Laptop Alarm Prevents Mac Jackings

Leander Kahney ()

iAlertU is a super clever anti-theft software package that sounds the alarm in the event of an attempted laptop theft.

The software uses the hard drive motion sensors built into late model PowerBooks and MacBooks. The sensors park the hard drive heads in the event of a fall, but in iAlertU, they sound a screeching alarm if the laptop is picked up. Click the video to see it in action.

I love the witty use of the remote, which arms the laptop just like a car alarm. The screen even flashes like a vehicle’s marker lights.

The software is still being developed. There’s no word if suffers from an obvious fatal flaw: the mute button.

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About the author

Leander Kahney

is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac, and author of three books about technology culture: Inside Steve’s Brain, the New York Times bestseller about Steve Jobs; Cult of Mac; and Cult of iPod. Leander has written for Wired, MacWeek, Scientific American, and The Guardian in London. Follow Leander on Twitter @lkahney and Facebook.

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Posted in Hardware |

  • franko

    well, that and “who steals a laptop while leaving it open?” — seems to me a thief would close it (and put it to sleep) before sprinting off with it.

  • richie

    It DOES have a mute override… I believe he has also added a sleep override. Not sure if that includes when the lid is closed yet. But that’s an obvious addition. Actually, the guy is putting quite a bit of thought into this. Really cool!

  • http://www.popularautomobile.com/ Odyssey

    I think developers consider it. But I want to see this alarm at work. Really I don’t believe it would work properly

  • http://www.aboutarchitecture.info Georg

    AWESOME….now my new XP system wont get stolen!