Crime Fighter of the Day Last Month: Don't Mess With Apple Users
A New York woman solved a burglary crime on her own using mad computer skills. She and two roommates had their White Plains apartment burglarized in April. It sounds like they had a fun apartment. The thieves took "two laptops, two flat-screen televisions, two iPods, gaming consoles, DVDs and computer games."
One of the victims took the case into her own hands in May. From the Journal News:
On Tuesday, police said, one of the victims, who works at The Apple Store in The Westchester mall, received a call from a friend asking her if she was online. The victim said no, and was told by the friend that his computer showed her as being logged onto the Internet.At that point, police said, the victim signed onto another computer and used the "Back to My Mac" program to determine that her stolen MacIntosh laptop indeed was signed onto the Web and that someone was using it to shop online. She then activated the stolen computer's camera, allowing her to "see" what was in front of the laptop... [S]he was able to photograph a man, Shahikian, sitting in front of her stolen laptop...
The computer-savvy victim contacted police, gave them the tell-tale photos, and the arrests were made a short time later.
In the continuing debate over Apple or PC users being cooler, that's a point for Apple. Perhaps Apple can use this case as inspiration for its next round of "Mac guy" vs "PC guy" commercials, with PC guy spending hours filling out police paperwork while Mac guy hunts down the burglars.
Stolen laptop leads victim to alleged thieves [Journal News]
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Wow. My PC doesn't have any of those features.
Congrats, you got your lame mac back. Now go play in your band and drive your prius.
Congrats, you got your lame mac back. Now go play in your band and drive your prius.
Guys in my high school used Macs to solve crimes all the time. It was no big deal.
"mad computer skills"? kash, please update your lingo. it's not the 90s anymore.
I think this is a very cool/cute story!
MAC RULES!
Cool little story. Good to see a happy ending once in a while.
For those that did not get the sarcasm in the 12:45 post....
PCs have the same exact features. That's a software component and anyone with a PC could have done the same exact thing. There are several packages available that let you track your own computer's IP addresses, remote in, take cam shots etc etc. Nothing new for PCs.
For 12:45/1:13 - Sameness does not come in degrees ("the same exact thing"). Something is the same as something else, or it is not.
PCs are a superset that include both Windows-based machines and Macs. Thus, both 1:13 and 12:45 are moroons.
cam shots - thats sure to get kazinski excited
1:16 is the man, sitting in that Venable-NYC cubicle...
This is nothing new: http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2008/04/15/using-back-to-my-mac-to-catch-a-thief/
What's a Mac?
from a privacy standpoint, this makes me never ever want to use a computer ever again. can th mac people peep at me while i'm j**king off to porn?
1:27 - only when you're using someone else's computer. That could mean "never" or "all the time," depends on your style
1:16(2) - Thus you are the moron.
what is mac
12:55 -- Will you ever learn? Your not even funny.
12:53, you say that as if those were negative things?
Chaka Khan stole someone's laptop?
Good thing that all the guy was doing was shopping online... The pictures really could have been a lot worse.
1:38--thanks for the guidance. but not to get all paranoid n' stuff, if i can bust into my own computer to look at some thief who stole it, can't apple (provided i have a mac) bust into my computer and watch me jiggle my noodle or sort socks or read communist literature? am i wrong to be scared crapless of this?
"PCs have the same exact features. That's a software component and anyone with a PC could have done the same exact thing. "
Umm, I'm the person who wrote the first post and I wasn't being sarcastic. My PC doesn't have ANY of those features. There is no way I could use my PC's camera to take a pic of whoever is using it.
NEVER get a web cam. More people should adhere to that policy.
2:59
You can do it, you just need a pc or laptop that has an attached webcam, and some specific software which either comes with your computer or is purchased/downloaded separately. The reason it is so easy for Mac users is that all Macs come preloaded with the same software and setup, so most people who own a Mac know how to do this using the included software.
I think that if it were a PC that got stolen this story would have been a lot different. Certainly the ability is there to go find your PC on the Internet. But if Microsoft had gone and found that users PC for them they would have gotten tremendous negative publicity for being big brother, the Matrix, etc. Nobody wants Microsoft to know where their PC is, that's none of their business right? Mac sure has them painted into a corner right now.
Shahikian: "And I would have gotten away with it, if it wasn't for you meddling kids!"
Are these guys gay? Looks like they have the same rap sheet.