Yahoo Tech wrote a great guide titled “How you can recover your laptop if it’s ever stolen” featuring GadgetTrak.
The company also offers MacTrak for Mac laptop owners, which is a little different than the one I mentioned earlier for Windows PCs. MacTrak makes use of whatever Wi-Fi networks are within the laptop’s range in order to locate it within 10-20 metres. The website even gives you the chance to type in an address to see if it’s covered by the software. Generally speaking, it covers major urban centres in North America, Europe and Asia.
But a really cool thing it does is utilize the Mac’s built-in iSight Webcam to snap images of whomever is using your stolen computer. The images are automatically uploaded to your Flickr account every 30 minutes, along with the location and data. If you don’t have a Flickr account, then fear not because it also sends the images and info to your email address as well.
Read the full article
Forbes recently featured GadgetTrak in an article titled “Most Stolen Electronics” which discussed the epidemic of electronics theft and the risks it poses to not only consumers but also businesses. Steve Bertoni did an excellent job pulling together statistics from the FBI and other trusted sources, this is probably the most in depth study I have seen to date. My favorite quote is “With GadgetTrak’s sneaky defenses, it almost makes you wish your BlackBerry or MacBook gets snatched.”
MSN Canada did a write up featuring GadgetTrak and LoJack for Laptops titled “Should you opt for a laptop recovery solution?”. We agree with the article’s position regarding the value of the data, which is a key reason we made GadgetTrak Search & Destroy available. Small businesses are particularly susceptible to the threats posed by stolen laptops and the risks associated with data breaches. Insurance may help with the value of a device, but no insurance can help recoup the costs of the data on the device, particularly if it is customer or employee data.
Just ask Starbucks, who recently had to announce that 97,000 employee records were on a stolen laptop. What is the loss of trust worth to a company? If a company loses critical data such as Social Security numbers of their customers or employees there are considerable costs to the organization. The cost of credit monitoring services and legal fees are just the start, as in some of the cases a data breach can have criminal charges associated with it, if the company is proven negligent. Then there is the lost of consumer trust and in the case of Starbucks, lowered employee morale in an already gloomy holiday season thanks to the current economic woes.
MacTrak will soon be available in retail stores across the United States, we started shipping shrink wrapped product this week just in time for Christmas.
A customer in Anchorage, Alaska had his phone stolen, luckily he had installed GadgetTrak Mobile Security on the device. Today he has his stolen phone back and the mobile thief is behind bars. Here is is his story:
I own an AT&T Tilt. Recently it was stolen, 3 days later the thief was in jail and I had my phone back. I was working out at the Alaska Club and some one broke into my locker and stole everything I had in there, my wallet, car keys, cell phone, and a birthday present that I had bought for my 2 year old son.
Prior to all of this I had purchased GadgetTrak, and had it installed to my AT&T Tilt cell phone. I had set up the software and everything so that it would alert my wife as well as my more “private” email account when ever it was turned on.
I gave the information to the Anchorage Police Department that I was getting from the phone (via SMS) to my email account, as well as the GPS positioning of the phone, and the APD was able to locate and collect my phone from the thief as well as arrest him. We are now awaiting our court date to finalize the charges. Sadly the APD was not able to recover the birthday present that I had bought for my son, but at least they were able to put another THIEF behind bars where they belong.
According to the thief he had no idea that the phone was being tracked. The APD has linked him to several other thefts from other Alaska Club locations.
The ONLY reason I am endorsing this product is that it worked, I got my phone back, and the person that stole it was arrested.
- Phil (Anchorage, Alaska)
The Apple Blog did a review of four security products for your Mac and MacTrak held up quite well, you could even say it took the prize in comparison.
MacTrak for OS X is heralded as “the most advanced theft recovery solution available for Apple systems”.
The software is activated by logging into your MacTrak.me account and clicking a button to activate tracking. The next time your Mac connects to the Internet the software will activate and start sending you emails with the specific location and network environment of the system, as well as use the camera to take a photo of who is using the system every 30 minutes.
