[killa4luv]

Title should read:
What's the best COURSE of action for a stolen/lost PB?
Freudian slip I guess.

I recently (yesterday) lost my barely 1 month old PB. I felt like I lost a friend. We were together everyday. I was in Restaurant Depot shopping and i must have put it down to grab a 50lb bag of onions or something. It was in the leather journal case so it looks like an organizer to the untrained eye. I backtracked everywhere and it was gone. I felt terrible. I mean it was a very emotional experience.

Several hours later I went to Best Buy and cashed out my insurance since i had only had the policy for 30 days and bought another one. this time 32 gb as it was an open box and was slightly less.

But my question is, can I track it when its on wifi, are there any remote 'brick' capabilities. Can BB blacklist that S/N so that it can never work with app world, etc.?

Also my blackberry ID is on that machine, although I'm not sure if it switched over to the new PB or if I have it on both PBs. There should be some procedure we should all be following or at least some best practices for before and after. My PB was unlocked, lots of family photos on it, which were all thankfully backed up. That may be my saving grace because I am in this market 3-4 times a week. If a worker picked it up, they definitely know who I am. Perhaps they'll see pictures of my daughters kindergaten graduation and or other family photos and feel bad. I know its a long shot but its all I've got. If I do get it back, I'll of course give the thief a reward and I will promptly take one of these back to the store.

[Kerms]

Sad to say but it's probably gone. Maybe leave your name and number with the managers of the stores if it was turned in.

To my knowledge there is no remote wipe for the PlayBook. I hope you didn't store information like passwords, socials,credit card info on it.

Next time set it to password lock

Sorry about the loss

[togardergrosse]

It crossed my mind sometimes, that an accident like yours could happened to anybody..
Hopefully, there will be a BlackBerry Protect version on PB, or let's hope for Lookout or McAffee or whatever to make one for us.
For now, the best option is to set a password to it.

ps: you should report it to RIM, since it has a PIN, perhaps RIM could block it or suspend it like the one on BB phones. Make sure you still have all the receipt, proof (like boxes) etc if asked. Sorry for your loss though..

[rcab]

Your PB really was not stolen, it was lost. You left it there. Some one did not physically take it from you. I would do as suggested and give the store your name and number and see if they have some where where you can post that your lost your PB. Maybe some one found it and is just waiting to see if any one post that they have lost it. Some people may not turn something in to the store because they figure the store owner would just keep it. Depending on the size of the store, location, etc. you could be successfully in getting it back.

[sookster54]

Would be nice if BB Protect was available for PB, maybe soon it will be.

[ssbtech]

Trouble is, how do you make BB Protect work on the PlayBook?

Unless it logs in and checks with the RIM servers every time it is woken up, there's really no way to track it.

On second thought, if it checked every time it was connected to WiFi and prompted for a password when it couldn't check, that might work. Not a bad idea now that I think of it, especially for a business device that is sure to contain lots of business data. Good thing there is no native email and contacts, eh?

[uci2ci]

ouch....i use to be restaurant owner going to jetro and RD .....they got cameras their i think, any chance they would scan the security tapes for you?.....they have everyones business address and name on file, and everyone is a regular there, so maybe they can tell u who took it :/ its a long shot though

[killa4luv]

ouch....i use to be restaurant owner going to jetro and RD .....they got cameras their i think, any chance they would scan the security tapes for you?.....they have everyones business address and name on file, and everyone is a regular their, so maybe they can tell u who took it :/ its a long shot though

i had them look on the cameras but they dont cover as much of the store as u might think. Most things are hard to steal there because they are so big. it wasn't really helpful. But I thought of that.

I left my number and info. I didn't have sensitive personal data just pics of the family. My only hope is someone will feel badly when they see my little girls in the photos and feel bad.

[killa4luv]

Your PB really was not stolen, it was lost. You left it there. Some one did not physically take it from you. I would do as suggested and give the store your name and number and see if they have some where where you can post that your lost your PB. Maybe some one found it and is just waiting to see if any one post that they have lost it. Some people may not turn something in to the store because they figure the store owner would just keep it. Depending on the size of the store, location, etc. you could be successfully in getting it back.

