I always find lots of wiring and (presumably) lithium batteries ensures my suitcase has a smooth passage through various security checks at airports.
Catch cack-handed baggage handlers in the act with Ericsson's SPY SUITCASE
Do you ever get the feeling that your luggage is having a better time than you on long-haul flights? An indulgence from Ericsson's engineers could let you know for sure. The Ericsson security suitcase has what is effectively a mobile phone built into it which monitors where it is and what is going on around it. If baggage …
COMMENTS
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Tuesday 1st July 2014 07:40 GMT John Tserkezis
I don't know which airlines THEY use, but 'round here, I don't need a camera or accelerometer to tell me the baggage handlers are treating my bags like soccer balls. Ditto for couriers for that matter.
That's why I pack things knowing full well they're going to get treated like that.
I just haven't convinced anyone sending ME stuff to do that yet...
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Tuesday 1st July 2014 14:07 GMT Fred Flintstone
Re: Same here...
We had a courier tried to deliver something but no-one was in so he threw it over the back fence and left a card to say it was safe in our back garden.
Ours didn't leave a card and logged it as "delivered". I'm pretty sure if I hadn't been on their case less than an hour later it would have been "delivered" at some pub instead and the supplier had to do the insurance thing. They even made up a signature..
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Tuesday 1st July 2014 14:19 GMT Nick Ryan
Re: Same here...
Same here. One of the (luckily not very) regular couriers that delivers parcels to my village is either illiterate or just a thief. Often items get delivered to a nearby village instead (duh, postcode, clearly printed correct address, nobody of the correct name to sign for the parcel, none of which seems to matter) to items getting delivered and "signed" by somebody no neighbour has ever heard of but after complaints the items tend to miraculously reappear the following day as if they were originally delivered nearby - for example, boxes have appeared opened but re-sealed in the neighbours shed when they weren't there when they were apparently delivered (neighbour is a keen gardener and tends to spot this kind of thing).
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Tuesday 1st July 2014 08:52 GMT Jason Hindle
It'll not work in the real world
I've had my baggage felt up, by the Johannesburg baggage handlers, often enough. No one takes a look inside your case; rather they open it slightly and have a feel around. They're quite skilled, working entirely by feel; for example, they can locate a DVD box, and liberate the DVD, such that you may not notice immediately when you unpack. Locking the case doesn't work; they'll break the case or the lock, whichever is easier.
I learned the hard way that the best solution is the leave the case unlocked, with nothing worth pinching, though they will liberate still sometimes surprise me. Last time I transited through JNB, they liberated a bar of soap.
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Tuesday 1st July 2014 12:07 GMT Jay 2
Re: It'll not work in the real world
@Jason, have you ever had your bags wrapped in plastic to try and prevent such occurances? Or does that incite the light-fingered ones to more baggage damage? Just wondering as I had mine wrapped done flying into Jo'burg and out of Cape Town and everything seemed to survive.
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Tuesday 1st July 2014 13:33 GMT Jason Hindle
Re: It'll not work in the real world
It's worth doing. In Southern Africa this is very commonly used. Personally, I prefer not to have anything worth liberating. This affects my choice of airline. BA, Air France and KLM are all good - they let you carry on a small case, plus a laptop bag. I avoid the big, Middle Eastern carriers (usually one piece, with a 7kg weight limit).
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Tuesday 1st July 2014 08:59 GMT Velv
Nothing like placing a huge FRAGILE sign on something to ensure it receives the opposite treatment.
Looks like a fairly distinctive design, something that should stand out nicely as it enters the carousel system almost ensuring it receives the treatment it deserves (before being subjected to a controlled explosion as mentioned above).
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Tuesday 1st July 2014 14:09 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: I'd be more impressed...
... if it was designed to jump off the baggage carousel and barge it's way past people, would save me having to do it.
Upvote, although I'd want one that unloads itself. If they have the biometrics thing working at Heathrow, my personal best for clearing passport checks is 27 seconds - after which I will spend half an hour waiting for my luggage...
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Tuesday 1st July 2014 12:18 GMT Anonymous Coward
Please make sure
that you have switched off all electronic equipment in your hold luggage, as it may interfere with vital security systems. Should our scanning system detect any active device in your luggage, it will be removed, destroyed and, consequently, you will be refused entry in the plane. Have a safe journey (back home).
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Wednesday 2nd July 2014 09:14 GMT Werner McGoole
Meh, it's all standard these days
Standard suitcases already contain most of the required sensors for this sort of work. They contain plastic parts that fracture at a pre-determined impact to detect rough handling. They have bendable metal handles that detect excessive loads (just check to see whether the handle will still pull out when it arrives). They also have absorbent coverings to detect moisture and many will reveal contact with abrasive or sharp objects by ripping.
Of course, you can also install your own sensors internally; a cheap bottle of wine will reveal if the bag has been thrown around by imparting a red stain to your undergarments.
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Wednesday 2nd July 2014 15:51 GMT cortland
Could be worse
In,1984 or so, my then-employer wanted to find out how much shock a planned laptop computer needed to withstand. One of our VP's, a Russian who'd escaped the USSR many years previously, was flying to the Far East on company business, and he was elected to carry a clockwork-accelerometer-instrumented briefcase. The way I heard things, he might have gotten less attention on that trip if our tech had not had a very strange sense of humor....
When our flyer's bag was X-rayed at the San Francisco airport there was of course nothing for it but to open the briefcase. As the tale reached me, that was when the trip became interesting. The tech who fitted the instrument had done a little more than specified; he'd painted dowels used to hold the accelerometer in place red, stenciled "DYNAMITE" on them and wrapped copper wire around the package to really make people nervous.
At that point, a Russian accent probably did not help.
It was apparently a long enough trip for a hot temper to cool, else the tech might have been dismembered by one very Mad Russian on his return, but he wasn't even fired. IIRC, this was the same tech who later (IIRC) came to work one week with his arms bandaged, having on a fishing trip needed >100 stitches after one night falling into a campfire full of broken beer bottles and passing out...
Ah, youth!
http://devilanse.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/nablopomo-wang-laptop/
http://www.vincentflanders.com/wang-laptop.html
And in the "How the mighty are fallen" department:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wang-Laboratories-Vintage-Professional-Laptop-Floppy-Drive-Paper-Disks-Case-/291179730117?pt=US_Vintage_Computers_Mainframes&hash=item43cbaa14c5
No bids, four days to go and a minimum of just $50US.
But it was rugged! And as I can personally attest, it could take as much as 25kV of ESD.