这辆豪华微面的照片最初被张贴到旧金山东部湾区克莱顿和康科德地区的地方新闻站点Claycord.com上。这辆微面看起来有点像拍摄谷歌（Google）街景的那种车子，只不过略大一些。断言它是一辆无人驾驶汽车的人名叫罗布•恩德勒，他是一位经常上电视的评论员，他的工作就是专门做一些对苹果的不靠谱预测。

    CBS电视台在当地的分台KPIX TV电视台随后称，这辆微面是被租给苹果公司的。但这也是一个无法查证的事实，因为机动车管理部门是不会发布此类信息的，在没有合法理由的情况下，也不会透露给私人调查者。（我知道，因为我尝试过。）

    就在此时，《商业内幕》（Business Insider）杂志也开始炒作此事。

    • 有一辆神秘的苹果面包车围着旧金山转悠。

    • 这辆神秘的苹果面包车顶部的摄像头可以用于无人驾驶汽车。

    • 苹果员工：我们正在研制一种“能和特斯拉一比高下的产品”。

    • 谣言：苹果已经从特斯拉挖来了一票人马，并且正在研制汽车。

    亨利•布罗吉特的《商业内幕》在一系列谣传的基础上拼凑出一篇报道后，“三人成虎”的效应开始放大，记者朋友们一定要谨慎转发。令我惊讶的是知名撰稿人约翰•格鲁伯居然也提到了此事。

    我的观点：纯属谣传。（财富中文网）

    译者：朴成奎

    The photo — of a tricked-out minivan — was posted by Claycord.com, a local news site for the East Bay San Francisco suburbs of Clayton and Concord. The thing looked to me like one of Google’s street-mapping cars, only bigger.

    The assertion — that it’s a self-driving car — was made by Rob Enderle, a TV-friendly pundit who has made a career of being wrong about Apple.

    The uncheckable fact — that the van was rented out to Apple — came from KPIX TV, the local CBS affiliate. It’s uncheckable because motor vehicle departments don’t release that kind of information, even to a private investigator, without a legitimate reason. (I know, I’ve tried.)

    From there, Business Insider ran with it.

    • There’s a mysterious Apple van driving around San Francisco

    • It turns out those cameras on top of the mystery Apple van COULD be used for a self driving car

    • Apple employee: We’re working on something that will ‘give Tesla a run for its money’

    • RUMOR: Apple has poached a bunch of people from Tesla, and it IS making a car

    When Henry Blodget’s news organization labels as “rumor” a story built on a tissue of rumors they themselves have been spinning, journalists should tread carefully. I’m surprised John Gruber touched it.

    My take: Don’t hold your breath.