During the the whole day yesterday I spoke with the owner and we even had a skype chat with video and so on.
Yeah! Phase 1, COMPLETE!
Now we're looking for a way to deliver the phone back to him.
Monday, 31 August 2009
Sunday, 30 August 2009
Received an e-mail from owner!
I just received an e-mail from some one who claims to be the owner. Here comes the hard part. Did we really find the needle in the haystack?
The nice thing is that the e-mail explains where he lost the phone with some details even I didn't know. I just checked them with my cousins and it all seems to be correct, so I believe we've found the legit owner.
But we'll make a couple of extra checks.
The nice thing is that the e-mail explains where he lost the phone with some details even I didn't know. I just checked them with my cousins and it all seems to be correct, so I believe we've found the legit owner.
But we'll make a couple of extra checks.
Saturday, 29 August 2009
Craigslist
I'm trying to post an ad in Craigslist.org > SF area > Lost and Found, but the 'Post' site seems to be down. :(
More details
The phone found is an iPhone 3g (or maybe 3GS, but I'm not sure) with 16GB and black back.It's saved in a black rubber protector (see pic).
UPDATE: Just checked some features and I believe it's a 3GS. I could copy/paste and record video. According to apple.com ads that's a 3GS feature.
Friday, 28 August 2009
A pic of the phone
That's a pic proving I'm from Barcelona. BTW, I took the pic with my iPhone (yeah, I got one too).
Contacting AT&T is not easy
Many already suggested that I contact AT&T and they will contact the owner. Well there's two reasons why I'm not contacting them:
- it wouldn't be a pretty solution to the challenge
- it's REALLY difficult to contact AT&T from outside US or if you're not a customer already.
Believe I've tried: I checked their website, sent the mentions over twitter and even considered faking a 'new customer' call... and everything failed.
- it wouldn't be a pretty solution to the challenge
- it's REALLY difficult to contact AT&T from outside US or if you're not a customer already.
Believe I've tried: I checked their website, sent the mentions over twitter and even considered faking a 'new customer' call... and everything failed.
Thursday, 27 August 2009
Faith in people
I was beginning to loose faith in people. In almost a week I had had no feedback.
Is it really that difficult to be a good person? Or is it that I'm not giving enough visibility to this blog/web?
Then I checked the web traffic analysis and found 2 hits from the US: one from Massachustes and the other from California. I guess the posts in the Boston Globe and the Press Democrat (Sonoma newspaper) are being visited.
Is it really that difficult to be a good person? Or is it that I'm not giving enough visibility to this blog/web?
Then I checked the web traffic analysis and found 2 hits from the US: one from Massachustes and the other from California. I guess the posts in the Boston Globe and the Press Democrat (Sonoma newspaper) are being visited.
SMS via GMail
GMail has a beta feature (only for US) to allow sending SMS messages from gmail's embedded GTalk.
Since I got the phone owner's number I'm able to send SMS to it free.
Since I got the phone owner's number I'm able to send SMS to it free.
Wednesday, 26 August 2009
Contacted AT&T
After browsing AT&T's website (it sucking corporative) for a long while I couldn't find a way to report a found phone.
The only way a user can report AT&T information is if that user is an AT&T customer and has created a certain account. Since I'm not even living in the US, there's nothing I can do appart from saying: "Well done AT&T!"
Finally I found a link to their corporate twitter: ATTnews. I already sent a mention to them but I'm not confident I'm getting any news on that front.
The only way a user can report AT&T information is if that user is an AT&T customer and has created a certain account. Since I'm not even living in the US, there's nothing I can do appart from saying: "Well done AT&T!"
Finally I found a link to their corporate twitter: ATTnews. I already sent a mention to them but I'm not confident I'm getting any news on that front.
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Sent SMS
This morning I checked again if the SIM was still usefull and found it had already been cancelled. Since I can't use the SIM anymore I assumed the real owner had ordered AT&T to cancel the SIM.
