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Stolen Laptop Alarms

Posted by michael on from the would-have-been-useful-for-bruce-perens dept.

torok writes "Three Engineering students from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC, Canada have developed a laptop alarm complete with remote pager that detects if your laptop is being moved and sounds an alarm. The article is a bit sketchy on details, but it sounds like a cool idea."

3 of 257 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Damn laptop alarms by nodwick · · Score: 5, Interesting
    The creators say exactly the same thing:
    The beauty of the electronic beast, according to Mitchell, is it allows the laptop owner to be mobile, which is, after all, the whole idea of laptops. There are few false alarms because of the deactivating device and the distance required between the laptop and its owner (about 15 feet) before the gizmo works.

    "There are lots of systems out there that have just a thing that detects motion, so it blasts a siren just like the car alarms that no one listens to these days," said Mitchell.

    What they don't say is how their device solves the problem. As far as I can tell, when it goes off, it still makes the same annoying sounds.

    I disagree that loud laptop alarms won't be effective because they're unnoticed -- after all, the places they'd be used would most likely be study areas or libraries, which are typically very quiet. A 105 decibel alarm in such an area would certainly get people's attention. The problem is that it'd be terribly obnoxious as well. Personally, I think if someone did use one of these somewhere like a library, it'd work great scaring off the would-be thief but not so great against the subsequent mob coming to bash it into silence with textbooks and binders ...

  2. Re:What it doesn't do by rampant+mac · · Score: 5, Interesting
    "Remote tracking"

    That reminds me of a story... Some guy tracked down a stolen iMac using Applescript and Timbucktu.

    It's actually an interesting read to see how this guy traced an iMac stolen from his sister's home.

    --
    I like big butts and I cannot lie.
  3. A SERIOUS, EASY WAY TO DEFEAT... by Eric_Cartman_South_P · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I've seen this done easily with motion detectors like this one all the time.

    1) Slip Zip-Lock under and around alarm.

    2) Poor some water into bag, just enough to cover alarm.

    3) Enjoy laptop.

    You would be surprised just how easyily a lot of electonics are defeated with water. Nice idea, but it needs to be made water proof/resistant.