Tag Archives: Apple Store

Gone In 60 Seconds : Apple Store Robbed Of $35K!

Two thieves made off with $35,000 worth of Apple products at an Apple Store in broad daylight… in just 60 seconds!

Take a look at the viral video, and find out what happened!

 

Gone In 60 Seconds : Apple Store Robbed Of $35K!

At around 4:17 PM on Friday, November 25, 2022, a pair of thieves brazenly stole $35,000 worth of Apple products in front of shocked customers and store workers at the Apple Store in Palo Alto, California!

The Black Friday heist showed the two masked men yanking multiple iPhones and MacBook laptops from the display tables to stuff in their bags, while pushing past customers and store workers.

A customer can be heard on the video asking, “Should we stop them?”, and an Apple Store worker responded, “Let them go”.

The minute-long video showed just how quickly the two thieves were able to “work the room”, to steal all those Apple devices!

Recommended : Apple Limits AirDrop To Help China Prevent Protests!

Even though they were unchallenged by the customers and store workers, one of the thieves “made a general statement to the crowd of physical violence” if they attempted to stop the robbery.

That escalated the crime from merely “shoplifting” to a robbery, according to the police, who confirmed that about $35,000 worth of Apple phones and laptops were taken.

One of the suspects was wearing a beige hoodie with blue jeans, white shoes and a red backpack, while the other was wearing a blue camouflage hoodie with black Adidas pants, red shoes and a black Adidas backpack.

The police are currently looking for both men, described as black males in their late teens or early 20s, who fled in a red Mazda hatchback and were last seen by a security guard driving north on Highway 101 at around 4:30 PM.

The Palo Alto Apple Store has been robbed three times in recent years. In 2018, it was robbed twice within 24 hours, with thieves taking over $100,000 worth of merchandise, while in 2016, robbers smashed a rental car through its store front and made off with thousands of dollars worth of Apple products.

Recommended : Apple To Move MORE iPhone Production Out Of China!

 

What Apple Is Doing To Cut Down On Store Heists

As its products are considered high-value, Apple has seen its store in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Portland and Washington, D.C. targeted in large heists.

As a result, Apple has initiated several measures to make it difficult for thieves to sell their loot of stolen Apple devices.

For example, demo devices like the ones just stolen from the Palo Alto Apple Store would have been registered with an Apple ID, and can therefore be easily tracked using the Find My iPhone service.

These demo devices also have proximity software installed since 2016, which automatically disables them once they are taken outside of their assigned Apple Store.

Apple also has the ability to disable and track stolen devices, even those that are brand-new, in-the-box. Those who purchased them will find that their devices can’t be turned off, and their location would be sent to local authorities.

The stolen iPhones will also display a warning to the user, informing them that the device has been disabled and being tracked, and that the local authorities has been alerted. The user is advised to return the iPhone to the Apple Store where it was stolen from.

Please return to Apple Walnut Street

This device has been disabled and is being tracked. Local authorities will be alerted.

This pretty much makes these stolen devices useless, if the thieves intend to sell them to other people. They may, however, find some use as spare parts for far less profit, of course

Recommended : Apple Watch Explodes, Apple Tries To Cover It Up!

Apple is also blocking access to repairs for lost or stolen devices. For starters – Apple will refuse to repair iPhones if its Find My iPhone feature cannot be disabled (to prove ownership).

In addition, Apple repair technicians can now see if an iPhone has been reported lost or stolen in the internal MobileGenius or GXS system. If the device was reported lost or stolen, they will decline to repair the device.

All these measures will mean that the viral $35,000 heist at the Palo Alto Apple Store will not amount to much for the thieves.

In fact, Apple is the winner in this robbery – its demo devices would have certainly been insured. In a way, Apple “sold” the stolen $35,000 inventory in this robbery to their insurance company!

 

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The Realme Selfie Guide + Showcase Of US West Coast!

