Police are looking for a black male and black female caught on videotape who broke into an Apple retail store in Pittsburgh Dec. 12 and made off with six PowerBook laptops worth over *** US$900,000. ***

Can someone please explain why a Powerbook would be worth $150,000?

Ok so how is this TMO worthy news? You think this is the only time Apple products have been stolen? Are you gonna write an article on my friends stoeln PB 17" from last year? NO cuz no one cares.

I dont care about Pittsburgh, and im sure anyone outside of PA doesnt either. Stop posting bull$%#@ articles, TMO, its bothering me very very much. I cant believe anyone would care about this except for the people involved.

This isnt a f&#()$& COPS show dammit.


- edited by DrShakagee for poor language

I can't imagine any crook worth a darn stealing some worthless windows laptop.

Duh! No selfrespecting crook would be caught dead stealing a window sucks laptop.

I think they meant 9K....

Hey Captain dart tongue, here's an idea, don't read the articles that don't interest you. You probably spent more time writing your comment then you did reading the article. We don't need comments like that.

As far as the story, I hope these powerbooks are the display ones that don't have batteries in them. (Since stores will take the batteries out so it is lighter when customers pick it up) I can imagine these two crooks trying to sell powerbooks with no batteries, and no power adapters. I understand that you can buy these things...but just glad to know that it will be a hassle for them.

Quote

Guest wrote:
Ok so how is this TMO worthy news? You think this is the only time Apple products have been stolen? Are you gonna write an article on my friends stoeln PB 17" from last year? NO cuz no one cares.

I dont care about Pittsburgh, and im sure anyone outside of PA doesnt either. Stop posting bull$%#@ articles, TMO, its bothering me very very much. I cant believe anyone would care about this except for the people involved.

This isnt a f&#()$& COPS show dammit.

I agree! If I had the choice between the breaking and stealing computers, I would go for the PowerBook!

...all they had to do was PULL on the "security" cords? The alarm didn't sound? Why even bother to lock up? Sheesh.

So does this mean that the security cables provide more of a visible deterrence rather than true protection from theft? I always wondered... they seems rather thin and flimsy... like a cheap chain lock vs a U-lock.

Of course, the U-locks are now known to be faulty, so perhaps that is a bad comparison

I'll reiteriate what I said in a seperate post: Security cables are pretty tough, but they're not invincible. For instance, I have a Kensington retractable, and its entire integrity depends on this little peice of plastic here at the top. But locks are like the Club in cars. Not invincible, but then again, not supposed to be. Just a deterrent. If its going to take a theif more than ten seconds to swipe your computer, he's not even going to bother. As for pulling it out of the socket, forget it. Thats actually a bulkhead, and is a key part of the aluminum shell. So, in order to pull it out, you'd literally have to break the alumium in half.

He uses a cutter.

Quote

Guest wrote:
Ok so how is this TMO worthy news? You think this is the only time Apple products have been stolen? Are you gonna write an article on my friends stoeln PB 17" from last year? NO cuz no one cares.

I dont care about Pittsburgh, and im sure anyone outside of PA doesnt either. Stop posting bull$%#@ articles, TMO, its bothering me very very much. I cant believe anyone would care about this except for the people involved.

This isnt a f&#()$& COPS show dammit.


- edited by DrShakagee for poor language

These should be easy tracked down if they are dumb enough to go online and as long as Apple knows the serial numbers for the ones they took. When I returned my PowerBook to Apple to have the screen replaced (white spots), the service rep ran off everything in "About This Mac" to me over the phone, including the hard drive serial number and the mac address of the built in nic. Some creative log searching on an ISP's part would show the mac address in the arp table of the user's access point if they use a broadband connection (just look at the RIAA lately except they tracked IPs). How many broadband ISPs are there in the Pittsburgh area ? I doubt more than 2 or 3 (cable, baby bell DSL, ISDN). And the PowerBooks are probally still there. If I were going to drive out of town to do a smash and grab, I would get more than a few PowerBooks. They were probally local losers. Who knows, these books may even turn up on eBay.

we had some powerbooks stolen from our store. this was back when the TiBook was around and there was a bout a n1.5inch piece of the TiBook still stuck on the lock. At least they won't get much money for that one.

Hey yinz. I just checked out the Pittsburgh Apple store about 3 hours ago (2 PM eastern). The store looks pristine! I couldn't believe it. I was sure that, with all that glass, they'd have gaping holes covered over in plastic. But no, the front of the store is completely repaired, and the inside is spotless. Just walking in, you could never tell the store was burgled, and in fact, I asked the staff just to make sure I was at the right Apple store. There's only one in Pittsburgh, but even so, I needed to make sure, because the place looked immaculate.

If anyone understood anything they would know that those were not amature thieves acting on behalf of themselves but part of an organized band of thieves sweeping the country getting rich through the internet. anyone ever heard of ISLA