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View Full Version : Thousands Leave Laptops, Mobiles In Taxis


Janak Parekh
01-25-2005, 10:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/ptech/01/24/taxis.lost.reut/index.html' target='_blank'>http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/ptech/...reut/index.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"An estimated 11,300 laptop computers, 31,400 handheld computers and 200,000 mobile telephones were left in taxis around the world during the last six months, a survey found on Monday. Taxi drivers in nine cities also said they had found a range of other items left by passengers, including a harp, 37 milk bottles, dentures and artificial limbs. One driver said he even found a baby in his taxi."</i><br /><br />I actually left my PDA (an ancient Palm III) in a train once, but believe it or not, Lost and Found had it. 8O I'd freak out if I left my Smartphone or a Pocket PC in a taxi, though. Have you ever lost one there (or, for that matter, found one?)

PJE
01-25-2005, 10:08 PM
Yes... But how many Palm devices were left there on purpose... :wink:

Janak Parekh
01-25-2005, 10:21 PM
Yes... But how many Palm devices were left there on purpose... :wink:
:P In my case, it was before Pocket PCs, so I have an excuse for actually wanting to go back and get it... :lol:

--janak

Damion Chaplin
01-25-2005, 10:56 PM
I actually found one of the original iPaqs in the back of a taxi once. It was way back when it was the only iPaq. It was broken and did the screen-flip thing, but otherwise it worked. What are the odds that AT THAT TIME, the person who found the iPaq would be someone who had the equipment to charge it!

The taxi driver probably would have kept it for himself if I pointed it out, and there was no user info filled in (that's just asking for it), so I ended up selling it for parts...

Besides, in the split second that I saw it sitting there on the taxi seat as I was getting out, there was no way for me to be sure it wasn't MY iPaq that was sitting there on the seat...

peterawest
01-25-2005, 10:56 PM
My wife left her iPAQ at the local Target after removing it from her purse so she could reach something beneath it.

I'm happy to report that an employee found it, turned it on, saw the owner information and called my home to report it had been found. Before my wife got home, I already knew it had been found. They even stayed open late so that I could rush back and pick it up. Naturally, I wrote a very nice letter to Target and made sure that I mentioned the employee by name.

ctmagnus
01-25-2005, 10:56 PM
I actually left my PDA (an ancient Palm III) in a train once, but believe it or not, Lost and Found had it. 8O I'd freak out if I left my Smartphone or a Pocket PC in a taxi, though. Have you ever lost one there (or, for that matter, found one?)

Nah. I now do "The Pat"* out of force of habit.


*Unrelated to "The Logsdon" ;)

Deemo
01-25-2005, 10:58 PM
If it wasn't for me driving a taxi.....I would have never been introduced to PPC and PPC Thoughts and this wonderful group of people :devilboy:

Narny
01-25-2005, 11:13 PM
Have you ever lost one there (or, for that matter, found one?)

No, but a friend of mine told me this amusing tale. He was sitting on the [ahem] white porcelain seat in a cubicle in a train station, whiling away the minutes by reading his Pocket PC. He put it on the floor to pull his trousers up and a hand whizzed under the door and snatched it away, never to be seen again. Consider yourselves warned!

dean_shan
01-25-2005, 11:42 PM
I'm wondering how someone could forget their laptop in a Taxi? It's not exactly something small that can be easily hidden.

allenalb
01-25-2005, 11:45 PM
Have you ever lost one there (or, for that matter, found one?)

No, but a friend of mine told me this amusing tale. He was sitting on the [ahem] white porcelain seat in a cubicle in a train station, whiling away the minutes by reading his Pocket PC. He put it on the floor to pull his trousers up and a hand whizzed under the door and snatched it away, never to be seen again. Consider yourselves warned!


ewwww. if my pda touched a public bathroom floor, i would welcome someone stealing it.

well, not really. but i would certainly have to scrub it down for awhile. my cellphone fell in a toilet once and i could never look at it the same way again.

on a completely unrelated note, but not important enough to post a separate thread:

my cat bit my x50v last night. the silver part is made of INCREDIBLY soft plastic as it turns out. his mouth was only about 4 cm too small to reach the screen luckily (already have one dead pixel, a chewmark would certainly not help).

Evee Ev
01-25-2005, 11:51 PM
i used to work at a program for at-risk teenagers. i was in contact with their probation officers on a regular basis. i went downtown one day and parked my car. i left my visor on top of the electronic meter.

a person found the visor, opened it up and saw a business card. it was one of the probation officers' cards. the person returned it to the probation officer and somehow he found out the owner info and called me.

i was very relived to say the least. long live the visor!

rocky_raher
01-25-2005, 11:56 PM
Have you ever lost one there (or, for that matter, found one?)

