TidBITS goes Undercover

David Blatner has written an interesting article on theft-recovery for TidBITS. He has some nice things to say about Undercover:

Undercover in particular does some things I'd like to see incorporated into a future version of MacTrak, such as taking screen shots as the thief works and simulating a hardware failure to force the thief into bringing the machine in for repair

We could not agree more with David on Undercover's competitive edge.

However, I don't entirely agree with one of the author's points: he states that he does not 'like the idea of a third-party company being the mediator between me and the tracking data'. This is odd, as every theft-recovery solution out there, uses a client-server system. In that respect, data is always mediated and copied to some sort of server before the victim can view it. Even if the software sends the information 'directly' to your email account, that email has been 'mediated' by their servers.

However, more than three years of theft-recovery experience have learned us that having a mediator between the theft-data and the Mac's rightful owner is actually an advantage.

Indeed, some theft-recovery software lets you handle all the recovery work yourself. They simply dump the iSight pictures in your mailbox and that's it.
We don't: we have a fully staffed recovery center that handles hundreds of thefts each year. We have a rich in-house expertise on how to work with law enforcement in each country, including the US and Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia. As a result, we can handle recoveries more quickly and efficiently. We also assist the victim in extracting data from the screenshots he or she receives from the stolen Mac.

Having a mediator really pays off, and we consider that an important part of the service you pay for when purchasing Undercover. It's an asset, not a disadvantage.

That's not to say we handle everything behind the customer's back. Every single customer receives all the information we share with the police.

In addition, having us as a neutral mediator really encourages the police to work on the case and to take to court all the data we provide them with. This becomes much more difficult if the data is gathered by individuals, or shared on photo-sharing websites.

More testimonials from Europe and the U.S.

We have just added three more testimonials from user who got their Mac back thanks to Undercover. This time, Undercover helped tracing stolen Macs in Italy, Austria and Maine, USA.

Undercover 3 unveiled

It's here: the most significant update to Undercover since its introduction on January 18 2006. During these three years, Undercover has gone from 1.0 to 2.5 without any upgrade charge. We are continuing this commitment to our users, with the 3.0 release: it's totally free for registered users! Over the coming days, all current users will be notified of this update by email.

The landmark feature of Undercover 3 is of course the Skyhook Wireless integration. It is the same technology that powers location tracking on the iPhone and the iPod Touch. Thanks to Skyhook technology, Undercover 3 can now locate your stolen Mac within a range of 10-20 meters (about 30-60 feet). Having immediate access to your Mac's location will enable our recovery center to provide the police with more details about the stolen machine. In addition, the entire process will be much faster too. There will be no more need to work with the ISP.

Think about it: we can now provide the police with a report that shows where your Mac is being used, who is using it (thanks to the iSight pictures) and what the current user is using it for (thanks to the screenshots we take).

We are confident that Undercover 3 with Skyhook location tracking will make a huge difference in the field. It should enable us to be even more aggressive when it comes to recovering stolen Macs. We currently have a 86% recovery rate. Expect this figure to go up...

How to Upgrade?
Upgrading to Undercover 3 is easy: download and run the installer.
That's it. The installer will automatically replace any previous version.
Undercover automatically recognizes any previous registration, so if you have registered Undercover on that Mac before, you won't see the registration screen again. If it can't find a previous registration, you will be prompted to enter your license key. This license key can be found in the email you have received from Kagi after your purchase. The email is sent by admin@kagi.com, you may use Spotlight to find it.

Check whether Undercover is running on your Mac
If you want to be sure that Undercover is running on your Mac, please follow the instructions below:
- Launch the Activity Monitor application in /Applications/Utilities
- Select "All processes" from the popup menu in Activity Monitor's toolbar.
- You should see a process called uc owned by root

Lost your Undercover ID?
You can always have your Undercover ID delivered again by following these instructions. Make sure to store this Undercover ID in a safe place, we will need it in case of theft.

Undercover 3: coming soon to a Mac near you

Orbicule is proud to announce Undercover 3, the newest version of our critically acclaimed theft-recovery software. Undercover 3 enables us to accurately determine the location of your stolen Mac within a range of 10-20 meters. This new version uses the same Skyhook Wireless positioning technology used in the iPhone.

Currently, Undercover boasts an industry-leading 86% recovery rate. We are confident that this new version will increase our success rate even more.

Undercover 3 will be available on January 20. It will be a free download for all registered Undercover users. Undercover licenses are available for $49 at our Kagi online store.

UPDATE: We will release Undercover 3 on January 27, not on January 20 as announced previously (see above). The reason for this delay is the presidential inauguration taking place on January 20. We don't want to compete for media attention with Barack Obama! ;)

Orbicule at MacWorld

Orbicule will have its own booth at Macworld Expo 2009 in San Francisco. We will be there to answer all your questions about Undercover and Macnification. Please feel free to drop by at our booth # 1438, even if you don't have any questions. We are looking forward to meeting you!

Oh, there is one more thing: we will make a major announcement at Macworld. If you can't make it to the city by the bay, please keep an eye on this weblog!