http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20099494-248/apple-wants-its-3g-macbook-prototype-back

yay4fregac

8/31/2011 3:16:05 AM

wonder what apple's giving him for it

8/31/2011 7:40:39 AM

fregac is a cool dude. The part about Judge Mathis is lol-worthy.

8/31/2011 7:48:05 AM

oh wow. i read about that last week i think. didn't realize it was fregac

8/31/2011 7:52:54 AM

two of the fairly recent apple leak stories involve raleigh

8/31/2011 8:01:19 AM

i hope they give him close to what it was going for on ebay. that thing was up to 30+k before they took it down

8/31/2011 8:14:28 AM

Haha awesome.

8/31/2011 8:35:26 AM

Quote :

"two of the fairly recent apple leak stories involve raleigh"

two of the fairly recent apple leak stories involve raleigh North Carolina State University alumni.

8/31/2011 8:59:29 AM

Why would he carry it to the Apple store?

8/31/2011 9:12:33 AM

^ Read the article, I didn't. That then led to me being sued.

8/31/2011 9:23:42 AM

cool story bro

i'd rock a un-supported prototype macbook pro, expecially when it is visibly a prototype that would make all hipster chicks drool and give them a conversation starter piece. I did not realize one could get such items on craigslist

8/31/2011 9:27:35 AM

Quote :

""I'd make extra money by buying broken CRT monitors and other things at (North Carolina) State University and NC government surplus sales and then repair and resell them from my dorm room," "

I still have two fregac repaired CRTs sitting in my closet. Worked great when I used them!

8/31/2011 9:30:58 AM

So, fregac, so how did apple handle this with you? did/will they compensate you something for it, or are they just strong-arming it from you and being dicks about it?

8/31/2011 9:32:39 AM

^ My lawyer will deal with all the contact from here on out. Seemed prudent.

8/31/2011 9:55:33 AM

Quote :

"i hope they give him close to what it was going for on ebay. that thing was up to 30+k before they took it down"

Last I saw before it came down, it was over 70+k.

Fregac -- Best of luck with this! I still have an old 23" or 24" NEC CRT you sold me years ago -- I use it from time to time for various projects, still works great.

8/31/2011 10:23:12 AM

hahaha i saw an article about this prototype macbook quite some time ago

no idea it was scooped up by one of our own

8/31/2011 10:28:38 AM

8/31/2011 11:18:39 AM

Quote :

"i saw an article about this prototype macbook quite some time ago"

http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/15/prototype-macbook-pro-with-sim-slot-surfaces-on-ebay-unicorns-a/

This one is from about 2 weeks ago

8/31/2011 3:29:57 PM

^ God I love that article title.

8/31/2011 3:40:03 PM

Can your lawyer issue a press release?

8/31/2011 4:22:28 PM

I'm curious who the douche is that brought his prototype into an Apple store for repairs

8/31/2011 4:24:18 PM

Ok maybe it was 2 weeks. So much stuff comes through my google reader that I can no longer remember when I read what

8/31/2011 4:32:16 PM

Can you go back to small claims court, since it's not actually counterfeit?

Thinking about it a little bit more....I suppose there's really no reason to. Apple either takes it, pays you for it, or you get to keep it. Either way you're likely to get nothing or more than the $740.

And I'm sure small court will view it as both parties being made whole, since you got the laptop back and he got the money back.

Still funny the guy sued you over a non-counterfeit counterfeit that may be worth significantly more than he paid for it.

[Edited on August 31, 2011 at 6:51 PM. Reason : ]

8/31/2011 6:30:12 PM

Wow. Read about it a while back, didn't realize it was the same guy helping me & friends with DTV years back!

8/31/2011 10:15:11 PM

lol, oh carl. what shenanigans he in now?

I like his quote:

Quote :

""Few people were really interested, and the thread turned into a discussion about tethering rates and wireless carriers,""

basically anything on forums talking about 3g or 4g always lead to that.

Also carl, you have that sunmicrosystem "super computer" rack system? Hehe

8/31/2011 10:35:29 PM

[samurai sword and cape pic]

8/31/2011 11:12:25 PM

Do you still have the machine? Could I swing by just to look at it?

9/1/2011 12:57:19 AM

Dear Apple, heard you were looking for a new CEO. You should check out Carl, he knows his shit.

9/1/2011 11:57:17 AM

I heard fregac was 2nd on Steve Jobs' list of handpicked successors.

9/1/2011 1:35:16 PM

Send apple an invoice, but written in the form of a Nigerian prince.

9/2/2011 12:02:50 PM

Quote :

"Do you still have the machine? Could I swing by just to look at it?"

Nope. I returned it to Apple yesterday morning. Really didn't have much choice in the matter.

9/2/2011 6:17:13 PM

did you get anything out of it?

what was their logic/basis? did you not have much choice because they have more money and could crush you like a bug?

9/2/2011 6:26:46 PM

sure you do... "ship" the laptop in a unprotected box with the whole device already in pieces. Add the note "please take with care".

9/2/2011 7:02:02 PM

i guess I fail to see how fregac should be screwed for Apple not being able to keep their shit under wraps. he obtained it as legally as he could, not knowing it was ganked. they should pay his ass or he should "disappear it"

9/2/2011 7:25:03 PM

shrug. no different than pawn dealers buying stolen merchandise. it sux, but it isnt like they should have to pay him 70 grand b/c some douche walked off with their prototype.

