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Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
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Gone in 31 seconds - 31 MacBook Pros, 14 iPhones and 9 iPods

By | September 3, 2009, 4:03am PDT

Thieves armed with a brick made off with armloads of high tech products from an Apple Store in Marlton, NJ.

Here’s the video footage of the raid:

Thieves made off with 31 MacBook Pros, 14 iPhones and 9 iPods.

The whole thing feels amateurish to me. After all, Apple is going to have the serial numbers of everything logged. Not only that, but the MAC addresses and IMEI numbers too. Someone walks into an Apple store Genius Bar with any of this kit and all manner of sirens will go off. Also notice how the thieves don’t grab chargers …

On top of that, the SIM trays on most iPhones I’ve seen in Apple stores are glued solid making them next to useless.

Oh, and I love the line from the news footage:

“Watch again, as the thieves show skilled practice at the art of bringing down that plate glass door …”

Wow! Glass breaks when hit by a brick … really? What will I be told next, that water is wet and fire is hot?

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Topics

Apple iPhone, Apple iPod, Apple MacBook, Apple Inc., Thief, Apple MacBook Pro, Smart Phones, Corporate Communications, Notebooks, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Marketing, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

Disclosure

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

All opinions expressed on Hardware 2.0 are those of Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. Every effort is made to ensure that the information posted is accurate. If you have any comments, queries or corrections, please contact Adrian via the email link here. Any possible conflicts of interest will be posted below. [Updated: February 23, 2010] - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other actual/potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted so far on this blog.

Biography

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology -- whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera.

Adrian has authored/co-authored technical books on a variety of topics, ranging from programming to building and maintaining PCs. His most recent books include "Build the Ultimate Custom PC", "Beginning Programming" and "The PC Doctor's Fix It Yourself Guide". He has also written training manuals that have been used by a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Adrian also runs a popular blog under the name The PC Doctor, where he covers a range of computer-related topics -- from security to repairing and upgrading.

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RE: Gone in 31 seconds - 31 MacBook Pros, 14 iPhones and 9 iPods
RandomCake 4th Sep 2009
"Also notice how the thieves don?t grab chargers"

-- That's exactly what makes them smart, 5 robbers stole more than $30,000 worth of hardware at a rate of over $1,000 a second, if they'd gone for the chargers that would have added at least 3 seconds for each bit of kit (aren't the chargers attached to the desks as well?), and they'd have been in the store for 3 minutes, instead of 31 seconds!

I have to say they *did* execute their crime with perfect percision, what would Mr Kingsley-Hughes have prefered they broke the window with? I think a brick suited their purpose perfectly.

RandomCake
View in thread
0 Votes
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Haha
JMGM 3rd Sep 2009
That's not counting apple's new feature: exploding ipods! I guess these boys are in for a surprise very soon.
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Too bad for them that they stole iPhones. They may want to return them.
IT_Guy_z 3rd Sep 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/technology/companies/03att.html?_r=1&hp
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Who ever said criminals were a smart bunch?
Stan57 3rd Sep 2009
Who ever said criminals were a smart bunch?? Prisons are filled to capacity with the smart criminals.
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LOL
GuidingLight 3rd Sep 2009
In truth, the smart criminals do not get caught. wink
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They would only be dumb
Michael Kelly 3rd Sep 2009
if they used these devices themselves.

Now if they sold them to unsuspecting people and turned around and bought their own devices legally, THAT would be smart. Of course the unsuspecting people who buy them would not be so smart.
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I wonder...
zkiwi 3rd Sep 2009
If this stuff (apart from the iPods) have that lo-jack stuff that enables folk to trace their location.
0 Votes
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$29 and an hour fixes that
use_what_works_4_U 3rd Sep 2009
Buy Snow Leopard disc, erase the HDD and reinstall the OS.
0 Votes
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Won't work
MariusSilverwolf 3rd Sep 2009
CompuTrace and other tracking programs are embedded in the ROM. Wiping the HDD doesn't always remove them. You need to flash the logic board with a non-tracking ROM version to remove them entirely.
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Excellent
use_what_works_4_U 3rd Sep 2009
That's good to know, thanks!
0 Votes
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Hmmm...
zkiwi 3rd Sep 2009
I wonder if they'll be caught by the suspicious act of wanting a bunch of power adapters.
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I wonder...
Ed Woychowsky 3rd Sep 2009
If any of the iPhones or iPods explode, will the theives sue Apple?
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Should be on ebay in... 5.. 4.. 3.. 2..
UncleBubba 3rd Sep 2009
.
0 Votes
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Apple and Glass that doesn't break?
rdupuy11 3rd Sep 2009
I was going to say, maybe Apple needs to use their inventiveness to come up with some glass that wouldn't break with a brick.

But then again, maybe this isn't Apple's strong point, maybe they first need to invent some glass that doesn't break on its own.
0 Votes
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Or
I Hate Malware 3rd Sep 2009
wait for Microsoft to invent it, wait three years, rename it and claim it as their own.
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Its already been done
biz@... 3rd Sep 2009
There is a polycarbonate film that can be attached to glass that makes it extremely difficult to break. It would take a lot more than a brick. It has been in use in terrorism-prone areas for many years.
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"Spectacular"?
wcb42ad 3rd Sep 2009
What's really sad is that the news video and commentary are very sensationalized. It sounds more like a TV sports show than a breaking news story. The "spectacular" footage of these criminals breaking in will only inspire others to similar tactics I'm thinking.
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Strategic thievery?
twirth5 3rd Sep 2009
Apparently, these crooks are smart enough to recognize which products have the best resale value!
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Products with best resale value?
I Hate Malware 3rd Sep 2009
Maybe, but only because mac users overly inflated egos hold prices much higher than its true value and what it should be in reality.If they wanted stuff that just worked out of the box then they would have broken into a pc store with MS installed on the computers. Flame on.
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RE: Gone in 31 seconds - 31 MacBook Pros, 14 iPhones and 9 iPods
RandomCake 4th Sep 2009
"Also notice how the thieves don?t grab chargers"

-- That's exactly what makes them smart, 5 robbers stole more than $30,000 worth of hardware at a rate of over $1,000 a second, if they'd gone for the chargers that would have added at least 3 seconds for each bit of kit (aren't the chargers attached to the desks as well?), and they'd have been in the store for 3 minutes, instead of 31 seconds!

I have to say they *did* execute their crime with perfect percision, what would Mr Kingsley-Hughes have prefered they broke the window with? I think a brick suited their purpose perfectly.

RandomCake

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