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Slashdot Asks: Do You Label Your Tech Gear, and If So, How?
At last month's CES, I mislaid a microphone that I'd just bought: too many items in little black pouches, and that one disappeared on a patch of dark carpet when I got something else out of my bag. A few minutes later, when I realized this, I walked back to find (no shocker) that it had walked away, and the lost mic somehow never made it to the Lost & Found office. Dumb as I felt for having let it get away, the real sting is knowing that I didn't so much as have my name on it, which I like to think might have nudged a morally ambivalent finder into returning it. My question is this: How do you personalize, label, or mark your expensive tech goodies, so it's harder for them to be innocently or less-innocently taken away? Even at a LAN party, it's easy for items to get swapped around and confused. I've sometimes put my name or initials (in permanent ink) on any flat surface I can find that will fit it, but even the "permanent" ink of Sharpies seems to fade on many surfaces. Stickers degrade with heat, time, and bag jostling, but they certainly help. Is engraving the best permanent option? Have you used one of the physical tag services, like Boomerang, and has that ever actually come in handy for you? There's theft-deterrent (or at least post-theft tracking) software, as we've mentioned a few times on Slashdot, but many things aren't suited to it, like my lost mic. What do you do to keep your stuff yours?
Really, guys...
some of us have grown up, and longer go to either trade shows or LAN parties 8D
on a more serious note, get an engraver
Then you're a fucking thief. It's not yours. Either fuck off or get it to a Lost&Found.
Stickers can easily peel off. Engraving is easy to overlook unless the lighting is right. High-contrast "permanent" ink sticks around. Yes it fades over time, but it only takes a few seconds per year to freshen it up.
For electronics I also try to put contact info somewhere obvious - My flash drives all have "IF YOU FIND THIS.txt" as one of the few files in the root folder, and my phones all have _Me as the very first entry on the contact list.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
Sharpies are disallowed at my lab because the writing is so easily removed. They're expensive, but writing with a VWR lab marker doesn't come off even when treated with most solvents.
"Contains Contaminated Body Fluids" usually keeps people from touching my stuff.
I like microcars
Engraving is the only (mostly) unremovable way to mark things, and I have found in the past that the simple phrase "Reward If Found" and a phone number have gotten me and several friends some of their items back. Either that, or "Stolen From (insert Name)". That way, even if the thief doesn't think better of his acquisition, he'll at least be reminded he's a morally corrupt shitbag every time he picks it up.
-- You are in a maze of little, twisty passages, all different... --
How about these they have drawbacks but would have alerted you more quickly http://www.thetileapp.com/
The first several replies here aren't too useful. If that continues, ask band roadies on an appropriate forum. The band I used to do lights for did up to three shows per weekend, so there was plenty of opportunity for an expensive cable to end up in the wrong person's case and that sort of thing.
Something as simple as a stripe of blue paint on ALL of your gear will really help avoid accidents. For intentional theft, if you want the pawn shop to _maybe_ notice it, engraving is probably the only way to go.
I can't change others' morals and not make them thieves. But I do label stuff simply so it doesn't get confused. We all have so many big power transformers to power every device and, well, I end up moving every 2-3 yrs. How will I know what all they go to? Some look identical and even have the same plugs! But not the same wattage or amperage, which makes equipment go bananas. So... for at least THAT reason it's wise to label stuff.
I was actually intrigued by BoomerangIt, until I noticed that a) "BoomerangIt Packs and Subscriptions are no longer available for purchase." and b) the cart indeed does not exist.
I'm a little fuzzy on how you a) start a business selling labels that promise long-term lookup&return, then b) stop selling new labels and thus getting new income, while c) still being required ("nominally") to provide the lookup&return service, without d) running out of money and imploding.
Am I missing something with either their site or their apparent lack of business model???
GStreamer - The only way to stream!
If I get a device that uses a generic unlabeled power supply I'll mark it with a silver Sharpie to remind me what it goes to.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
Seconded. We had spray painted stencils on anything larger than 12". For mics and cables we used colored duct tape and wrote on that with a Sharpie. Every gig ended with a "dummy check" at the end of the night: even if you think everything is in the truck, it never hurts to make one last check (onstage, backstage, etc.). You'd be surprised how many times something turned up in a dummy check.
Designate one person as the gear wrangler. Teach him the Roadie's Creed:
If it's wet, drink it.
