Left your spanking new smartphone device at the cafe during lunchtime or dropped it in the subway? Perhaps it was bumped off you en route to the office in the rush-hour crowd. In the above (and a million other) scenarios, the chance of recovering your beloved mobile gadget (more often than not) borders on nil.

Well, not anymore.

CNN has a story discussing some of the retrieval services cropping up to help us keep what belongs to us.

In particular, it mentions a new software written by a Singapore (where I live!) firm called BAK2u that is installed in the phone. When a new SIM card is swapped in (which is usually a sign of it being stolen), it will surreptitiously send out a short message to a pre-defined number with the IMEI of the new SIM card.

What happens next is simply making a call back to the surprised thief, and presenting an option to either meet up, or going to the police with his/her IMEI information.

What other anti-theft services or devices do you know of? Do they work? Join the discussion.