Photo Stream is helping a man find his stolen iPad

We've heard a lot of stories about Find my iPhone helping people track their lost and stolen iOS devices, but here's one of the first stories involving Photo Stream. According to this Fox 4 Dallas report, it all started late last December in Dallas, TX at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

Ken McLellan had just arrived home from a business trip. While he reached to pick up his checked bags, he put down his iPad along with his carry-on bag. You probably can guess what happened next. With bags in hand, he turned to get his iPad, and it was gone.

As a loyal Apple user, McLellan also has an iPhone and an iMac in addition to his purloined iPad. He's also one of 85 million people using iCloud and had, rather fortuitously, turned on Photo Stream sharing. Imagine his surprise when new photos from his iPad began to hit his iMac a few weeks after his device was stolen. He's collected the photos of the people who currently have his device and posted them to Facebook. He's hoping to identify them and possibly get his iPad back.

Getting his iPad back might not be that easy, though. Perhaps the thief resold the device to these unsuspecting buyers who don't realize it was stolen. It's also possible the thief returned the stolen iPad to Apple for a new device. A recent report details how a savvy thief can use Apple's generous repair policy to get a new device and leave the stolen one behind. It's also possible the people with the iPad are the ones who lifted the device and they'll dump it once they spot their photos on Facebook.