Lenovo Service Disables Laptops With a Text Message 257
narramissic writes "Lenovo plans to announce on Tuesday a service that allows users to remotely disable a PC by sending a text message. A user can send the command from a specified cell phone number — each ThinkPad can be paired with up to 10 cell phones — to kill a PC. The software will be available free from Lenovo's Web site. It will also be available on certain ThinkPad notebooks equipped with mobile broadband starting in the first half of 2009. 'You steal my PC and ... if I can deliver a signal to that PC that turns it off, hey, I'm good now,' said Stacy Cannady, product manager of security at Lenovo. 'The limitation here is that you have to have a WAN card in the PC and you must be paying a data plan for it,' Cannady added."
Frist psot? (Score:5, Funny)
Interesting (Score:4, Funny)
Meh... (Score:5, Funny)
Nearly there (Score:2, Funny)
Bizarre that Lenovo is considering this instead of an el-cheapo GPS phone-home device.
Comment removed (Score:3, Funny)
Re:reinstall? (Score:3, Funny)
and dismantling the entire laptop to reset the BIOS is actually FASTER than an OS reinstall..
Perfect. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Meh... (Score:5, Funny)
"You could always mod your laptop to generate a spark when the kill signal is received. Then all you need to do is pack it with C4."
So much for being allowed to carry lappies on airliners, thank you very much! :)
Re:Useless (Score:5, Funny)
Just use a Sony battery. It will explode in their lap, sooner or later!
Even better (Score:5, Funny)
Why not install Windows Vista, iTunes and the game Spore. That way you don't even need to send an SMS, just wait until code is activated progressively making the computer useless.
Phillip.
Re:Hmm (Score:2, Funny)
"I'm not sure that can be described as being 'good'."
No, you're right, instead of shutting down the laptop, Lenovo should have put in telescopic legs with wheels on the bottom so that it could make its way home to its rightful owner.
Re:Useless (Score:5, Funny)
Exactly. Smart thieves perform a thorough risk/reward calculation and a lot of planning before they go for target. They are near impossible to catch.
I, for one, regularly steal rolls of toilet paper from work.
I'll never get caught because I put a lot of forethought into each coup and perfectionized my strategy over years. I only lift one roll at a time so it doesn't get noticed and so I can at any time pretend to be just carrying it around because I need to "clean my desk or something". Plus, I always drop the roll into my bag while sitting at my desk and without looking down. Eyes must be focussed on screen, innocent facial expression - nobody would ever notice from a distance that I'm performing a felony under the table in just that moment!
Bare the occassional accident (when I miss the bag and have to crawl under the table to recover the loot) I think I can safely claim that the perfect crime is possible and I have mastered it.
Re:Interesting (Score:4, Funny)
I think you stopped being my friend a long time ago. :-p
Re:Interesting (Score:5, Funny)
Acid?
Real Men use Thermite [hackaday.com].
Bonus: If the thief is holding it in their lap at the time, they have been REMOVED from the gene pool.
Re:Interesting (Score:2, Funny)