Every day we hear stories of laptop and mobile phone theft, it occurs more often than people would like to think. Celebrity laptops are particularly hot targets, not just for the value of the device but also their contents, be it personal photos, or even intellectual property such as scripts, music and other priceless items. R&B singer Ryan Leslie knows this pain all too well. During his tour a bag containing his laptop, hard drive, $10,000 in cash and passport went missing in Cologne, Germany. As the laptop and hard drive contained “invaluable intellectual property” he is offering a $1,000,000 reward for its return, here is a video with his plea and some footage of his entourage interacting with security:

Many celebrities use GadgetTrak software for this very reason. Our software is on tour with quite a few musicians, many big names you would know, as well as actors and other professionals. The fact that we not only allow them the ability to track stolen devices, but can do so without a back door into their systems are key reasons they have placed their trust in us.

Perhaps the worst thing about portable devices is that they’re so easy to carry around, we can barely hang on to them. Asurion, a Kansas City company that insures portable devices, says Americans lose about 60 million cellphones every year. Our laptop computers don’t fare much better. A 2008 study by Ponemon Institute LLC, a research outfit in Traverse City, Mich., calculated that every week, 12,000 laptops are lost or stolen in the nation’s airports alone.

Luckily, some gadgets are smart enough to call for help. A Portland, Ore., company called GadgetTrak has created some smart software to help them do it.

I tested two of their products. One was PC-Trak, for hunting down lost or stolen Windows laptops, which costs $25 a year. There’s also a version for Apple Macintosh laptops, which I didn’t try. The other was GadgetTrak for BlackBerry smartphones, which sells for a one-time price of $25. It is also available for phones that use Microsoft’s Windows Mobile software, but it’s not yet offered for Google Android phones. There’s a free version for Apple’s iPhone, but it lacks some advanced features. Apple famously prevents iPhone applications from running constantly in the background, a limitation that cripples GadgetTrak on the iPhone.

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GadgetTrak retrieves 95 percent of stolen laptops, puts RoboCop to shame (video)

Want your stolen gear back? Don’t call some gung-ho superhero who’s as likely to blow up your small grocery store as he is to catch those perps, call GadgetTrak instead. The little startup company has grown since we last heard of it back in 2007, and is now operating a $25 per year tracking service that has delivered a statistically significant 95 percent success rate on reuniting gadgets with their owners. Available for Mac OS and Windows laptops, as well as mobile phones (BlackBerrys, WinMo, and iPhone) and even removable USB storage, the software’s intelligent enough to remotely activate your webcam and ping the incriminating info back directly to you — no data is sent to GadgetTrak. Check out some recent news coverage of the software and its implementation in local schools after the break.

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Another laptop has been recovered thanks to GadgetTrak. A Mac was stolen from our customer Kari Hardre during a home burglary along with jewelry, the GadgetTrak software activated and sent location, network data and images of the thief back.

“They kicked the front door in, so I would invest that $50. It’s an investment well worth it,” said Kari Hardre.

All online sales revenue today will go to Haiti relief. We have partnered with other software developers through Indie+Relief to donate all Jan. 20 sales to support the relief efforts in Haiti. We will be donating all of today’s sales directly to the Mangrove Fund.

The Mangrove Fund was established in 2007 in order to help existing organizations and people who provide sustainable assistance and support to impoverished Haitian communities. They look for proven track records of success which result from the local relationships and knowledge base necessary to create long-term positive economic benefits within Haitian communities.

The 7.0 earthquake is only the most recent of a string of calamities to strike Haiti. However, it is by far the most devastating. Mangrove will provide ull support to the rescue efforts currently being launched and will be funding several organizations who will be directly involved on the ground, including Vwa Ayiti and entities devoted directly to assisting children living in any one of Haiti’s hundreds of orphanages.

100% of the monies we receive during this campaign will be sent directly to organizations leading the relief and recovery efforts.

We were featured in a great piece by Good Morning America on Christmas Day regarding how to protect the gadgets your received on Christmas Day. GadgetTrak was featured as tip number two:

GadgetTrak uses GPS and WiFi signals to locate your lost electronic and lock it down remotely so a thief cannot use it and police can track it.

