i was thinking a bit about the new toy, and i realized something kinda disturbing. One of the features it has is a lock code. It's fairly useful since what it does is prevent you from pretty much doing anything with the device unless you enter it. You can't use the GPS, or activate the USB loader, or anything without that magical code.
As a backup in case you're a moron and can't remember the code you're entering into the device constantly, you're also given the option of an "unlock position", take the device to with a few dozen meters of that position and it magically unlocks. When you're at the unlock position, you're also given the option to change the unlock code, without entering the original code.
This, got me a bit concerned.
See, were i a bad guy and were i to steal this bugger, in theory, all i'd have to do to unlock this is return to the scene of the crime, have the device auto-unlock, change the access code and i'm good to go. i've got a fully working, stolen GPS.
So, i decided to be a dick. My unlock position was an arbitrary point i picked while out today. It's not my driveway. Hell, it's not even in the same zipcode. i was very tempted to make the unlock location the front door of the local police station (it's not, but then again i did go by there today…) i don't have any problem re-entering the security code into the GPS whenever i want to turn it on. i do it when i'm out anyway so not entering it once a trip isn't really a huge savings. And if i'm a dope and it does get stolen, Mr. Bugler gets a nice locked down GPS. (Well, actually, whatever sap he sells it to on e-bay gets a glowy brick of a GPS, but that's not my problem either.)
Then it occurred to me that Batman was right, Criminals are a cowardly and superstitious lot, so i decided to continue the mind fsck a bit further.
A smaller version was printed on gloss photo paper, carefully cut out and glued to the back of the GPS. i only wished that there was some way to hack the welcome screen to include something like "Alerting Police to Current Coordinates". So i dug around on the device and found \Garmin\Text\British_English.gtt file and… made a slight alteration to it.
See? that's what happens when you try and steal my toys.
They'll know it's a fake because you misspelled "its" as "it's".
But they are still getting a brick, so…
Wouldn't it be also sensible to include at least a phone number somewhere — because the chance of losing that little guy is probably higher than the chance of it being stolen. And the chance of encountering a nice person who'd return it if they know whom to contact isn't bad, either.
korrect speling is so web 1.0.
I thought about adding a pointer back to this domain, but then I realized that the bugger goes from dashboard to pocket to office shelf so the likelihood of it actually being lost is one in three. (Honestly, I'm actually fairly good about keeping track of the various gizmos and doo-dads that are around me at any time, particularly the ones that cost more than $20 to replace.)
If anyone gets their hands on my GP-now-a-brick, it's because they were more nefarious than I'd prefer.
Save This Page
Sweet!
Mine just says, "Stolen from [my name]. Give it back."
Because, you know, regardless of the circumstances, I just can't bring myself to imply that GPS is a two-way system.