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Amazon Denies Reports That Airport Scanners Ruin Kindle's e-Ink

Posted by samzenpus on from the not-our-problem dept.

judgecorp writes "Amazon has poured cold water on the story, but reports insist that Kindles are sometimes rendered useless by airport baggage handling and security checks. Many people report no problems at all but if something is going wrong, the culprit may not be the X-ray scanner, but a static shock."

26 of 182 comments (clear)

  1. Reminds me of when NY sprayed for mosquitos. by Kenja · · Score: 5, Funny

    Everyone was told it was perfectly safe, but to cover their cars because it would strip the paint right off.

    --

    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
  2. why just the kindle? by skydyr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If this were a problem, wouldn't it also affect nooks and other readers that use e-Ink? The displays are all made by the same company, after all.

    1. Re:why just the kindle? by Bobakitoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "Why just the iphone?"

      Because a well know gadget name in the headline get you more advertisement views.

    2. Re:why just the kindle? by LordKronos · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If this were a problem, wouldn't it also affect nooks and other readers that use e-Ink? The displays are all made by the same company, after all.

      Remember when Toyota was in the news for the unintended acceleration thing? Funny, because up until that point, all brands had similar numbers of sporadic cases of UA, but none of them made the news. Then suddenly Toyota makes the news, and out of nowhere, nearly all models of Toyota's began exhibiting the problem at the same time. And it didn't matter if it was a new car just off the lot or a vehicle that had been driven for several years. Suddenly they all started failing at once. Then just as quickly the problem disappeared. But surprisingly, none of the other non-Toyota brands made headlines for similar problems, even though they all experienced it.

      So, the answer may very well be that publicity has drawn people's attention to it. Did my nook fail? Well then I guess it was just a piece of crap. Did my kindle fail? Yeah, well then I guess it too was just a....wait a minute...did someone say something about airport scanners? I was at the airport recently. The airport scanners killed my kindle.

    3. Re:why just the kindle? by gnasher719 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Remember when Toyota was in the news for the unintended acceleration thing? Funny, because up until that point, all brands had similar numbers of sporadic cases of UA, but none of them made the news. Then suddenly Toyota makes the news, and out of nowhere, nearly all models of Toyota's began exhibiting the problem at the same time. And it didn't matter if it was a new car just off the lot or a vehicle that had been driven for several years. Suddenly they all started failing at once. Then just as quickly the problem disappeared. But surprisingly, none of the other non-Toyota brands made headlines for similar problems, even though they all experienced it.

      At the time a Mercedes engineer said that on every Mercedes, and in his opinion on every car sold, the brakes are about four times stronger than the engine. In other words, you can bring _any_ car with working brakes easily to a standstill by hitting the brakes hard until the car stands still, no matter what the engine tries. The essential bit is hitting the _brake pedal_ and not any other pedal. And actually stopping the car; if you drive at 70mph with your engine revving and hitting the brake pedal to stay at that speed, then eventually the brakes will overheat and fail.

    4. Re:why just the kindle? by Obfuscant · · Score: 5, Interesting

      So which is it? Are the brakes four times stronger than the engine, or can the engine overpower the brakes?

      Today's words are "chronic" and "acute".

      If you push on the brakes hard enough, they will stop the car. The acute usage of the brakes can overpower the engine.

      If you ride the brakes, thus both wearing them down and heating them up, the chronic application of braking will eventually cause them to fail and they will no longer overpower the engine.

      However, I don't believe that the appearance of ABS has been considered in this claim that they will overpower the car. If the ABS says "no", they will override the four-times-overpower and you'll have a lot less.

  3. Nothing here by PCM2 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Boy, talk about a flimsy claim. It's as if eWeek couldn't resist running a juicy rumor, so when they couldn't find a single piece of evidence in support of the rumor, that became their headline (thus allowing them to run a story based on the rumor). They couldn't even find anyone to make the claim in a quote.

    Let the anecdotal evidence begin. I've sent B&N Nooks (with e-ink displays) through airport security scanners at least a dozen times. No ill effects.

    --
    Breakfast served all day!
    1. Re:Nothing here by Baldrake · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Ok, since you asked, here is my anecdotal evidence. I have owned my Kindle for about a year. With daily use, it was worked flawlessly for all of that year, with three exceptions. In each of these cases, the reader froze, and had to be hard-reset and recharged.

      All three happened while I was on trans-Atlantic flights.

      It's a bit of a coincidence. I personally would not outright dismiss the possibility that there is something going on.

    2. Re:Nothing here by DocJohn · · Score: 5, Informative

      I've had both 1st and 2nd generation Kindles and have flown with them each dozens of times. Which means they've been each X-rayed dozens of times.

      They both work fine and have never had to be reset. With the 3G radio off, a single charge on either of them lasts weeks, even with daily use.

      Kindles are bullet-proof, hardy devices that you can read in direct sunlight. I've even dropped them both, with no damage to either.

      This is exactly what an e-reader should be.

      --
      Psych Central - get your psychology on

    3. Re:Nothing here by SJHillman · · Score: 4, Funny

      Stop taking flights over the Bermuda Triangle. Problem solved.

    4. Re:Nothing here by Zebedeu · · Score: 4, Funny

      You should've requested the captain to disable all of *his* electronic equipment.

      What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

  4. The problems with the kindle by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 5, Funny

    The problems with the kindle only occur when the TSA give the kindle a cavity search.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    1. Re:The problems with the kindle by Reverand+Dave · · Score: 5, Funny

      Exactly, it's not so much that it doesn't work, more than it's scared and unwilling to carry on anymore.

