[Eug]

...again.

Apple loses another unreleased iPhone (exclusive) | Apple - CNET News

A day or two after the phone was lost at San Francisco's Cava 22, which describes itself as a "tequila lounge" that also serves lime-marinated shrimp ceviche, Apple representatives contacted San Francisco police, saying the device was priceless and the company was desperate to secure its safe return, the source said.

Apple electronically traced the phone to a two-floor, single-family home in San Francisco's Bernal Heights neighborhood, according to the source.

When San Francisco police and Apple's investigators visited the house, they spoke with a man in his twenties who acknowledged being at Cava 22 on the night the device went missing. But he denied knowing anything about the phone. The man gave police permission to search the house, and they found nothing, the source said. Before leaving the house, the Apple employees offered the man money for the phone no questions asked, the source said, adding that the man continued to deny he had knowledge of the phone.

In an interview this afternoon, Jose Valle told CNET that neither the police nor Apple security ever contacted him. Valle, who owns the bar with his family, said however does he remember a man calling multiple times about a lost iPhone about a month ago. He told the man he would call him back if he ever found the phone.

"I guess I have to make my drinks a little less strong," Valle said.

[MacNNUK]

Are Apple employees really allowed to take prototypes off site ?

[Eug]

Originally Posted by MacNNUK 

Are Apple employees really allowed to take prototypes off site ?

Presumably, for real-world testing. Certainly, the whole Gizmodo thing was because of an employee who brought his off-site... to a bar.

[Brien]

i would just die if it's the same person who did it this time.

[Rumor]

Hmm, purposeful leak perhaps?

[CollinG3G4]

Originally Posted by Eug 

...again. [/I]

Pictures up on Gizmondo in 3, 2, 1...

[turtle777]

Well, that would have never happened if Steve was still the CEO...

-t

[imitchellg5]

Originally Posted by MacNNUK 

Are Apple employees really allowed to take prototypes off site ?

Yes. You absolutely have to take phone prototypes to the outside world. It's the only way to know how it'll act in certain environments.

[CharlesS]

An Apple employee, a blogger, and an iPhone prototype walk into a bar...

[MacNNUK]

Originally Posted by imitchellg5 

Yes. You absolutely have to take phone prototypes to the outside world. It's the only way to know how it'll act in certain environments.

Why not do what car makers do, put new innards into an old shell ?

And of course p/w lock everything.

[Kerrigan]

If you recall, in the last instance, the antenna was the shell.

So, they masked it by putting on a standard-looking case, making it appear like a regular iPhone. Presumably they've done the same, here.

Either way, I can't wait to see what the iPhone 5 looks like . . . the 4 was/is to be lusted over, I wonder if anything can top it.

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by Kerrigan 

If you recall, in the last instance, the antenna was the shell.

So, they masked it by putting on a standard-looking case, making it appear like a regular iPhone. Presumably they've done the same, here.

So that's how that issue got past testing.

[MacNNUK]

Me, I'm very happy with my basic mobile(s) which allow me to text and talk.

I personally don't need anything else, that's what my iMac is for !

[Spheric Harlot]

You use your iMac to check traffic conditions or bus timetables while standing out in the middle of town?

"Need" is relative. Nobody "needs" a mobile phone at all, either — humans have existed for three million years and done just fine without them.

We're just really good at rationalizing not owning something, or owning it.

[MacNNUK]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

You use your iMac to check traffic conditions or bus timetables while standing out in the middle of town?

What's a bus ?
(tic)

My car radio has RDS & EON.

http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/rds.html

[Waragainstsleep]

Originally Posted by MacNNUK 

What's a bus ?
(tic)

My car radio has RDS & EON.

If you've never tried one, you are missing out. Big time.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by MacNNUK 

What's a bus ?
(tic)

My car radio has RDS & EON.

RDS - Radio Data System in the UK

My phone does those things even when I'm in somebody else's car.

It also does e-mail, which can be rather helpful for making money if you're self-employed.

[andi*pandi]

Originally Posted by CharlesS 

An Apple employee, a blogger, and an iPhone prototype walk into a bar...

This is what I was thinking! Now what's the punchline going to be...

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

This is what I was thinking! Now what's the punchline going to be...

That is the punchline, you dolt!

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by CharlesS 

An Apple employee, a blogger, and an iPhone prototype walk into a bar...

