One of GadgetTrak’s customers, Ian from Toronto has successfully recovered his missing USB thumb drive. Ian left his USB thumb drive in the back of a computer in a computer lab. The drive had quite a bit of his work and personal files on it and he was not sure if it was stolen or not. One of his instructors actually found the drive and brought it back to his house, as it was the end of the day. Ian flagged the device in our system when he noticed it was missing that same day. His instructor plugged the device into his computer which triggered the agent and sent Ian information regarding the connection.

Luckily the device was returned the next day to Ian by the instructor, so no further action needed to be taken. Ian told his instructor as well as the rest of his class that the device was being tracked by GadgetTrak and as Ian tells us “they were pretty amazed”.

This goes to show you that devices are not always stolen, many times they are simply left somewhere or misplaced. The number of iPods and other gadgets that are left in computer labs, airplanes, bars etc are on the rise. GadgetTrak not only helps recover devices when they are stolen, but also helps protect in cases where the device is simply left behind. In addition to the patent-pending technology we offer to electronically track devices, we also have the GadgetTrak labels that are put on devices which allow another level of protection without having to engrave your personal details on the device (if someone steals your iPod what would keep them from stealing your identity?).

The Chicago Tribune mentioned GadgetTrak alongside LoJack for Laptops as an effective measure for dealing with the growing problem of device theft.

Wired’s GadgetLab mentioned GadgetTrak today in response to a previous post regarding the UK government’s concern for the rising reate of gadget theft.

British Home Secretary John Reid stated plans to approach Apple and Sony on the subject of gadget muggings, with an eye towards organizing an anti-theft brainstorming session with the top makers of media players. There has not been any mentions regarding solutions, however mentions of biometric devices etc have been pushed in the media. The problem with the biometric approach is that this could be quite costly and easily worked around when someone has physical access to the device, it also adds additional cost and complexity to the players.