This seems like a lot of work for a little money but a man "dressed in a Comcast uniform and driving a Comcast van" showed up at a woman’s house at 2:30 in the afternoon a few days ago, took her cable box and cable modem, gave her a receipt, and left. Comcast, of course, "had no record of the worker coming to her home" which begs the following question; is it possible… → Read More
If you’re a trainee manager at a video game store, and you really, really want a PS3, then you shouldn’t be working at a video game store in the first place should wait until you’re a regular staffer and use your employee discount to get one at a discounted rate. Do not be like this idiot in England and try to steal one. They’re the kind of thing that people notice when… → Read More
Recent news that Apple had applied for a means to disable recharging on a stolen device, we now have learned that Cingular conceived an even broader concept: shutting down a wireless device when out of a communication with a WiFi zone. Applicable to a number of devices beyond just cell phones, AT&T has patented a means to lock out stolen (or borrowed) wirelessly enabled gear… → Read More
Thieves broke into Silver Platters, a Seattle video store, and made off with their entire Blu-ray selection. That’s right. They ignored the HD-DVD stuff completely. That’s basically the entire story (“Theives prefer Blu-ray.”), but I wonder why this is? Maybe because the PS3 is a subsidized Blu-ray player? I mean if you’re ganking DVDs you’re probably also not… → Read More
Some 27,000 Kingston Technology customers have just found out that their personal data may have been compromised back in September of 2005. This data includes names, addresses, and credit card numbers but it is not believed to have been misused in any way yet. Kingston has apparently contacted the aforementioned customers and is offering them credit monitoring and identity theft assistance, if… → Read More
Seems over in Tulsa, OK, burglaries are all the rage. Local electronics retailers like Best Buy and Office Depot have been hit by precision robbers who leave no evidence or fingerprints behind whatsoever. According to the report, the thieves hit up a local Best Buy by cutting holes in the roof, entering the store on rope lines, and disabling the security system. They then ransacked the place of… → Read More
After the iPod gained popularity a few years back, thieves started taking advantage of the white earbuds to target iPod users for a robbery. It still remains a problem in most major cities and now with the iPhone almost out, we may have another problem with theft on our hands. Thankfully, Apple kept this in mind and a recent patent filing reveals more information related to the iPhone’s… → Read More
Millions of laptops are stolen from travelers each year. (OK, I made that up, but it does happen a lot.) Or at least that’s what the notebook security companies want you to believe! (Actually, no, notebooks do get stolen quite often from people traveling.) People are going to swipe laptops no matter what, but there are a handful of steps you can take (and products you can buy!) to encourage… → Read More
GadgetTrak has relaunched as a paid subscription service that gives users the ability to track down stolen gadgets using social-engineering software installed on the gadget’s memory. The service, which I posted about last month, involves installing a piece of software on the device’s memory that, when plugged in and accessed, secretly reports the location, IP address, computer name and… → Read More
Although the Web site has been Dugg to the ground, a free online service called Gadget Theft recently launched to help users recover their stolen gadgets. The site provides users with a small “spyware” application that can be loaded onto the memory of a USB thumb drive, MP3 player or digital camera. The software records and sends IP data to the user if it detects that the device is… → Read More
Sheesh, the last time I heard the word “Iomega” was when I was taking a class at an art school years ago. It was about a 100MB, Iomega Zip disk I think I used once and never again. No matter because Iomega is back in the game, albeit not for the best reason. The FBI is offering a $25,000 reward for anyone who can find a Iomega portable hard drive that went missing from the Birmingham… → Read More
You would think that with the MPAA suing people left and right for copyright infringement and with movies like Ghost Rider climbing to the Number 1 spot you’d think it’d have $50 to throw a blogger for his software. “Think again!” cries Patrick Robin, designer of the Forest Blog publishing platform. Robin recently discovered that the MPAA’s blog (currently down) is… → Read More
You may have a hard time scoring an iPod Nano if you live near Boulder, Colorado. Earlier this month, a small plexiglass display case was snatched from an Apple store on 29th Street. The thieves made off with 42 iPod nanos by simply grabbing the case and walking out it, as the display stand wasn’t bolted down in any way. Police say employees failed to notice any suspicious activity on the… → Read More
While most of us are at the height of the giving feeling this holiday season, some crooks out of Silicon Valley are more interested in taking. In a clever heist straight out of CHiPs ’07, a gang of thieves made off with $190,000 in microchips and a Mazda using a modified crash-and-dash scheme to not only collect the loot, but make a getaway as well. The Mazda MPV was trasporting 100,000… → Read More
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
Berlin, Germany
Boston, MA
