iAlertU – Alarm System for your MacBook & MacBook Pro
iAlertU is a free alarm system for Intel Mac laptops and works like this: you activate the alarm via your remote or a menu, and if your Mac is moved or disturbed the screen starts flashing and a blaring an alarm sound. How does it do this? It uses your Mac’s built in SMS sensor to detect any movement of your Mac. If you spend a lot of time in libraries, coffee shops, or any public place, this app could really come in handy. While iAlertU is a really fun and creative program, be aware that it is beta software and therefore subject to some issues.
The latest version of iAlertU is 0.21b, and although the functionality to take an email a picture was added in 0.19, I couldn’t get it to work properly on my MacBook. In fact, the iAlertU application would just crash completely, and the alarm would stop. Bottom line, this is still beta software but a great idea, so be sure to test the options out for yourself.
Feature list
- Captured photo can now be emailed automatically to a user specified address
- Camera image capture improved
- May work on other Apple computers other than the MacBook line (this is untested)
- Added Sparkle framework for automatic update functionality
- Arm and disarm iAlertU without the remote
- Alarm now activates when power adapter is removed
- Alarm continues to sound after lid is closed
- Alarm status screen (last alert time, alarm type, number of activations)
- Flashing screen
- Adjustable motion sensor sensitivity
- Adjustable alarm duration
- Mute button disabled when alarm is sounding
System requirements
- MacBook or MacBook Pro
- OS X 10.4 or higher
- Quicktime 7.1.3 or higher
- Apple Mail.app configured with a working email account for photo email functionality
- Note iAlertU may work on other Macs but this has not been tested.
Update: iAlertU is now an open source project, you can download the latest version here
(screenshots borrowed from iAlertU site)
ok. i downloaded ialertu on my macbook. it seemed really cool but then i put the alarm on. it stayed on for 5 hours and it is still on! how do i switch it off so i can access my computer? it makes a beeping sound whenever i touch it!! please help :( :( :(
How did you manage to disarm?
I installed iAlertU yesterday and wasn’t able to finnish configuring the preferences now that I had to take care of something else. Today, when turning on my computer the system got armed and I do not have a password for it.
I have the same problem! Ah, help!
iAlertU should work properly on all macs (all desktops and laptops) running 10.5.x; however to prevent crashing on a computer running 10.6.x (Snow Leopard), one would have to turn the picture capture capabilities of iAlertU off.
Can you add a function for Internet-Terminals witch lets a user still work while iAlertU is running invisible?
[…] I ALERT U Adium CyberDuck Handbrake VLC Audacity OpenOffice AppFresh eCamm Call Recorder Fire FTP […]
cool stuff, works fine i iMac, yet there is no need for desktop computers use this software. for laptofs it veeeery usefull as sound of alarm ir really anoying :)))
A video of iAlertU in action is available here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkAtRfA1UXc