Lost -- and found -- my BlackBerry

[RJM62]

I don't consider myself a particularly good photographer, but I've gotten so many compliments on some of the pictures I've taken since I semi-retired that I've decided to give stock photography a try as a sideline. The way I see it, it's like free money because I take a lot of pictures anyway.

Today I went out to take some shots of an old (but still active) railroad bridge. One of the agencies I'm interested in dealing with said that they liked the photos I sent them, but they were all macro shots. They wanted to see some examples of my handling of perspective in wider shots. I decided that I cold get some good perspective shots from the span itself and the tracks leading up to it.

While I was climbing the trail to the track, I dropped my BlackBerry; and I didn't notice it until much later on, after I'd shot a few other locations. They were all in relatively remote, weed-filled areas, some of which took some climbing to get to, where there was basically no chance of my finding the BlackBerry unless I happened across a bloodhound with nothing to do on a Sunday.

I was already resigned to calling my buddy and having him express mail me a new BlackBerry when I remembered the "BlackBerry Protect" feature. So when I got home, I logged into BlackBerry Protect, and voila' -- they contacted the device and pulled up a GPS location and satellite map of the device's whereabouts.

It was where I parked to shoot the railroad bridge -- which was a much better place to lose a phone than some of the other places I'd been today.

BlackBerry Protect also let me remotely lock the phone and put a reward message on the display. Other options include making it ring loudly (useful for when you lose the phone in the house or car -- I've used that one a few times), wipe the phone, or transfer the backed-up settings and data to a new BlackBerry if you can't find the lost one.

But in this case, the location was only about 18 miles away, so I went back out there. Sure enough, there was the phone, just a few feet from where the satellite photo said it would be.

Long story short: Instead of whatever my buddy / client in the business would have charged me for a new BlackBerry, it cost me about $3.50 in gas to go retrieve it.

Life is good.

-Rich

 

[hopmedic]

Is this something built into Blackberry, or a separate app, free or purchased?

Windows Phone has this kind of thing (built in) as well. Just log into my.windowsphone.com, and you can see your phone on a map, lock it with a message on the screen ("Call me at xxx-xxxx if you find this", for instance), ring it even if it is on silent, or wipe it of all data.

Very handy features for those of us who are data-security-minded.

 

[RJM62]

Is this something built into Blackberry, or a separate app, free or purchased?

Windows Phone has this kind of thing (built in) as well. Just log into my.windowsphone.com, and you can see your phone on a map, lock it with a message on the screen ("Call me at xxx-xxxx if you find this", for instance), ring it even if it is on silent, or wipe it of all data.

Very handy features for those of us who are data-security-minded.

It's a separate, free app from RIM for my device, but I think it's built-in to the new ones. It does all the things you mentioned above, plus backs up certain data and settings, once the user authorizes it to do so.

None of this is mind-bending technology. I'm pretty sure I could write a script to do the same things given a couple of days and sufficient cappuccino. I mean, the phone already knows where it is. We're just requesting that information from it, superimposing it on a map, and executing other functionality that already exists on the phone (ringing, locking, putting a message on the display, etc.). None of it is rocket surgery (nor even brain science).

But when it works -- and when it saves me the expense of buying a new phone -- it seems downright elegant.

-Rich

 

[hopmedic]

Yeah, pretty much no-brainers... But super-nice to have when you need them. I would add, though, that given the security model of the Windows Phone, you could not wipe it, lock it, or put a message on the lock screen. You could set a background task to occasionally upload the location to a web service, but given the way WP apps are sandboxed, you can't get to the OS. I'm not sure if you could set a background task to play a sound, but I think it is possible. But with it cooked into the OS, it's all good.

Likewise, while I don't know if it is boiled into the iPhone or not, I recently read an article where a woman's iPhone had been stolen, and the perp was taking pictures with it, including pictures of himself. He didn't know it was set to auto-upload, and she got pics of him, and was able to give the police the location of the phone. BUSTED!

