In other news today, shares of Dell Computer went up 7%...

sxr7171

@mthrndr: That sucks. Really bad. I remember leaving JFK and hearing some guy swearing into his phone about a missing iPod. It made me check my pockets and my laptop bag to make sure I still had mine.

@taftsearlobe33: Or an airport janitor with a huge stack o' cash from sellin' 'em.

The Magnificen7

Did anyone else think that it was called the "Pokemon Institute"? I was like "whoa... Team Rocket's stepping their game up".

Mischif

...press your luck and show up at the "lost and found" in the airport screaming I LOST MY LAPTOP!

(give a short description of the most common laptop model you can think of... then.. wait and see what happens)

LOlOlloLolOllolOLololOLOLOL!!!!!!

xint

I like to think there is a airport janitor that has a stock pile of laptops.

taftsearlobe33

I wonder what the numbers for other things lost at the airport...

peg legs?
babies?
corpses?
brief cases containing 1 million dollars?

itchytooth

I left a digital camera in the front seat pocket of a flight to boston. It was a non-stop flight, I knew exactly where it was and I realized it literally an hour after leaving the airport. No one, NO ONE, could tell me who to call to locate it and where to find it. I got shunted to the lost and found desks of two airports, the police desks of those airports, and the airline themselves (who acted, of course, like no one had ever left anything on a plane before in the history of the world). After two hours on the phone, I gave up. It wasn't a laptop, but it still sucked to know where I left it and have NO WAY of getting it back.

mthrndr

That's pretty impressive. Really this is just travelers deciding their free hand can be put to better use getting their Caramel Macchiato fix than carrying their super expensive notebook computers.

The Magnificen7

so instead of buying a new computer, i can just search around an airport and pick one up for free? Nice! :P

Seriously though, thats a crazy amoount of computers. I could never imagine misplacing something that expensive.

enchantedduck

"12,000 dudes and dudettes somehow manage to misplace their portable computers every seven days."

should read:

"12,000 douches and douchettes somehow manage to misplace their portable computers every seven days."

godwhacker

Damn... Thats a lot.

Evangelion

doh! 12,000 per week! damn that's a lot!!!

oopsIsharted

Is it 12,000 laptops, or 12,000 people. Your post makes it sound like laptops, but then you say 600,000 laptops per year.

oopsIsharted

I really, really want to 'borrow' my friend's MacBook now.. Ha, I wonder what percentage of those lost are Apple.

@Mischif: Yeah, I was hoping I'd find someone like you to trade with. Anyone up for it?

dfc849

@taftsearlobe33: Imagine the porn overload possible!

The Magnificen7

@The Magnificen7: lol no I prefer to think they just have an apartment full of them and the thought of selling them never crossed their mind.

taftsearlobe33

Per the article, most of this was based on hearsay.
"Surprisingly only one percent of the only 1 percent of the respondents admitted personally losing a laptop computer and eighty four percent knew someone who has lost a laptop while traveling on business."

I also wonder how many people "claim" to lose a laptop from their employer? Also, are people packing those things in their checked baggage? (If so...FAIL)

vagrant

@dfc849: I'm guessing about 20%. That's about the market share. I think.

The Magnificen7

I'm going to the airport this Christmas.

Joseph

Yeah, I think these numbers are highly inflated. First, as mentioned, it's not based on hard numbers but on self-reported incidents and hearsay. Second, from the original article: "Dell used the report to support its launch of Dell ProSupport Mobility Services, a suite of modular asset and data protection services to help companies protect laptop computers and company information, especially when the computers are lost."

Don't become number 600,001! Use ProSupport, or go to HELL!

coketown

I am traveling this Dec,and in no way do I plan on putting my laptop in my checked luggage! I've see the way they toss around the bags like they're recreating the Samsonite gorilla commercial or something. You can carry on one bag and a "personal bag/item" such as a purse or briefcase,and that is where mine will be. I'd be physically ill if I lost a $1500-$2000 laptop on a trip!

FiveLiters

Of course, 11,500 of them are Kaypro and Osborne models with the occasional SX-64. So while it might (only?) be 12,000 laptops, it really is half a million pounds of laptops.

Maybe this the solution to our electronic recycling problem? Let's just 'lose' these systems at the airport.

