Will we be able to find a lost Mac with SL?

Okay, this is all up in airs but I'm gonna throw this out there. Apple had CoreLocation for the iPhone in iPhone 2.0 and has recently announced that with MobileMe users will be able to find their lost iPhone. This is a great idea for all of us who keep losing stuff or get our stuff swiped. Now, Apple has also announced that CoreLocation will be implemented into Snow Leopard and that currently CoreLocation will be used to automatically update the time zone settings on a Mac.

The question is, will the Mac also be supported with the 'Find My ...' feature? It's not that hard really, Apple can make it so that with this security feature enabled a password is asked when a computer is awakened. If the password fails, the IP address of the computer can be sent to your e-mail or phone showing the pic of who is using your computer and the GPS map of where in the world your computer is. It'd be great if this could happen, but do you think it's likely?

Macs don't have GPS functionality, so it would make this pretty hard to implement . Sure, Skyhook could be used but it is only partially accurate and only works in a limited number of areas, along with a dependency that the user would have a wifi connection.

livinitup1 said:

The question is, will the Mac also be supported with the 'Find My ...' feature? It's not that hard really, Apple can make it so that with this security feature enabled a password is asked when a computer is awakened. If the password fails, the IP address of the computer can be sent to your e-mail or phone showing the pic of who is using your computer and the GPS map of where in the world your computer is. It'd be great if this could happen, but do you think it's likely?

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It's already been available for quite some time. Just purchase Orbicule from here.

Regards.

I know it's offered by other people but I'm just saying, if it was available my Apple out of the box then I wouldn't have to pay subscription fees or extra costs to do something that is free. That's all I was saying really.

EDIT: This leads me to wonder something else. I know that SL will have the ability to record what is being done on the screen (kinda like print screen but a video version) with Quicktime X, so if photos could be sent to a 3rd party (like Orbicule's Undercover facility) then maybe they can make it also activate Quicktime and record a low-quality video of what's being done on the screen or a live-stream. This may give you clues on what the thief is doing if he types his name somewhere or goes on his Facebook profile while on the computer.

That would certainly be a bonus, but remember, you can locate the thief by his\her IP address - which is usually the way most are recovered. Another thing to keep in mind is that recovery software like Orbicule work best when you set a "Firmware Password" for your machine.

Once that password is set, it's virtually impossible for the thief to do anything to the machine to alter it. Read up on it at the link I provided above.

Mac notebook machines are highly sought after items by thieves - especially at universities or places of "higher learning". Protect your Mac now before it disappears.

Regards.

chscag said:

That would certainly be a bonus, but remember, you can locate the thief by his\her IP address - which is usually the way most are recovered. Another thing to keep in mind is that recovery software like Orbicule work best when you set a "Firmware Password" for your machine.

Once that password is set, it's virtually impossible for the thief to do anything to the machine to alter it. Read up on it at the link I provided above.

Mac notebook machines are highly sought after items by thieves - especially at universities or places of "higher learning". Protect your Mac now before it disappears.

Regards.

Click to expand...

Haha, too late for me. Mine was actually stolen out of my dorm last April 2 days before I was going to leave school for summer break. It hurt and I've had to use a slower 5 years old Dell laptop with XP but at least I have something. I moved to a more secure residence where the doors auto-lock when you swipe your ID (no more keys) drastically reducing the chances of someone entering my room and stealing my computer. I'm getting a new 13" Alumbook early September but it wouldn't hurt to protect/insure my computer just in case.