Stealing an iPod will be useless

    To steal is a very bad occupation. And in the case of future iPod versions, it’s also completely useless. And all because the craftsmen from Apple intend to build a special system in future models of players that turns a stolen iPod into a piece of plastic in just a few hours.
    Six hours - and the stolen iPod turns into a trinket
    The solution is unexpected and at the same time very elegant: block access to electricity for the battery if the player was connected to an unauthorized computer. In other words, once connected to a PC that has nothing to do with the true owner, the stolen device simply refuses to charge. Forever and ever. A full description of this technology is present in the application , which Apple employees have already sent to the US Patent Office. Well, I will confine myself to a brief retelling of its contents.

    So, as you know, in any electronic device that has the ability to be powered from the network, there is a power controller that determines the presence of an external current source and controls the process of charging the batteries. Apple, in turn, decided to attach another controller to this case, which is activated only if the player was connected to someone else's PC. When connected to a computer, iPod checks the device code with a specific list and, in case of a mismatch, cuts in the same protective circuit that prevents further charging. A similar system, by the way, is already used in current iPod models, however, it only concerns the synchronization of the contents of the memory with the music library.

    Obviously, if Apple's initiative proves effective, such systems have a chance to appear in other portable devices. It remains only to teach the anti-theft system to send an email with the coordinates of the same "objectionable" computer.

    via PC Pro

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