Apple’s line of portable devices started way back in 2001 with the release of the first-gen iPod. Over the next few years, Apple made quite a few versions of the iPod for the consumers to enjoy their favorite music without the bulky walkmans of that time. However, according to a recent anecdote shared by a former iPod engineer, the Cupertino tech giant made a super-secret iPod version for the USA’s Department of Energy (DOE).
So, according to the story, Shayer did not have a major role in this project other than to guide the two engineers, Paul and Matthew from a division of Bechtel, which is a large defense contractor to the Department of Energy.
To this day, no one knows what this custom iPod was actually for. However, according to Shayer’s guess, “Paul and Matthew were building something like a stealth Geiger counter. Something that DOE agents could use without furtively hiding it. Something that looked innocuous, that played music, and functioned exactly like a normal iPod. You could walk around a city, casually listening to your tunes, while recording evidence of radioactivity—scanning for smuggled or stolen uranium, for instance, or evidence of a dirty bomb development program—with no chance that the press or public would get wind of what was happening”.
Absolutely spot on David Shayer…This project was real w/o a doubt.There was whole surreal drama & interesting story about how this project was kicked off & then kept secret.