Then, if the owner of the lost iPhone contacted AT&T to cancel the SIM, it's highly probable he/she has already requested a new SIM (and probably maintaining the phone number). So, if the owner got a new SIM with the same number I can contact him now!
I just sent an SMS to the phone number I discovered yesterday:
"We have your lost iPhone. See http://foundiphoneinvenice.blogspot.com/". I hope he/she gets it and contacts me back.
UPDATE 26 aug 2009 18:30: Called the number and got an AT&T voice: "the number is unavailable". I may need to keep trying until the owner gets the number active again.
Then, if the owner of the lost iPhone contacted AT&T to cancel the SIM, it's highly probable he/she has already requested a new SIM (and probably maintaining the phone number). So, if the owner got a new SIM with the same number I can contact him now!
I just sent an SMS to the phone number I discovered yesterday:
"We have your lost iPhone. See http://foundiphoneinvenice.blogspot.com/". I hope he/she gets it and contacts me back.
UPDATE 26 aug 2009 18:30: Called the number and got an AT&T voice: "the number is unavailable". I may need to keep trying until the owner gets the number active again.
Monday, 24 August 2009
Owner details
Finally managed to plug the iphone to a computer with iTunes.
Through that I got the firmware installed (as I said, the phone had completelly blocked) and managed to obtain the owner's phone number.
It's a US number (as suspected) from California (area code is 707).
UPDATE: Thanks to google, tracethatnumber.com, peoplelookup.com and reversephonedetective.com even got the county and city in California (not disclosing!). OMG that's really scary!
UPDATE (aug 24 2009 19:00GMT): If you are the owner or know the owner CALL the lost phone! We've managed to unblock it (actually iTunes reinstalled software from scratch without even asking). I'm waiting for your call.
UPDATE (aug 25 2009 11:00GMT): The SIM appears to be blocked again. Can't make or receive calls anymore.
Through that I got the firmware installed (as I said, the phone had completelly blocked) and managed to obtain the owner's phone number.
It's a US number (as suspected) from California (area code is 707).
UPDATE: Thanks to google, tracethatnumber.com, peoplelookup.com and reversephonedetective.com even got the county and city in California (not disclosing!). OMG that's really scary!
UPDATE (aug 24 2009 19:00GMT): If you are the owner or know the owner CALL the lost phone! We've managed to unblock it (actually iTunes reinstalled software from scratch without even asking). I'm waiting for your call.
UPDATE (aug 25 2009 11:00GMT): The SIM appears to be blocked again. Can't make or receive calls anymore.
Related articles
I started giving some visibility to this story on several websites. Hope we reach the owner.
http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/9di8t/please_reddit_help_me_find_owner_of_iphone_lost/
http://digg.com/travel_places/Found_iPhone_in_Venice
http://venice.en.craigslist.it/laf/1339189073.html
http://forum.virtualtourist.com/discussion-486227-1-1-Travel-0-0-Venice-discussion.html
http://www.boston.com/community/forums.html?plckForumPage=ForumDiscussion&plckDiscussionId=Cat%3aTravelForum%3a10635Discussion%3a7998dbaf-9a05-477a-986f-91206641dfe3
http://forums.pressdemocrat.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=2151084365&f=7111054036&m=8921060119&r=8921060119#8921060119 (thanks Greg)
http://sfgate.kaango.com/feViewAd/15183657
http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/9di8t/please_reddit_help_me_find_owner_of_iphone_lost/
http://digg.com/travel_places/Found_iPhone_in_Venice
http://venice.en.craigslist.it/laf/1339189073.html
http://forum.virtualtourist.com/discussion-486227-1-1-Travel-0-0-Venice-discussion.html
http://www.boston.com/community/forums.html?plckForumPage=ForumDiscussion&plckDiscussionId=Cat%3aTravelForum%3a10635Discussion%3a7998dbaf-9a05-477a-986f-91206641dfe3
http://forums.pressdemocrat.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=2151084365&f=7111054036&m=8921060119&r=8921060119#8921060119 (thanks Greg)
http://sfgate.kaango.com/feViewAd/15183657
Found iPhone
UPDATE: Specified the name of the person who called: Chuck
SUMMARY: my uncles found an iPhone and are willing to give it back.
