Why Isn't there An App For That??!

My track record with small electronic items has been a mixed bag.  My first few mobile phones were Nokia bricks which were never stylish but always worked and never dropped calls.  After that I went through a few Motorola flip phones which, because of their design were a bit more fragile.  Then I got a Motorola Razor flip phone which was again fragile but lasted longer than the flip phones.  My third Razor recently died and it was time to move on, so now I have a Samsung Smart Phone. 

One small electronic item with which I've had nothing but good luck with  is the iPod.  I famously wrote on this blog about six years ago how I had no need for one.  I quickly changed my tune when I had become adequately brainwashed by my first (30G) black iPod, there was no putting the toothpaste back in that tube. Two iPods later (I traded up to a 120G) I'm still going strong.  I've never seen the dreaded 'unhappy face' iPod users dread, though I am inching close to a full iPod (only 4G remain).  Through it all, I've never been unfortunate enough to have one of these devices stolen, probably because it rarely leaves my side.

When I was on my third Razor and realized the end was near and I was going to have to embrace the smart phone, my iPhone friends tried to bring me into their world.  All the cool apps, the sleek design, the allure of the coolest phone on the planet.  Not for me.  A) I wasn't going to keep the $100 a month full data package, so all those apps would be for naught B) I like having 28,000+ songs on my iPod and no iPhone was even close to that kind of storage.  I'm cursed to carry around two Altoids tin-sized devices to communicate with the world and entertain myself.

The one curious thing about smart phones and the iPod is the limit on their 'intelligence'.  If I plug in my iPod to my Mac, it tells me its serial number and what I've named it; I presume the iPhone does the same.  What I've never heard about is a stolen iPod/iPhone that alerts its owner that it's now docked on someone else's computer. Where's the 'LoJack' for iPods? Why isn't that an app?  Any computer will recognize the serial number on the device docked to it, why can't it also recognize that that is a foreign serial number and e-mail the owner, "Hey, your device is docked in a place it's never been before." If it was a simple case of you docking your device somewhere new on purpose, a return e-mail could rectify that but if your device had in fact been stolen (confirmed with a simple e-mail) you could alert the authorities and get it back, or try to at least. Chances are, whoever stole the device is also in possession of a lot of other hot items and a stolen iPod is the probable cause the police need to search the premises.  Think of how many more burglary arrests police could make.  A phone or iPod that finds its owner and rats out the bad guys, now that's smart.  Alright techie types, tell me why that couldn't work.

Comments

[Pete]

Hey Ken, Good stuff. The iPhone does have a GPS function that will allow you to track the phone from your home computer -- if you turn it on. Not sure if it works if you've already lost the phone though, and don't want to find out. Congrats on the writing gig. Looking forward to seeing it.

[Helen]

Sounds like a good plan to me. I like the comment above. I guess I should have assumed that there was GPS tracking on the iPhone since my Blackberry has it, but if the thief turns it off, I think you're out of luck. :(
Good idea though.

[Jeff]

Heh - not a bad idea for the ultra-paranoid, but it wouldn't work for me as I plug mine in to various computers in order to charge it.

What might work is a service which allows you, with your apple ID, to declare an iPhone stolen - and then it couldn't use anything ever on the Apple network. It would then, in essence, just be a fancy phone.

[ken]

It's not really a paranoid thing, Jeff. More like a way to use existing technology to reclaim what's rightfully yours. And it wouldn't automatically assume the device is stolen if you plug it into a foreign computer, only if you put out an "APB" for it.

[Jeff]

OK but who is going to look for it? The cops? Pull the other one...

Better to just turn the thing into an expensive paperweight then to hope that anyone is going to give a crap that your phone went walkies.

[ken]

Like I said, if they knew a stolen iPod or iPhone was definitely in someone's house, it would give them probable cause to search their house for other hot items. At $300+ it's not a theft to sneeze at, worth more than most wallets that get stolen.

Just sayin'

[Pete]

Ken,

I'd like to think that this all came about because the guy is a reader of the Gaper's Blog...

http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/84411697.html

[ken]

Hey Jeff, read Pete's post right above this...it's precisely what I said, someone who steals iPhones likely steals other phones not to mention other things and police like to catch thieves. Told ya.

[Jeff]

Heh interesting, but I can see a *huge* problem with this. Sure this guy got it right - but think of how many people out there will get it wrong.

As you may well know, police in the US aren't allowed to randomly enter people's houses based on a whim - and certainly not based on some pimple-nosed geek's assertion that some guy has his phone.

In this case, the guy may well have been known to police or the guy stupidly let them in without a warrant. Either way, it's not something on which I would base policing - it's a waste of time and resources merely to recover property.

Now, if it was an actual physical robbery - then yeah, I can see how this would be useful for detectives.

[ken]

But it's not a whim. It's a device designed to make its' location known, with pinpoint accuarcy. And while property crime may not be as 'important' as other crimes, it is a crime. I'd imagine it would uncover other crimes as well. Crime reduction is good.

If your phone was stolen and you could find it and the thief with software embedded in the phone, would you?

[Jeff]

Not on my own I wouldn't - and I would be shocked (and appalled) if the police have the time to follow up every call they get from some random dude saying that they have found a thief with GPS.

Interesting idea, but not scalable in practice.