      --
      I got here through a series of tubes
    2. Re:The problems with the kindle by dstyle5 · · Score: 3, Funny

      "Oh, so your owner is reading Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451."

      "Sir, we need to get step into our Assessment Room for further questions."

    3. Re:The problems with the kindle by Thumper_SVX · · Score: 5, Interesting

      You laugh... but last year my girlfriend was caught up in a detailed customs search on returning to the USA from Ireland because she had quite a large number of books in her backpack. They seriously couldn't understand why she had so many large books with her at once in her carry-on. I can't even remember what the books were off the top of my head, but I think the most subversive thing she was carrying was probably the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy.

      This year for our trip to Germany, she got a Kindle. :)

  5. Anecdote!=data by Zerth · · Score: 5, Interesting

    That said, I've taken 3 different kindles(gen 2, gen 3, and the DX) through several airports in the US, plus taken the smaller ones through a few in Europe. Never had any problems after going through the xray.

    Well, no problems with the kindles, anyway. Once I got extra screening because the chargers "looked suspicious".

    IIRC, the 4th generation of kindles have exposed metal contacts on the back, so static from the rubber conveyor belt sounds much more probable.

    1. Re:Anecdote!=data by Amouth · · Score: 4, Insightful

      so they taught/calibrated a security device with a sample of unknown and questionable origin.. yeap.. sounds like security theater to me.

      --
      '...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
  6. Don't think there is a problem by rickett81 · · Score: 3

    My kindle has been on many flights. If only the flight attendants would let me read the stupid thing during take-off and landing.

    1. Re:Don't think there is a problem by vlm · · Score: 3, Insightful

      My kindle has been on many flights.

      If only the flight attendants would let me read the stupid thing during take-off and landing.

      We're getting close to the power levels where they'll let you.

      If a small battery can run the thing for a month, even if it channeled all that power into an intentionally interfering signal, it still wouldn't be a problem.

      The biggest problem, aside from tradition, is convincing passengers that a milliwatt class Kindle is "low enough" yet the 100 watt gamer laptop is "too high". I could see all the airlines and manufacturers conspiring into releasing devices with green cases, or maybe pink with glitter, if they're "aircraft rated" as being safe. Then they just have to tell stewardesses to look out for gamer laptops with obvious done-at-home spray paint jobs.

      --
      "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
    2. Re:Don't think there is a problem by Enderandrew · · Score: 3, Interesting

      On charter flights, they don't force people to turn off electronics because they don't interfere with anything.

      Mythbusters also definitively busted the myth that signals from electronics would disrupt any system on the airplane. They ripped open the plane, removed the shielding and put electronic devices next to unshielded cables and still couldn't cause a problem.

      On top of that, many of these devices that we're forced to turn off either don't have wireless signals, or can be put into "Airplane mode" where are wireless signals are killed. The government has decided that stupid fear-mongering should overrule facts and reality.

      --
      http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
    3. Re:Don't think there is a problem by rufty_tufty · · Score: 4, Funny

      Announcement "Please turn off all electronic devices."
      Me "Erm my watch doesn't have an off button"

      Okay I've never done this but my inner idiot makes me want to.

      --
      "The weirdest thing about a mind, is that every answer that you find, is the basis of a brand new cliche" -
    4. Re:Don't think there is a problem by caseih · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Normally what the Myth Busters do is at best anecdotal evidence. They certainly can't do enough testing to be statistically significant in this thing. So no. They have not definitively proven anything about electrical interference. Not even close. As they say, an absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. It's likely they are correct that very little interference would happen, but no one is willing to risk certifying that this is so. Nor should you or any other passenger.

  7. So why does Amazon bother denying anything? by hellfire · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Okay this article is weird.

    It starts with the conventional "idiots who don't understand science think x-rays damage their electronics". But it quickly switches to the "more likely a static shock" line which is much more feasible. But then why is this a story? Static shock affects all electronic devices, the Kindle is no different.

    Then it goes into a "eWeek licks Amazon's balls happily" advertisement about how awesome the kindle is, which has no place in an article like this. Why the hell go this far? And then Amazon out and out denies the problem even exists. They don't say "it could be static shocks which no device is immune from." They use the "a bunch of other people don't have a problem" fallacy to deflect the issue. While it does nothing for me, that's kind of stupid because it will stir up the conspiracy theory wonks like a storm of bees.

    Looks like this article was written for eWeek by an Amazon Marketroid, not by Steve McCaskil, which makes sense now that I think about it. Deflect and deny rather than address.

    --

    "All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"

  8. Re:during take-off and landing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The power levels have nothing to do with the safety risk of being smacked in the face by some wayward gadget during a rough landing.

  9. Re:during take-off and landing by tgd · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'd rather be hit by a 5oz Kindle than a 4lbs hardcover.

  10. Mass hysteria again by kriston · · Score: 4, Informative

    Toyota somewhat respectfully did release results from the so-called "sudden acceleration" problem. In one specific case, where the retired state trooper killed himself and his family in a Lexus, the in-car computer recorded several seconds of full application of the accelerator pedal before the data stopped recording. We're not talking about the throttle, we're talking about the user input device, the accelerator pedal, that was at full application. Of course, it was operator error, and everyone knew that from the beginning. It's sad.

    "[T]he verdict is in," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "There is no electronic-based cause for unintended high-speed acceleration in Toyotas." http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20031069-503544.html

    So, yes, this is mass hysteria. Same thing happened to Audi/VW back in the early 1990s where claimants insisted their Audis' cruise control caused cars to plow into buildings when moving from a parking space. Audio/VW's solution was to prevent shifting without simultaneous application of the brake pedal. On newer Audis these instructions are on the display in big, bright letters.

    --

    Kriston