Saturday, December 8, 2012

How to find your lost Android device such as a Tablet or Samsung Player etc. which doesn’t have SMS support

Recently we helped a friend of ours locate a lost Android music player. It was lost inside the home and they were unable to locate it. Here are the steps we took to find it:


Luckily the device had enough power and it was connected to the home network so that we could do few things with it.

  1. Go to your router and look at the DHCP client list. If the device is turned on and connected, you should see an entry in the DHCP client list.
  2. If you have multiple devices then you might want to look up the vendor from the MAC address. There are few lookup databases but few we tried didn’t work. Eventually we found a page which listed the vendor name and first three segments. From that list, we confirmed that this nameless device is indeed the device which he was trying to find.
  3. Next, we went online and found couple of apps.

  4. First was Android Lost Free - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.androidlost


    It requires the user to register the device with their site. Now, that was NOT possible in this scenario.

    So, next up was another companion app called AndroidLost Jumpstart - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.androidlost.jumpstart

    Both the apps are written by the same developer (Theis Borg).

    The AndroidLost Jumpstart app simply registers the phone with www.androidlost.com and ties to the Google account with which the device is registered to.

  5. Sequence of installation and registration is something like this.
    1. Install the AndroidLost Jumpstart first.
    2. Register with www.androidlost.com using your Google account. Please ensure that you use the same Google account which is used for logging in the device.
    3. Install Android Lost Free.
    4. Wait few minutes (4-5 minutes in our case)
    5. Login to the www.androidlost.com with your Google account and after some time, it should pop up a message congratulating you and saying that this device is registered.
    6. Now you need to go to the Control web page and turn on the Alarm on the phone through the site. The device starts blaring and flashing and it is easy to locate it inside the home.

Anyways, I am installing this Android Lost Free on my android devices to keep track of them.

To Theis Borg – this is a very useful app.


Now, there are other apps which can help locate the devices and allow you to remotely control these too. However, what I find unique about this app is that you could register the device remotely and then start using the app. That is way too cool.



Monday, August 20, 2012

Innowix Puzzle Party 2012

Welcome
Welcome to 7th annual Innowix Puzzle Party. For those who haven't participated in past, please check out the arrangements and conclusion from previous events at https://sites.google.com/site/puzzleparty2011/.

Location and Time
Shelter C - Kensington Metro Park, Milford, MI
Date: Sat Sep 8, 2012 11 AM onward

Guest Puzzles
I had asked people to bring puzzles for the last event to challenge the Puzzlemaster and some of you did. However, we didn’t get time to attempt those. I still have those puzzles stored and haven’t looked those so we will bring those out this time around.
You can bring some more puzzles if you wish (be gentle please!). We will entertain at least one puzzle per team (may be more if time permits).

Food
Just like last time, this time around also, you will have nothing to bring. The food (mostly pizza and snack items) and drinks will be served. Please bring your own food if you have any dietary restrictions.

Games
You are welcome to bring some games to play in the park.

Can I bring guests/friends?
Yes – you can bring guests / friends. Just RSVP soon so I can keep count. The picnic shelter has some limitation in terms of number of people it can host but I don’t think we will reach that number.

Program

11 to 1:30 – Gather, games and lunch (sponsored by Innowix) – May be a quarter-marathon (4.5 miles?) walk through the park? Not sure – will decide later. 
2 – 4 – Puzzle solving
 
5 – Prize distribution
 
5:15 onwards - Games or go home
 
We are looking forward to seeing you there.

RSVP

Send in your RSVP soon.  

If you didn't get Evite invitation, please leave me a comment here with your name, e-mail address and how you came to know about this event. I will NOT publish your comment here but will include you in the Evite invitation. 

Hiren