IBM is patenting a delightfully simple way to stop people stealing laptops
(GB 2348459). It is usually impractical to keep a laptop secure at a conference
or meeting: sneak thieves can grab one during a coffee break, fold down the
screen lid and hide it inside a pile of papers. So IBM has designed a bar that
slides between the keyboard and screen, and stops the hinge working. When the
bar is locked in place with a small key, the screen cannot be folded down unless
you break the hinge—which wrecks the PC, making it useless to the sneak
thief. When the bar is unlocked it slides free so that it doesn’t spoil the
appearance of the immaculately designed laptop.
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