Spy on the Guy Who Stole Your MacBook
Undercover is one of the cooler laptop security products I’ve seen in a while. If your Apple laptop is stolen, you can activate it and it’ll send you network information about where your machine is being used. Additionally, you can watch what the thieves do via regular screenshots. Best of all, you can turn on the iSight camera and get photos of the thief in action:
Undercover introduces another world first: if your Mac has a built-in or external iSight, Undercover will transmit pictures of the thief and his surroundings every 6 minutes, making it even easier to identify the current user. It’s like having a private detective working for you.
Hmm…I wonder why they don’t do live video?
They’ll also remotely lock down the computer so that it’s unusable and displays a message saying so, and promising a reward for its return.
I wondered about the pricing model. A single user license costs $49. Why not just give the software away for free, but charge people $99 when they need to activate it? Of course, then you’re relying on a consistent flow of thefts for your revenue, which probably isn’t very wise. Better to trade on people’s fear, uncertainty and doubt.
September 17th, 2007 at 6:05 am
I like the Undercover pricing model. Paying up front makes me think that the vendor is running a sustainable business. I likely woudn’t have bought Undercover if payment was made when needed, as I don’t l ike being asked for money when I’m stressed, but instead I’d rather feel taken care of and that someone is watching out for me. I think that’s partly what Tara Hunt talks about when she mentions designing for happiness.
September 17th, 2007 at 10:45 am
Quite timely post Darren! I am thinking of buying MacBook after new Mac OS is available. I am new to mac world, so I value any advice on MacBook purchase.
September 17th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
I’d be worried about someone being able to use this for malicious purposes. You’re basically installing a deactivated Trojan horse on your computer.
Might be a handy product, but I’d wait until some outside research has been done on it.
September 17th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
I would hope that the iSight camera cannot be used without its indicator light coming on, hence an ongoing feed would be a problem. If this can be overridden in software then I would be very annoyed (because of the abuse it would allow for vidcap spyware to be installed)
September 25th, 2007 at 3:01 am
[…] Bill didn’t even have to use that Undercover software. Here’s the mental giant […]