Omnivore - Laptop theft on the rise at coffee shops

• discovery.com

Rick Limpert of Examiner.com posted a column a few days ago about the many robberies that have lately occurred at the city’s coffee shops:

A rash of robberies at coffee shops in Atlanta and around the country are forcing coffee shops to post notices on walls and doors urging customers to not leave their laptops and gadgets unattended.

Just last week, a group of teens robbed more than a dozen customers in a southeast Atlanta coffee shop at gunpoint. This is a little unusual, but what is not, are customers who may leave their seats or tables for a minute to place an order or go to the bathroom, only to find their devices missing when they return.

The Ansley Starbucks is among the targeted. Recently, two laptops were jetted away after their owners left their tables briefly. In another case, someone entered the shop and grabbed an iPad out of a customer’s hands and took off running.

I’ve had two such experiences myself. My $300 Nokia phone was stolen some years back. I also watched someone take my iPod Touch while I was standing in line. I chased him outside, grabbed him and took my iTouch from him. He insisted he wasn’t stealing and followed me inside to loudly express his innocence. Ugh.

I’ve lately watched more and more customers carry their laptops and other devices into the bathroom with them.

Gwynedd Stuart proposed a “laptop protection device” in April.