Laplock

Leave your MacBook unattended, worry free.

1 follower

Leave your MacBook unattended, worry free.

1 follower

Laplock is a nifty little app developed at our TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon in London. At heart, Laplock is a menubar app for your Mac.

Launch tags:Productivity•Menu Bar Apps•Tech

Launch Team

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Works great! I leave my Mac sitting out in cafes regularly during quick trips to the bathroom or downstairs to order another coffee. Taipei cafes are fairly theft-free, but this can add a little peace of mind on the off chance that some baddie decides s/he wants a new Mac. Some things not mentioned in the app description: 1. Works even when the Mac is muted (turns the sound back on automatically) 2. Won't work with the lid closed/machine sleeping, but there's a screen lock feature in the dropdown 3. Won't work with earbuds plugged in (well, you'll get an earful if you're wearing them). Common sense, yes, but probably easy to overlook. 4. It's easy to enable/disable from the menu bar. Probably best to leave it disabled until you need it, in case you accidentally set it off. 5. The sound is super annoying. Let's just say your team members aren't going to be too pleased if you keep testing it in the office.

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12yr ago

Vyte.in

Maker

@taispy Thanks for the details 1) will be fixed in the beta version 2) we're actively working on this 5) That's kind of the point :-)

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12yr ago

Where can I find an iPhone 7?

@saintmac @taispy How do you solve for #2? cc @willimholte

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12yr ago

Vyte.in

Maker

@thetylerhayes @ shennyg we're actively working on 2), it's a bit tricky but we're almost there and are confident we will do it

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12yr ago

@saintmac For #1, perhaps an option? I kind of thought it was a good feature! I keep my Mac muted when out in public, so I might forget to turn the sound back on before walking away from the computer. For #5, absolutely! Good for attracting attention to criminals stealing your stuff. Just not as good for maintaining good relationships with your colleagues -- especially engineers :) PS: Would love to see an iPhone version. Less worried about my Mac, but have had an iPhone stolen before, right under the nose of the friend who was supposed to be watching it!

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12yr ago

Vyte.in

Maker

@taispy #1 will be released today #5 haha, Don't forget to disable it before packing up your laptop at night ;-) iPhone: Not sure it can be done. It's doable with Android though. But then how would you be getting the notification that your phone is being stolen, on your watch? :-) What is probably doable would be to also "secure" the iPhone to the mac via a lightning cable, and have the mac go crazy when the iPhone is unplugged. Would this be a good use case for you?

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12yr ago

Great idea. Are you able to disable sleeping and still sound the alarm? This app allows you to keep your mac awake if the lid's closed: https://code.google.com/p/macosx...

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12yr ago

Teleport

Very clever. Maybe I should start bringing the powercord to coffeeshops then? I too regularly leave my Mac unattended for a minute or two when using the restroom or ordering food/drink.

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12yr ago

Hackerpreneur Magazine

Hunter

In alpha, but I tested it and it works perfectly. Not sure I'd trust it for the intended use case. Would make for some great trolling though ;)

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12yr ago

I get anxious just thinking about stepping away from my Macbook - but this looks great for those who are more trusting.

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12yr ago

BACKSPACE

Maker

Hi, I'm one of the Laplock developers. We're still in Alpha (launched on Sunday), so it's still very new (there are some limitations but we're working on them). Please let us know of any problems, or what features you'd like to see implemented. Thanks @MarcEglon and @taispy a lot for all the feedback, it's hugely motivating to know that you've found it useful... and to know what areas to address :)

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12yr ago

Just installed it! Great for my university library! Just wish there was a fix for the sound to play even with headphones on. Otherwise a thief could simply plug in his own headphones before taking the MacBook away...

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7yr ago

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