Irrigation Controller Stolen, Wirelessly Rescues Itself

wooferhound sends along an amusing piece about thieves who got run over by technology and never knew what hit them. "A Rain Master Eagle-i Irrigation Controller recently stolen out of a housing development just outside of Tucson traveled nearly 80 miles before rescuing itself. The smart controller is now back in place on the wall where it was originally pinched... In this day and age, something that may look passive like an irrigation controller may not be so passive. The thieves didn't realize they were removing equipment that features 2-way wireless communications via the Internet. Three weeks later, the unexpected happened. The Maintenance Supervisor noticed a signal coming in from the stolen controller. He thought it was kind of odd that it was up and running... Whoever had stolen it had plugged it back in."

Comments

huh?

[ZERO1ZERO]

This is an irrigation controller? Something that you plug onto the end of a hose, and it controls the irrigation ?

Can someone tell me why this is interent enabled? Or what is so magical about it that someone would actually buy one, and secondly, steal one?

Product placement?

[jamesh]

Product placement on Slashdot? Who'd have thunked it?