Innovative new device to help recover stolen guitars and other lost or stolen stuff

Guild Dawg

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A friend on Facebook tipped me off to this today. I have no personal interest in this company, financial or otherwise. But this seems like a really cool device to help you find things that have been lost or stolen. I might have to actually break down and buy a smart phone.

Called "The Tile," it's a tiny tracking device that your smart phone can find. If it's out of range of your smart phone, other smart phones can find your lost item. Like I said, I don't know all the details, but it looks like a really neat idea. I especially like the idea of not having to depend on a middle man to find the item for you (a la Lojack).

http://www.thetileapp.com/#on-the-go
 

idealassets

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OK, so the thief with a smart phone will be alerted to the fact that he has the tracking device right there in the guitar case, which means you may still loose your guitar, but find the track device in a garbage can?
 

SFIV1967

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Interesting but I doubt it's helpful to really find stolen stuff. Way to obvious. It's more like to locate something misplaced in your house or garden, but if you have to first mark something that you think you might misplace,...it all makes not a lot of sense to me. Maybe to track stuff your kids carry around and loose all the time.
Ralf
 

Guild Dawg

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OK, so the thief with a smart phone will be alerted to the fact that he has the tracking device right there in the guitar case, which means you may still loose your guitar, but find the track device in a garbage can?

No, a thief with a smart phone cannot locate your tracking device. Did you even read how this thing works before deciding whether it was workable?
 

fronobulax

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No, a thief with a smart phone cannot locate your tracking device. Did you even read how this thing works before deciding whether it was workable?

Actually I did and from the information provided I can imagine several ways where I could use my smartphone to detect that I had stolen property with your Tile in my vicinity. I'd start with the fact that I can monitor my phone's transmissions and if my phone sees your Tile it will try and update something "in the cloud" so the transmission clues me in to something, even if it is encrypted. There may be ways to make that harder but for this to really work you both have to trust the company and underestimate the hacking ability of a bored 20 something with no job and nothing else to do all day.
 

idealassets

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No, a thief with a smart phone cannot locate your tracking device. Did you even read how this thing works before deciding whether it was workable?
Here comes my first wise alec comment on a guitar blog: If I think the idea is not so hot, why spend my time reading all about it? I spent less time asking my insurance agent if my guitars are insured with homeowner's insurance, answer is yes they are. So I'm happy as-is.

CG
 

Guild Dawg

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Well, I certainly can't argue with "Screw it -- I'll just buy another one!" If you've got the funds available to make that philosophy viable, I tip my hat to you, sir.

As for 20-somethings with hacking ability who are also committing thefts and burglaries, I'm not sure this product can defend against them. Most criminals, however, don't have the brainpower to be hackers, in my experience.

I may be wrong about the value of this product. Then again, they just completed their crowdfunding campaign, raising $2.7 million in one month to fund their business with advance sales of their device. Maybe there are just a lot of people out there who lose their keys all the time?
http://www.hackthings.com/interview-tile-is-crowdfunding-a-universal-lost-and-found/
 

SFIV1967

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That Tile thing seems to be not the only one trying to catch some of that market. I just read today that Nokia comes out with a similar tag after they updated new phones to Bluetooth 4.0.
Also this start-up company has a similar approach: https://www.sticknfind.com/
One application they mention is your luggage on a belt at the airport, you get notified as soon as it comes out.
So it's all about misplaced things or things in a range of 100 feet.
Ralf
 
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fronobulax

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So it's all about misplaced things or thinks in a range of 100 feet.

That makes a whole lot more sense than a LoJack type thing that would locate stolen property at some distance from the owner. I maintain the system will fail at that application, but have much success as a way to localize something that is already in the presence of the owner. IMO. YMMV.
 

Guild Dawg

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That makes a whole lot more sense than a LoJack type thing that would locate stolen property at some distance from the owner. I maintain the system will fail at that application, but have much success as a way to localize something that is already in the presence of the owner. IMO. YMMV.

I suppose whether or not it becomes a really valuable locator rather than just a cool way to find your keys will depend on the ubiquity of the Tile and the app that allows it to function.

The more people around the country and around the world who buy the Tile and use the app, the greater the chances your Tile's signal will be picked up by their device and its GPS location communicated to you (should it be beyond the detection range of your personal device). The more people buy it, the better it will work.
 
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