No, but a friend of mine told me this amusing tale. He was sitting on the [ahem] white porcelain seat in a cubicle in a train station, whiling away the minutes by reading his Pocket PC. He put it on the floor to pull his trousers up and a hand whizzed under the door and snatched it away, never to be seen again. Consider yourselves warned!

Something similar: There once was a female pursesnatcher who would stand in front of a stall, "accidentally" drop some small item, and ask the occupant to please pick it up and toss it outside. While occupant's attention was on the floor, the pursesnatcher would reach over the door, grab the purse hanging on the hook, and flee.

A thief who saw you enter a restroom with a laptop shoulderbag might follow you in and try this stunt.

Paragon
01-26-2005, 12:42 AM
Gawd, the things you learn at Pocket PC Thoughts! :lol:

Dave

Deemo
01-26-2005, 12:51 AM
Gawd, the things you learn at Pocket PC Thoughts! :lol:

Dave

Yap.....and I have just reconciled buying new from now on instead of used......ick!

dochall
01-26-2005, 01:04 AM
Four incidents:

Left an Aero on a train after looking a number at the onboard payphone after my mobile battery had died - Never seen again

Left a Ipaq 3630 complete with PCMCIA sled and 2gb Tosh drive in the second row of Business class. Got to the top of the airbridge realised turned around but by the time I got to the seat it had gone - probably three passengers and a couple of crew would have passed it in that time.

Left my 4700 on a small 30 seater plane. Got into a cab realised, got him to go around the block and wait - the ticket desk rang through and it was returned to me immediately. The cabbie even restarted the meter.

Left my mobile in a cab around 10 years ago. Went into a client meeting who I was opening a call centre for. At the time it was getting close to the wire and I couldn't seem to go longer than 10minutes without getting a call from one supplier or another. Only at the end of a 90 minutes meeting did I realise I hadn't had any calls and then looked for the phone. Rang into the office and the taxi driver had been driving around taking my calls. He got one from my office and they had already arranged for him to deliver the phone and he didn't even charge the taxi fare for delivery.

Two lessons:

1) I'm obviously far too careless to be put in charge of expensive gadgets (though they are the only incidents)
2) London cabbies are the best in the world. :way to go:

maximus
01-26-2005, 01:08 AM
Never lost any PDA yet, but I lost my first two mobilephones during bowling sessions. When we were still dating back in Austin, we used to play bowling every friday nights, and we have an agreement to take alternate watch over our stuffs lying on the table. But sometimes both of us got so caught up in the competition, and forgot to watch the stuffs. Lost both our motorola startac 90s during one unlucky session. At that time, mobilephones still cost an arm and a leg.

Lesson learned : never ever leave your stuffs in a table in public areas.

And I also develop the patting habit everytime I leave an area :)

MROX
01-26-2005, 01:38 AM
I forgot my brand new digitial camera in the Shinkansen (Bullet train in Japan) FULL of people once. I realised it the next day. After many "english" conversation on the phone, I hardly understood that I should go at a train station many town far away. And guess what it was there waiting for me. You can't imagine the joy I felt!

After that, I realised 2 things...
- I always do ALL I could to bring back what ever I find.
- Japan is the place to loose something. ;-)
(I could tell you many story llike that. Two thumbs up for that part of the Japanese culture!)

Lday
01-26-2005, 03:09 AM
Taxi? What's that? Never been in one in my life. Now if you ask me how many Leatherman tools I've left and lost working on point-of-sale equipment in stores, that number would be in double digits. Got so I don't buy real Leathermans anymore, I get the cheapie ones at the dollar store. Funny, but I haven't lost one of THOSE recently.

webdaemon
01-26-2005, 03:17 AM
I left my Casio Caseopea, in a cab a few years ago, (B&amp;W screen..). It fell out of my pocket or bag or something so I wasn't even sure I lost it in the cab, but I called the next day and they had it in lost &amp; found. I cannot tell you how relieved I was since I paid way more than I could really afford at the time.

I found a cell phone in a public place once, can't remember where now, but I made sure to turn it in.

targetdrone
01-26-2005, 04:57 AM
I lost my Sony Ericsson T610 at the airport Sunday. I found it today(Tuesday evening), right where it fell...between a taxiway and a runway. I was pushing a glider and apparently my phone is afraid of heights and tried to make a break for it. The bluetooth was on and the battery still had 3/4 charge. I didn't realize how often I used it to connect to the internet until I didn't have it.

I once found a phone while riding a bicycle on a side-road outside Texas Stadium. The owner info had the same name as a Cowboy player. I don't know if it was him or not, as I had to catch a flight out of town and left a message for him at the number listed for 'home' and dropped it off at the hotel I was staying at.

Warwick
01-26-2005, 06:00 AM
Never lost a thing, but I have this little chant I do before leaving home or when I stand up after a meeting or such.

