theft

NYC mayor blames theft of Apple devices for uptick in crime

A surge in thefts of iPhone and iPads is responsible for a slight uptick in New York City's overall crime rate, according to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Apple's products were the preferred mobile device target of many thieves in the city, Bloomberg noted during his weekly radio address, according to the New York Times.

Statistics published by the New York Police Department revealed that as of Monday, there were 3,484 more major crimes reported in 2012 than for the same period last year. During that time, the city experienced 3,890 more thefts of Apple products. … Read more

Listen to Grand Theft Auto radio stations on your smartphone

Playing the new Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on my iPad (it's coming soon for Android) made me nostalgic for other GTA games. Not so much for the gratuitous violence, but for the radio stations that have become a hallmark of the series.

Indeed, these in-game stations play not only a huge variety of commercial tunes (in GTA IV alone, you'll find everything from Count Basie to Genesis to Kanye West), but also some crackling DJ banter and hilarious fake ads. (The Public Liberty Radio station is bust-a-gut funny.)… Read more

Thief steals iPhone from quadriplegic

Some thieves like to believe they have scruples. They even talk of honor among themselves.

Some, though, see an iPhone and just can't help themselves. Earlier this year, footage emerged of a man stealing an iPhone from a baby in a store. Yet even that pales with a theft that occurred in a Staten Island apartment building lobby.

William Washington, 38, is a quadriplegic. He has cerebral palsy. The only way he communicates is through an iPhone that he keeps on the tray of his wheelchair. He uses a special pointer attached to a headband in order to tap … Read more

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City brings the '80s back to Android and iOS

Has it really been 10 years since Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto: Vice City made its PlayStation 2 debut? And has it really been 26 years since the big hair, pastel suits, and electronic-infused pop celebrated in that game were all the rage? Heaven help me, I'm old.

Just as Rockstar brought Grand Theft Auto 3 to smartphones and tablets to celebrate that game's 10-year anniversary, so has its sequel, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, arrived for iOS. (The Android version has been temporarily delayed but is due shortly.) And although it suffers from similar control issues, the … Read more

Hackers steal customer info from insurance provider Nationwide

Hackers broke into insurance company Nationwide's network in early October, stealing the personal information of more than a million customers across the country, the insurance company recently revealed.

The company said the compromised information included people's names and a combination of Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers, their date of birth, and possibly marital status, gender, and occupation, as well as the names and addresses of employers. Nationwide said it had no evidence that any medical information or credit card account data was stolen.

"We discovered the attack that day, and took immediate steps to contain … Read more

U.S., U.K. caught in middle of huge Swiss spy data leak -- report

The U.S. and U.K. have been warned by Swiss spy agency NDB that some of the information they had shared related to counter-terrorism has been stolen, according to a new report.

Last summer, a disgruntled NDB IT technician who believed he wasn't being taken seriously over the way in which data systems should be handled, allegedly downloaded terabytes of counter-terrorism information shared among the NDB, the CIA, and the U.K.'s MI6, and had eyes on selling it off to "foreign officials and commercial buyers," Reuters is reporting today, citing European national security sources.… Read more

The 404 1,165: Where we roll into flavor town (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- NY Times posts violent takedown review of Guy Fieri's new restaurant in Times Square, New York.

- Travel Channel's Anthony Bourdain rips into Guy Fieri.

- Guy Fieri's last name isn't really Fieri.

- How Sony is turning into a ghost in Japan and around the world.

- Seriously though, how cool is this vintage Sony Sports transistor radio?

- Head to Sonyvintage.com for more photos and specs on vintage Sony hi-fi products.

- Japanese photo booth 3D prints mini models of an entire human being.

Bathroom break video: Grand Theft Auto V gets a new trailer and screenshots.… Read more

Grand Theft Auto V gets a new trailer and screenshots

The latest Grand Theft Auto V trailer has landed, and with it Rockstar Games has provided some more insight about what to expect from one of 2013's most anticipated titles.

GTA V will be five times the size of Red Dead Redemption and take place in the fictional city of Los Santos, which is loosely based on Los Angeles. Players will take on the role of three separate characters -- a first for the franchise -- and alternate among each. Michael, Trevor, and Franklin each possesses a different skill set and will need to work together to pull off … Read more

Apple patent application involves theft-alarm for phones

Imagine if an iPhone had the equivalent of a car alarm. Would a loud, annoying alarm sound when a thief ran off with the device? Or would the alarm ring out when a stranger just tried to look at the phone?

These are questions Apple explores in a patent application filed today. Titled "Acceleration-based theft detection system for portable electronic devices," the application involves a smartphone deciphering what kinds of movement take place during a phone robbery.… Read more