Monty

I think is inside job... airlines lost people's luggages all the time (as I heard from a friend) They know what's in the luggages, don't put laptop in your check-ins! You will regret . The airlines do not have obligation to return your belongings..they only pay you back around 500 bucks which doesn't cover your laptop.

billcanada

We can either assume the majority of these are either related to the user being a complete idiot misplacing the laptop or they are a thief trying to make their employer believe it was stolen. A suggestion for companies is to use a remote security measure such as Undercover for Macs which can help with recover of stolen or misplaced laptops. See [www.orbicule.com] for more information.

imagine-engine

@itchytooth:

your an idiot...

smokeonit

@smokeonit: Je ne comprend pas.

itchytooth

There's a word for someone who gets off of an airplane and forgets his/her computer:

IDIOT

I know what you're thinking; I'm some kind of elitist snob. No, I'm not.

If you bring a 7 lb. device that costs $1500 onto a plane and, after being instructed by the flight staff to check for all of your belongings and still manage to forget the aforesaid device, then you're an idiot who doesn't deserve a computer.

Sadly, I suspect that these are the dolts who carry large amounts of credit card data and Social Security account information on those computers. There's a word for the people who entrust an idiot who can't keep track of a computer with sensitive data:

DOUCHEBAG

OMG! Ponies!

@coreyfriedman:

12,000 per week, 52 weeks a year = around 600,000.

chrstphr

Makes you wonder how many Giz commenters are doing so on laptops misplaced in airports.

Care to do a poll, Giz-gods? Track IP addresses for that one!

>:-)

philbert

Wait, nevermind I misread. @coreyfriedman:

coreyfriedman

How do you get 600,000 from 12,000? Are you mixing stats?

coreyfriedman

Anyone who actually looses a computer ( as opposed to I "lost" my business laptop at the airport but I actually gave it to my 8 yr. old ... who's gonna know ) needs to get a vasectomy or get their tubes tied so they don't spread their genes anymore. Seriously people ... that's 12,000 morons every single week.

StarControl

@OMG! Ponies!: You forgot the blink tag. :D

FredicvsMaximvs

Damn if i lose my laptop i would probably wouldn't stop crying for like a week...i think i take more care of it than myself :P

Mike918

@imagine-engine: There's a much better, platform-agnostic method. Dock the retail cost of the unit and any other fees associated with the loss from the employee's paycheck.

If some employee "loses" a laptop that was $1,500 new, dock the employee that amount from his/her paycheck. If there are costs associated with replacement of data, dock the employee that amount as well.

Any employee who knows that a "loss" of a computer will result in docked pay will become a much more responsible with company equipment.

OMG! Ponies!

@OMG! Ponies!: You know what's funny?

Douche bag

MykalBloom

@xint: I wish it was that easy, the prez of the corp I used to work for, left his laptop at the departing airport. When I went to pick it up, they made me id it the laptop/case and then I had to log into it before they gave it back to me.

I had one sales guy ship me his laptop for repair using one of those envelopes meant for documents, no padding or anything. Needless to say, laptops do blend.

skiterr

I lost one thing, but it wasn't a laptop in Cancun, it was my birthday suit confirmation paper... haha

Trowble (XBL/PSN)

@mthrndr: Honestly, an hour is way too long. five to ten minutes, you have a safe bet of finding it still where you left it - but in an hour, a busy plane would already be taxiing for take off with a fresh bunch of passengers..
...still doesn't excuse the inefficiency and lack of help from the airport and airline's side, though

jigsawfallingintoplace

try 12,000 people commit insurance fraud every year and pretend they lost their laptops...

moonmen

I'll wager it's not as bad as all that.

It's probably just a few people losing several laptops each.

MartinX

@MykalBloom: What's douchier, a douche or the douche that corrects it??

strider_mt2k

wow...im at the airport now....i hope im not one of those 12,000 people, cause that would suck!

oh well, i guess i can just chain my macbook to my leg?

halfpastme

Does any suspect the so-called facts of this story? Sure, it has lead to many entertaining comments, but come on - someone should be a bit skeptical about the initial reporting.

JDisnidiet

losing 12,000 laptops is like saying there are 8,400 thieves out there looking to swipe your laptop. (taking into consideration 30% of them get their laptop back).

I would suspect the airport security folks themselves are swiping quite a bit of these.