------------
My uncles and cousins have just returned from a trip around the Mediterranean. Their last visit was Venice (yeah, the real one, the one in Italy). Their highlight of their visit there, was not the Ponto Rialto, or the Gondole, no no no the highlight of their stay there was that they foun an iPhone laying on a Vaporetto.
The Vaporetto is the Venice's public metro-boat network.
According to their story, it was just laying there, forgotten. So they looked around, did some quick questioning and didn't find the owner. They had a family reunion and discussed what to do with it. There were several options:
Ok, new family decision! Shall they try to contact that person who called? That required passing the main terminal lock to check the contact list! The iPhone includes a timout lock that requests a 4 digit code. 10.000 combinations. But my uncles and cousins were on holidays and didn't think on probability, security measures, and this stuff so they tried a brute-force attack combined with some social engineering:
At that point the fimally's will to find the owner was beginning to break. A member was reconsidering his position to locate the owner and was beginning to feel the greed... "New phone. Nice!". But democrady has it and so they voted again and stuck to the original plan.
Since the terminal had blocked and the SIM didn't seem accesible anymore they decided to bring it back to Spain with them with the hope that "The cousin will know what to do.".
That's were I come into action. I'm the cousin of a family who was on holiday's in the Mediterranean and found an iPhone in a Vaporetto and is willing to locate the owner to send it back.
We know it's and AT&T user (probably US ;-) ), that has a contact in it's agenda with a certain name (we're not disclosing it for the moment) and we were also able to find the IMEI and the ICCID. So, if you lost an iPhone in Venice on the 22nd august (probably) during 18'30 and 19'00 send us an e-mail (found.iphone.in.venice AT gmail.com) and we'll post it back to you more than gladly.
SUMMARY: my uncles found an iPhone and are willing to give it back.
------------
My uncles and cousins have just returned from a trip around the Mediterranean. Their last visit was Venice (yeah, the real one, the one in Italy). Their highlight of their visit there, was not the Ponto Rialto, or the Gondole, no no no the highlight of their stay there was that they foun an iPhone laying on a Vaporetto.
The Vaporetto is the Venice's public metro-boat network.
According to their story, it was just laying there, forgotten. So they looked around, did some quick questioning and didn't find the owner. They had a family reunion and discussed what to do with it. There were several options:
- give it to the Vaporetto driver --> hmmm not reliable
- keep it for themselves --> hmmm not ethical
- try to find the owner --> difficult but not impossible! Sounds like an interesting challenge!
Ok, new family decision! Shall they try to contact that person who called? That required passing the main terminal lock to check the contact list! The iPhone includes a timout lock that requests a 4 digit code. 10.000 combinations. But my uncles and cousins were on holidays and didn't think on probability, security measures, and this stuff so they tried a brute-force attack combined with some social engineering:
- 0704
- 1234
- etc...
At that point the fimally's will to find the owner was beginning to break. A member was reconsidering his position to locate the owner and was beginning to feel the greed... "New phone. Nice!". But democrady has it and so they voted again and stuck to the original plan.
Since the terminal had blocked and the SIM didn't seem accesible anymore they decided to bring it back to Spain with them with the hope that "The cousin will know what to do.".
That's were I come into action. I'm the cousin of a family who was on holiday's in the Mediterranean and found an iPhone in a Vaporetto and is willing to locate the owner to send it back.
We know it's and AT&T user (probably US ;-) ), that has a contact in it's agenda with a certain name (we're not disclosing it for the moment) and we were also able to find the IMEI and the ICCID. So, if you lost an iPhone in Venice on the 22nd august (probably) during 18'30 and 19'00 send us an e-mail (found.iphone.in.venice AT gmail.com) and we'll post it back to you more than gladly.
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