Why Not GPS for Laptops?

Laptop thieves descend upon wireless cafes / Grab-and-run robbers find pricey computers easy to resell The San Francisco Chronicle had a story out this weekend about a horrible attack a man suffered at an internet cafe when he was stabbed in the chest for his laptop computer.

Certainly with recent news of San Francisco's upcoming citywide wi-fi initiative we ought to see more and more laptops out and about.

Recently I ranted about a stolen laptop that potentially compromised 196,000 HP employee's personal financial data. I myself have lost three laptops over the years to theft (and one to a big glass of chardonnay that accidently went tumbling over the keyboard).

So answer me this. They can put GPS in a cell phone. Why not put GPS in your laptop? And why not also put GPS in your car DVD player (I've had several break ins with my car at West Oakland BART and as such no longer park there)?

It seems incredible to me that with all of the massive laptop theft that some innovative company wouldn't come out with GPS for your laptop as a distinguishing factor. Maybe if a few of these criminals got caught wiht stolen laptops and served time then the word would get out that laptops can be tracked back via GPS and you'd have less of people getting stabbed in the chest at internet cafes.