Following on from the story about the stolen laptop, and using Back To My Mac to recover it and have the thief’s caught in the process, I’d like to showcase this new App called Orbicule.

Because laptops are increasingly popular, and desktops are becoming smaller and more
 portable, computer theft has reached huge proportions worldwide: there we
re about 600,000 laptops stolen in the USA in the year 2004. According to a recent FBI report, 97% of all stolen computers are never recovered. Many people we know have had their Macs stolen, often in ’safe’ situations. That’s why we developed Undercover: a unique theft-recovery application designed from the ground up for Mac OS X.

Some of the intriguing features are as follows;

Transmission of network information

Undercover transmits network information of the stolen Mac. This information includes both internal and external IP addresses and the router address, enabling our recovery center to accurately trace the Mac’s physical location, in collaboration with the ISP and the police.

See what happens on your stolen Mac

Undercover is the world’s first theft-recovery software that will send screenshots of your stolen Mac at regular intervals. These screenshots will sooner or later reveal the thief’s identity (e.g. when chatting, reading and writing emails,…) making it much easier to work with law enforcement in order to recover your Mac.

See who’s using your Mac

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.

Hardware failure. Revenge of the darkness.

If recovery of the stolen Mac fails for any reason, Undercover has an ingenious plan B. It will simulate a hardware failure by gradually making the screen darker until it becomes unusable within 30′, even when the Mac is not online.

This erratic behaviour should urge the thief to either sell the Mac (e.g. on eBay) or bring it to an authorized Apple reseller. Because we continuously monitor the network settings of a stolen Mac, we can easily detect when the Mac is sold or returned to a Mac shop.

Full-screen message. Scream and shout.

At that point, Undercover will show a full-screen message alerting the reseller (or someone who bought the Mac from the thief) that the Mac has been stolen, that it has become unusable and that it needs to be returned as soon as possible. Our contact information and a promise for a finder’s fee will be displayed as well. Additionally, your Mac will start shouting this message. Interested in Undercover?

Orbicule’s Website