Forums

I have been pondering over the last few days over the two main heists and now the two mini heists and decided that it would benefit me to get everything laid on the table.  So here are things as I have perceived them.

Fact 1 - The originating address of the puzzle pieces originated in an abandoned lot in Boston with no discernible infrastructure.

Fact 2 - The address of the agent on the virtual envelope was 1 Infinite Loop

Fact 3 - The result of the first heist gave us the first image of the RDF machine

Fact 4 - The idea of the RDF exists as a long standing joke within Apple referring directly to an aspect of Steve Jobs's personality.

Fact 5 - The "scientist" is dead.

Fact 6 - The result of the second heist gave us the pseudo-schematics for the RDF machine.

Fact 7 - The mini-heists seem to be offline (one was mailed to people, all three involve major cities).

Fact 8 - There are two major clues still out there.  "Powerful People" - Getting "Burned".

-----------------------------------------------

Factoid 1 (not really a solid fact but reasonable to assume) - The address the first packages originated from is at this point irrelevant (that does not mean this will change, it is just not relevant at this point)

Factoid 2 - There is nothing more to the Ben Franklin thing (it served its purpose in Philly)

Factoid 3 - There is a strong resemblance in the logic boards from the puzzle in Heist 2 to the Logic Board in the RDF images (see conjecture 1)

Factoid 4 - It is reasonable to assume RDF is, and only is, related to the RDF joke about Steve Jobs

Factoid 5 - The Philadelphia Experiment, despite its 80s goodness, is still a bad movie (not relevant to anything but I had to put it in here)

-----------------------------------------------

These Facts and Factoids lead to several areas of conjecture.  The most notable being the following:

Conjecture 1 -  If there is a relationship between the logic boards in Heist 2 and the RDF machine that means that there is a 4th person that needs to be accounted four.  Our task may be to identify that person.  This fits in with the idea of "powerful" people being involved.  The RDF, if it truly existed, would embue the owner/user with a fair amount of power over their intended audience.

Conjecture 2 - In order for the heists to work and be easily managed they have to be pre-planned in a meta sense.  That is, while the individual details may be in flux up to the time of launch, the end game must already be known (or else the game would flounder and the results would be marginal at best.  This would mean that we are dealing with a linear progression (as diverging and emerging plot lines would not work well for this - TOO MUCH to handle).  So everything we have done is being built upon by what we will do.

Conjecture 3 - There is also a progression in the cities that are involved in the mini-heists.  Boston to Philly to Chicago.  If we can find the linear progression between these cities, we may be able to "guess" upcoming cities on the path.  If the next city happens to be St. Louis then we can assume that the path would be Route 66.  This is an area that would be interesting to do some research on.

-----------------------------------------------

Conclusion 1 - At this point all paths seem to be leading to either Apple HQ or Macworld (the timing gives a big plus to the Macworld postulate).

Conclusion 2 - It is reasonable to assume that the end-game of MacHeist II rests somewhere within or within a direct association with Apple.  My guess would be that the Directorate (or members there of) are going to be at Macworld.  So I think that some research into what, besides the rampant Apple rumors, will happen at Macworld 2008.

Conclusion 3 - I have put way too much thought into this.

-----------------------------------------------

*Disclaimer - these facts are open for interpretation but I am confident that what I have presented here is fairly accurate and in the right spectrum of things.

"Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem"  - all things being equal, the least complicated of all solutions is the preferable one (Occam's Razor).

I like where you are going with this and wanted to add some amateur questions:

As to conjecture 3, should we assume that the linear progression does not include use of Portland, Oregon in the actual heist 2?

Has anyone checked to see if these locations match up anyway with the kite from the previous Philedelphia miniheist?

Ok, so who's going to MacWorld this year?

the greatest blog known to mankind / twitter / flickr

I did not include Portland because that was part of a regular heist, not a mini-heist.  But that is a great question.

I wanted to distinguish between them as they are separate beasts all together.

However maybe we should include Portland into the mix.

"Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem"  - all things being equal, the least complicated of all solutions is the preferable one (Occam's Razor).

Hah! Such a wild imagination from a man whose signature quotes Occam's razor!

Well, technically, it's quoted in latin - the English is sort of an extension of the same theory. More literally, it reads "Entities ought not be multiplied beyond necessity." Therefore, if you hold that as true, the English phrase often (wrongly) called Occam's razor is a logical extension.

PM me | Twitter

True, but I would argue that what this exercise was for me was an application of Occam's razor - and yes I am aware of the literal translation and the common English logical extension of the concept.

What I wanted to focus on was to remove the wheat from the chaff.  Focus on what is known as fact, what is almost fact and what can be surmised from that.

Thus, I endeavored to simplify what we know.

It comes down to this really.  Other than what is presented to us directly by the directorate, nothing else can be known with any certainty.  So remove what was not presented with us (thus my argument that this is a linear progression) and what I presented is what I am left with.

Sometimes an apple is just an apple - that is all I am saying.

"Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem"  - all things being equal, the least complicated of all solutions is the preferable one (Occam's Razor).

