The Associated Press reports that the San Francisco Police Department says Wi-Fi hotspots have become, logically enough, popular targets for laptop thieves.

"San Francisco police statistics show a steady increase in laptop robberies involving confrontations between robbers and their victims," according to the article.

"Last year, there were 48 reported, compared to 18 in 2004. As of the end of March, 18 had been reported this year."

In the San Francisco Chronicle, reporter Jaxon Van Derbeken describes a recent incident in which a man was stabbed during a laptop robbery. "The 40-year-old San Francisco victim of the March 16 attack suffered a partially collapsed lung and was hospitalized for six days," he writes. "The two suspects fled with his Apple PowerBook, worth $2,500."

"To the criminal element, this is a valuable piece of equipment that they can quite easily cash in on -- even otherwise law-abiding people are tempted to buy $3,000 laptops for $200 to $300 on the street," says Police lieutenant John Loftus. "Where else do you have a thousand-dollar item sitting on a table in a coffee shop?"