Some of the extra features offered by MacTrak are:
- Wi-Fi Positioning: The ability to accurately pinpoint the location of your Mac through analyzing Wi-Fi networks
- Flickr Integration: Social media at its best. Photos taken every 30 minutes are uploaded to Flickr with location details
- Network Information: It also collects network information to provide to authorities
It is priced at $60 — a one off payment which doesn’t need renewing every year. It’s transferrable between computers.
It has been a busy few weeks with the launch of MacTrak, the response has been phenomenal, once people try the software they have been pretty amazed at the accuracy of the location as well as the automatic and fast Flickr upload. Several top Mac publications have been reviewing the product as well, all have been very favorable:
GadgetTrak® Mobile Security received a great review this past week in Veja Magazine in Brazil. Veja has a distribution of over 1 million subscribers. For those whose Portuguese is a little rusty, here is a translation for your convenience:
Software evaluated: GadgetTrak [Mobile Security] (www.gadgettrak.com)
Where can be installed: Mobile Phones
Objective: To erase the data stored and help locate the unit
How it works: The software provides different codes that, when sent through cellular text messages can delete data, lock the device and trigger an alarm. If the thief inserts a new SIM card, the program also records the new number and refers to an e-mail chosen. If your phone has GPS, the software that tells your location
Comments from experts: Of the products we looked at for mobile phones GadgetTrak us the most complete solution. It also has the advantage of not requiring a central monitoring center and allows you full access. It is a guarantee that no one else will have access to data stored on your device.
GadgetTrak was featured in a recent Reuter’s article. Alison DeLauzon had her camera stolen while on vacation and she had an Eye-Fi card installed on the device which transmits pictures via wi-fi networks. 
The camera’s card uploaded photos on an open wi-fi network and some of the photos were of the thief. This was a lucky break for the camera owner of the camera.
GadgetTrak was mentioned as a more aggressive measure to help owners protect their devices:
While passive systems have helped reunite missing gadgets with their owners, more aggressive measures can be employed to protect everything from laptops to iPods and BlackBerrys.
GadgetTrak, of Beaverton, Oregon, sells software that can be loaded onto any of those devices. If a BlackBerry, for example, falls into the wrong hands, the software grabs information from the new user’s SIM data card and e-mails it to the rightful owner.
With an Apple Mac computer, the software instructs the built-in camera to take video of the thief and sends to the owner, along information about nearby wireless networks.
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GadgetTrak was featured in the Chicago Daily Herald, as a solution to GPS theft.
An Oregon-based company, however, is trying to solve the recovery problem. GadgetTrak sells software for a yearly subscription ($12.95) so owners can keep tabs on their computers, GPS devices, MP3 players and cell phones.
In the case of a GPS, the next time someone tries to download new information from a computer, GadgetTrak sends an e-mail to the owner. Tracking a computer IP address, the company can tell owners the exact location, said Ken Westin, company owner.
“I think a lot of our customers are people who have had stuff stolen before,” Westin said. “There’s a lot of anger. They feel helpless. Our software is a way to empower them so it’s something they can do.”
The recent British Crime Survey suggests that one in eight children aged 11 to 16 has been the victim of a gadget theft.
Children under 16 are to be included in the British Crime Survey for the first time, the home secretary has announced.
While expected to cause a rise in crime statistics, Jacqui Smith said the move would offer an understanding of how crime affects young people.
Children’s groups want youngsters to be included in the BCS and Ms Smith has asked for views on how to survey them.
Source: BBC
GadgetTrak was mentioned on the Kim Komando show on a recent feature on GPS theft and how to protect your devices “Protect GPS units from thieves“.
GadgetTrak was featured in a recent article on GPS theft in the Buffalo New York region, GadgetTrak founder Ken Westin was quoted along side a researcher from the Urban Institute:
“As there is more crime, the manufacturers are going to step in,” said Ken Westin, founder of GadgetTrak, a company in Portland, Ore., that sells software that can be installed in electronic devices to help their rightful owners find them if they are stolen.
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The GPS manufacturers need to do more to make the devices harder to steal or reuse, said Westin of GadgetTrak and the Urban Institute’s Roman.
GadgetTrak was feautred in another story on GPS theft, this time on WSLS News Channel 10 in Virginia. Aimee Norton the reporter for the story was actually the victim of a GPS theft from her car.