I never said it was stolen nor did I ever at any point suggest that it was physically taken from me. BUt thanks for your incredible insight anyway.

[weegspin]

Can i sympathsize!! I have had a Nook stolen from my car and i 'lost' a Kindle the same way you lost your PB in both cases i was able to have the devices 'bricked'. i do have my PB passworded since i have a 'history'

Like losing a best friend for sure

[BBIsTheBest]

Title should read:
Whats the best COURSE of action for a stolen/lost PB?
Freudian slip I guess.

I recently (yesterday) lost my barely 1 month old PB. I felt like I lost a friend. We were together everyday. I was in Restaurant Depot shopping and i must have put it down to grab a 50lb bag of onions or something. It was in the leather journal case so it looks like an organizer to the untrained eye. I backtracked everywhere and it was gone. I felt terrible. I mean it was a very emotional experience.

Several hours later I went to Best Buy and cashed out my insurance since i had only had the policy for 30 days and bought another one. this time 32 gb as it was an open box and was slightly less.

But my question is, can I track it when its on wifi, are there any remote 'brick' capabilities. Can BB blacklist that S/N so that it can never work with app world, etc.?

Also my blackberry ID is on that machine, although I'm not sure if it switched over to the new PB or if I have it on both PBs. There should be some procedure we should all be following or at least some best practices for before and after. My PB was unlocked, lots of family photos on it, which were all thankfully backed up. That may be my saving grace because I am in this market 3-4 times a week. If a worker picked it up, they definitely know who I am. Perhaps they'll see pictures of my daughters kindergaten graduation and or other family photos and feel bad. I know its a long shot but its all I've got. If I do get it back, I'll of course give the thief a reward and I will promptly take one of these back to the store.

if u r worried abt bb id, i suggest u to change the pasword, but my guess is that it switches to the new device when u log on from the new device , not sure thought. changing pwd would be best in any case.

[rbenjami]

you used insurance because you lost it? really?

[rcab]

I never said it was stolen nor did I ever at any point suggest that it was physically taken from me. BUt thanks for your incredible insight anyway.

Your title refers to stolen and your last sentence refers to "thief". That is why I wrote my posting. I was just saying that leaving it somewhere does not mean it was stolen. I did not mean anything personal. Sorry if you took my post that way.

[PlaybookPlayboy]

make sure you change the password on the BlackBerry ID account that is linked to the lostplaybook!! you can do it from the web.

[ealvnv]

BBID is transfered to new device once you log in, on the lost pb it will ask for BBID pass o software update or when downloading apps.... sorry about that anyways

[Fazermint]

Well I'm assuming it was stolen. I'd change any passwords for Facebook, blogs, twitter, message boards, etc. I'm sorry for your loss. I can imagine it's very upsetting.

[killa4luv]

Your title refers to stolen and your last sentence refers to "thief". That is why I wrote my posting. I was just saying that leaving it somewhere does not mean it was stolen. I did not mean anything personal. Sorry if you took my post that way.

sorry man. im just upset as u can imagine.

[Schlymer]

Your PB really was not stolen, it was lost. You left it there. Some one did not physically take it from you. I would do as suggested and give the store your name and number and see if they have some where where you can post that your lost your PB. Maybe some one found it and is just waiting to see if any one post that they have lost it. Some people may not turn something in to the store because they figure the store owner would just keep it. Depending on the size of the store, location, etc. you could be successfully in getting it back.

His playbook was stolen. He put it down somwehere in the store and it didn't grow legs and run away. I live in Japan and had a similar experience and left a digital camera in a store by accident. Four hours later I went back and it was sitting in the exact place I forgot it.

Get the store manager to check the security camera and report the theft to the police. That is a real shame about America. It is just common place for people to see an item of value sitting somewhere and knowing full well that it belongs to someone, take it and somehow justify it by finders keepers.

People don't think the same way over here. Thank goodness, as most houses have next to no security, cash in safes, big screen tv's and computers. The thought of taking something besides abandoned umbrellas doesn't even cross most people's minds.

Also, RIM may be able to ping it to find the location using the gps. I am sure the OP will never see his playbook again, but it would be great if he caught the thief. "I found it in the garbage in the back of the store. I thought the owner threw it away."