Read the full story on Good Morning America

This is actually the second time GadgetTrak has featured on Good Morning America, in a previous episode our technology was also described in more depth with technology corespondent Becky Worley:

GadgetTrak’s MacTrak was featured in its own section of the newly published “MacBook All-in-One For Dummies” by Mark L. Chambers.

Another great review for GadgetTrak’s PC-Trak anti-theft software for Windows. Peter Grad of The Record in New Jersey took PC-Trak for a test drive.

I tested the program by switching the activation on. When I turned on the “stolen” laptop, I immediately received e-mail notification that the laptop had been switched on. The notification provided me with a remarkably accurate location of the laptop – latitude and longitude numbers, an approximate street address and a link to a Google map pinpointing to within a few dozen yards the image of my street where the laptop’s Internet connection was detected.Were I using the laptop while moving, map images would be updated periodically.

In addition, Gadget Trak quietly instructed my laptop to snap photos every half hour, capturing the thief – in my test, me — in flagrante delicto, which in this case was basically me feasting on a pint of H*agen-Dazs.

The images were automatically uploaded to Flickr, a free photo-sharing Web site, which can be accessed from anywhere.

So Gadget Trak not only zooms in on your stolen equipment’s location, but it accumulates enough hard data and images to help prosecute a criminal case.

Read Full Review

A customer who installed GadgetTrak software on his MacBook had it returned to him yesterday. The MacBook went on long journey from Portland to Missouri after the customer’s laptop was stolen from his residence during a burglary.  After a few weeks the laptop connected to the Internet and sent its location and photos of the person using the system in Missouri. Over the course of a few days several photos and locations were captured, as well as the name of the person using the system and other data, all provided to law enforcement.

The laptop exchanged hands a few times with a full audit trail left thanks to  GadgetTrak’s software, which has had a number of successful recoveries over the past few months including one in Brooklyn, New York and another in Oakland, California all of which unveiled larger crimes and theft rings. If you are part of the press and would like more information regarding this recovery including the contact details of the police detectives who worked on the case feel free to contact us directly at 503-799-8610.

GadgetTrak Founder Ken Westin was interviewed by M2M radio regarding GadgetTrak’s product lineup and plans for the future.

M2M Magazine Radio: Laptop Security. Featuring Ken Westin, founder, GadgetTrak.

GadgetTrak adds experienced executives to its team, Mark Garrison as CFO and Scott Gustaff as VP of Sales

PORTLAND, Ore., Oct 13, 2009  - GadgetTrak Inc. the leading innovator of anti-theft and data protection solutions for mobile devices, today announced the expansion of its executive team.  The company has appointed Mark Garrison as CFO, and Scott Gustaff as VP of Sales. In addition the company has expanded its advisory board to include top executives and entrepreneurs in the security and enterprise software space.

Mark Garrison, has joined GadgetTrak as CFO bringing over 30 years experience in financial services and high technology as both CFO and COO. Mark managed the financial and HR functions for three previous start-ups creating over $300 million in shareholder wealth, including Rosetta Technologies and Extensis Corporation, both of which were acquired.  In addition to startup experience Mark has worked in the banking industry as VP at Pacific Continental Bank, Assistant VP at First Interstate Bank and as a Senior Accountant at Price Waterhouse Coopers.

Scott Gustaff has joined GadgetTrak as VP of Sales with over 20 years experience developing field, inside and VAR sales teams. Scott has developed award winning global sales teams for companies including Wacom as Director of Sales, and Axium as VP of Sales. Scott will be responsible for building the company’s sales channels as well as focusing on key OEM deals and relationships for GadgetTrak’s solutions.

GadgetTrak has also appointed a strong advisory board consisting of Portland based seasoned executives with strong backgrounds in security and enterprise software, including Bob McCarthy (CFO of Tripwire), Scott Campbell (former VP of Sales at Jive Software), Scott Olson (of Mind Link Marketing and former VP of Marketing at iovation), Greg Hughes ( former CSO for Corillian) and Josh Friedman (founder of Eleven Wireless and NedSpace).

