Covert Tracking in a matchbox
If your laptop is anything like mine then it contains pretty much everything you've ever created in digital form (bar some unrecoverable stuff from obscure proprietary floppy formats pre-IBM PC), and the thought of losing it makes you want to sit in a darkened corner and chant "breathe breathe breathe" while beating your head against the wall. So it's good to see that companies are developing ever-smaller covert GPS tracking solutions for missing tech; in this case it's the C.A.T.Seye GPS Tracking Device developed by Covert Asset Tracking Systems Ltd.
Around the size of a matchbox, the device is currently being trialled by several police forces in the UK – in one area it reduced "theft from vehicle" incidents by 14% in a single month – and combines GSM, GPS and short-range radio to give accurate location information via a web control interface. It can also send alerts – whether those be of movement or battery status – in SMS message form.
A single tracker retails at £265 ($522) although there's a discount available for purchasing multiple units. They also make a modified TomTom GPS unit with the tracker embedded, so a remote admin can covertly monitor someone using an otherwise normal (and ostensibly untampered with) sat-nav.