Thursday, January 19, 2006
Well, it Finally Happened to Me...I Left My Pocket PC Behind
Posted by Jason Dunn in "THOUGHT" @ 11:00 AM
I can now, unfortunately, join the ranks of those of you who have left your Pocket PC behind on an airplane, taxi, etc. :( Thankfully, I'm also joining the much smaller ranks of those of you who have had it returned unharmed. :D
What happened is likely not an uncommon scenario for many of you: I was returning home from CES on a midnight redeye flight, landing in Calgary at 4:30 AM local time. During the flight I had taken out my Jasjar to confirm the date I had left Calgary in order to fill out the Canada Customs forms, and I put the Jasjar in the front pocket of the airplane seat. And, of course, when the plane landed I was so completely exhausted that I forgot I had put it there.
The story has a happy ending however: when I woke up the next day, still quite groggy, there was a voicemail on my work line from the airline (America West) saying that they had found my Pocket PC. My first feeling was one of shock, because the last significant item of value that I'd ever lost was my wallet when I was 10 years old. I tend to keep a very close eye on my things in public, so the fact that I left it on the plane stunned me. That was quickly replaced by a feeling of thankfulness to America West for having an honest enough employee to return it. I remember reading Wes Salmon's blog when he left his HP Jornada on a plane and it was never seen again...so I was very fortunate indeed.
One thing that I'm sure helped get my device back was the fact that I had completely filled out the owner information, and had the device configured to display that when powered on. It's a mild inconvenience to have to dismiss it each time the device is turned on, but in this case I'm convinced it was responsible for getting my Jasjar back to me. I did not, however, have my device password protected :oops:, which concerned me a great deal. The person who found it could have accessed all my PIM data, checked all my email accounts, and generally learned enough about me to likely steal my identity and cause great havoc. 8O Of course, if I-Mate would have had the MSFP update released by now, I could have had 4smartphone [affiliate] remotely wipe the device.
Lessons learned? Always keep your Pocket PC close at hand, and even if you're tired, put it back in your bag, not into the seat pocket of a plane. Make sure you have your owner identification entered into the device, and have it configured to show up when the device is powered on. And if you have a phone edition device, don't put the phone number of the device in your owner information - make sure it's a landline phone that you can be reached at. Lastly, password protect your device - which I've now just done. ;-)
It's unfortunate that the core OS doesn't allow for a screen that contains all of the owner information along with a password. I've had third party applications that replace the password screen with a combination of password, owner information, clock, and if I recall correctly, even your next appointments. I haven't looked at these applications in a while - does anyone have a suggestion for the best one that's Windows Mobile 5 compatible?
And does anyone have any similar stories to share, with or without the happy ending?
What happened is likely not an uncommon scenario for many of you: I was returning home from CES on a midnight redeye flight, landing in Calgary at 4:30 AM local time. During the flight I had taken out my Jasjar to confirm the date I had left Calgary in order to fill out the Canada Customs forms, and I put the Jasjar in the front pocket of the airplane seat. And, of course, when the plane landed I was so completely exhausted that I forgot I had put it there.
The story has a happy ending however: when I woke up the next day, still quite groggy, there was a voicemail on my work line from the airline (America West) saying that they had found my Pocket PC. My first feeling was one of shock, because the last significant item of value that I'd ever lost was my wallet when I was 10 years old. I tend to keep a very close eye on my things in public, so the fact that I left it on the plane stunned me. That was quickly replaced by a feeling of thankfulness to America West for having an honest enough employee to return it. I remember reading Wes Salmon's blog when he left his HP Jornada on a plane and it was never seen again...so I was very fortunate indeed.
One thing that I'm sure helped get my device back was the fact that I had completely filled out the owner information, and had the device configured to display that when powered on. It's a mild inconvenience to have to dismiss it each time the device is turned on, but in this case I'm convinced it was responsible for getting my Jasjar back to me. I did not, however, have my device password protected :oops:, which concerned me a great deal. The person who found it could have accessed all my PIM data, checked all my email accounts, and generally learned enough about me to likely steal my identity and cause great havoc. 8O Of course, if I-Mate would have had the MSFP update released by now, I could have had 4smartphone [affiliate] remotely wipe the device.
Lessons learned? Always keep your Pocket PC close at hand, and even if you're tired, put it back in your bag, not into the seat pocket of a plane. Make sure you have your owner identification entered into the device, and have it configured to show up when the device is powered on. And if you have a phone edition device, don't put the phone number of the device in your owner information - make sure it's a landline phone that you can be reached at. Lastly, password protect your device - which I've now just done. ;-)
It's unfortunate that the core OS doesn't allow for a screen that contains all of the owner information along with a password. I've had third party applications that replace the password screen with a combination of password, owner information, clock, and if I recall correctly, even your next appointments. I haven't looked at these applications in a while - does anyone have a suggestion for the best one that's Windows Mobile 5 compatible?
And does anyone have any similar stories to share, with or without the happy ending?