I can't remember how it goes on, but the punchline is something about expecting a better reception and your mother's a whore.

[MacNNUK]

Originally Posted by CharlesS 

An Apple employee, a blogger, and an iPhone prototype walk into a bar...

Ouch, Ouch, Ouch

[mattyb]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

My phone does those things even when I'm in somebody else's car. It also does e-mail, which can be rather helpful for making money if you're self-employed.

You're a spammer?!?!?!

[The Final Dakar]

I'm slightly surprised Steve didn't flat out outlaw this after the Gizmodo fiasco.

[Big Mac]

Intentional leak. Publicity stunt.

[SpaceMonkey]

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton 

That is the punchline, you dolt!

[andi*pandi]

Originally Posted by CharlesS

An Apple employee, a blogger, and an iPhone prototype walk into a bar mitzvah...

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

I can't remember how it goes on, but the punchline is something about expecting a better reception and your mother's a whore.

Fixed?

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by CharlesS 

An Apple employee, a blogger, and an iPhone prototype walk into a church communion...

I can't remember how it goes on, but the punchline is something about expecting immaculate reception and your mother's a whore.

[andi*pandi]

Well played sir.



Even better if you imagine Sean Connery's voice.

[ort888]

The police have no record of any of this happening. This might be a fake story.

[ort888]

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/...ne_5_apple.php

Or maybe Apple investigators posed as police officers?

Or maybe the whole thing was made up?

Or who knows?

[The Final Dakar]

That'd be insanely illegal.

[Eug]

I betcha they were photoshopped.

[turtle777]

Kudos to Apple, this PR stunt has the potential to be even better than the first one.

-t

[Eug]

Lost iPhone 5 Update: Police 'Assisted' Apple Investigators in Search of SF Man's Home - San Francisco News - The Snitch

Contradicting past statements that no records exist of police involvement in the search for the lost prototype, San Francisco Police Department spokesman Lt. Troy Dangerfield now tells SF Weekly that "three or four" SFPD officers accompanied two Apple security officials in an unusual search of a Bernal Heights man's home.

Dangerfield says that, after conferring with Apple and the captain of the Ingleside police station, he has learned that plainclothes SFPD officers went with private Apple detectives to the home of Sergio Calderón, a 22-year-old resident of Bernal Heights. According to Dangerfield, the officers "did not go inside the house," but stood outside while the Apple employees scoured Calderón's home, car, and computer files for any trace of the lost iPhone 5. The phone was not found, and Calderón denies that he ever possessed it.

In an interview with SF Weekly last night, Calderón told us that six badge-wearing visitors came to his home in July to inquire about the phone. Calderón said none of them acknowledged being employed by Apple, and one of them offered him $300, and a promise that the owner of the phone would not press charges, if he would return the device.

The visitors also allegedly threatened him and his family, asking questions about their immigration status. "One of the officers is like, 'Is everyone in this house an American citizen?' They said we were all going to get into trouble," Calderón said.

One of the officers left a phone number with him, which SF Weekly traced to Anthony Colon, an investigator employed at Apple, who declined to comment when we reached him.

Reached this afternoon, Calderón confirmed that only two of the six people who came to his home actually entered the house. He said those two did not specifically state they were police officers.

However, he said he was under the impression that they were all police, since they were part of the group outside that identified themselves as SFPD officials. The two who entered the house did not disclose that they were private security officers, according to Calderón.

Personally, I wouldn't have let them in.

[turtle777]

I smell a lawsuit.

-t

[subego]

Three hundred dollars?

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by subego 

Three hundred dollars?

Yeah, they were just paying retail

-t

[subego]

Like, half retail.

[turtle777]

Oh, I thought they offered a 24 month AT&T plan with that deal.

-t

[Brien]

I'm surprised photos haven't leaked. Although cases have, and if they're legit, the iPhone 5 is going to look like a shrunk-down iPad 2.

[subego]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

I smell a lawsuit.

-t

I'd think so on the surface, but he presumably invited them in, which makes things sticky.

Beyond that, I wouldn't be surprised if he was eager to invite someone in to prove his "innocence". IOW, he's put the phone somewhere else for safe keeping.

[turtle777]

It's still a question whether the Apple employees silently posed as police.

-t

[Eug]

I wonder if the officers knew the security guy from before and were in part doing him a favour. He used to be a sergeant in the San Jose Police Dept.

