Have your stolen Mac call home 25 Sep 2007

Orbicule's theft-recovery software - Undercover - looks pretty impressive.

It works like so: Upon installation, you're given an unique ID. Thereafter whenever your Mac is online, Undercover routinely checks whether it has been reported as stolen. If your Mac does get stolen, you send Orbicule your ID and the next time it checks in - i.e. the first time the thief uses it to connect to the interweb - the games begin.

In Undercover's "first phase of recovery", it sends detailed network information to Orbicule. This network information leads Orbicule to the network administrators of the ISP the thief is connected to. Since ISPs consider computer theft as network abuse, they will readily uncover the thief's identity. Together with law enforcement, Orbicule can then work to recover the Mac. If your Mac has a built-in iSight, or if the thief has attached an external iSight to the machine, Undercover will also take iSight pictures of the thief to assist the police (!).

If law enforcement fails to recover the stolen Mac, Undercover switches to its second phase. In this mode, it will simulate a screen failure that slowly makes the Mac's screen unusable. At this point, the thief has two options: he can either send the computer to a reseller for repair, or sell it on. In either case, Undercover will show a full-screen message alerting the reseller or purchaser that the Mac has been stolen, that it has become unusable and that it needs to be returned as soon as possible.