[nycspaces.]

Bummer, if you did have a half decent or even not so decent password on the device whoever tries to log-in will hit 10 attempts and then it will wipe the device. Actually not a bad security feature except it rewards thieves with a brand new wiped playbook. I kind of wish it would brick the device and only get re-enabled through the RIM site or some secondary management function.

If you don't have a password on the device you are left pretty vulnerable to the data on the device. I am in a similar position where we had some workers in our place Friday and i just noticed my Transformer is missing, i could have left it at the office and will make a run to check tomorrow, but like iOS it only has a 4 number code...I am not sure about the wipe sequence on Honeycomb but i hope it's similar to playbook in case i need that.

I have never understood why device manufactures with unique id's like these devices don't offer some kind of tracking service, it would be easy enough and a great feature they could even sell as part of security suite add-on.

Is anyone aware of any apps that allow you to turn on the camera on the playbook or maybe rdp to it and at least see who has your property> I loved the story about the guy with a mac who was posting pix of the guy who stole his macbook. They finally caught him via crowd sourcing, hilarious outcome.

Also it would be nice and easy for device manufacturers to put better "if found please call..." screens. I suspect half the time people would be willing to try to track down the owner. I think i remember seeing an input on the playbook for this????but i don't think i have ever seen it displayed??? PB was also left at the office...hopefully in the same bag as the transformer!

[Schlymer]

Title should read:
What's the best COURSE of action for a stolen/lost PB?
Freudian slip I guess.

I recently (yesterday) lost my barely 1 month old PB. I felt like I lost a friend. We were together everyday. I was in Restaurant Depot shopping and i must have put it down to grab a 50lb bag of onions or something. It was in the leather journal case so it looks like an organizer to the untrained eye. I backtracked everywhere and it was gone. I felt terrible. I mean it was a very emotional experience.

Several hours later I went to Best Buy and cashed out my insurance since i had only had the policy for 30 days and bought another one. this time 32 gb as it was an open box and was slightly less.

But my question is, can I track it when its on wifi, are there any remote 'brick' capabilities. Can BB blacklist that S/N so that it can never work with app world, etc.?

Also my blackberry ID is on that machine, although I'm not sure if it switched over to the new PB or if I have it on both PBs. There should be some procedure we should all be following or at least some best practices for before and after. My PB was unlocked, lots of family photos on it, which were all thankfully backed up. That may be my saving grace because I am in this market 3-4 times a week. If a worker picked it up, they definitely know who I am. Perhaps they'll see pictures of my daughters kindergaten graduation and or other family photos and feel bad. I know its a long shot but its all I've got. If I do get it back, I'll of course give the thief a reward and I will promptly take one of these back to the store.

You could try video chatting with the person who took it from your new playbook and find it that way. If they answer the chat, you will at least be able to see their face and thank them for finding your playbook. Set up a meeting and a reward.

[rjom]

With my labeler and a label inside the PB cover, I put several ways a person can reach me if they find my PB. Also have this labeled to my BB's with phone numbers to reach me immediately. A simple thing, but very effective if an honest person picks it up.

And also my expensive computer chip keys for my vehicle which I put down in a store while shopping. I have lost my keys, and they were found this way when someone called.

[sam_b77]

See this is why I'm not convinced about having native e-mail and PIN.
Tablets like phones can be easily forgotten. At least in this way the OP's mails and contacts are not in the possession of the guy who has his PB.
Many people might say that they don't have anything to hide on mails, but a lot of corporate IT managers would disagree about an executive's mailbox being lost.
I think the bridge addresses this issue nicely.

[sookster54]

There's a story about a man that attended his kid's hockey game and left his jacket which had his iPhone in the pocket when he left after the game, he realized by the time he got home that he didn't have his jacket with him and he called the rink to see if his jacket is still there and it wasn't. He had an app that allowed him to track where the phone is and it located it being at a shopping mall and told police where it was and the police pinpointed it to a woman's car trunk... how weird is that?

[Wbrian]

I would try the videochat route. Be ready to do a screen capture if his/her face is shown...

Later,
B.

[tstrike34]

Lookout Mobile or Blackberry Protect sure would be nice ..... I wished that was one of the first apps that rolled out.