GadgetTrak  Inc. founder Ken Westin stated “These additions to the team will drive our strategic vision to expand the technologies we have proven in the consumer market to better serve the needs of our business and government customers in the enterprise. We have an innovative technology roadmap, an experienced team and a solid group of advisors in place to execute our plan to capitalize on GadgetTrak’s successes over the past year into something much larger.”

About GadgetTrak Inc.
Based in Portland, Oregon GadgetTrak  Inc. is the leading innovator of theft recovery and data protection solutions for mobile devices.  GadgetTrak’s award winning, patented and proven technology allows device owners and IT administrators to track the location of their devices and protect data that resides on them, even the capability to identify unauthorized users by capturing images of them using integrated web cameras and other methods.

The headquarters of a prominent start-up in San Francisco was broken into, seven laptops were stolen from the premises. All of these laptops had security cables attached, however they were quickly and easily cut  and the laptops taken. On one of these laptops an employee had installed GadgetTrak’s laptop security software.  The device owner activated tracking for the device and contacted GadgetTrak. Within a few hours the device was connected to the Internet, the location of the thief as well as a photo of him was taken and emailed to the device owner as well as the Flickr account they had setup.

Using the data GadgetTrak ‘s software provided, the police arrived at the location in Oakland within a few hours and were able to identify who the perpetrator was as well as where he was staying.  Two of the laptops had been sold before the thief had arrived at the location the photo was captured. Using the photo the police were able to identify the person and get additional information regarding the burglary.

“The problem with traditional theft recovery applications has been that it relies only on the IP address, which requires the police to get a subpoena and it can be a long process taking days, weeks and even months. With GadgetTrak’s software we had the location and a photo of the thief immediately, this allowed us to move quickly and within a few hours we were at the location and had the indentity of the suspect” said Detective Marc Hinch of the Oakland Police Department “Having the ability to work directly with the device owner who had access to the data, as well as 24/7 access to GadgetTrak’s recovery team for technical assistance was also a huge help.”

GadgetTrak has recovered a stolen iMac in New York that had GadgetTrak installed. The system was stolen two weeks ago and then connected to the Internet two days ago, the device was recovered this morning.  GadgetTrak’s MacTrak software captured a photo of who was using the system as well as pinpointed the location within a few meters, all of the data was uploaded automatically to the device owner’s Flickr account and email. The NYPD followed up and recovered the system, along with two other stolen laptops from different cases.

The device was tracked using GadgetTrak’s Wi-Fi positioning to a tattoo parlor in Brooklyn, where the iMac and the other laptops were found in a back office.

We received an email from our customer with a photo of him and his recovered iMac, as well as this great testimonial:

” After a previous burglary of my home, I installed GadgetTrak on my iMac desktop, a computer I cherished for its power and sleek appearance.  Sure enough, six months later, I was robbed again.  However, with the help of GadgetTrak and the NYPD, I got my computer back!  Like insurance, this software was something I debated on getting.  When I did, I hoped I would never have to use it and was only buying peace of mind, yet it has proven its value fifty times over.  The police were able to recover two other stolen computers as well.  Words cannot express my gratitude for this genius software. ” - A

GadgetTrak was featured in Sunday’s Orlando Sentinel on a story regarding the rising theft rates of mobile devices in Florida’s schools.

A new industry has evolved from the trend. GadgetTrak Inc., an Oregon-based company that sells anti-theft software specifically for these high-tech devices, opened two years ago and already has thousands of customers in Florida.

The software, once installed, can help owners determine the location of their gadgets within as little as 10 meters and, in some cases, photograph the thief who’s using them.

“We have parents calling and saying, ‘I have this kid, and he’s had two devices stolen, and we need to do something,’” said GadgetTrak founder Ken Westin.

