Prey: Simple yet powerful application for tracking stolen computers →
As Joshua Kaufman recently demonstrated with his “This Guy Has My MacBook” Tumblr site, stolen laptop recovery tools like Hidden really do work. It was even covered in the tech section on CNN.com.
While Hidden is a proprietary Mac app, Prey is an open source, multi-platform alternative. Available for Windows, MacOS, Linux, and even Android, Prey lies dormant, waiting for a signal to activate itself and phone home with your device’s latest location, screen captures, and snapshots from your laptop’s buit-in camera.
UPDATE: If you’re not completely sold on Prey, check out this Storify of Sean Power tracking down his stolen laptop Man tracks stolen laptop hundreds of miles away, calls thief - storify.com
If your organization needs to track more than three devices, Prey now offers pro plans, with higher limits as well as advanced features such as:
- hardware scans and change notifications
- increased updated frequency up to 2-minute intervals
- SSL encryption of data
- automated deployments to devices
Best of all, since Prey is open source, you have a chance to contribute.
Esther Quek of The Rake magazine.
For many it takes a lifetime to discover their personal style, for some it comes effortlessly
Esther Quek of The Rake magazine
simurai: Another angle on skeuomorphs →
There is a good post about skeuomorphs titled Skeuomorph, Pt III.
Next to touch and smell, there is another problem with skeuomorphs on digital screens. Changing the angle you look at it. Moving your head doesn’t change the 3D perspective, holding your tablet in a different angle does…
Cameron Holmes has put together an amazing map that digs into the neighborhoods and subdivisions in Richmond.
If they don’t get more towels soon, the sobbing will become audible.
Many of you have asked, so here’s what’s going on with me.
WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE
- 8/1979: Born. Grew up in CT, built a killer eraser collection, fell in love with computers.
- Left college to start a company. Fell hard. Fled to India for 3 months.
- Started 2nd company. Learned to be an adult. Fell in love with NYC.
- Moved to SF, discovered burritos & some of my fave people on Earth.
- 9/2011: Got diagnosed with Leukemia!
- Cried. Went through 3 cycles of chemo. Hurt. Thought hard about what I want out of life. Grew up a second time.
TODAY
… After over 100 drives organized by friends, family, and strangers, celebrity call-outs, a bazillion reblogs (7000+!), tweets, and Facebook posts, press, fundraising and international drives organized by tireless friends, and a couple painful false starts, I’ve got a 10/10 matched donor!
You all literally helped save my life. (And the lives of many others.)
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
Tomorrow, I’ll be admitted to Dana Farber in Boston for 4-5 weeks.
First I’ll get a second Hickman line to allow direct access to my heart (for meds and for nutrients if I’m not able to eat). Over the next week, the docs blast my body with a stiff chemo cocktail to try and eradicate all traces of cancer cells. In the process, the immune system I was born with, and my body’s ability to make blood, are destroyed.
Next Friday, I get my donor’s stem cells by IV. I start on immunosuppressants to prevent my body from rejecting them (I’ll be on them for 12-18 months). For these weeks I’ve no immune system, so I’m severely vulnerable to viruses and bacteria. My hospital room and hallway become my world.
Meanwhile, the stem cells make their way to my bone marrow and, with some luck, start producing platelets, red blood cells, and white blood cells. At this point, my blood type changes to the blood type of my donor. And my blood will now have my donor’s DNA, not my own.
This is science fiction stuff. I can hardly believe it’s even possible, and there’s lots of chances for things to go wrong. It’s frightening.
AFTER THE TRANSPLANT
Recovery to a new state of “normal” takes about a year, but there’s a few storm clouds hovering:
- My immune system is new, like a baby’s. I’m prone to getting sick.
- Just as with any organ transplant, there’s a chance of rejection. Except in this case, it’s my blood that’s the foreign body, and it touches every organ. They call it graft-vs-host-disease and it can cause health issues and organ complications for the rest of my life.
- Successful transplant or not, Leukemia can relapse. Stubborn mofo.
Overall, 75% of AML transplant patients survive year one, 50% make it through year five. My odds are a little better since I’m young.
THE GREAT NEWS
I’ve got a long road ahead. But I’ve got a donor & amazing family & friends. A few months ago I didn’t have many options. Today I have a plan.
I am alive. I start tomorrow. Wish me luck!
Thank you.
This is great news.
Coming Wednesday, Jan. 25!
New York magazine and Longreads present: “Behind the Longreads,” featuring Dan P. Lee, Jessica Pressler, Wesley Yang and New York Editor-in-Chief Adam Moss.
