Notebook in your car

[dwj]

Talking about phones, my friend's phone got snatched while he was talking with it! Happened in Sunway Mentari outside McDonalds. I was supposed to meet him but when I reached he was already on the way to the police station to make a report. The culprits were riding a scooter and just snactched it from behind and sped off.

According to the police even one of their policeman got his phone snached while he was off duty and he was on his bike with is wife. Another bike came and snached it from his pouch!

Goes to show we are living in a dangerous society in Malaysia. Last week my friend's car got broken into while parked outside my house in PJ!

I was surprised how much safer Thailand is. Been there and had a few occasions where anyone could have taken my hp (left in a massage room & got returned by the cleaning lady) & credit card holder (dropped it inside a taxi and the taxi man came back to the hotel and passed it to the staff. The staff then passed it back to me with all the cards intact and unused.

wowow...u sure do lucky meet such a good ppl...look so much safer in thailand..

 

[duck]

Ya you're right okow. 'Safe' and 'honest' are different, but unfortunately both are lacking here nowadays. I've never got back what I dropped here. PDA in a bank, unbrella in a mamak, handphone in Immigration Dept, wife's purse outside mini-market. A few minutes later you realise you dropped or left something, and nobody knows anything already. Very sad...

another scenario..... say the Zoo or Aquaria says, kindly drop RM25 into the box per entry. No tickets needed, and there is no guards at the entrance to check if you put in that RM25. I bet you'll see the animals and fish die of hunger after two months because the amount of visitors will increase by 100% but collections from those boxes will be less than half.

Its got to do with integrity. Unfortunately, our people lack!

Btw, my gf's colleague got into an accident while riding a bike. Guess what those ^*$( &# passerby did? ROBBED him of his wallet and handphone! then only some other people came and called an ambulance.

 

[khisham]

...it's unfortunate that Malaysians in general lack civic mindedness BUT all it takes is one person to act & many will follow & assist...

...all these terrible behaviour starts in an innocent manner like;

...double parking for a friend outside a bank or store.." 5 minit saja bang...!"
...throwing away your cigarette butt on the floor or road & not in an ashtray...
...driving very slowly on the extreme right lane of the highway even when there are cars behind you...

...turning left or right suddenly BUT without using the signal indicators...

...Malaysians are very fortunate that they can practice such behaviour in Malaysia without any penalties...yet...

 

[pkw88]

...it's unfortunate that Malaysians in general lack civic mindedness BUT all it takes is one person to act & many will follow & assist...

...all these terrible behaviour starts in an innocent manner like;

...double parking for a friend outside a bank or store.." 5 minit saja bang...!"
...throwing away your cigarette butt on the floor or road & not in an ashtray...
...driving very slowly on the extreme right lane of the highway even when there are cars behind you...

...turning left or right suddenly BUT without using the signal indicators...

...Malaysians are very fortunate that they can practice such behaviour in Malaysia without any penalties...yet...

Here's my favourite hate - people opening swing doors, then not looking back to see if anyone is following, just letting the door swing shut again! (Sorry for getting off topic, but poor discipline on the road does carry onto all aspects of a person's life-that's my justification for deviating!)

 

[1+2=3]

buy a good comfy laptop backpack.. use that to carry your laptop. thats what I do.

anyways.. there is still hope for mankind. I actually left my credit card at the petrol kiosk at putrajaya a few weeks back.. had too many things on my mind, and just drove off without it. The guy manning the pump area found it, immediately passed it to the supervisor, and they called the credit company, which promptly suspended the card, and called me as well.

Thats real honest at work. but so rare...

 

[rubes72]

Actually there is a battery detector i.e Voltage and current detector. It is not a myth. They have it in the maket for years now, used mainly by electrical contractors to detect cable in walls. It is actually a electromagnet field detector which scans a zone to guage the strength of the electromagnet field. It is still unsure if the thiefs use this devise as it is rather expensive, more than 1k.

To be safe, if you must leave your notebook in the trunk,
1. Move it there before you park or before the journey
2. Buy a cable lock and secure it to the chasis
3. Remove the battery and keep it in the dash.
4. Double lock your trunk.

I've lost 3 notebooks in one day, during a lunch appointment in concorde hotel. I've learnt my lesson.

Cheers

 

[E46Fanatic]

Actually those detectors should not be able to detect a battery of a switched off notebook inside a trunk of a car. EM waves are generated by running electrical current. I am not an electrical engineer, but thats what I remember studying during my school days. Maybe someone can offer a more accurate reason.

 

[rubes72]

True. But even with your notebook switched off, there is still current flowing to the notebook. You can check that power by using a thong meter.

 

[jarance]

EMF (Electro Magnetic Field Force) is inverse proportional to the square of the distance. Using the formula, you need a very sensitve dectector. With all the noise generated from HP, Satelitte etc, the dectector would pick those signal instead of your Laptop. Bearing in mind that your laptop is in the boot, these would further sheild any radiation of the EMF..

As for the cable detector under the wall, yes you can easily buy it from any hardware shop. it cost about RM180. I have bought it before. However, you need to tune it properly to use it. Also it will only work if there is a voltage on the cable. i.e 240 VAC. If there is no voltage on the cable, you can tune it to detect metal (as in copper). However, the working DISTANCE is only 5 cm. This dectector can also be mislead by nail or reinforced bar in the concrete. Hence, go figure out how the detector can detect a device that is running on 12VDC, is about 50 cm away and is shield by the metal cover of the boot.

 

[rubes72]

Jarance, A valid argument! While there are detectors to detect 12V and below, the Metal around the trunk would shield the electromagnatic field .But what I'm saying, is the device is not a myth it is available, but how they use it or even if they use it is another question. But nevertheless their modus operandi is still a mystery.

