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Tracking Thieves With 'Find my iPhone'
An anonymous reader wrote in to say "A friend of mine who just got an iPhone 3GS and has Mobile Me just used the "Find my iPhone" feature to track down his lost and subsequently stolen iPhone. This story involves three nerds wandering sketchy streets with a MacBook, and ends with a confrontation at a bus stop."
I would have been somewhat amused if their laptop got stolen as well. Yes, I know I'm a terrible person.
In other related news, the number of deaths among tech nerds increased this month, some officials believe as a direct result of iPhone owners attempting to retrieve their stolen phones from violent thugs.
When stealing electronic equipment immediately disable all radios or remove all batteries.
While I'm at it remember to never plug it into any network until I'm sure it's not going to phone home.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
perhaps because you have a self deprecating sense of humor?
amongst other things, i'm an American of predominately Scottish and Dutch descent, and i refer to myself by a large variety of slurs.
maybe we'd all be better off as a society if everyone just took a chill pill and enjoyed a good laugh at our own and each others' shared expense without getting so wrapped up in labels that most people don't even know the origin of.
"If still these truths be held to be
Self evident."
-Edna St. Vincent Millay
I tend to agree with you, but I live in Chicago a few files from the area he's talking about. I been there a few times. Generally in our big cities and Chicago for sure, race or ethnicity can matter - more so in some neighborhoods than in others. It's a fact relevant to the story. I suppose he dwelled on it a bit to heighten the drama for his readers - playing on their own fears/prejudices. If he were a black man writing about 3 black geeks in a white or hispanic neighborhood would you have been offended?
Very often, people confuse simple with simplistic. The nuance is lost on most. - Clement Mok
I'd prefer to lose my phone and shell out another $500 then receive a violent beat down at the hands of some street thug.
Why would you want to receive a violent beat down at the hands of some street thug?
I'd prefer to just lose my phone and shell out another $500 than receive a violent beat down at the hands of some street thug.
My other account has a 3-digit UID.
Author here.
First, I was being self-deprecating, since I felt like the opposite of a badass iPhone tracker as we walked up and down this block.
Second, ethnicity is completely relevant to the story in that we were out of our element and quite visible prowling up and down the street with our laptop. The stares of the local residents confirmed this.
Third, other than the self-deprecation, I don't believe I said a single negative thing about anyone's race.
Being dead, he clearly could not.
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
In the future history of Star Trek, mankind was only able to evolve beyond petty political correctness with the Zephram Cochrane's 2nd most famous invention: anti-wadding panties. When no one was able to get their panties in a wad, everyone was finally able to relax and stop being personally wounded by silly words. See also: Zephram Cochrane's business rival, the invention of Skin Thickiner. Never made it to market because the FDA wouldn't approve over the counter DNA therapy. Some say Cochrane used a portion of his crazy warp-drive money to bribe FDA officials. We may never know.
This is the type of pedantry that keeps me coming back to Slashdot.
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
While on a business trip to New York, actually just Long Island, I drove back to the airport down the Long Island Expressway. My Memory is not exact here but I needed to re-fill the rental car with gas and never having been in this particular area before I waited until I could see a gas station from the road. That was not an easy task but I think I was somewhere in Queens (near Kennedy airport but not too close) when I pulled off the road. Assuming that there was no danger of violence I pulled into said gas station and when I went to pay for the gas I was told by the attendant, "get your gas and get the hell out of here fast if you want to keep your hide in one piece" , and so I did and so I did. But making assumptions of no danger of violence has gotten people into trouble that don't know the character of the neighborhood in L.A , Louisiana, Alabama and other places as well.
Why bother
Unless that phone contains their next clue!
Obviously you should be using Apple juice...