Realme smartphones are not known for the selfies, which is a shame. We took the Realme 3 on a trip across the US West Coast, and here is our Realme selfie guide and showcase!

Find out what settings you should use on Realme smartphones, and check out the selfies we took from the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas, San Francisco and Los Angeles!

Don’t forget to also check out our Realme Nightscape Guide For Awesome Night Shots!

 

The Realme 3 Selfie Camera

The Realme 3 selfie camera has a higher-resolution 13 MP sensor with a brighter f/2.0 lens. The Realme 2, you may recall, has an 8 MP front camera with f/2.2 lens.

Its f/2.0 aperture puts its front camera on par with many flagship-class smartphones like the HUAWEI Mate 20, the Samsung Galaxy A9 2018, the HONOR 20, and the OPPO R17 Pro.

Its higher-end brother, the Realme 3 Pro, also has a front camera with a wide f/2.0 aperture. The only difference is it has a higher-resolution 25 MP sensor, instead of a 13 MP sensor.

 

The Realme Selfie Camera Guide

We highly recommend that you enable these settings before you start shooting – Location, Flip Selfie, and Auto HDR. These are the common settings you find in other Realme smartphones, like the Realme 2 Pro and the Realme 3 Pro.

Location

While travelling in the US, we do not always have time to note the exact location (building, street address, etc.) where we take these photos.

Enabling Location lets the Realme 3 add the GPS coordinates to every photo, so you can always look up the location when you get back.

Flip Selfie

We highly recommend turning on the Flip Selfie option, which basically gives you a mirror image of the selfie. This is important because it makes sure any text in the background will be readable.

This was not enabled by default, which led to some of our selfies not turning out right. Make sure you enable this option before you start taking your selfies!

Auto HDR

Selfies are often impromptu… spontaneous… There’s very little time to set-up a selfie, unless you’re an influencer and you would have a buddy or two, with LED lighting, etc (you get the idea).

This is why you should make sure Auto HDR is enabled. It lets the Realme 3 automatically decide when is the best time to take HDR shots (combining multiple shots with different exposures).

HDR will bring out the details in both dark and overexposed areas of a photo, while increasing the picture’s dynamic range. Take a look at this example :

Without Auto HDR, both faces in this selfie shot would be too dark because of the overly bright background.

It may not be obvious in the picture above, but it was CRAZY HOT and BRIGHT at the Grand Canyon when I took that photo in the shade. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it turned out!

Recommended Reading : The Realme Nightscape Guide For Awesome Night Shots!

 

Realme Smartphone Price + Availability

These are the latest Realme smartphones that are currently available for sale :

Next Page > Realme 3 Selfie Samples (Boulder City, Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas)

 

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Realme 3 Selfie Samples From Boulder City

After landing in Las Vegas, we headed straight for Boulder City, which is a small town about 30 minutes away.

You will pass it on the way to the Grand Canyon, or Hoover Dam. So it’s a great place to stop for the night, especially if you plan to visit Hoover Dam.

But first, we had some burger and chicken fingers at The Chicken Shack. The folks here are extremely friendly! 😄

Here is Nick with the Double Shack burger, with double beef patties and cheese. Only$9.79 before taxes, , with a side of fries and a drink!

And here are Steve and Justin with my order of chicken fingers! 😄

The chicken tenders here are large strips of chicken breast meat. I prefer dark meat, but they were juicy and tender. Only $7.99 for 5 of “em!

This is Allyson from the Boulder Pit Stop, serving our Pit Burger and Turkey Burger. Seriously great burgers even without adding cheese, bacon or mushrooms.


The Pit Burger with a 1/3 lb patty is only $5.75 before taxes, and the Turkey Burger only $4.50 before taxes. If you’re ever going to Boulder City, make sure you try them out!

 

Realme 3 Selfie Samples From Hoover Dam

The best view of Hoover Dam is actually midway across the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge.

Just turn off about a mile after the security check point, and walk up to the Memorial Plaza, which leads to the pedestrian walkway of the bridge.