9/2/2011 7:56:54 PM

Apple's position was the machine is their property and needed to be returned. My lawyer dealt with them for a day and then advised me to cooperate, lest I end up in a legal battle I don't have the resources for. They immediately sent someone from a private investigation firm to pick it up in person. I was neither offered nor given any compensation so I guess I'm out the money, time, and parts I put in.

Ah, well, I guess that's life. I gave the investigator at Apple all the information on the guy who sold it to me and forwarded the original e-mails over. If nothing else it makes for a pretty crazy story to tell.

9/2/2011 8:31:04 PM

So much for possession being .9 of the law.

Large coffers are 100% of the law.

9/2/2011 8:52:13 PM

Man, that really sucks. You'd have thought they would have at least thrown a new MBP your way for your troubles. Didn't sound like you were trying to dick them over or anything. Apple really is weird when it comes to picking and choosing when to be nice to get good publicity. It's too bad you're not an old black woman on welfare. They probably would have given you a couple thousand shares of stock or something then.

9/2/2011 8:53:30 PM

they should have at least let you take the parts out that you put in, as that most certainly is your shit. but ^^ is right: lots of money is 100% of the law

9/2/2011 9:00:42 PM

send your resume to apple and list on past experience, put

"fucked by you guys, give me a job"

9/2/2011 9:11:48 PM

you should get in touch with cnet and whoever else posted articles about it and let 'em know how the story ended.

It's pretty shitty how they handled it.

9/2/2011 9:30:37 PM

^ A bunch of bloggers and reporters (including the one from Cnet) have asked me how it ended and I've told them, wouldn't surprise me to see a new article go up about it. I mean its still possible Apple will toss something my way since I really did try to cooperate with them, but they're not obligated to.

The whole way they handled it was kind of weird. I mean they could have told me something when they pulled the auction, but instead didn't even respond to my e-mails asking what was up for weeks. Only when a Cnet article with the whole story (the opening post, heh) was about to get posted and the writer asked Apple PR for comment did they suddenly care. Apple called me before the story went live, I told Cnet, and then the article got posted with its new title.

9/2/2011 10:55:54 PM

If apple was smart about it, they'd give you the latest high end macbook pro for free. They could spin it into a good PR news instead of recapping the news into a "sending the gestapo cops to recover said property... damn you ncsu alumni ppl for stealing or losing our shits".

You should say that in your comment to cnet. Something like "I don't mind that apple recovered their device, but I would be thrilled if apple offered a replacement laptop to showcase the struggle that I had to endure throughout this endeavor; a trophy that good things do happen in life"... or something like that.

9/3/2011 1:25:43 AM

^ You really would think. For what they must have paid to have two different major private investigation firms involved in getting the machine back they could have flown me to Cupertino and had me hand it back to them in person. It would have been fun for me and been great PR for them. I was cooperative and trying to do the right thing and got treated like a criminal. I'm out all the money, time, and effort I put in despite the fact that Apple's agent told me I had done nothing wrong. I bought a stripped out broken machine I thought was interesting and had every reason to believe was legitimately acquired. I repaired its logic board (which was no minor job and involved a lot of soldering and BGA reflow) and installed a hard drive, ram, and battery at my own expense. They wouldn't even TALK to me or my lawyer about compensating me for those things. It was literally the attitude of "we don't negotiate with terrorists." Which I suppose makes sense since the man who called me from Apple was formerly the Chief of the Foreign Investment Unit, Counterintelligence Division at Federal Bureau of Investigation. That's the type of person they have on their side. Who can fight that?


I suppose the moral of the story is don't anger a company that has more cash on hand than the US Treasury. Even if you never meant to and LIKED that company and their products. I mean I love Apple hardware . . . . compared to most manufacturers they have an amazing attention to detail and quality. Their laptops are awesome. But I really think at this point that their corporate culture is horribly broken. For a company whose introduction commercial was someone throwing a hammer at an image of Big Brother look at what they have become. They ARE Big Brother now. Secrecy, paranoia, and litigation. Its incredibly depressing.

9/3/2011 10:06:48 PM

I know it's real easy to play Monday morning QB, but I really do wonder how far Apple would have gone to get it back. Sure, there's no doubt they have the money and resources to make your life a living hell for the foreseeable future, but at what cost, from a PR standpoint? I'm in no position to make wagers on your behalf, but I kinda wish you would have let it play out a bit longer to see what happened.

9/3/2011 10:12:03 PM

The moral is Apple Sucks.

[Edited on September 3, 2011 at 10:17 PM. Reason : Sorry to hear about the fiasco, man.]

9/3/2011 10:13:00 PM

send them the bill for the repair job...

9/3/2011 10:16:09 PM

Do they really call their repair monkeys the "Genius Bar"?!

9/3/2011 10:19:08 PM

Those "genius'" don't actually repair anything. They just the gate keepers to the real workers.

9/3/2011 10:25:09 PM

i'm still curious as to what legal basis apple actually has

(realizing that, pragmatically, their cash is all the basis they need)

9/3/2011 10:34:18 PM