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austinflynn

macrumors newbie
Jun 7, 2011
1
0
Denver, CO
how would this work? wouldn't a laptop need either gps, cellular data, or be located within a public wifi area in order to be found? no current mac has gps antennas, do they?

No, they don't, but Apple doesn't really need them to. They can use your IP address and reference the giant Skyhook-esque geolocation database they've been building with iPhone/iPad GPS user data.
 

splashnader

macrumors 6502a
Jul 1, 2008
839
0
Via Satellite
who loses a mac?

Macbook Air's are just as susceptible to being left behind as an iPhone or iPad, perhaps more so. I know two friends that left their MBA's in a classroom. The computer is so light that it becomes harder to detect that it's not in your backpack than a normal size and weight laptop.

I would appreciate this feature very much, especially if I owned a MBA.
 

neuropsychguy

macrumors 68020
Sep 29, 2008
2,387
5,692
It would be really cool if there was a button to retrieve files before doing the remote wipe.

That's the idea behind iCloud (or, at least it's going that way) and other backups (Time Machine). Ideally you shouldn't lose very much.
 

Pentad

macrumors 6502a
Nov 26, 2003
986
99
Indiana
Anybody else think it will be a slow download to get Lion the day it's released? That will be a great test to see how big Apple's pipes are. :)


-P
 

twarner776

macrumors member
Nov 5, 2009
48
0
maybe a dumb question but if someone stole a mac i assume they could just insert OSX disc and reload. And speaking of reloading can I download 10.7 and then create a disk image so I can do a fresh install instead up update the os?
 

z3r0

macrumors member
Jan 31, 2011
89
0
/usr/local/bin
I'm pretty sure a lier (I mean lawyer) could turn this around and paint MR as an accomplice for posting information that is not meant to be disclosed.

Wikileaks comes to mind.


The user providing the screenshots -- assuming they are a registered developer -- is subject to the developer NDA, not MacRumors.
 

robeddie

Suspended
Jul 21, 2003
1,777
1,731
Atlanta
Because of this, now the first thing I would do after stealing a mac laptop will be to boot from a OS install disk, wipe the hard drive and do a completely fresh install.
 

kwikdeth

macrumors 65816
Feb 25, 2003
1,141
1,714
Tempe, AZ
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Im curious how practical this would be without a GPS receiver in the laptop.
 

logandzwon

macrumors 6502a
Jan 9, 2007
574
2
Guys, that gray screen looks like the EFI screen. I imagine this feature locks the EFI, similar to the "firmware password" feature. The machine will not do anything without the passcode. Period. Even replacing the boot disk and resetting the PRAM/NVRAM will not convince it otherwise.


http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2391
 

Phil A.

Moderator emeritus
Apr 2, 2006
5,799
3,094
Shropshire, UK
Can I ask how MR was able to secure exemption from the NDA?
What makes you think MacRumors have signed an NDA?

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)
It's because they have so little info about the goings on at Apple their only chance of telling us anything we care about is to violate their non disclosure agreements. Its sites like this that kept the iPhone 5 out of the developers conference...and earthquakes, bombs, 4G, and Osama bin Laden.

Quite possibly the most ridiculous thing I've ever read on MacRumors (and I've read some ridiculous things over the years...)
 

alent1234

macrumors 603
Jun 19, 2009
5,688
170
Guys, that gray screen looks like the EFI screen. I imagine this feature locks the EFI, similar to the "firmware password" feature. The machine will not do anything without the passcode. Period. Even replacing the boot disk and resetting the PRAM/NVRAM will not convince it otherwise.


http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2391

is resetting EFI harder than doing it on a PC by flipping a jumper, taking out a battery or something like that? i only ask because Mac's are the easiest computers to steal now
 

Valdemar

macrumors newbie
Nov 23, 2010
13
0
Guys, that gray screen looks like the EFI screen. I imagine this feature locks the EFI, similar to the "firmware password" feature. The machine will not do anything without the passcode. Period. Even replacing the boot disk and resetting the PRAM/NVRAM will not convince it otherwise.

Maybe, but pulling some ram might coax it into cooperating.
 

Atlantico

macrumors 6502
May 3, 2011
477
172
BCN
Call me crazy and all, but I don't like to have an OS with a built in remote wipe feature - besides, wiped data can be recovered (at least on HDs) if you really want to, so it isn't much of a crucial protection against data theft.

Perhaps this is marginally more useful on SSDs, but still.. I just don't like the fact that someone potentially could activate the remote wipe on my Mac.
 
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