Exclusive New High-Tech Service Introduces More Value to End-Users, Addresses Untapped Customer Demand

Portland, OR, June 16, 2009--FLIR Systems, Inc (NASDAQ: FLIR), today announced the introduction of ThermaTrak™, an exclusive new high-tech service to locate missing or stolen infrared cameras and thermal imagers. ThermaTrak from FLIR, developed with GadgetTrak Inc., employs recovery software that pinpoints the geographic location of the lost, stolen or missing infrared camera. Additionally, the ThermaTrak software embedded in the camera tracks the IP address, hostname, and even the Internet service provider (ISP) being used after the IR camera has gone missing or been stolen and is connected to the Internet.

”This is the first-ever theft tracking system for IR cameras. We are very excited to announce our exclusive agreement with GadgetTrak to offer this new recovery technology customized to FLIR IR cameras,” said Tom Scanlon, vice president for FLIR. “The affordability and protection is exactly what our end-users want.”

ThermaTrak is also used for asset management when multiple cameras are deployed in the field. With tracking activated, each time a camera is connected to a computer with internet access, an email is sent with a link to an updated location report.

“ThermaTrak has several unique abilities that you will not find elsewhere”, said Ken Westin, Founder & CEO of GadgetTrak, commenting on the partnership with FLIR. “ThermaTrak software leverages our patented theft recovery system for use with IR cameras and discretely contacts the owner in the event it is lost or stolen. Data is delivered to ThermaTrak and a report is generated with the time, username, computer name, internal network address, location, and other data that relates to the device’s connection. All images, location and network data are sent to the device owner”

In the case of theft, law enforcement agencies are able to find out the suspect’s name, address and phone number through ISP information.
ThermaTrak requires an upgrade to the IR camera and is available with a standalone subscription or through FLIR’s extended warranty. FLIR IR cameras run from under $3,000 to $400,000 per unit, so the security and peace of mind now offered by ThermaTrak is a big plus.

FLIR Systems, Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets thermal imagers and infrared camera systems worldwide for a variety of applications. FLIR’s thermal imagers are used in diverse applications such as public safety, defense, navigation, electronic news gathering and search, and rescue, as well as for electrical inspection, commercial and residential building inspection, indoor air quality and home energy monitoring applications, non-destructive testing, medical science, research and development, and manufacturing process control. For more information on thermal imagers for your needs, please call +1-800-464-6372 or visit www.goinfrared.com

GadgetTrak Inc. based in Portland, Oregon provides innovative and patented theft recovery and loss prevention solutions for mobile devices. GadgetTrak continually collaborates and partners with technology leaders and law enforcement to improve our methods of recovery, data protection and endpoint security. For more information visit www.gadgettrak.com

Forward-Looking Statements
The statements in this release, including the statements of Earl R. Lewis, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the Company’s business based, in part, on assumptions made by management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in such forward-looking statements due to numerous factors, including the following: the ability to manufacture and deliver the systems referenced in this release, changes in demand for the Company’s products, product mix, the timing of customer orders and deliveries under the order discussed above, the impact of competitive products and pricing, constraints on supplies of critical components, excess or shortage of production capacity, the ability of the Company to manufacture and ship products in the time period required, actual purchases under agreements, the continuing eligibility of the Company to act as a federal contractor, the amount and availability of appropriated government procurement funds and other risks discussed from time to time in the Company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports. In addition, such statements could be affected by general industry and market conditions and growth rates, and general domestic and international economic conditions. Such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release, or for changes made to this document by wire services or Internet service providers.

GadgetTrak is proud to  sponsor this years Annual Technology for Government Reception in Washington D.C., being held on June 10th. The Annual Technology for Government Reception is the premier Washington DC networking event bringing hundreds of industry, congressional, and government leaders together at one venue.

This sold-out event last year hosted over 600 government and industry technology executives. Vint Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist, Google, is this year’s keynote speaker. Widely known as a “Father of the Internet,” Vint is the co-designer with Robert Kahn of TCP/IP protocols and basic architecture of the Internet.

TechAmerica’s Public Sector (PS) Group is the leading proponent of technology solutions for government programs and serves as the primary interface and liaison between industry and federal, state, and local government markets.

GadgetTrak will not only be sponsoring the event, but will also have some of our latest technology on display, stop by our table at the event for more information.

