General Discussions

**edgray** · 03:44 AM

Some poor guy had his MacBook Pro laptop stolen from his apartment, but lucky for him had paid a subscription to the Hidden service which is a clandestine app on you install on your computer which tracks the laptop and takes photos via it's camera once it's been reported stolen - after not having much luck with the police, he made a little Tumblr website and posted the pics of the thief:

http://thisguyhasmymacbook.tumblr.com/

Eventually the police took notice and the guy got busted!

Awesome!

**crama09** · 06-03-2011, 11:09 AM

ahaha.. this app is great. I did not know about it.

**vangogh** · 06-03-2011, 04:12 PM

I saw the story a few days ago. Makes you wonder if the stolen Mac caught him in more compromising positions than sleeping on the couch.

Has this guy been convicted of the theft? It's still possible his only crime is buying a stolen laptop and not necessarily being the one that stole it.

**davemies** · 06-03-2011, 05:02 PM

van gogh "Eventually the police took notice and the guy got busted!" or so the OP says

**edgray** · 06-04-2011, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vangogh

I saw the story a few days ago. Makes you wonder if the stolen Mac caught him in more compromising positions than sleeping on the couch.

there was a highly suspicious photo on the blog, the guy is sat on his bed, topless, looking kinda serious... I didn't want to post it here tho...

**royandrew101** · 06-04-2011, 10:35 PM

I have to install this app in my computer.

**chrishirst** · 06-05-2011, 08:39 AM

If you have paid the subscription and want to use the service, yes you do,

**vangogh** · 06-06-2011, 01:47 PM

@davemies - I saw that the guy had been arrested, but hadn't seen if he'd been convicted of anything. The article I originally saw pointed out the possibility he may have bought the stolen laptop as opposed to having been the one to actually steal it. I hadn't seen anything since so wasn't sure what had come of the arrest.

I'm guessing this is the guy who did steal it, but wasn't sure.

Quote:

there was a highly suspicious photo on the blog, the guy is sat on his bed, topless, looking kinda serious

Probably best not to have posted.

**chrishirst** · 06-06-2011, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by edgray

there was a highly suspicious photo on the blog, the guy is sat on his bed, topless, looking kinda serious... I didn't want to post it here tho...

Appearing soon on Web Cam Now maybe, with all the other ~~wanke~~ erm ~~tosse~~ erm strange people

**dWhite** · 06-06-2011, 01:56 PM

Why would anyone want to steal a Mac?

**chrishirst** · 06-06-2011, 01:58 PM

I think it would depend on how heavy the rain was.

**vangogh** · 06-06-2011, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Why would anyone want to steal a Mac?

I can't tell you why someone would want to steal one, but I can list plenty of reasons why someone would want to own one.

**dWhite** · 06-06-2011, 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vangogh

I can't tell you why someone would want to steal one, but I can list plenty of reasons why someone would want to own one.

Why would anyone want to own a Mac?

**chrishirst** · 06-06-2011, 02:35 PM

Well there's detectives
columbo.jpg

and Flashers
flasher-mac.jpg

To name two

**edgray** · 06-07-2011, 09:29 AM

ROFL!

**SiberForum** · 06-07-2011, 09:49 AM

No stealing, but no personal freedom paid by your own. That is apple.

**vangogh** · 06-07-2011, 01:44 PM

Dan I own a Mac because it gives me a better experience than any other computer I've ever owned. It runs better, crashes less frequently (if ever) and generally works as it's supposed to without me having to do anything other than use it.

Apple puts so much attention into the details that everything about Macs makes them a joy to use. I can't see myself ever going back to Windows or Linux machines.

Everyone I know who owns one says the same thing.

That's not to say everyone should run out and buy one. All 3 major operating systems seem to do what they're supposed to do and everyone is free to choose which they like best.

**edgray** · 06-07-2011, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vangogh

Dan I own a Mac because it gives me a better experience than any other computer I've ever owned. It runs better, crashes less frequently (if ever) and generally works as it's supposed to without me having to do anything other than use it.

Apple puts so much attention into the details that everything about Macs makes them a joy to use. I can't see myself ever going back to Windows or Linux machines.

Everyone I know who owns one says the same thing.

That's not to say everyone should run out and buy one. All 3 major operating systems seem to do what they're supposed to do and everyone is free to choose which they like best.

There's little point trying to explain why you use a Mac. You just get called a fanboi or a accused of following trends because of the popularity of Apple stuff over the past decade.

Which for me is silly because I've been happily using Macs since the early nineties. Yet, that's what I've been told.

Your points are spot on tho. To add to that, I think it's a huge advantage having the same company design the hardware and OS for your computer. A couple of years ago I did a comparison with my then GFs Acer laptop. Hers was a similar spec to my little MacBook, but the Mac beat it in most areas, performance-wise there was no contest at all. But what people never realise was the practicality of the two machines.

With the Acer, for example, you couldn't just close the lid an walk away - the machine stayed on. Eventually it would hibernate, and then crash when you tried to open her up again. On the MacBook, shut the screen and sleep happens instantly. Open it back up, and you're up and running in seconds.

The track pad too was horrible, I mean, REALLY horrible - with 2 clunky buttons to use at the same time. Doing even simple things like a short drag and drop was a complex maneuver. It had no 360º scrolling like the MacBook either, it just had a vertical scroller to the side of the trackpad, which never seemed to work.

It was running Vista, and it crashed all the time. Like, daily. It also had it's ventilation system underneath the machine, meaning that if you sat with it on your lap, it would overheat and turn-off. Sometimes it even turned off sat on a table. No problems like that on the MacBook, which is still running smoothly to this day.

The keyboard was nasty to use, large and unresponsive, whereas the MacBook's is so nice it practically types itself. The screen on the Acer was horrible too, not only because of the nastiness of Vista, but it was dull and the colours looked washed out. The MacBook, of course, had Apple's typical "design grade" screen with all the colour brilliance they've always offered.

That's actually a good reason many Mac-phobes also never understand: they've been the designers choice of computer for decades because of things like color and especially font rendering.

The casing was huge and oversized, and it weighed a good kilo or more over the apple laptop, and was a good inch taller too. For all that extra case it didn't offer anything extra except ONE extra USB port.

The Acer was 200€ cheaper than the MacBook. And even at that cheaper price, in comparison, was an absolute waste of money.

The only area the Acer won was that the DVD drive was quieter... on every other thing you could possibly compare the two on, it didn't even come close.

**vangogh** · 06-08-2011, 11:28 AM

I know it's pointless, but sometimes you have to reply.

Ed I agree with everything you said. Naturally we don't have the exact same experiences, but our experiences are similar in many respects.

Like I said above I think all major operating systems work and for the most part do what they're supposed to do. None are perfect. They all have a problem here or there, but they work. People should pick and choose whichever they want for whatever reason they want.

What I don't care for is when people decide only their operating system is worth using and all others are bad. Even more I don't care for when people think what's most important to them is automatically what should be most important to everyone else.

**weblover50** · 07-24-2011, 11:27 AM

Wow. Thats a great idea. If this is implemented for every stolen device, all the thieves in the world will be behind bars!