Previous version of Laptop Cop let you remotely delete (or retrieve) files from a stolen laptop, but the newest feature makes it genuinely worth paying for: Real-time geo-location using just Wi-Fi.
Google Gears, the gears that power the tubes (really a browser plug-in that lets you work in web apps offline) has been updated with enhanced geo-location powers for laptops, so now developers can “securely locate users to within 200m accuracy” in hundreds of cities in either IE, Firefox, Safari or Chrome, and soon, Opera. Sorta kinda like Skyhook, which the iPhone uses, it triangulates your position against Wi-Fi access points around you.
Broadcom already makes a boatload of the GPS chips found in mobile phones and other location-aware gadgets, and now they’re adding Skyhook’s Wi-Fi positioning service to most of their mobile Wi-Fi chipsets, spreading the location-based love even without GPS. This is how iPhone regular finds your location in addition to using nearby cell towers (Skyhook IDs your position by comparing to those of known hotspot SSIDs in the vicinity), so look for even more location-based services coming to more phones in the future. [CNet]
