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The biggest problem with find my Mac is that it has to be connected to the internet to work. I'm guessing people selling on the black market are smart enough to
by jreed91 12y ago
The biggest problem with find my Mac is that it has to be connected to the internet to work. I'm guessing people selling on the black market are smart enough to make sure that doesn't happen.
I think a better solution is something like Tile is doing. http://www.thetileapp.com http://www.thetileapp.com. Install a low powered Bluetooth beacon on every device and use the power crowd source in order to find that device. The two biggest things that would have to happen for it to work would be
1. A major manufacturer like apple would have to install it on every device in order build up a big enough user base to make it feasible
2. The ability to find the lost device would have to require no user input. Basically the person that lost the device would mark it as lost and then every iPhone would now know that and in the background would look for that Bluetooth device and if found would automatically send that location back to the user who lost their device.
It has some privacy concerns but I think this would be an effective way to find lost devices.
- lalwanivikas 12y agoI proposed a similar thing but it got buried in the comments below. Here it is: Devices like Tile, Trackr are available in the market but they are easily recognizable and thieves will detach them. If they can't be inbuilt due to any reason, there are two alternatives to make it work: 1) A paper thin version of above mentioned devices that can be pasted on laptop OR - 2) Replacing a keyboard key with any of the above devices The hardware will do two things: 1) It will tell the location of the device and 2) It will 'factory reset' the device so that the data doesn't fall into wrong hands. What do you think?
- jreed91 12y agoI think the biggest problem is getting the user base. The location of the device is an afterthought to me. It needs to be a standard in the tech world in order for the crowd sourcing idea to work.
- ianburrell 12y agoApple wouldn't need to add a beacon to devices like phones, tablets, or laptops. They already have Bluetooth. The problem is that Bluetooth is usually turned off and when turned on is not discoverable. Manufacturer could easily add software that regularly turned on Bluetooth and sent out a beacon. With Bluetooth LE, it wouldn't use much power. The Bluetooth MAC address could be the identifier. Also, Wifi can be used as a beacon. Wifi is usually turned on and broadcasts message to discover known networks.
- jreed91 12y agoYes I know but the Bluetooth needs to function even when the laptop is shut off, which I'm not sure is possible in the current version. Possibly a secondary energy source for the beacon?