There is another teory as well. Radiation. If you notice only notebooks with Wi-Fi are stolen. that is because the radios have crystals in then, and crystals have radio active activity, until they are completely drain off their power, once the crystals are charged, they begin to resonate (measured in Hertz)creating energy ( measured in Frequency), this energy is then stored in the crystals. The crystals themself have energy storage time of a few minutes. I have tested this before and yes you get a spike on the scope even with a turned of Notebook, you get different levels ( measured in Dbm) from TV different levels, for Harddisk different levels( but have to be powered) you can basically scan anything that produces energy. In short any eletronic device. But still only pros will use this equipment to detect as this is extremly expensive.

My best bet is that the culprit would wait and see and target from a distance.

 

[rubes72]

Sorry mistake.... energy is measured in Db.

 

[jarance]

rubes, all electronic devices emits EMF.

Since you have a detector that can actually detect this, why don't you conduct an experiment under a control enviroment.

1. detect the radiation of a laptop (WiFi or Bluetooth enable) when it is ON.
2. detect the radiation of a laptop when it is OFF.
3. detect the radiation of a laptop when it is ON inside the boot of the car.
4. detect the radiation of a laptop when it is OFF inside the boot of the car.

Let us know the results...

I agreed the culprit target those from a distance. Same like those who withdraw money from a bank and put the money in the boot of the car when they go for lunch. They most probably find their car broken into when they come back from lunch or suddenly experience a punture.

 

[jarance]

Sorry mistake.... energy is measured in Db.

Db as in decibel

 

[Jules]

this calls for MYTHBUSTERS to verify it once and for all!

 

[1+2=3]

"My best bet is that the culprit would wait and see and target from a distance."

if the burglars did this, they wouldn't need to have a detector to know right? they would have probably seen the owner put the laptop in the boot..

anyways.. i've had 2 attempts to break into my car in the past, and i didnt have a laptop in my boot, but it didnt stop them trying.

 

[three28]

I got mine knicked of 3 years ago from the trunk...

 

[jarance]

Google a bit and found this device. Available in USA..

-

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But device can only detect Wifi that is switch ON..

 

[duck]

When your notebook goes into Standby Mode, i think the Wi-Fi is off. For instance, if you were downloading something in a wireless point and you close your notebook (most are set to go Standby), you will see your wifi light goes off.

 

[rubes72]

Hey Jarance, what do you think of Infra-Red scanners? I know they can penetrate metal. Just thot I asked, I think you're a techie, from the arguments you made.
Did the test you recommended, You were right lots of noise ... most noise from flourecent lights... but when you point it directly into your lap top... wow you get a different reading for each chip used. With Wifi turned on you get a spike of -40Db. When notebook closed you do not get any spike. However when scanned a battery, connected to the notebook got -78Db. Equipment used, RAYCOM scope with open flange concentrator antennae, and amplified using a low noise apmlifier 8hz to 16Ghz. what I was scanning was electrical interference.

 

[jarance]

Hey Jarance, what do you think of Infra-Red scanners? I know they can penetrate metal. Just thot I asked, I think you're a techie, from the arguments you made.
Did the test you recommended, You were right lots of noise ... most noise from flourecent lights... but when you point it directly into your lap top... wow you get a different reading for each chip used. With Wifi turned on you get a spike of -40Db. When notebook closed you do not get any spike. However when scanned a battery, connected to the notebook got -78Db. Equipment used, RAYCOM scope with open flange concentrator antennae, and amplified using a low noise apmlifier 8hz to 16Ghz. what I was scanning was electrical interference.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Electromagnetic radiation is generally described as a self-propagating wave in space with electric and magnetic components. These components oscillate at right angles to each other and to the direction of propagation, and are in phase with each other. Electromagnetic radiation is classified into types according to the frequency of the wave: these types include, in order of increasing frequency, radio waves, microwaves, terahertz radiation, infrared radiation, visible light, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays and gamma rays.

Based on the aboves, all sounds, light and radio waves fall under the same family. However, due to the large span of the wavelength spectrum, various unit are use to measure the amplitude or range.

In the case of human, most of us can see the colour or light from 380 to 700 micrometer. Majority of the human can hear sound from 20 Hz to 20 KHz but we are most sensitive to sound in the range of 1000 to 3500 Hz. That is why we cannot "hear" a dog whistle but the dog can hear it. As the frequency get higher, they go into the Ultrasound from 2 MHz to 200 MHz. (Hz = Hertz). This is the sound wave where is it use to transmit or broadcast our TV and radio channel. Low frequency like sound are modulate with ultrasound which act like carrier. Your TV received this high frequency and demodulate it to audible sound.

Ultrasound have been widely used in industry. You have ultrasonic cleaner, ultrasonic scanner (scan an unborn baby in the hospital). We also use X-Ray which falls into a different wavelenght all together.

Another wavelength is the UV (Ultraviolet) and IR (Infrared) which fall outside the range of human sight.
UV are basically short wavelength and high frequency. They fall in the range of 400 to 200 nanometer. UV is invisible to human eye but harmful to human skin. You get sun burn is not because you are exposed to the sun but to UV light radiated from the sun.

IR are long wavelength and low frequency waveform. They fall in the range of 750 nanometer to 1 mm. Some of light are visible to the human eye but some of not. Eg. Light emitting diode (LED) are visible to human eye. However, in most modern remote control for TV and Handphone, the IR are not visible to eye. Depending on the wavelength, some remote control required a "Line of sight" in order to work properly but some do not. The IR can bounce off the wall to the IR receiver.

Hence, to answer your question whether IR can penetrate metal, you can conduct a simple experiment with your remote control. Point your TV remote control and change a channel. Put a piece of paper/tin box in front of the remote control and try to change the channel. let me know the result.