This is shockingly expensive and comically impractical to use.
It's just as impractical as money belts, key chain alarms, Tiles(tm)
I mean, too impractical for me, but there is definitely a market for it.
while { if(!monitored_device.plugged) { setComputerOnFire() } }
It must exist somewhere. And for the magnetic gimmick, any magnetic usb (which, btw, are actually pretty useful) cable from amazon would do the trick.
The problem is that there are no USB-A magnetic breakaways available on Amazon. If there were, then I wouldn't have launched this campaign!
Actually, Amazon did have USB-A magnetic breakaway components before, but they went EOL and sold-out when I first published my DIY article on how to build-your-own-BusKill-cable last year.
* https://tech.michaelaltfield.net/2020/01/02/buskill-laptop-k...
The reason I started making my own was a response to all the folks that asked me how they could get a USB-A BusKill cable since they sold-out (and they also were never available in Europe -- now they are!).
You could make one for yourself cheaper, though, if you have the know-how.
Though a basic face detection-based screen lock could be quite more useful and cheaper, at the cost of increased battery consumption.
It's the same USB magnetic cable that you can buy in many shops for $2.
> but what is comically impractical about this?
That you have to carry such contraption around and find a place to tie it to.
If you have to spend more than $30 for a custom device you can detect if a laptop is being moved away from a table in many better ways.
> That you have to carry such contraption around and find a place to tie it to.
If you're the type of person who uses a laptop lock, I could see something like this being a welcome enhancement. But in that case it would be most practical if it were built into the lock itself.
The $59 price still includes worldwide shipping.
> That you have to carry such contraption around and find a place to tie it to.
I mean you are already carrying a laptop, and probably a charger with cables, so carrying a magnetic cable doesn't seem a big stretch. You would put it to the same bag with your other laptop-related accesories.
It is also quite popular to wear pants with belt loops, which would seem suitable for tying this one. Granted dresses and skirts have these less commonly; even then perhaps one could use a belt. For sportswear I don't have a good suggestion.
I notice you refer to these "better ways" yet you don't enumerate any. At least I wouldn't consider accelerometer and radio-based solutions proper alternatives to this (unless using proper latency-based distance measurement, I wonder if this truly can be implemented for less than $30). The camera solution I proposed might be realistic one, but it eats battery.