Snitch uses GPS technology to locate itself and the cellular phone system to chat with Blackline's servers - which relay commands from you to the Snitch and pass the Snitch's exact location back to you.
To set up a Snitch, all you have to do is charge it for several hours - preferably on a window sill where it can glom onto a handful of GPS satellites - and then register the unit online with Blackline's Web site.
Blackline's pricing model is similar to a wireless carrier's text messaging scheme - a monthly fee for a specific number of "tracking credits." Every time you ask a Snitch for its location, you use a credit, so even if you buy credits in bulk, don't expect to use the Snitch for the kind of continuous tracking that a personal GPS mapping device provides.
The least expensive package is $15 a month for 50 credits, which amounts to less than two location requests a day. A better deal is $18 a month for 150 credits, and there are more extensive bundles, too.
Once the Snitch is charged and registered, turn the power on and place it in whatever vehicle you want to track (the trunk of my car worked fine). By logging onto Blackline's Web site, you can enter a request for location at any time: The service will find the Snitch if it is online and report its location on a Google Map. In my tests, under normal conditions (with decent exposure to the sky), it was highly accurate.
But the Snitch's best feature, from my standpoint, is its ability to alert you if someone tries to move your car (or boat, or airplane). Once you've "armed" it by pushing a button on the front panel or sending a command online, the Snitch will send you an e-mail or flash a text message to your cell phone when it detects motion, and then send another alert if the car moves more than 200 feet from its parked location.
Blackline offers a variety of tracking options, including one that automatically records the Snitch's position every five minutes once an alert has been sounded. You also can schedule a tracking session for a particular time period and control the frequency of updates (with the proviso that each one uses a credit, of course).
The Web site displays the results of a tracking session on a Google map or as a 3-D journey in Google Earth. Clicking on any tracking point shows the car's direction and speed at the time - while an advanced option provides altitude and exact latitude and longitude. There is also a tracking program for Web-equipped Blackberry pagers.
