A reviewer sent us a link to his MacTrak theft tracking notification on Flickr, pretty funny:

I know this commercial is pretty old, but it is still one of my favorites, what is a little nostalgia as we come up to a new year:

Introducing the SoundKase Sonic i-Boom Pack. This trendy little bag plugs into your iPod and has built in speakers to so you can annoy those on the train around you, as well as advertise to iPod thieves in the area that you have an iPod. Just in case the thieves are not aware of this fact, the bag conveniently has a transparent iPod/mp3 player display pocket on the back of the bag for easy an easy snatch and grab.

I am thinking of buying one of these to wear around MacWorld this year, maybe play a little Barry Manilow at high volumes as I run across the auditorium, just to see how long it takes for someone to steal my iPod, or just smack me for my poor taste in music.

Yes a GadgetTrak iPhone and Touch solution is in the works. I think we found just the right guy to do the commerical for us when it is released:

my stolen ipod touch commercial from matthew k on Vimeo.

Note to thieves: If you are going to steal a cell phone, make sure it is an iPhone.

So we have been getting quite a few questions regarding whether we offer a theft recovery software solution for the iPhone. I hate to say it, but the answer is no. We tried, but given Apple’s current attitude when it comes to folks tinkering with their precious iPhone we have decided to put that on the back burner. But, you will be glad to know that support for most of the OTHER major mobile phone platforms will be available shortly. Sony Ericsson phones are the next platform that we will be launching here shortly, followed by more in the coming weeks.

So a little advice to thieves. If you are going to steal a phone, play it safe and make it an iPhone. Until Apple opens up the platform to developers, folks like us cannot develop anti-theft solutions for them. Any other phone you steal just might be a GadgetTrak snitch!

The thief of a MacBook took photos of himself and accidentally uploaded via auto upload to the owner’s Flickr account. He didn’t stop there, he also took photos of all of his tattoos further incriminating himself.

It is a bit of a coincidence that this happen at around the very same time GadgetTrak announces the availability of Verey I Apple Mac theft recovery software. The software works a bit more stealthily than the accidental Flickr publish approach. When a user logs in or accesses a locked down guest account, they are asked to enter a password. If the correct password is not entered in a set amount of time, the iSight camera will be activated, taking a video of the perpetrator:

The video will then be emailed to the owner of the Mac, as well as whomever they listed to be notified. In addition to video it will also collect the IP address, network information as well as all of the wireless networks in the area. Not only will an email be sent to the Mac owner, but notification can also be sent to the owner’s Twitter account, where they can set SMS notifications and other logging capabilities.

Even Fake Steve has an opinion on the recent Dateline iPod story.

Although funny it does bring to light some claims made during the Dateline NBC special “To Catch An iJacker” where GadgetTrak was mentioned, in regards Apple’s responsibility in all of this.  It really should not be Apple’s responsibility, there have been rumblings of a class action lawsuit against Apple, which is quite silly. You cannot sue a company for building a high-demand product and it is not their task to provide theft deterrents. This is a reflection of our increasingly mobile society, not a conspiracy by Apple to create a generation of thieves. It is not just iPods that are being stolen but also cell phones, laptops and other gadgets.

Let the market decide. If theft becomes a large enough issue in the marketplace it provides an opportunity for a company to add theft deterrents to their products.

I thought it was pretty funny when this ad appears on Google for eBay when you do a search for “stolen ipods” the text of the ad states ” eBay: Looking for stolen iPods? Find exactly what you want today. “:

At least eBay is being honest…but I am not so sure I would be advertising this fact. I know the ad is appearing as part of an automated AdWords process, but this make one think about the number of stolen iPods that exchange hands via eBay and just how much profit eBay has made form the exchange of stolen iPods, gadgets and other goods.