In Boston airport, I forgot to put my screw-driver-bits in my check-in bags and the guy said, I cannot carry my bits even though i did not have the driver handle. Instead of putting in a trash where they put nail-cutters and other sharp instruments, he put it in his drawer. I was so angry at him at that point, if my flight was not 20 minutes away, I would have checked it in with my carry on bag.

ggvrsn

@MykalBloom: Are you sure about that?

OMG! Ponies!

How many of your companies keep track of lost equipment? My guess is that very few of them do at the enterprise level. At my last company we had a 10% loss rate per year. We had a little over 8000 laptops in the company. Laptops are lost for all sorts of reasons - theft mostly. Very few of the reasons weren't legitimate. The simple fact is that a expensive device designed to portable will walk off. You just need to make sure that you have the processes to deal with it and not have some snarky attitude like you lot.

regexp

@JDisnidiet: It's not as though it's farfetched. There are millions upon millions of travelers trekking about around us yearly, and a lot of them lose all sorts of expensive shit, like their high-end digital cameras, credit cards, money and so forth. I wonder how much all of that hard currency lost in one year would amount to if you were able to pile its equivalent all together.

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!

@skiterr: "Black Lenovo laptop." Then hold the shift key as it boots up and log into safe mode sans password. The laptop is yours =)

catfewd

@mthrndr: Oh well, at least you learned your lesson. I always do a mental check-list before I go everywhere, and look around myself to make sure I've got everything myself.

bbfreak

And people wonder where spam lists come from.

PastorDoodah

@strider_mt2k: Clearly the guy who answers a rhetorical question. That being said, its douchier to have corrected, than to have douched in the first place.

bbfreak

Not to mention you should know where everything is and have it all in one place even before you get to the airport.

bbfreak

Haha, here's to not being 12,001. Waiting at Newark Liberty right now.

Decaye

That is completely insane - how many laptops are in circulation in the US anyway? I mean, we only have 300 million people, so if every man woman and child in the US had a laptop, 2% of them would be losing one each year? (Or is my math way off?)

cbandes

@billcanada: they're saying that laptops are generally lost in areas where the owners are still responsible for them, not after checking them. It would seem many carry-on passengers are losing them as well.

Zlevee

@OMG! Ponies!: Yes, I'm quite sure

MykalBloom

wouldn't be surprised if the majority of them are eepc's or other small notebooks

kswiss19

@MykalBloom: I stopped looking up dirty words in Merriam-Webster around 3rd Grade.

OMG! Ponies!

I wonder if these are work computers or personal computers. Most people won't lose stuff if they are connected to it financially.

hardenstuhl

I highly doubt that many of those "lost" computers were misplaced or left at the security checkpoint. As someone that used to handle baggage at an airport I can bet that most of those were taken from checked baggage by the handlers loading them on the plane. Not any less moronic for the passengers but still, a lesson to everyone

hellaBAY

I highly doubt that many of those "lost" computers were just misplaced or left at the security checkpoint. As someone that used to handle baggage at an airport I can assure that most of those were taken from checked baggage. Not any less moronic for the passenger but still.

hellaBAY

I know someone that used to work at an airport and told me that she used to find lots of expensive electronics left at the gate waiting areas. The sad part is that most of these people are either too busy or dumb to realize they left them in said place in time.

zerito87

@Zlevee: I see. I was just talking about my friend who lost her brand new laptop which we won from a competition. It was too bad that she could not get it back because we spent three days to win that... it was a shame.

billcanada

@bbfreak: oh yeah, I did learn my lesson. I guess my problem is that it seems like leaving stuff on a plane is a pretty common thing - especially if you have small kids (like me) that you're trying to deal with at the same time. The fact that there is no recourse whatsoever is asinine. Someone is taking these things home. I guarantee my camera is not still on that plane or in a lost and found bin somewhere. Basically, if you leave something on a plane, kiss it goodbye.

mthrndr

Those of you hurling insults at those who have lost their laptops have obviously never done extensive multi-hop business traveling. I am talking serious fatigue PLUS jet lag. None the less, I can't believe companies who 1) allow unencrypted disks to carry information that leads to thousands of ID thefts; and 2) think offering ONE years ID insurance is sufficient compensation to those they have compromised.

Skeptical_Geezer