There’s no need to walk all the way to the end. Just walk until you get a picture you like, or to the mid-point, so you can have one foot in Nevada, and another foot in Arizona! 😀

The lifts were undergoing maintenance so there were no tours that day. However, Hoover Dam tour guides like Alan gave us a presentation on the Hoover Dam instead.

You can feel the pride and love they have for this American engineering marvel!

 

Realme 3 Selfie Samples From The Grand Canyon

Being short on time, we took a short plane + helicopter ride to the Grand Canyon at a Boulder City airport.

Scott here took us on a short cruise down the Colorado river, through the Grand Canyon West Rim.

The bulk of the Grand Canyon West Rim (seen behind us) belongs to the US National Park, while the opposing side is part of the Hualapai Indian Reservation.

It was CRAZY HOT and really bright at the Grand Canyon that day, but thanks to its Auto HDR capability, this selfie taken at Guano Point turned out much better than I expected!

Since it was so bright, I expected harsh shadows on our faces, and a terribly blown-out background. Yet, the shadows were surprisingly soft, and you can clearly see the Grand Canyon in the back, and even the clouds and the blue sky!

 

Realme 3 Selfie Samples From Las Vegas

It’s been years since my last visit to Las Vegas, and while much has remained the same, a lot has changed!

Here is the venerable Las Vegas landmark – the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas signboard!

While it has not changed, it has been upgraded with a special parking lot built into the median, so tourists can park and not get hit by traffic on both sides of the Las Vegas Boulevard! 😅

I then spent three days at Dell Technologies World 2019, where I met really nice people like Stephanie Silva from McLaren…

And Ben Driscoll and Kendall Peters, who ran the always-busy Press and Analyst Room!

We also had the opportunity to meet and take selfies with the incredibly funny and entertaining Penn & Teller!

These guys are AWESOME! If you can only catch one magic show in Las Vegas, you MUST catch Penn & Teller.

Next Page > Realme 3 Selfie Samples (San Francisco, Los Angeles)

 

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Realme 3 Selfie Samples From San Francisco

After so many days in Sin City, we flew ourselves to San Francisco, and checked ourselves into the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary!

Located just 1.25 miles or just over 2 km from the San Francisco, it served as a federal prison for 29 years. during which 36 prisoners tried to escape.

Ironically, hundreds of tourists now pay good money to visit Alcatraz every day! 😅

Welcoming us was Ray Hood, a volunteer with the US National Parks Service.

He commutes from Sacramento to help US Park Rangers like Wendy Solis here educate visitors on the rich history of Alcatraz, and to warn us about being “painted white” by the current avian occupants of Alcatraz…

Prison chow at Alcatraz did not agree with us, so we escaped on a boat and headed to the Fisherman’s Wharf, where Ernesto served us Boudin’s new crab chowder in a sourdough bowl!

I met Rodrigo “Roy” Gutierrez outside of Pier 33. He spray painted that piece for me in just 5 minutes! 🤩

Again, Auto HDR kicked in for a nicely exposed photo, even though it was a dastardly bright day.

While I was in San Francisco, I had my MacBook Pro checked out by Brennan Duong at Apple Store Union Square.

Finally, we had to stop by The Baked Bear for their humungous and really delicious ice-cream sandwiches! This is Sam with my 🐻tastic ice-cream sandwich!

That’s a 🐻 of an ice-cream sandwich! Not a 🐨 or a 🐼 but an actual 🐻… 😁

We originally planned to have one each, but it was so big – we had to share!

 

Realme 3 Selfie Samples From Los Angeles

We only had a short time in LA, but I had the opportunity to chat with Officer Raviol of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Joshua thinks he looks like Nicholas Cage. I think he looks like Arnold Vosloo. What do YOU think? 😁

 

Realme Smartphone Price + Availability

These are the latest Realme smartphones that are currently available for sale :

 

Recommended Reading

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If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!