[subego]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

It's still a question whether the Apple employees silently posed as police.

-t

Silence = Reasonable Doubt

[Eug]

Unrelated but… One of my friends was partying and the neighbours complained because it was loud and late. The police were called. They knocked, but when my friend opened the door, the police constables proceeded to barge right in. That's when my friend's buddy politely told them to p!ss off and shut the door in their faces.

It turns out the buddy was a lawyer and probably had worded his statements with enough legalese that the policemen knew they were in the wrong and were about to get into major crap so they simply left before they got themselves into more trouble.

If all they had done is politely introduced themselves and explained the situation, my friend would have turned down the music and what not. But their aggressive approach in this particular instance helped nobody.

That said, the times when I've dealt with police in Canada, they've been courteous and reasonable.

[subego]

Originally Posted by Eug 

Unrelated but… One of my friends was partying and the neighbours complained because it was loud and late. The police were called. They knocked, but when my friend opened the door, the police constables proceeded to barge right in. That's when my friend's buddy politely told them to p!ss off and shut the door in their faces.

It turns out the buddy was a lawyer and probably had worded his statements with enough legalese that the policemen knew they were in the wrong and were about to get into major crap so they simply left before they got themselves into more trouble.

If all they had done is politely introduced themselves and explained the situation, my friend would have turned down the music and what not. But their aggressive approach in this particular instance helped nobody.

That said, the times when I've dealt with police in Canada, they've been courteous and reasonable.

Normally, I'm all about sticking it to cops who try and ride roughshod over your rights, but you're taking something of a risk doing this if you don't have an attorney on hand.

That cop could have claimed he smelled something, gotten a warrant, and been a dick to the fullest extent of the law in executing it with little to no accountability (at least in America).

[ghporter]

The most common situation with "smelled something, gotten a warrant..." here in the States is when a problem cop is involved. A party in a home in a neighborhood that is not known for illegal activity is generally handled appropriately-knock, "your neighbors are complaining about the noise, and I'll have to cite you for disturbing the peace if you don't turn it down," and all is done. "Finding a reason" to be more aggressive than that is almost always related to either an overly aggressive officer or some history (whether that history is actual or merely reputed) about the house, neighborhood, etc.

Getting a warrant is a lot harder than it was just a few years ago. In spite of a lot more right-leaning court decisions, warrant requests get a lot more scrutiny today, thanks in part to "you busted down the door across the street from the real suspect, and now that suspect has fled while you were ransacking a 90 year old granny's house" situations (and worse-a number of completely innocent people have been killed when officers busting into the wrong house thought they were threatened).

But how about the neighbor actually knocking on the door and saying "can you turn it down-I need to get up early tomorrow!" Instead of calling the cops first, what about asking politely first? That's the most reasonable way to do it...

Finally, the title of this thread sounds an awful lot like the lead in to a joke. "An Apple employee loses his prototype iPhone in a bar...he comes back the next day and says 'I lost my phone here, did anyone turn it in?'..."

[Eug]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

But how about the neighbor actually knocking on the door and saying "can you turn it down-I need to get up early tomorrow!" Instead of calling the cops first, what about asking politely first? That's the most reasonable way to do it...

If we're talking about a condo/apt. block or townhouse complex, sometimes it makes just as much sense to call the cops, esp. if you don't always know which exact unit it's coming from or if you can't go in anyway because of building security.

For a detached house in a suburban neighbourhood I would usually agree with you though, unless I know that neighbour is an ass.

[glideslope]

Originally Posted by Brien 

I'm surprised photos haven't leaked. Although cases have, and if they're legit, the iPhone 5 is going to look like a shrunk-down iPad 2.

I'm surprised no one has made this comparison before. Very Zen-Like if you think about it (SJ). There are renditions out based on case protos that are spot on. The 4s 8g (A4) will replace the 3Gs that despite rumors, can't run iOS 5. No Pay as You Go with the phones being on all 4 majors in the US by Nov.

The iPhone 5 is indeed a Baby iPad 2.

[subego]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

The most common situation with "smelled something, gotten a warrant..." here in the States is when a problem cop is involved.

This is essentially my point. In this situation a problem cop is going to be a problem cop regardless of your rights. You can't really stop them, you can only make them a problem cop who's now got a problem with you.