Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Find My Mac Goes Live For Developers

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,481
30,714






Find My Mac has gone live for developers beta testing Apple's iCloud service. Find My Mac was officially added to Lion in Developer Preview 4, released after WWDC in June, though evidence of the feature had leaked in prior releases.

Find My Mac is very similar to Find My iPhone, only because the Mac has no GPS functionality, it seems likely the feature relies solely on nearby Wi-Fi networks to determine the computer's location.




Once it finds the lost Mac, users can send a message, remotely lock the screen, or even wipe out the entire drive. Find My Mac may launch this fall with the general release of iCloud.

Article Link: Find My Mac Goes Live For Developers
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/08/03/find-my-mac-goes-live-for-developers/
M

MarkMS

macrumors 6502a
Aug 30, 2006
992
0
OrangeSVTguy said:
Find my Mac? Cool. LOL. Guess everyone should do a secure 3 write when selling their macs now.
Click to expand...

Everyone should always do a 1-pass (Zero data) erase. I do a 7-pass anytime I sell a computer and a 1-pass when I buy it a pre-owned machine.

But seriously, this will be even better if 3G/4G/LTE is added to future MacBook Airs or Pros. I rarely take my MBP out of the house, but I can see this being helpful for students and those who are always on the move.
 
Doctor Q

Doctor Q

Administrator
Staff member
Sep 19, 2002
39,782
7,514
Los Angeles
I wonder how easy it is to defeat a remotely locked Mac, such as putting it in target disk mode. Until I know more about how it works I wouldn't consider that a way to protect my data on a lost Mac. I'd wipe out the entire drive instead.
 
F

FrizzleFryBen

macrumors 6502
Dec 14, 2009
453
179
Charlotte, NC
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)

I'll finally feel comfortable with all my employees' MBAs and MBPs! I was just kicking around the idea of standard issue Airs for everybody. I'm pumped!
 
ECUpirate44

ECUpirate44

macrumors 603
Mar 22, 2010
5,750
8
NC
MarkMS said:
But seriously, this will be even better if 3G/4G/LTE is added to future MacBook Airs or Pros. I rarely take my MBP out of the house, but I can see this being helpful for students and those who are always on the move.
Click to expand...

Another monthly data plan? No thanks. I get boned enough for my iPhone data as is.
 
J

jyoung96

macrumors newbie
Nov 12, 2010
8
0
Doctor Q said:
I wonder how easy it is to defeat a remotely locked Mac, such as putting it in target disk mode. Until I know more about how it works I wouldn't consider that a way to protect my data on a lost Mac. I'd wipe out the entire drive instead.
Click to expand...



when you boot up, it goes straight to the passcode screen, i tried booting off disks, target disk mode, it won't accept it.
 
C

cshearer

macrumors regular
Aug 1, 2011
227
0
That's pretty nifty. Now they just need a "Find My Guitar Pick."

Musicians holla back.
 
C

cshearer

macrumors regular
Aug 1, 2011
227
0
ECUpirate44 said:
Another monthly data plan? No thanks. I get boned enough for my iPhone data as is.
Click to expand...
You have Verizon. You didn't get grandfathered unlimited data? :(

6007117440_44a0dea217.jpg
 
Last edited:
F

FrizzleFryBen

macrumors 6502
Dec 14, 2009
453
179
Charlotte, NC
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)

Ha! Not a musician...but I'm in desperate need of "find my torque wrench". The intake manifold ain't putting itself back on.
 
hobo.hopkins

hobo.hopkins

macrumors 6502a
Jul 30, 2008
569
6
This sounds like a great feature, especially for college students who may have MacBooks that could be stolen quite easily. At least locating the computer could result in getting it back.
 
mazz0

mazz0

macrumors 68040
Mar 23, 2011
3,130
3,576
Leeds, UK
Well that's a bit daft. I mean you can see why they did it from a technical standpoint, but it makes the user choose between stopping a thief from accessing the Mac and knowing where they've taken it.
 

Attachments

  • lock.png
    lock.png
    657.6 KB · Views: 332
P

pspwesty

macrumors newbie
Aug 16, 2010
6
0
to late for me

Could have used this two weeks ago when my door was kicked in and my Macbook decided to walk off along w/ a other electronics.
 
J

jackrv

macrumors 6502
Jul 14, 2011
300
0
It's not perfect. I wonder how it is tied to the service? Serial Number would be funny. Sell your Mac and constantly annoy the buyer by locking it.

Joking aside, if it's software based, it is still better than nothing. A tech-savvy thief may know to disable Airport immediately, but at least it is still one small extra chance of recovery.
 
goobot

goobot

macrumors 603
Jun 26, 2009
6,484
4,375
long island NY
jackrv said:
It's not perfect. I wonder how it is tied to the service? Serial Number would be funny. Sell your Mac and constantly annoy the buyer by locking it.

Joking aside, if it's software based, it is still better than nothing. A tech-savvy thief may know to disable Airport immediately, but at least it is still one small extra chance of recovery.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure it is tied to your apple id.
 
Starship77

Starship77

macrumors regular
Aug 30, 2006
206
116
cshearer said:
That's pretty nifty. Now they just need a "Find My Guitar Pick."

Musicians holla back.
Click to expand...

Impossible! It's a proven fact that Guitar Picks go into a completely different dimension as soon as they hit the stage ground. It's like a Guitar Pick Portal or something... :eek:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom