David Hanak In the United States in recent years, the trend of sending everything possible by mail and leaving the delivered goods at the front door has been growing. In the past, mainly small items were delivered this way, but in recent years, customers have also chosen this type of delivery for more expensive and larger shipments, which sometimes turns out to be fatal for them.
Thefts of items delivered in this way have been on the rise recently, and popular YouTuber Mark Rober, who also happens to be a technology engineer at Apple, has also become one of the targets of similar vandalism. After losing his package several times, he decided to take revenge on the thieves. He did it his way and it must be said effectively. In the end, the entire project turned out to be an over-engineered, very well-thought-out and well-executed trap that thieves will not easily forget.
Someone stole a package from me. The police wouldn't do anything about it so I spent the last 6 months engineering up some vigilante justice. Revenge is a dish best served fabulously. See link- https://t.co/9OjD6ETdbZ pic.twitter.com/u4o0doWglr
— Mark Rober (@MarkRober) December 18, 2018
Rober has come up with an ingenious device that looks like Apple's HomePod speaker from the outside. But in reality, it's a combination of a spiral centrifuge, four phones, sequins, stinky spray, a custom-made chassis and a special motherboard that forms the brains of its device. It cost him more than half a year of effort.
In practice, this works in such a way that in the beginning he watches in his place in front of the door of the house. However, as soon as a theft occurs, the integrated accelerometers and GPS sensors in Robera phones notify that the device has been set in motion. It is tracked in real time thanks to the presence of a GPS module in installed phones.
As soon as the thief decides to take a closer look at his loot, the real drama begins. Pressure sensors are placed in the walls of the inner box, which detect when the box is opened. Shortly after that, the centrifuge located on top will throw a huge amount of sequins into its surroundings, which will make a real mess. And to make matters worse, a few seconds later, a stinky spray will be released, which will reliably fill an ordinary room with a very unpleasant smell.
The best part of it all is that Mark Rober has implemented four phones in his "box of justice" that record the whole process and save the current recordings to the cloud, so that it is practically impossible to lose them even if the entire decoy is destroyed. So we can enjoy the reactions of the thieves when they find out what they actually stole. On his YouTube channel, Rober released both an overall summary of the entire project (including several recordings of the thefts) and also relatively detailed video about how the whole project was created and what the development entailed. We can only smile at this effort (and the result).
I wonder if the thief gave them permission to publish the footage. If not, the "manufacturer" of the bait would be punished for it.
The USA does not protect crooks like the backward Czech Republic
Do you see a face somewhere?
Sometimes I don't understand such stupid questions?! According to the moral code of decent people, what is wrong? A) To steal from someone what doesn't belong to me or for B) To post a video of some thief and thereby warn other decent people what scumbags they are!!?? Common sense and decent upbringing from my parents give me a clear answer B.
Of course, I am of the same opinion, I just ran into the moronic laws not only in our country.
You could see from the thieves that they were not doing this for the first time. And the black guy who drove to get it might even make a living from it.
Said to be an Apple engineer. Someone can't read...
So understand, they needed a magazine article about Apple. They did not expect that someone in the Czech Republic would verify the information :D
The problem is that people don't verify anything and then point someone out. :-) If someone in the Czech Republic checked the information, they would find out that it is true.
I would be surprised where you came to the conclusion that he is an Apple engineer, in my opinion he is more of a former NASA engineer, not an Apple one.
We figured it out by following the events of the Apple world. Here's proof that this is indeed an Apple engineer: https://www.macrumors.com/2018/06/26/apple-vr-technology-autonomous-vehicles/
He should have installed a 110db pressure horn there. The thief would have a lifetime memory of it and never need the HomePod again.
The funny thing is that an engineer working for Apple used an LG G5 :) I guess they are very cheap in the US :D
Toner powder and teardrops would be better :) This was no punishment.
and would anyone be surprised if one of those thieves hunted down the robbed for dirtying his clothes, the interior of the car, causing him to drink juice, etc.?! And one would be surprised if they found him right in court.
PS and it is not true that we only have laws that protect crooks here in the Czech Republic/in Europe. Even in America, if someone breaks into your barracks and you shoot his head off, you are seriously at risk of life for murder in unreasonable self-defense!