 

[Alexb2000]

Find My iPhone. Free app works with my Mac Book, iPad, and iPhone. So cool being able to find them anywhere when they are powered on. Lockout, remote wipe, display message feature as well.

 

[denverpilot]

It's interesting how even when you are pretty sure where the device is, the various "finder" Apps give some additional peace of mind.

Left my iPhone at home on the charger when I went to work Monday morning. Find my iPhone confirmed it so I didn't have any doubts about where it was.

 

[woodstock]

That's pretty cool. My berry is 4 yrs old, I wonder if it has that. It's a world phone.

 

[RJM62]

That's pretty cool. My berry is 4 yrs old, I wonder if it has that. It's a world phone.

Nice picture!

I bought a Nikon D-5100 while I was in Patterson, New Jersey on business yesterday ($200.00 instant rebate at Microcenter and only 3.5% sales tax -- woo-hoo!), and I'm dying to do some outdoor shots. But it's been raining ever since.

I think BlackBerry protect works on any berry with OS 6 or 7, but I'm not sure. I imagine you can just check on App World to find out.

-Rich

 

[rpadula]

Nice picture!

I bought a Nikon D-5100 while I was in Patterson, New Jersey on business yesterday ($200.00 instant rebate at Microcenter and only 3.5% sales tax -- woo-hoo!), and I'm dying to do some outdoor shots. But it's been raining ever since.

I think BlackBerry protect works on any berry with OS 6 or 7, but I'm not sure. I imagine you can just check on App World to find out.

-Rich

One "t" in Paterson, Rich. I was born there and my dad grew up there.

Did you stop at Falls View for a hot dog?

 

[woodstock]

Nice picture!

I bought a Nikon D-5100 while I was in Patterson, New Jersey on business yesterday ($200.00 instant rebate at Microcenter and only 3.5% sales tax -- woo-hoo!), and I'm dying to do some outdoor shots. But it's been raining ever since.

I think BlackBerry protect works on any berry with OS 6 or 7, but I'm not sure. I imagine you can just check on App World to find out.

-Rich

Thank you! Love love love love love Lake Como. One of my favorite places in the world.

I don't know a heck of a lot about Nikons, I am a Canongirl.

 

[RJM62]

One "t" in Paterson, Rich. I was born there and my dad grew up there.

Did you stop at Falls View for a hot dog?

No, not this time around. I've actually been there quite a few times, though. I lived in New Jersey for a few years, and I did quite a bit of work in Bergen, Passaic, and Essex counties. Falls View Grill was one of my preferred lunch stops. Libby's was another.

Actually, though, it's hard to find bad food in New Jersey. I don't think I've ever been in a bad restaurant in Jersey. Some of the food would give my doctor conniptions, though: "Low-fat" cuisine doesn't seem too popular among the locals.

Unfortunately, I never did learn how to spell Paterson... My apologies.

-Rich

 

[rpadula]

No, not this time around. I've actually been there quite a few times, though. I lived in New Jersey for a few years, and I did quite a bit of work in Bergen, Passaic, and Essex counties. Falls View Grill was one of my preferred lunch stops. Libby's was another.

Actually, though, it's hard to find bad food in New Jersey. I don't think I've ever been in a bad restaurant in Jersey. Some of the food would give my doctor conniptions, though: "Low-fat" cuisine doesn't seem too popular among the locals.

Unfortunately, I never did learn how to spell Paterson... My apologies.

-Rich

No apologies necessary. Just a giving you a little good-natured ribbing. I wasn't expecting to see a post about Paterson yesterday! I grew up in Wayne, and had family all in the surrounding area - Totowa, Little Falls, Paterson & Haledon. Good times.

Don't forget about Rutt's Hut in Clifton and Pappy's in Totowa. My dad loves those diner type restaurants. There aren't too many like that down here in the South, unless you count Waffle House.

Another thing I used to miss were the great neighborhood bakeries. Any bakery here is usually in the Kroger or Publix supermarket. However, that is changing -- the Koreans in the area are opening some fantastic bakeries!