TECHNOLOGY

Stop, Thief!

A lost or stolen cell phone may not be a lost cause. Here are some tips for retrieving your device.

 

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For most people, a lost or stolen cell phone means calling your service provider, shutting down your account and moving on with your life. But losing a cell phone is less about the inability to place a call than it is the sudden absence of your most personal data—photos, e-mails, browser history and music collection. So there's something to be said for recovering, rather than replacing, your handheld device of choice.

We can't guarantee they'll work every time, but if you're patient and willing to risk defeat, you may be able to find the your phone with these tips:

· Keep Your Data Safe. While you're off playing detective, do your best to ensure that your phone isn't being used for expensive international calls, and that photos from that long weekend in South Padre Island don't find their way into the wrong hands. "There are things you can do that won't help avoid your phone being lost, but will make you more prepared when you do lose it," says Bob Hersch, global managing director of Accenture's Workplace Technology and Collaboration practice. "Make sure the device is locked with PIN access, and that the phone times out and locks itself."

· Make It Easy to Return. "At the end of the day, it's going to turn out that most missing phones are lost and not stolen," says Dave Taylor, who runs a technology resource Web site. Help Good Samaritans on their noble quest: program your phone so that the display shows your contact e-mail. Be sure the display is visible even if the phone is locked.

· Load Your Phone With Location Software. There are several kinds of tracking software that will help you pinpoint your phone after it's gone missing: iHound, an iPhone app, can track your phone using GPS if the application is turned on. It can also print out a police report with the last known location of the phone, says Gary Moskoff, the founder of iHound. Gadget Trak, another app, works on iPhones, BlackBerrys and Windows Mobile phones, while services like accutracking.com and networksinmotion.com work on supported GPS phones.

· Catch Thieves in the Act. Ask your carrier if it offers a remote network for data sent on a smart phone, and if that network can be accessed online. If so, and you suspect someone is using your missing phone, you'll be able to see any activity—including the text of any e-mails sent and, in some cases, photos taken—from your laptop.

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Member Comments

  • Posted By: KristinaBrooker @ 06/30/2009 11:02:36 AM

    "The intentional error"

    People who are in media are a business and they have this
    pattern of statement; they realize the error in the statement,
    and know all the possible responses.

    For example: Lets complain about the new addition to your
    household electricity system, the smartmeter. Lets make the
    complaint: "I expect a backstop for this product." or "I expect
    this product to improve and both versions worth the investment."

    (If you don't know "backstop" means replacing a product because
    of environmental improvement.)

    The company knows the responses, they are accepting criticism in
    this way:

    The initial consumer ranking game is "comfortable marriage"

    1) Who is your assigned male?
    2) Explain why he was employable?
    3) Does your memory indicate that your finances want to fit in?
    4) Are you changing the system?

    The purpose of ranking consumers though marriage-ability is the
    next obviously important "personal comfort". Personal comfort
    is obviously important to pricing, the economic lingo that is
    usually used in it's place is happiness or satisfaction. I
    really want to point out that the consumer ranks those
    qualities arbitrarily, it is your personal taste, style,
    attitude, your cool, that you fit in the same as years ago.

    Personal comfort is exactly why their are twenty times the number
    of raw resources that go into a car vs. a computer, yet the pricing
    is what the consumer will pay for comfort or satisfaction.

    So who's "personal comfort" changes the company, by setting
    consumer trends, changing prices, effecting shares changing the
    CEO. The people who at the same time claim approval of a respected
    male income.

    The fact that the person running the business changes but follows
    the same systematic conversation running the company, indicates
    their is simply a pattern to running a company, they change the
    company like most other consumers, they simply bring their
    "marriage comfort" hence "personal comfort" for the consumers
    preference, relating to the important consumers preemptively.

    So is my only response to media, "dad had a perfect death".

    Kristina Brooker 126 395 086
    maiden name Thomas (1942, 2002 interference)

  • Posted By: biblebeatersliterally @ 05/15/2009 1:50:11 PM

    whats that thing we used back in the day that uummmmmm. o yeah paper in a metal walt with my 12 gage shot gun next to it. dont want people stealing whats more important to you keep it where no one will touch. not your pocket. just some advice but good freaking idea thou. keep up the good work my youth of the technical world. hopefully by the time im 90 ya'll can find me to as much as people worry about a phone. smart people

  • Posted By: KristinaBrooker @ 05/03/2009 2:58:27 PM

    Hey I control the interest rate. I did put the oil to $147, then $40,
    not $200 -it was a choice I made.

    Kristina Brooker (126 395 086)

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