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Box With Hidden Camera Travels Through the Mail
kkleiner writes "The modern mailing system can seem like magic, but the systems in place to reliably get boxes from A to B is a marvel of logistics. Now, a Dutch designer named Ruben van der Vleuten has unraveled the mystery for non-postal employees by installing a camera within a parcel to record the journey."
I saw this on hackaday like 2 weeks ago. Slashdot is becoming more irrelevant it seems. Everything is usually seen on either hackaday or hacker news and then gets posted here
Thanks for the left overs from a month back
Some guy who was working on early models of the toy Furby got a friendly call from the FBI. This time it slipped through, but you might not be that lucky.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
An accompanying accelerometer would be interesting as well.
Just wasting your modpoints, DOUCHE. This is like feeding crumbs to the pigeons.
Parent is exactly correct. But moderator is a douche. So I waste modpoint.
Once these sensors get cheap enough, this should be standard. Or at least standard if you buy insurance. It would be awfully nice to have accelerometers and GPS tracking on important packages. Embedded cameras might help prevent package loss too.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
I'm actually surprised this didn't get flagged as it looks like a bomb.
perfboard? to-220 linear-looking regulators? Why didn't he just 3D print an embedded computer with cameras?
Can someone tell that idiot that masking tape is not designed to hold things?
That idea was part of an episode from the 60's TV show "The Man From Uncle".
Once again, reality follows art.
Obviously this guy didn't write "Atheist" on the outside of the box, it was actually delivered.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
don't know why so many complaints. OK so has been done before, but I haven't seen such video before. However, this package was "lucky" to get good shots (camera could have been pointing mostly at side of another box or at a wall). probably too risky to try in countries like US, China, or Russia as this can get certain attention from authorities you don't want to have.
mfwright@batnet.com
Can we get the guys at Atheist Shoes to do the same :)
Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.
How much do you want to bet that soon there will be a law prohibiting the use of active recording devices within packages sent by post?
Did it include a GPS.
The USPS is such a mess. Once we were delivering something to some location within the next city and after taking so long we tracked it and it somehow wound up in another state all the way across the country. We called the USPS to confirm this and they confirmed that this package that wasn't even supposed to leave the county somehow wound up in another state across the country. A few days later it finally reached its destination (after our customers were getting rather impatient). I believe I've experienced two incidents where something like this happened and a third incident where I ordered something and somehow it simply got lost in the mail. Everyone has experienced these things I suppose, that's why when delivering packages you have to be very careful they are very tightly sealed and taped all over because, their excuse, is that the machine that grabs the boxes may inadvertently rip it open and scatter its contents everywhere and when that happens your package is gone. Oh, it gets sent to a central location where it stays there for a few months and eventually gets auctioned off but I've dealt with them before and they are of no help, your package is gone.
The camera arrived broken.
They don't know how the mail system works?
Unless they see the building with the sorting system they assume the internet delivered the box one bit at a time?
I know there is a bad TRON analogy in there somewhere,,,
I can see a government viewing this as a way to probe mail security. Imagine if I'd sent the same video box to my Senator; maybe even with a GPS unit inside and broadcast ability. That would allow me to figure out how Congressional mail is sorted and secured. They wouldn't be happy about that.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
hierophanta is a known troll. His tactic is to reply to FPs and discount them to get himself modded up and gain karma. From there, he uses his starting score of 2 to make dirty troll remarks. Be careful.
It looked like he use an Arduino in that box. I wonder if he could have used a Raspberry Pi.
"Nationalism is an infantile sickness. It is the measles of the human race." -Albert Einstein
Royksopp would be more appropriate soundtrack
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
The video is clearly filmed in Denmark, I recognize many of the places in Copenhagen, and you can see the "Post Danmark" logo on several of the uniforms (http://postdanmark.dk)
Jacob
Make sure the package does not have 'Atheist' writtten on it: http://boingboing.net/2013/03/26/boxes-sealed-with-atheist-tape.html
That's was the Danish postal service. While a camera in a box might be a problem in other parts of the world I doubt that anyone in Denmark is going to be upset about this. Maybe the postal workers don't like being filmed but I don't think anyone will be freaking out about bombs or terrorism.
Great idea and fun video.
Why is it that the box nearly always has the best camera angle? The photo looks as though there is one camera in the box, but the video seems to always have the box on the outside of the stack, with the correct side facing out. Was he just lucky or did he do it several times and splice the film?
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Boy With Hidden Camera Travels Through the Mail
Now that's a story.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
OK, I'll bite: how come every image is perfectly right-side up?
And how come the camera "just happens" to have a perfect view whenever something is happening? And how come everything is nicely lit?
I've seen the insides of package and mail-sorting operations. Stuff ends up every which way.
https://vimeo.com/59693471
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
This video is a wonderful reminder of the miracle of the modern postal service. We get so complacent with it and just take it for granted that if I write a letter (yes, I still do write real letters on real paper and with a real fountain pen), stuff it in an envelope with $0.46 worth of stamps attached, and put it into some blue metal box somewhere in the United States it will get to any other point in the United States (including the territories out in the Pacific) within a week. Most of the time it takes a couple days. E-mail is marvelous but it's really nothing more than just a more sophisticated version analog of the telegraph, the Victorian Internet. But actually getting a physical object from point to point, say from Guam to Puerto Rico or from New York to Nome, Alaska, for about the cost of 1/4 of a cup of Starbuck's coffee is indeed a miracle of efficiency and logistics. Not to bad for an organization that is essentially over 300 years old (if you take the British-operated postal service inherited by the country in 1776). Even though they've slowed things down a bit to save money it's still a marvel. So rejoice and be grateful!
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
Masking tap sucks. Duct tape has grades. If RedGreen had the good stuff most of his projects would be successes.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Video is from Copenhagen, Denmark.
The first part is on bicycle, at this route. [Google Maps]
The first part is on bicycle, at this route.