C.A.T.S.eye, the latest in GPS theft monitoring

While LoJack and SkyHook tracking for laptops already exist, there's a new competitor roaming around the United Kingdom. C.A.T.S.eye (Covert Asset Tracking System), currently being tested by British police, is a tiny chip that will emit a tracking signal (via GPS, GSM, and radio) should your laptop get stolen. Police can then use the signal to track your laptop online, as you might expect. Now, according to the company's site, use of the device reduced "theft from vehicle" (seriously though, you're still gonna leave your laptop in your car?) incidents by 14 percent in a month, but that's a figure that we don't really put a whole lot of faith in, without knowing the specifics of the test. Still, if you want to try it out, you can sign up to be a beta tester by purchasing a unit for 225 quid ($445) -- but we don't know how wise it is to leave your laptop out to get stolen in the name of research, so maybe you'll just want to surreptitiously monitor your friend or something.

[Via Shiny Shiny]