GadgetTrak’s MacTrak is featured in the June 2009 issue of MacWorld in their special on mobility. The issue focuses on solutions for travelers and the mobile work force and MacTrak is featured in their article titled “Outwit Thieves” ( PDF 110K)

Starting at $24.95 a year, GadgetTrak’s MacTrak service ( www.gadgettrak.com ) employs a variety of means - including Wi-Fi positioning, Max OS X’s built-in security features, and even your ‘Book’s iSight camera, to locate your MacBook after theft and help you get the inof you need to get it back, while keeping your data out of the wrong hands.

TechAmerica Oregon Announces 2009 Oregon Technology Awards Winners

More than 400 guests attended this year’s awards program to acknowledge the technical, business and community achievements of all the finalists

Lake Oswego, OR - TechAmerica Oregon (formerly the Oregon Council of AeA) announced at a ceremony last evening the winners of this year’s Oregon Technology Awards. The winners represent the top companies in five categories that include: System/Hardware, Software, Technology-Service, Emerging Company, and Cool Product. This year, more than 60 nominations were received, with the top three in each category being selected as finalists. The winners were selected based on the biggest positive impact they were able to make in their industry and within the region.

This year’s winners are:

Cool Product of the Year

GadgetTrak Inc. — GadgetTrak®

System/Hardware Company of the Year

TriQuint Semiconductor

Software Company of the Year

Tripwire Inc.

Technology-Service Company of the Year

ACME Business Consulting LLC

Emerging Company of the Year

Jive Software

Ralph Quinsey, president and CEO of TriQuint Semiconductor, was also honored as Technology Executive of the Year. He was selected based on his leadership in his company, the greater Oregon community and the technology industry. Quinsey was chosen by a collection of the program’s previous Technology Executive of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Award recipients who make up the Selection Committee. Nominations were evaluated from the committee and from the technology community at large.

This year three products were previously selected as finalists for this year’s Cool Product of the Year. These products were voted on live by event attendees using state-of-the-art polling technology. Through the use of a mobile phone, each person in attendance was able to vote live and see the results tabulated in real time. The winner of this award is:

Cool Product of the Year

GadgetTrak Inc. — GadgetTrak®

“We wish to thank all the finalists for making this year’s competition very competitive,” said Jennifer Bosze, executive director, TechAmerica Oregon. “Oregon’s technology community is robust and offers some of the world’s most innovative products. It is an honor to come together for a fun evening to acknowledge these technical, business and community achievements.”

The Oregon Technology Awards are underwritten and produced by financial and in-kind sponsors. The presenting sponsor is UnitedHealthcare. Other sponsors include Pop Art, McClenahan Bruer Communications, Webtrends, Oracle, Woodruff Sawyer, Perkins Coie LLP, Stoel Rives LLP, Momentum Management Resources, First Tech Credit Union, KPMG and USI Northwest.

To learn more about this year’s Oregon Technology Awards event, please visit http://www.oregontechawards.com.

About TechAmerica

TechAmerica is the leading voice for the U.S. technology industry, which is the driving force behind productivity growth and jobs creation in the United States and the foundation of the global innovation economy. Representing approximately 1,500 member companies of all sizes from the public and commercial sectors of the economy, it is the industry’s largest advocacy organization and is dedicated to helping members’ top and bottom lines. It is also the technology industry’s only grassroots-to-global advocacy network, with offices in state capitals around the United States, Washington, D.C., Europe (Brussels) and Asia (Beijing).  TechAmerica was formed by the merger of AeA (formerly the American Electronics Association), the Cyber Security Industry Alliance (CSIA), the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) and the Government Electronics & Information Technology Association (GEIA). Learn more at www.techamerica.org.

Last night at the Oregon Tech Awards, GadgetTrak was voted “Cool Product of the Year”. This is quite an honor considering the other two excellent companies and products in our category, Clearwire and Ontier. All three companies presented to the audience and at the end of the presentations the audience voted via SMS. As a winner not only do we receive respect  from our peers, but are also being sent to a larger high profile tech conference in Washington D.C.

Below is the video we played as part of our presentation, introducing our latest theft recovery solutions for laptops: