A Product for Absent-Minded Professors

I just learned about a cool product which is designed to enable people to minimize the loss of important possessions. It's called CobraTag.

Losing my laptop computer would be devastating to me. But the likelihood of that happening to me is slim indeed, precisely because the computer is so important to me, and because it's big and bulky and visible. I'd have to be far more absent-minded than I am in order to need the CobraTag for that purpose.

Cell phones, on the other hand, are another story. They're so tiny that they're very easy to misplace. One's cell phone can be in the same room, and still be somewhere which isn't immediately visible. "Hey, have you seen my electronic hockey puck?" Not good. You can buy another one if you lose it, but what about your investment in terms of publicizing your phone number among friends, relatives, potential employers (or potential customers) and so forth? If 400 people have your phone number and then you lose your phone, do you really want the hassle of having to tell 400 people about the change to a new number? (Admittedly cell phone companies will allow you to reassign your current number to a new device. Even so...)

I've sometimes had the experience of having to ask someone to call me when we're in the same room, just so I can hear my phone ringing. Sometimes it will be in a pocket in a pile of clothes destined for the laundry! (Imagine ruining a phone by accidentally putting it through the wash.)

I don't currently have the budget for a product like CobraTag, but I'm keeping it in mind for future reference. It might also be applicable to other small devices, such as MP3 players, cameras, etc.