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Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

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Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#41

Post by dennisgorelik »

sounds wrote: post #33
m0nastic wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, where I grew up, everybody was a criminal. I don't mean that hyperbolically either. Everyone in my family (mostly bottom-of-the-barrel criminals, but a few actual bad-ass criminals), every other kid who lived in my neighborhood. All criminals. My older brother ran away from home when he was 15, partially to get away from all of that. I stayed until I was 17, but left for much the same reason. If I felt obliged to…

Sadly, such a situation is not unique. Kudos for being open about it. Kudos as well for being able, and having the balls to make the exit. I'm speaking from a background of gangs, where there is no exit. Except a coffin.

What could possibly keep gang member in the gang aside of greed?

Why not just move to another side of the country and start a new life?

Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#42

Post by vaksel »

nostromo wrote: post #28
m0nastic wrote: post #5

That's sad to hear, but I think he's right to realize that it's going to be really hard to deal with losses when the auto theft community gets wind of their business. I am always amazed by the efficiency and technological prowess that the kids I grew up with who steal cars apply to their trade (even if I wish they were involved in a better trade). One kid I grew up with now has a ring of six guys working for him, pay…

Not to be overly prudish, but as someone that has had a car stolen -- not recently, but when I was right out of high school, completely broke and using it to get to work (where there wasn't any public transportation option) -- I'd really encourage you to turn in your friend. You may think it's not your problem, but you're complicit in those crimes and acting very unethically.

I had one of my old cars semi-stolen. Luckily I took a few precautions and had a hidden fuel pump kill switch wired up(since the Integra was a very high target for thieves).

So they only got 20 feet away before the car died on them.

Wiring one up is real easy, takes like 20 minutes, all you have to do is pull the rear seats out, cut the wire and extend the wire to the switch.

Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#43

Post by jerrya »

po wrote: post #8

How can Techcrunch say "the group stole four cars totaling $400,000" and then immediately print a letter from the company saying "The total value of these cars was around $300,000"? Even though in this case it's ok if you read the letter, it is the kind of thing that makes me feel like I shouldn't rely on Techcrunch's reporting. It's really not a big deal but how did that happen? Why are the numbers different?

It's drug money like reporting.

In this case, three old Datsuns were stolen, reported to the police as four recent Jaguars, who wrote down five Porsches, and finally reported as 1 Veyron.

Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#44

Post by ComputerGuru »

chrischen wrote: post #31
dennisgorelik wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You probably meant "expert thief". Somebody who had 10000+ hours of expertise. Somebody who risked to get caught while gaining that expertise. There are not so many real expert thieves. That's why extended security measures do work: less experienced majority of thieves is caught outright, and more experienced minority of thieves is eventually caught due to unforeseen circumstances (unexpected witness, unexpected new…

Yea but it only takes one expert thief to tell his minions what to do.

You are overestimating the ability of people to listen to directions and think and adapt them for themselves.

If it were that easy, none of us here would be complaining about hiring incompetent people :)

Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#45

Post by yanowitz »

packetslave wrote: post #20
jackowayed wrote: post #11

I felt worse for these guys until I read to the end of the letter and found out about the "HiGear girls". It's not quite as bad as I thought because they don't seem to "rent out" these models like they do cars; I guess it was just a publicity thing. But still, having revealing pictures and even stats (measurements) of the women is pretty much the definition of objectification. FOLLOWUP (responding to comments): I'm n…

"having revealing pictures and even stats (measurements) of the women is pretty much the definition of objectification." I imagine if the women in question didn't want to be objectified, they were free to not accept the money.

(Three replies essentially all said the same thing. I'll respond to this one.)

Enslavement should not be the standard by which we assess the effect of such actions. Under capitalism, we should expect to see people trading their labor (or image) for money.

The more interesting questions include: why is this marketing pursued? How does it fit into a tapestry of cultural "norms" that objectify and demean women? What effect does it have on all the people (men and women, boys and girls) who "consume" it?

The origins and continued existence of "car chicks", "beer girls", and "booth babes" has nothing to do with empowering women by creating new labor niches. It is a reflection and extension of a sexist society and culture.

Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#46

Post by zacharytamas »

protomyth wrote: post #25
zacharytamas wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've noticed this too. There have been several cases in the past few months where when reading TechCrunch I was like "Wait, what?".

The Red vs Arri lawsuit story they ran felt that way. It looked like it was cribbed off the Reuters report. It struck me like the author didn't actually read the papers filed in the lawsuit. The biggest issue was the lack of reporting on the accusation that Arri sabotaged a Red One on the set of a movie. The original report was written before court papers were available (I think), but the TechCrunch story was posted…

I'm sure there's pressure to put out articles as fast as possible verses the old days of publishing where a journalist might have weeks to work on their piece. With publishing on the web so easy these days readers tend to expect higher publishing frequency, but I'm sure we can't be the only ones who would gladly trade quantity for quality.

Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#48

Post by veyron »

jerrya wrote: post #43
po wrote: post #8

How can Techcrunch say "the group stole four cars totaling $400,000" and then immediately print a letter from the company saying "The total value of these cars was around $300,000"? Even though in this case it's ok if you read the letter, it is the kind of thing that makes me feel like I shouldn't rely on Techcrunch's reporting. It's really not a big deal but how did that happen? Why are the numbers different?

It's drug money like reporting. In this case, three old Datsuns were stolen, reported to the police as four recent Jaguars, who wrote down five Porsches, and finally reported as 1 Veyron.

Let me assure you, I'm still here :P

Most likely they reported based on original MSRP (likely around 400K) rather than current value (300K)

Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#49

Post by burgerbrain »

jackowayed wrote: post #11

I felt worse for these guys until I read to the end of the letter and found out about the "HiGear girls". It's not quite as bad as I thought because they don't seem to "rent out" these models like they do cars; I guess it was just a publicity thing. But still, having revealing pictures and even stats (measurements) of the women is pretty much the definition of objectification. FOLLOWUP (responding to comments): I'm n…

I wonder what your opinion is on baseball cards.

Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#50

Post by shadowfiend »

dennisgorelik wrote: post #41
sounds wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly, such a situation is not unique. Kudos for being open about it. Kudos as well for being able, and having the balls to make the exit. I'm speaking from a background of gangs, where there is no exit. Except a coffin.

What could possibly keep gang member in the gang aside of greed? Why not just move to another side of the country and start a new life?

Safety, for one. As for moving, family and lack of a link to anywhere else. Starting a new life isn't as easy as you seem to think it is. Nor, for that matter, is moving. Particularly if you don't necessarily have any good marketable skills.
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