If it's dry, smoke it.
If it moves, fuck it.
If it doesn't move, PUT IT IN THE TRUCK.
-k.
"In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart." - Anne Frank
Depends on the item, but stuff that looks like junk doesn't walk away. Don't break it just add a ding or two, use sand paper, or add duct tape make people less interested in grabbing stuff for some reason.
I'm a musician as well as a hacker. I adopted the rock climber's trick of two bands of coloured electrical tape wrapped beside each other on the cable like a little flag, done at both ends of the cable. Works like a charm for speedy tear downs without losing gear.
- you can tell your cable at either end, greatly speeding up tear down
- unlikely anyone else has your flag because you are say "yellow red yellow"
- hard to peel off in a hurry (for theives)
- easy to see in the dark if you use bright colours
HTH
Laptop(s), tablets and phone I travel with have Lojack (or equivalent) service installed. Best case scenario is I can find it, worst case is I can reach out and turn it into a brick. I put laminated business cards in packages. Zip tie laminated business cards to some items and my bags. There's also a laminated business card or two tucked into my laptop behind covers so I can prove ownership, down the road, even if it gets wiped. Cables, etc. of any value get labels. Tools and small items get run through my employer's laser engraver. Still, small items occasionally go missing, either misplaced or stolen. Had a beard trimmer disappear out of my bag once, who'd want a used beard trimmer? It's not a perfect world, just do the best you can.
Did you know there are two kinds of Sharpie markers? Did you ever get the impression that Sharpie markers don't work as well as they used to?
The real ones are now called Sharpie Industrial and they still work.
Like my cat, I just pee on everything that's mine. Or that I want to be mine. Works like a charm.
Chelloveck
I give up on debugging. From now on, SIGSEGV is a feature.
I work for a small touring company, mainly ballet's and some Choirs we use a Hi- tech solution, RFID tags and a scanner on everything, when it goes into the truck or a bag gets loaded its scanned (only takes a second and you can scan packed bags and it pick up everything) end of the night/gig the generated list is checked for missing items. WE haven't lost a thing in 3 years (broke a few but thats to be expected)
Working in one of those factories, I actually learned which solvents take permanent marker right off.
FYI: Sharpie doesn't hold up well against G3.
Won a bet that way. A guy told me that permanent marker was permanent. I told him to write his name on something with one. Rag with flux remover, wiped it right off.
You left your car in a parking lot so I took it, it's mine now.
...Finders keepers and all that.
Ah yes, "finders keepers" the law of the elementary school playground...
Here in the grown-up world, there are other laws. If you were a grown-up, living in the Silicon Valley, instead of "finders keepers" you would be charged with something called "Possession of stolen property" penal code section 496. Depending on the value (@ $400) it would either be a misdemeanor or a felony; with penalties of one year in county jail, or three years in state prison, respectively.
Although "possession" means that you have the stuff on you, you can also be charged with "constructive possession of stolen property" which means that they find the stuff in your house or room or car.
If you are in possession of something that isn't yours, you have a duty to notify the police or the owners.
Give your gear a proper branding. Yeehaw!
Sharpies are the worst. They fade to illegible after only a few years.
I use a Brother P-Touch label maker. You can buy flexible tape that works great for tagging cables. I also use it to label wall-warts or external power supplies with the device they power. I used to use paper labels with clear packing tape wrapped over the tags, but the P-touch is nicer and easier.
An honest finder will use the tag to try to return it to you. But if a thief finds your stuff and doesn't want your tag to remain visible, he's going to slap his own sticker over whatever markings you placed on it. To a first glance, it will seem to legitimately be his. It's much harder to defend yourself against them. I also inventory my gear with a phone app, taking pictures of my stuff and its serial numbers. It's much more useful to the police and to the insurance company if the stuff is stolen. Plus, the inventory app is great for keeping maintenance notes, replacement part numbers, etc. I use MyStuff2 for the iPhone, but I'm sure similar apps exist on other platforms.
John
A group of Anonymous Cowards playing the Internet Tough Guy game together is honestly pretty funny.
Possession of stolen property requires that the property was stolen in the first place.
To steal something requires (among other elements) an intent to deprive the rightful owner of enjoyment of the property.
If you take something for the purpose of turning it in, that intent is not present and thus the property is not considered stolen.