Undercover: LoJack for your MacBook

Is it just me, or is the market for novel anti-theft apps for laptops exploding? Undercover is a program for Apple laptops from Orbicule that does a number of things to help you recover your laptop in the event of its theft. When the laptop boots, Undercover checks Orbicule's web server to see if you've reported your laptop missing. Once it knows it's been stole, Undercover begins doing all sorts of things, including sending Orbicule its IP address, taking photos of the perpetrator and its surroundings with the built-in iSight camera, and sending screenshots so you can see what the thief is up to. If the laptop can't be recovered, or if it can't connect to a network, Undercover will simulate a "hardware failure" by gradually dimming the screen, which Orbicule hopes will prompt the thief to unload the laptop on someone else. Software like this is really no match for a savvy thief, but most aren't, so for all it promises Undercover's $30 price tag doesn't seem so expensive. There's also a money-back guarantee if Undercover fails to save your laptop, but $30 hardly seems like much consolation in that event.

[Via Undercover]

Tags: antitheft, apple, commercial, ibook, laptop, macbook, powerbook, security, theft, undercover