Filed under: Freeware
coconutIdentityCard goes Universal
I recently bought a backup battery for my Compaq laptop (it runs Linux, not Windows. Don't worry) on Ebay, and it was fun to track its journey to my front door all the way from China. Have you ever wondered just where and/or when your Mac's (or iPod's) journey began? Now you can find out for sure.coconutIdentityCard is a piece of freeware that does just one thing: It lets you know exactly where and when your Mac and iPod were "born," as we described back in December when we first noticed this application. It's now up to version 2.1, which includes a few changes.
First, it's universal. Also, and more interestingly, it searches an online database of stolen Mac serial numbers, so you can tell if that Powerbook you got on Ebay "Fell off the back of a truck." coconutIdentityCard is free and requires Mac OS 10.3.9, as well as a Mac made in or after 1997 (it won't work with the iPod shuffle, either).
[Via FreeMacWare]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tyler G said 6:47PM on 9-06-2006
I tried my old Power Macintosh 8500/120 in the custom tab, which I know (from the back sticker) was built on 11/22/95 at 3:55AM, and it told me that it was built in Sacramento, USA between 11/14 and 11/20 of 1995, which i consider close enough. I was suprised to see that it did in fact work with a product older than 1997, but it did.
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Joseph Crawford said 6:59PM on 9-06-2006
I have tested this app and it did not show my country, however it did show my build dates. It does show that my mac is NOT stolen which is always good.
I also tested out thier coconutWiFi and found that to be inacurate. It showed 2 wireless networks while airport showed 3 hmmmm...
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Eric said 7:28PM on 9-06-2006
The app doesn't seem to recognize where my Mac Pro was built, though it seems to have the date range correct.
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John Russell said 8:20PM on 9-06-2006
Does it do anything other than tell you that your Mac was stolen? Like report it to Apple or anything.
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Jenson said 3:34PM on 9-08-2006
@John: Yes, for sure, it does. It will take a picture of you with the build in iSight and send it to the police station next to you. If no isight is in (you have stolen an old mac) it will send the last 10 pictures you imported into iphoto. Clever, ahh?
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Keith said 1:06PM on 9-09-2006
According to Little Snitch the app does attempt to make an outgoing connection.
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Marc said 11:33AM on 11-02-2006
Unfortunately I have a PC with windows, but I did have an iPod until it was recently stolen. Is there an application such as coconutIdentityCard version 2.1 for PCs?
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