Mac Security Alarm System 243
RogueAce writes "A program named iAlertU sounds a screeching siren when someone attempts to steal your Macbook. Thanks to the sudden motion drop sensors that Macs use to park the hard drive, iAlertU can detect when your Macbook is being picked up, moved or closed. Also, by using the handy remote that comes with the Macbook, you can turn the alarm on and off like you would a car, which the Macbook responds to by making the all too familiar chirping sound and a flash and flicker of the screen. The code behind it is from a guy named Christian Kleins."
Thinkpad Active Protection System (Score:3, Interesting)
Heartfelt note to recent "switchers" (Score:0, Interesting)
A person who thinks that they are a Mac user but are really just trying to be. The mistake they make is to try to become a Mac user, when real Mac users are all about not trying to be anything and following your own rules. There is no fashion code to being a Mac user. There are no rules as to what applications you have to run.
Recent converts like you are ruining the old school Mac community because you are posers. Apple releases one OS that popularizes Fitts' law and the Genie effect, and suddenly people assume being a Mac user is all about owning a Mac. But a real Mac user is born, not made. You "switchers" are misrepresenting yourselves and the Mac platform. You're giving people the wrong idea of what Macintosh is.
switcher: shops at hot topic, thinks Firefox is a good Mac app, waiting for OS X port of PayrollPro 2000, follows any hint of a fashion trend (instead of setting them!), wouldn't know Clarus from Carl Sagan.
real Mac user: someone true to who they are, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules and they have no respect for the status quo. The ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world.
Good to know... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Good idea, but you CAN wreck a computer... (Score:2, Interesting)
Odd that the values from a hard drive protection mechanism are even available to the software. I would have thought that it would simply be a boolean toggle that the BIOS immediately reacts to instantly, not relying upon the operating system in any way.
Re:But... (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:nice feature (Score:1, Interesting)
And it was definatly asleep, i.e. power button pulsing, screen off, modem disconnected. As soon as you work it up, the music went back to normal.
Re:But... (Score:2, Interesting)
Hmm, looks like there's finally a Windows version, too. It's always nice when the best software comes out for Macs first.
Re:Thinkpad Active Protection System (Score:2, Interesting)
Here: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Script_for_theft_al
Re:One Tiny Loophole: (Score:3, Interesting)
rfid? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:nice feature (Score:3, Interesting)
Some CD-ROM drives have two buttons on the front, instead of just a single eject button. If it has two buttons, the left button is a play/next track button and the right button is stop/eject. They'll usually have a headphone jack on the front as well (which only works for CD audio, not anything else from the computer). Take a CD-ROM drive that has two buttons, an AT (not ATX) power supply, and a pair of speakers plugged into the headphone jack. Pop in an audio CD and hit the left button. Voila, you've got a CD player, without a computer.
Note that iTunes, modern versions of Windows Media Player, etc. read the audio data off the CD and process it through the software; they don't tell the CD player to play the CD directly. This also means you can play CDs in iTunes/WMP if that little grey wire is missing.
Not the best security, but would had saved our.. (Score:5, Interesting)
We had a group of normal gentleman come in, two of them starting a conversation with our sales staff. The other gentleman who came in walked around to browse, and without being seen by our sales staff who were busying talking to the other man used bolt cutters to cut the metal wire security device and placed the Macbook in a bag and walked out.
This was all caught on video, but there's not much we can do now since we can't identify any of them.
Our store manager considered options to prevent this in the future but everything was just to expansive.
Until I implement our own in-house security system (Network based, if a local server is unable to ping a particular desktop/laptop it'll sound an audible alarm) I'll be installing this software on our Macbooks.
Re:Ain't that the truth (Score:1, Interesting)
They fiddiled with the anti-theft system for several minutes and I explained the situation after they got the alarm turned off and asked if they could turn the iSight on. The manager did so and set off the alarm himself which took several more minutes. The whole ordeal was about 10 deafening minutes in which the three employees were not helping other customers and the whole store was annoyed by the loud beeping.
I don't know the outcome of the other customers but it certanly wasn't a pleasant shopping experience for us. Moral of the story is that over-zealous anti-theft devices will annoy the customer. Take precautions but don't alienate.
Re:One Tiny Loophole: (Score:3, Interesting)
It also takes 3 or 4 times as long to 'reawaken' a hibernated windows PC as my iBook ever needs.
OSX literally does this so efficiently that when working off battery, I routinely *close* my laptop temporarily for any pause in my work, even if it is just a minute or two.
That, coupled with enough processing power to do minor video edits, etc and a 6-hour battery life for conservative use (or 4 hrs of DVD-playing) and the computer itself just quietly mocks every other pc-owner in the room when I use it for meetings, conferences, in-flight, etc. I can't count how many times people have asked, muttered, or complained after seeing my iBook. A macBookPro is DEFINITELY in my near-term future.
Disclaimer: I own some Apple stock. Caveat: I 'switched', and then I bought stock because I was impressed by the above stuff. Curious to fanboy in less than a year.
GPS helped us find a stolen laptop. (Score:3, Interesting)
Laptop was stolen, theft was noticed, word went out. Laptop booted up, transmitter in laptop transmited. Laptop booted from CD without going into the case and turning the transmitter off, laptop began transmitting continously. Windows format and install takes a while, so the signal was transmitted for more than an hour. Some wandering around with recievers until company security was sure they had the right apartment. Police called and informed of the situation and that company security is going to get the laptop back, now, would the police like to meet them there?
End result was laptop recovered in less than 12 hours, and thief in jail for felony theft. The laptop was gone longer as evidence than it was gone with the thief.
It is expensive, it is not perfect, and I have no idea how you would get it into a case with as little freespace as a
Mac laptop, but it can work very well.
I would be more specific but I signed one of those NDA's that some companies love so much.
The main starting problems would be the usual, cost, how to fit it in the case and maybe power consumption. Also, a big hurdle might be getting the police to declare a GPS signal probable cause to go into where ever the laptop is. Especially if the signal is not currrently transmitting. My previous employers solved that last one by sending there own people and then reporting the whole mess to the police, but most of us individuals don't have those resources. (Maybe that is a good thing, should
Re:Mute? Headphones? Sleep mode? Power off? (Score:3, Interesting)
What if the theif simply carries a sound-proof case in which to put his new prize?
Cheap, simple, fast, works for any laptop, etc.
You guys talking about plugging in headphones and doing on-the-spot mods are thinking too hard. Think like someone on the prowl for a laptop:
The problem is that it might make noise. You want the noise to stop. So you carry a well-insulated case and beat your feet, which any decent "office creeper" thief is going to do anyway. Plus the case puts the object out of sight.
Done.
Plenty of time later to figure out how to disable the noise. Most fences can do that for an extra cut. Not a problem.