Keys
Wallet
Ciggers
Sunnies
Phone
PDA

Even my kids know it so they chant with me. It works.

obarnes
01-26-2005, 08:13 AM
I left my old Casio Cassiopeia (not old at the time) in a taxi in Bangkok - Never to be seen again despite realising as the taxi drove away... I don't think there is lost and found in Bangkok taxi firms, only lost!

Olly.

Cybrid
01-26-2005, 08:37 AM
Hate belt clips...dropped cellphones from them numerous times...luckily found them unhardmed no problem except...one I ran over unnoticed in the parking lot....second I dropped into a loo...."poopy phone" is now a threat to all misbehaving nieces, nephews... :devilboy:
Work a retail job and have a large box for all sorts of lost and found. Multiple cellphones have been found and returned. Wallets...
Money. Someone found and turned in a $20...I had three people come in that day to claim it...??? 8O
Haven't found a PPC or lost one yet. Knock wood.

jeffmd
01-26-2005, 09:14 AM
Bleh.. I lost my audiovox for a few months. I baught a combo case and wallet with a strap for it. well I "thought" I left it at a restaurant.. but they couldnt find it. So not only was my pda "lost" but so was my debit card and id and other cards. No cash though as i never carry any. I was expecting it to be returned rather easily as I have the pda locked up hard and even a hard reset wouldnt gain access to it so its rather useless for someone to steal.
That was a blow but I got the cards replaced, and this is when I actually baught my current Dell axim x5. A couple months later at the end of december I get a call from wegmans, the grocery store I allways goto calls and I come to find I left my pda at the checkout. Everything was there and intact.. so I ended up selling the thing audiovox, getting a nice 256 meg CF card for my digi cam, and a 64 meg SD card collecting dust. ^^

gremlin58
01-26-2005, 11:18 AM
Lost my HP3800 on a bus. Called the transit people who said they had it in lost and found.... turned out to be a Gameboy, Sigh!
I never use belt clips without a rubber band as a "safety line" wrapped around my belt.

Had my 4155 fall out of my bag and get flattened by a truck the week before X-mas (not sure if that counts)

juni
01-26-2005, 11:48 AM
I found a cellphone on a parkbench once while walking the dog. I looked through the contacts and found "mom" so I called that number. Within minutes "mom" had someone come and pick the phone up. :)

bjornkeizers
01-26-2005, 11:59 AM
I've never lost anything - but I came very, very close once.

It was in late 2003; the day LOTR 3 premiered. Me and some classmates were going to a LOTR marathon here in Enschede, and between the second and third movie, I got something to eat, sat down to check a number, put the Ipaq down, got up and made my phonecall.

I walked away and barely got 15 meters before realising my pants weren't being pulled down by the weight of my 1915. I turned around, frantically searched, and found it had rolled off the seat and behind a plant. Phew.

donbacardi
01-26-2005, 02:01 PM
I tend to travel very light when in a cab. I usually carry just my Blackberry clipped to my belt and my Nokia 6600 in my suit-jacket pocket. If I'm travelling in my own car, then there is no reason to worry about losing any of these items. One thing I must say about German cab drivers: they're very HONEST. Had my wallet returned to me once in Berlin within 25 minutes by a cab driver. Deutsche Marks (currency then) and credit cards all there !! That was truly cool.

:pimp:

redifrogger
01-26-2005, 05:40 PM
I had a good friend of mine travel to Florida and realized later that he had left/dropped his iPq in a taxi. He called many times but no avail - it didn't turn up. He still shakes his head over his carelessness. His iPaq was only 3 months old at the time. He still hasn't had the money to replace it. :cry:

Richard76
01-28-2005, 06:16 PM
The first electronic device I purchased was a Rolodex 64k from Radio Shack in 1991. I left it in the armrest of a rental car at the Calgary airport in 1992. As soon as I landed in Toronto, I called back to the rental agency only to be told that it was not there and nothing had been turned in.

I promptly purchased another one (for $129 CAD) and had to re-enter all of my business contacts by hand...around 500 of them! Lesson learned. I have been extremely careful since then.

On a side note, I once found a cell phone in a phone booth. It was a Motorola Flip e650. I opened the flip to check the number but the battery was dead so I called my cousing, who owned a business that sold cell phones. I gave him the serial number of the phone and he contacted the service provider and found the owner.

I contacted the owner, which was a local business, and was told, "no one that works here has reported a lost phone". I gave him my phone number and sure enough, about 4 hours later he gave me a call.

He then asked me to deliver the phone to the business (which I thought was a little forward) and when I arrived with it I barely even got a "thank-you" from him. Not that I was looking for any reward but a sincere attempt at a "thank-you" would have been nice.