Mar 10 2009

Laptop yells S.O.S.

Posted by Jim as Software

talklapjpg This is perhaps one of the sensible solutions out there to avoid laptop theft. Sure.. the usual laptop chain would at times suffice, but there are clever thieves who would bring industrial wire cutters to clip away. What is there to do then when you’re yards or miles away from your precious machine?

A company called “Front Door” has developed a “nuisance” application called “Retreiver” for laptop owners. It works by emitting an irritating alarm with phrases like “help I’m a stolen laptop” or “help I was stolen, bring me back to my owner”. This occurs every 30 minutes, just enough time interval to prevent any comfort for thieves. Adjusting the volume wouldn’t work too… as it will automatically set itself to LOUD.

When I first heard about this I asked, but how would a laptop know if it was stolen in the first place? is there a transmitter/receiver mechanism involved that detects if the owner was so so yards away? No… when a laptop is stolen, the owner should log on to the Front Door website and mark it as stolen. And when the laptop goes online on the internet first thing it does is sense its “safe status” from the website. If it’s marked as stolen, that’s when the wailing begins… endlessly.

The Retriever is sold for US$30, right here.

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