Losing a personal laptop computer can be the most devastating thing one can ever go through in life. Most of these lost laptops are never found by the owners and one is left counting loses after having saved his or her money to purchase that laptop computer.
This is exactly the situation Kevin Murrey went through when he lost his laptop computer. He lost not one or two but three laptops and he has never recovered them since. The laptops are probably being used by someone else after being stolen, formatted and cleared off everything. As a young person in campus Kevin was devasted and he kept wondering when and how he was going to buy a new laptop and how this time around how he was going to ensure the safety of this new laptop. This is how he came up with the idea of coming up with a unique laptop tracker that has seen him keep his new laptop until now.
When he called me last weekend asking me if I can spare time to review his tracker, at first I thought this could just be another phone or car tracker that companies lie to consumers have been installed in their cars or phones while in real sense they have not, but when he mentioned it was a hardware tracker and also since I love the ideas some young Kenyan innovators come up with I became curious. So I set up a date and we met in a Nairobi restaurant. He was here to help me get a glimpse of how the tracker really works and for a whole hour, he took me through how the tracker works.
Kevin is an innovator and develops technological solutions for companies. He has also been able to come up with applications to help companies solve problems they have been battling for years. Today, however, we were here to check out this hardware tracker he developed to secure stolen laptops.
‘’This laptop tracker is the best thing I have ever come up with and I think it could be the solution to so many people who lose their laptop computers on a daily basis in Nairobi’’ Kevin says.
He calls the tracker a Matrix Blackbox and it is able to execute commands via text. Just via text, you can track, spy, call, SMS and even create a WI-FI hotspot with the laptop. All you need to do is get a sim card installed in the tracker and your laptop is safe. Let me dwell deeper into how exactly this hardware tracker really works.
Functionality
This tracker’s functionality works via text messaging service. This means once you have this tracker installed or attached somewhere on your computer you can be able to track it just in case someone steals the laptop. How? As mentioned earlier this functionality works via text messaging and comes with a sim card. If you lose your laptop and for example text the word ‘’GPS’’ to the sim card number in the tracker, the tracker will text you back its coordinates, bearing and even speed if the laptop is in a speed moving vehicle, interesting right? The same way you will send your friend a text message and he or she responds back, that is how this tracker works.
Additionally, in the event GPS is unavailable it will give back SMS answered based on the triangulation of where the laptop is being used using the local network system.
For example we were having our meeting with at Steers near Imax and I tried sending the text to his laptop which has the tracker already installed in it, a few seconds later I got a reply from the tracker number giving me the location coordinates, I entered the coordinates on Google maps and it was able to locate where we were at the moment, it also sent me a Google map link just in case I was having problems entering the coordinates on Google maps.
Another interesting feature that comes with the tracker is the ability to make and receive calls using the lost laptop. With the tracker installed somewhere in your computer, you text a message command ‘’callback’’ and the tracker will be able to call you back on your cell phone. You will also be able to listen to conversations of the people around the people, probably the people who stole your lost laptop.
The WI-FI functionality of the tracker is the most amazing thing. The functionality which is also SMS triggered works by creating a WI-FI hotspot around your lost laptop. With this WI-FI, you can be able to surf the internet, meaning it acts as a modem for the laptop. This WI-FI can be accessed by your phone and tablets and any other WI-FI enabled device.
During the tracking period, you can also be able to estimate the distance you are from your lost laptop. Interestingly, the device works even when the laptop is switched off meaning you do not have to worry about anything.
‘’Most people are always scared when their phones are stolen and whey they try calling the number and find out it is switched off then they know that is the end of things, but for this laptop tracker they do not have to worry, it can call and text you even when your laptop is switched off’’ Kevin tells me.
I ask Kevin if he has approached any laptop selling shops to sell this idea which has been tried and proven and he says yes. He tells me he has approached one of the top laptop shops and sold them this idea but they were so reluctant to adopt it for obvious reason, business. For them, their number of sales depends on the number of laptops being lost every day, so if they have this tracker installed in the laptops that will mean no business for them.
Watch the video below to see Kevin describe how the tracker works:
With only Ksh.7,500, Kevin says he can ensure the safety of your laptop by installing this tracker on your personal laptop or office laptops too.
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