Apple Lawyer Tells Valleywag to “Knock It Off”

By Dena Cassella Published January 27, 2010

Apple’s top secret—and technically unconfirmed—tablet PC has been flooding the Web with rumors all week. Tech blog Valleywag decided to up the ante on the mythical tablet and initiated an Apple Tablet Scavenger Hunt. Valleywag announced it was offering a $10,000 reward for “bona fide” pictures of the tablet, $20,000 for a video, $50,000 for pictures or video of Apple CEO Steve Jobs holding the tablet, and $100,000 “to let us play with one for an hour.”

Apple was not pleased with the site and told its legal representative Michael Spillner of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe to warn Valleywag—which he did, in the polite form of a letter. “While Apple values and appreciates vibrant public commentary about its products, we believe you and your company crossed the line by offering a bounty for the theft of Apple’s trade secrets,” read the letter, which was quoted in The Wall Street Journal. “Such an offer is illegal and Apple insists that you immediately discontinue the Scavenger Hunt.”

Recommended Videos

Unaffected by the legality of the issue, Valleywag confirmed on its site that it was still offering prizes for the tablet information and that “we can’t tell Apple who you are if we don’t know who you are.”

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Haole built. O'ahu grown

Computing

The Apple MacBook Air M2 is still great, and it’s on sale at $350 off

The screen of the MacBook Air M2.

Apple fans who have been waiting for a huge discount from MacBook deals shouldn't miss this chance to buy the 13.6-inch model of the Apple MacBook Air M2 with a 512GB SSD for $749 instead of its original price of $1,099. You have until March 23 to take advantage of $350 in savings, but with the immense popularity of this line of laptops, it's possible that the stocks that are up for sale are already gone by tomorrow. Don't hesitate -- proceed with your purchase immediately!

Why you should buy the Apple MacBook Air M2
At almost three years old, the 13.6-inch model of the Apple MacBook Air M2 remains on our list of the best MacBooks as the best budget MacBook. The laptop "balances size and performance in a way no other laptop can," as we described it in our review, with its incredibly thin and lightweight design making it worthy of its Air moniker. The 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display is simply gorgeous with its vivid colors and sharp details, which makes it perfect for working on projects and catching up on streaming shows.

Computing

Here’s how Apple’s first foldable MacBook might win me over

The Zenbook Fold 17 open on a table.

Rumors have persisted for years now that Apple is working on a touchscreen MacBook, but I’ve never been truly convinced. For one thing, I don’t see how a touchscreen could improve my MacBook experience enough to justify the inevitable price rise. This is Apple we’re talking about, after all, and there’s just no way that a touchscreen MacBook will possibly come cheap.

As well as that, I’ve long agreed with Steve Jobs’ belief that adding a touchscreen to a regular MacBook is an ergonomic nightmare. Constantly reaching up to the display is a quick way to exhaust your arms, and paining its users isn’t really part of Apple’s playbook. The Mac operating system isn’t designed for touch either, and in any case, adding a touchscreen would result in all manner of greasy fingerprints on your monitor. It’s never seemed like a good idea to me.

Computing

Lenovo just knocked over $2,000 off this ThinkPad laptop

A person working on the Lenovo ThinkPad P16v Gen 2 Mobile Workstation.

If you need a new laptop that focuses on performance, you're going to want to check out Lenovo's offer for the Lenovo ThinkPad P16v Gen 2 Mobile Workstation. It's on sale for $2,059, which is 50% less than its estimated value of $4,119, but likely not for long. The $2,060 in savings is among the largest that you can get from today's laptop deals, but you'll have to hurry with your purchase of this powerful device because it may go back to its regular price as soon as tomorrow.

Why you should buy the Lenovo ThinkPad P16v Gen 2 Mobile Workstation
Lenovo inherited the ThinkPad line of laptops from IBM, and maintained its iconic look, sturdy design, and business-focused features, according to our explainer of the Lenovo brands. The Lenovo ThinkPad P16v Gen 2 Mobile Workstation is a slightly less powerful version of the Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 2, but in exchange for a more affordable price that's even lower from Lenovo's sale. The device is still very much capable of meeting the needs of most people though, as it's equipped with the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor, the Nvidia RTX 1000 Ada graphics card, and 32GB of RAM that our guide on how much RAM do you need says is the sweet spot for professionals.