GadgetTrak reports seeing a rising number of iPod and other gadget thefts occurring in schools and colleges, as well as several successful recoveries due to their software. In the last few months of the previous school year, GadgetTrak had several devices reported stolen by their subscribers from a school or college, all but one was recovered, including an iPod, Sony MP3 player and several USB flash drives.

    As students head back to school, they are bringing more expensive gadgets with them than ever, such as iPods, digital cameras, USB flash drives, PDAs and more. These small devices are hot items for thieves and easy to steal. "It is heart-breaking, these devices are quite an investment for kids, only to have them taken away in seconds," states Ken Westin founder and inventor of the patent-pending GadgetTrak system. "This is why our system was invented, to provide victims a more pro-active solution when it comes to recovering their stolen devices."

    "It has been very rewarding to track these devices down for GadgetTrak subscribers, many times we are finding that the thief is actually someone the victim knows and it is very much a pre-meditated act. Sometimes it is difficult to know who is more surprised when we track the gadgets down, the device owners or the thieves." states Westin.

    Thomas Shea a Brookline, MA police officer and founder of JustStolen.net a free stolen property registry developed by law enforcement states "Gadget theft is a huge problem, especially in schools. JustStolen.net is making great progress in regards to sharing information about stolen property and we are partnering with GadgetTrak as their system takes theft recovery to another level by allowing the devices to help us find them. The fact that they are recovering devices shows that it works."

    GadgetTrak works by subscribers installing software on their devices. If a subscriber reports a device as stolen in the GadgetTrak system, the next time the device is accessed it sends data back to GadgetTrak, including location, user name, computer name and other forensic data that aid in the recovery of the device.

    In addition to installing GadgetTrak software on your devices in the event of a theft, GadgetTrak offers a few suggestions to help prevent theft in the first place:
    - Keep your devices hidden in your pocket or inside of a jacket, never leave it exposed on a belt clip or in your hand
    - If possible leave your devices at home, if you bring it to school keep it with you even when not in use, lockers are easily broken into
    - As soon as possible replace the "mug me" white ear-buds with something less conspicuous

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