT&T branding (update)". The Verge. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  21. ^ Rougeau, Michael. "Hot-rod red Lumia 1520 revs its engines in Twitter photo leak". TechRadar. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  22. ^ Hassleton, Todd (2013-10-21). "Nokia Lumia 1320 Leaked As Yet Another Windows Phone Phablet". TechnoBuffalo. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  23. ^ @evleaks (2013-07-20). "Motorola Moto X: First Press Shots". TheUnlockr. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  24. ^ Kleinman, Jacob (2014-05-12). "White Moto E Leaks Ahead of Tomorrow's Announcement". TechnoBuffalo. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  25. ^ 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. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  26. ^ Seifert, Dan (2013-07-06). "Motorola Droid Maxx for Verizon pictured in leaked image". The Verge. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  27. ^ Graziano, Dan (2013-07-10). "Droid mini photo reveals Motorola's new smartphones". BGR. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  28. ^ 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. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  29. ^ Kastrenakes, Jacob (2013-10-27). "Google's white Nexus 5 appears in leaked images". The Verge. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  30. ^ Smith, Chris. "Is this mystery LG device the Nexus 5 or Optimus G2?". TechRadar. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  31. ^ Arora, Hitesh (2014-05-16). "LG G3 to Sport Laser Autofocus Sensor, Hit Shelves by June-End: Reports". NDTV. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  32. ^ Tim-o-tato (2014-05-06). "Closeup of the LG G3 Backside Shows Off Brushed Metallic Aesthetic". Droid Life. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  33. ^ Nagy, Anton (2014-07-05). "Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile LG G3 versions leaked". Pocketnow. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  34. ^ Chavez, Chris (2014-05-19). "LG G3 Quick Window lockscreen widgets leaked". Phandroid. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  35. ^ Kersey, Ian (2014-06-11). "LG G3 Tipped to Land on Verizon July 17th". Intomobile. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  36. ^ @evleaks (2013-01-01). "Sony Xperia Z: first press shot for the full HD flagship". Unwired View. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  37. ^ Staff. "Sony Xperia Z1S press image leaks". GSMArena. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  38. ^ Swamy, Rohan (2014-02-18). "Sony Xperia Tablet Z2 spotted in purported press renders". NDTV. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  39. ^ Page, Carly (2014-07-23). "Sony Xperia Z3 leak reveals near identical specs to the Xperia Z2". The Inquirer. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  40. ^ Tyson, Daniel. "Sony Xperia Z3 shows off for the cameras again". Ausdroid. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  41. ^ White, Charlie (2011-05-29). "Asus PadFone Tablet Hides Smartphone Inside". Mashable. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  42. ^ Wong, Raymond (2012-10-15). "ASUS Padfone 2 images leak out ahead of October 16th announcement". Yahoo! News. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  43. ^ Lawler, Richard. "ASUS PadFone Mini 4.3 pictured ahead of its launch next week". Engadget. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  44. ^ "Evan Blass aka @evleaks, leaks his own retirement on Twitter". Christian Today. 2014-08-07. Retrieved 2014-11-19.
  45. ^ "Evleaks - Tomorrow's news, yesterday". Internet Archive. 2014-08-30. Retrieved 2014-11-19.
  46. ^ "evleaks.at Site Overview". Alexa.com. 2014-11-19. Retrieved 2014-11-19.
  47. ^ Russell, Jon (2014-08-03). "Why @Evleaks is Giving Up Reporting Phone Scoops". The Next Web. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  48. ^ "Evan Blass explains why he's leaving tech news and retiring @evleaks, a source of phone scoops (Jon Russell/The Next Web)". Techmeme. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  49. ^ Kwek, Nick. "Evan Blass: 'My leaks give phones a buzz'". BBC. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  50. ^ Kelion, Leo. "Evan Blass: King of the leakers". BBC. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
  51. ^ Walter, Derek (2014-08-22). "Behold @evleaks' 'retirement gift': A crystal clear Moto X+1 leak". Greenbot. Retrieved 2014-11-18.
  52. ^ Mohan, Komal (2014-10-15). "Google all set to launch Nexus 6, Nexus 9: Report". Times of India. Retrieved 2014-11-17.
  53. ^ Epstein, Zach (2014-10-20). "This is the new Droid Turbo, and it looks amazing". BGR. Retrieved 2014-11-17.
  54. ^ Blass, Evan (2014-11-17). "The Unlikely Resurgence of Motorola". Know Your Mobile. Retrieved 2014-11-17.
  55. ^ 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. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  56. ^ Patkar, Mihir (2013-05-11). "From the Shadows". Times of India. Retrieved 2014-08-10.

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