May 8 2009 Update

I could not find a way to scan the police report yesterday, but a spark of genius just hit me.
... One Photo Booth later and here are two iSight photos of the police report:

"Censored Areas are Courtesy of TheGimp"

Besides all this, my wife got in touch with some of the workers that were present in the span of time the laptop was stolen. They denied any kind of connection with the theft.

I still haven't had a chance to play with TheftHammer. The Comcast dudes are supposed to come this afternoon. I can't wait!

Here's a little bit about me. I am a software developer, working for a mid-sized company in Miami, Florida.
On my free time, I am developing a few iPhone games with some very close friends. And yes, the stolen laptop does contain some of these projects (but the versions are out of date anyway).

On another note, I am expecting my XBox 360 back from Microsoft. I got the famous 3 rings of death 2 weeks ago. When bad luck strikes, it never strikes once. At least my bad luck struck quite a few times lately:
- My wife was at the ER 3 weeks ago
- My XBox 360 died 2 weeks ago
- My laptop was stolen last week
- The AC Unit of the house went caput last week
- My car broke down and went for repair last week
- My car broke down again (and is still dead) yesterday.

But I'm alright. I got depressed for a few days then decided I could not let depression settle. So I forced myself to smile and laugh. It's the best thing to do. Force yourself to be happy.

The ER was an awakening experience. You are stripped off of everything you have, forced into a hospital gown, and at the mercy of a nurse, a doctor, an IV, and the supernatural force (if there is one). So I had time to think about the meaning of life. And I believe life is nothing about material stuff.

So again, I am happy and grateful that we are in good health.

May 7 2009 Update

Hey guys,

I finally filed a police report yesterday.
I told the policeman only a handful of people visited my house, and tracking it down should really be a no-brainer given all the information I gave (Serial #, Model #, Employee # of the DTV worker, Phone numbers).

I just got a response from getdropbox.com, in which they stated that they cannot help me anymore than what is already up in the account info section.
I was also told that when the user connects to the service the IP is updated, which is about all I need.

I'm just wondering how in the world am I going to get the ISP to help me in this matter.
Actually, guys, let's face it, there is no HI-Tech help whatsover.
Whether it's a jewel or a computer or a vegetable, the cops will follow the same procedure. Notify Pawn Shops, and put a detective on it if any available, whenever available.

The cop also made me understand that should I decide to not press charges, all the efforts that would be put towards this case would be for nothing. In other words, I should only file the report if I intend to press charges should the thief be caught.
Obviously, it is not mandatory and the decision is ultimately mine.
For me really, the important thing is to get my laptop. My wife was really against pressing charges, but truth be told, I'll do whatever necessary to get this laptop back.
I told her we would take it as it comes, and not to worry about this just yet.

I will be posting the police report fairly soon.I will erase some of the information. I just don't feel very comfortable with having my identity revealed on the net. Maybe that will change, we'll see.

Regarding TheftHammer, I'm not sure if I'll start it or not. There seems to be at least 1 open source project that can do the job.
You guys have suggested some very clever solutions, and I'll look at them all.
Since I just moved in, I have to wait until tomorrow to get Internet service at home, at which point real work can be started.

Information about my stolen macbook

This post was made with the recommendation of the Reddit community, following this post:
http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/8ib4y/dear_reddit_some_douchebag_stole_my_brand_new/

Hey guys,

First and foremost, I want to thank you all for your support.
I will be posting updates here regarding my macbook and whatever new info comes up.

The MacBook is last generation, 13/2.0/2X1GB/160/SD
I bought it in October 2008, right when they came out.

I just moved with my wife to my new (and first) house last thursday, and the laptop was stolen between Friday morning and Sunday night (when I did realise it wasn't there).

I held off on calling the cops until today, because of all the boxes in the house. I didn't want to make a mistake and end up finding it between two boxes.
Now I am certain it isn't in the house.

There is no infraction in the house. So it has to be either the DirecTV guys who setup the satellite dish, or one of my friends (they're all my best friends, and have been exposed to all my technological devices for years now, even when I wasn't home. They all passed the trust test a LONG time ago).

So far, this is what I've done:
- Contacted Apple, gave them my Serial#, but they said they can't track it down.
- Contacted the police, but will have to do it again after work, tonight, so they can pass by when I'm home.
- Contacted DirecTV to get the employee's name of whoever setup the service (just got an employee number)
- Scoured Craigslist.org and EBay

Things I am thinking of doing:
- Contacting google to get all the IP addresses used to access Gmail last week.
- Do the same with Yahoo.

I will keep you all posted.

Thank you all again for your support.

Edit:
I am starting an open source project on Github.com
It's called "Theft Hammer". It's got nothing in the repo yet.
http://github.com/jonaphin/Theft-Hammer/tree/master

Help me define what it should be and let's do it. I'd like it to be compatible with Linux/Mac/Windows (Mono-based maybe?)

Edit #2:
Checked Gmail's activity log. It only shows me the last two hours on my account. And since I changed my password, no good information will show there.

Edit #3: http://www.reddit.com/user/AxiomShell/ This guy just helped me a great deal! Look at his comment: http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/8ib4y/dear_reddit_some_douchebag_stole_my_brand_new/c09df4s

I just have to figure out if the IP on the mac listed is current. This is what it says:

genevieve-mac 2 months ago (76.26.58.254)

Genevieve's my wife btw...

Edit #4: I just contacted getdropbox.com 's customer service by email. I'm going to forward the Reddit post to them. Let's see if that helps a bit.