Good train of thought nre999.

www.mjweber.com | Flickr

I am

true enough - and a fine job you did. the points i found imaginative are the those where apple itself gets involved w/macheist. unless, you mean to say that the story line will tie directly into some apple conspiracy (and not an actual partnership with Apple, inc.)

PM me | Twitter

Perhaps our fourth person from conjecture #1 is non other than the head of Apple himself Steve Jobs.

Woz, Jobs, and Ives are all accounted for by the three boards in Heist 2 (I'm assuming he's going by which CPU was on each board, and there was a CPU each for Woz, Jobs, and Ives).

PM me | Twitter

I would doubt highly that Apple as a company may be involved in it, but it would not be outside of the ordinary for someone closely associated or even employed by Apple may be in on the MacHeist.

Also, I was already accounting for Ives, Jobs and Woz (as if there is a correlation between the puzzle and the RDF - which is pure speculation).

What would make sense is if the last offline heist was to take place AT MacWorld.  So my question would be, if we remove Apple as a company from MacWorld - what is going to happen there that would be a logical fit into this heist?

Edit:  Someone postulated on another thread that maybe the whole thing is to get the RDF back to MacWorld in time for Jobs's keynote speech - that is a logical and promising train of thought as well.

After today I will update the original post here with more facts as they are revealed to us.

"Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem"  - all things being equal, the least complicated of all solutions is the preferable one (Occam's Razor).

Could this be what Apple (ie Jobs) needs the RDF for?
CNBC jumps on Mac ultraportable bandwagon

- a nerd of a different color

People have been screaming for an ultraportable Mac since the demise of the 12" PB (Hell, you could even say they've been screaming for one going back to the demise of the PB 2400c, or even the Duo). They'd hardly need an RDF generator for this - it'd practically sell itself (I remember anectdotal stories of how the 12" sold like hotcakes for Apple).

Now, the Apple TV, on the other hand...

Marathon Forever.
AppShelf: MacHeist 3 Loot
AppShelf: nanoBundle 1
Check Reciept Page for nanoBundle 2 AppShelf Files.

I agree - seriously go to the Forums on MacRumors.com and see the overwhelming talk about this.

"Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem"  - all things being equal, the least complicated of all solutions is the preferable one (Occam's Razor).

Interesting trains of thought and some good postulates.

As has already been postulated, my line of thought also is that the Heist concludes AT Macworld or in SF somewhere, as an offline hunt, with the FINAL offline discovery being the fourth, missing RDF unit itself.

There have been rumors and rumblings about a successor to Steve Jobs upon his retirement, and people point to Phil Schiller as a possible likely candidate (Johnathan Ive being the other obvious choice). So possibly the fourth unit is for Shiller?

The Chicago drop will invariably point to some other locale, westerly. I can hardly wait.

I will also be at MacWorld, but later in the week (Friday most likely, as I gotta work). How about a get together for all the MacHeisters, regardless?

"What? No small-talk? No chit-chat? That's the trouble with the world these days. Nobody takes the time to do a real sinister interrogation. It's a lost art." - James Bond, Goldeneye

As it says in the FAQ, MacHeist will be at MacWorld!

Good catch

There is our link!

It just seems to make sense that since MacWorld is around the same time the heists will end and MacHeist will be there.

So at this point speculation is somewhat limited until the drop today.

Good times Good Times

"Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem"  - all things being equal, the least complicated of all solutions is the preferable one (Occam's Razor).

The bundle goes on sale the week before Macworld, so the missions will have ended by then. Unless there's some bonus something or other.

Well there goes that idea (as far as the culmination being at MacWorld.

The evidence (to this point) still points towards Apple though.

"Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem"  - all things being equal, the least complicated of all solutions is the preferable one (Occam's Razor).

Yeah, I bet Macheist is going to do *something* at Macworld...

the greatest blog known to mankind / twitter / flickr

as will I.

I will be there most of the week under the company Carmot Media.

say hi =]

Do I get credit for noticing that the Heist 2 Logic boards are similar to the one in the RDF?

▞▞▞▞ blu blu bluE! ▚▚▚▚

feeding the theory of finishing in San Fran:

tinyurl.com/2fmcpy - Google Maps

I wonder if 2343 will hold any significance in the upcoming heists and/or miniheists... maybe we should keep this MacWorld booth number in the back of our minds, on a mini-Bunsen burner...

~JOSh-X

I found this earlier and mentioned it in another thread and it also seems appropriate here. It is MacHeist's description as an exhibitor at the MacWorld Expo:

"It's the biggest Mac event of the year... and the best deal on the show floor. Get 10 of the hottest Mac apps for just $49. And be sure to drop by our booth at 3 PM on Wednesday for a real "bang"!"

Source

-matt
twitter

That "bang" has always made me think...

Referrals:
Free*My*Apps: Discover great iOS apps. Get rewarded!
FreeAppSlots: Play Slots & WIN!
Bing Rewards: Search Bing, earn credits towards rewards!

Is that this year's or last year's?

Edit: I guess it is this year's. Maybe John just got lazy and copied/pasted last year's description

Flickr

This years, at least according to that website.

-matt
twitter

Well, whoever is lucky to go, take pictures...

http://ladder42.com/  Volunteer Firefighter for over 17 years.
Former Macheist team: "Green Monkeys™ "