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George Hotz, or GeoHot if we're to use one of his more familiar aliases, made a name for himself in the hacking world by creating jailbreak software for Apple's iPhone. But when spotted by BusinessInsider at Backplane, a startup funded by Lady Gaga, he introduced himself as the hacker who was sued by Sony, a distinction he earned after cracking the PlayStation 3's security key. He did not introduce himself as a Facebook employee.
According to BusinessInsider, Hotz no longer works at Facebook. It's unclear whether he quit or was terminated, but it's evident he hasn't lost his passion for hacking, which is what he does in his free time these days. It's also unclear whether he now works for Backplane, or simply dropped by the startup's first hackathon event. What exactly is Backplane?
"Backplane will provide a platform and tools for communities to socialize and communicate on a more focused level," Lady Gaga's business manager, Troy Carter, explained to the New York Times.
It's meant to power communities around specific interests, such as musicians and sports teams, and seeks to integrate social feeds from the likes of Facebook, Twitter, and others. Put more simply, it's a social network for celebrities with funding also coming from former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, according to the Huffington Post.
Hotz may have left his A-game with Facebook, or maybe he's just a little rusty. During the hackathon event, his app lost out to a couple of high school students.
Comments are closed on this article
bjoswald
January 26, 2012 at 8:42am
Lady Gaga ... oh man, the jokes could go on forever. Hotz is a big enough douche for both of them.
Nimrod
January 25, 2012 at 3:17pm
An overnight hero for his achievements in hacking.
Instantly losses all street cred for being associated with Lady Gaga.
And dont try and tell me this doesnt make him less of a hacker. First selling out to Facebook, now this shit? Hes a corporate shill if there ever was one.
kixofmyg0t
January 25, 2012 at 6:43pm
"Hacking"....please. Don't give this guy that credit.
Not only did he sell out to fb after taking peoples money to "fight" Sony....but he was FIRED from fb. Within a couple weeks of hiring "Geohot" ,fb's Android app went to shit.
Tell me why we need a separate app for fb IM when the normal app is supposed to have it? Pretty simple. Hotz touched it.
tekknyne
January 25, 2012 at 10:10am
Lady Gaga's company reminds me of a line from Office Space:
So what exactly do you do again?
"Well look, I already told you! I deal with the god**mn customers so the engineers don't have to! I have people skills! I am good at dealing with people! Can't you understand that? What the heck is wrong with you people?"
