Box With Hidden Camera Travels Through the Mail

Dont try it at home. by 140Mandak262Jamuna · 2013-05-07 03:37 · Score: 2

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

Re:Dont try it at home. by BenSchuarmer · 2013-05-07 03:45 · Score: 5, Funny

Too bad the FBI didn't stop the Furbies when there was still a chance to do so.
Re:Dont try it at home. by show+me+altoids · 2013-05-07 03:52 · Score: 3, Interesting

As long as it doesn't record the inside of a meat packing plant it'll be fine.

--
I feel sorry for people that don't drink, because when they get up in the morning, that's as good as they're gonna feel
Re:Dont try it at home. by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-07 04:09 · Score: 1

How does it look any different than some random piece of electronics? You know, the kind that gets shipped every single day in massive quantities.
Re:Dont try it at home. by Seumas · 2013-05-07 04:16 · Score: 2

Exactly what I was thinking. In an age when you can be hassled or even arrested for taking a picture of a landmark, you better believe you risk being arrested for "orchestrating a terrorist plot" and using that camera going through the system to help scope out weak-points. Remember, we're no longer a sane society.
Re:Dont try it at home. by Sloppy · 2013-05-07 04:45 · Score: 1

Except it's not a bomb. So what's the FBI going to say in their call, "We're stealing your idea?"

--
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
Re:Dont try it at home. by sethradio · 2013-05-07 04:46 · Score: 1

I don't think this was the US Postal Service.

--
"Nationalism is an infantile sickness. It is the measles of the human race." -Albert Einstein
Re:Dont try it at home. by sethradio · 2013-05-07 05:07 · Score: 1

I'm not so sure. One time I was at the post office, where this guy was trying to mail a cell phone. The people there made him take the battery out.

--
"Nationalism is an infantile sickness. It is the measles of the human race." -Albert Einstein
Re:Dont try it at home. by rodrigoandrade · 2013-05-07 05:50 · Score: 1

How could this possibly be mistaken for a bomb?? From the picture, I can see: (and I'm no EE)
- a bunch of wires
- a bunch of tape
- an Arduino board
- a capacitor
- all inside what seems to be an acryllic case
- a camera taped to the edge of the box
- a power brick
Where's the explosive charge (C4), timer or radio receiver (with antenna obviously)??
I'm sure the carrier's (USPS/UPS/FedEx) employees are trained to know what to look for if they suspect something is a bomb, which is precisely why they let this package throough.
Re:Dont try it at home. by Algae_94 · 2013-05-07 06:24 · Score: 4, Informative

The Boston PD thought a bunch of LED signs for the Aqua Teen's movie were bombs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Boston_bomb_scare. They had batteries, a PCB, and wires. Even the most well trained employees can be complete morons at times.
Re:Dont try it at home. by triffid_98 · 2013-05-07 07:15 · Score: 1

Apparently the Boston PD never got a 'lite-brite' as a kid, since they locked down the entire city and sent Comedy Central the bill.

Police lock-down and mandatory house to house searches (in violation of the 4th amendment) after the marathon? I'm surprised it doesn't happen there every other weekend.
Re:Dont try it at home. by Kiwikwi · 2013-05-07 08:38 · Score: 2

I don't think this was the US Postal Service.
Correct. This is the Danish postal service.
To put things in perspective: Shortly after September 11, 2001, a friend of mine figured it might be a funny joke to send me a "fake anthrax letter" though the mail. When the flour leaked from the envelope during shipping, the entire post office was shut down and evacuated, and my friend was arrested in the middle of the night, prosecuted... and cleared of all charges. Because, y'know, it was just flour. No harm, no foul.
So feel free to try this at home, if you live in Denmark.
Re:Dont try it at home. by dwye · 2013-05-07 10:08 · Score: 1

Because, y'know, it was just flour. No harm, no foul.
My sister is glutin-intolerant, you insensitive clod!
Re:Dont try it at home. by Trogre · 2013-05-07 10:23 · Score: 1

Yes, those stupid Boston police for treating widely distributed electronic devices depicting characters [1] giving a gesture that usually communicates the message "fuck you" with suspicion.
How silly of them. Perhaps they'll go after pressure cookers next.
[1] Characters from a television show nobody over 30 at the time would have even heard of, I might add.

--
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
Re:Dont try it at home. by HornWumpus · 2013-05-07 11:10 · Score: 1

Keep batteries out of your luggage and shipping boxes when possible for your own good. They're trained to call it 'the vibrator' not 'your vibrator'.
Find the battery shape is a test of image recognition software for a reason. What needs power in checked baggage?

--
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Re:Dont try it at home. by HornWumpus · 2013-05-07 11:15 · Score: 1

An anarchistic friend (yeah friend, that the ticket) liked to mail letters full of metal glitter. It helps to put two pieces of card stock with the curl together so the envelope is inflated when it hits the rollers in the high speed machines. Print the address neatly so it doesn't get hand sorted.

--
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Re:Dont try it at home. by SpectreBlofeld · 2013-05-07 13:52 · Score: 2

Do they make you pull out a pentalobe screwdriver and disassemble an iPhone before shipment?
Re:Dont try it at home. by Algae_94 · 2013-05-08 06:24 · Score: 1

Although my language was harsh, I didn't intend for my comment to be bashing of the Boston police department. I was just trying to point out to rodrigoandrade that this package could very easily be mistaken for a bomb or other suspicious device, because it has happened before.

Accelerometer by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-07 03:39 · Score: 2, Interesting

An accompanying accelerometer would be interesting as well.

Re:Accelerometer by show+me+altoids · 2013-05-07 03:55 · Score: 1

Many times frozen items are shipped with an indicator inside that will clearly show if the inside got over the freezing point at any time in its journey. I can't think offhand if I have heard of accelerometers being used routinely, but I'm sure they could be.

--
I feel sorry for people that don't drink, because when they get up in the morning, that's as good as they're gonna feel
Re:Accelerometer by Neon+Spiral+Injector · 2013-05-07 04:03 · Score: 1

I've recieved computer equipment with the same ShockWatch stickers that I seen used on Myth Busters.
http://www.shockwatch.com/monitoring-devices/impact-sensor/impact-indicators/
Re:Accelerometer by ShanghaiBill · 2013-05-07 04:35 · Score: 5, Informative

I can't think offhand if I have heard of accelerometers being used routinely, but I'm sure they could be.
Yes, both accelerometers and tilt sensors (for things required to remain upright) are common. They attach to the outside of the box with a big warning sticker saying you should not sign for the package if the threshold indicator has triggered. I have received many packages with these sensors, and more often than not, they are triggered. My experience is that UPS is the worst at abusing packages. We have a security camera on our loading dock, and we have recorded several instances of the UPS delivery guy tossing packages out of the back of this truck onto the concrete, with about a three meter drop from the apogee. When presented with the video evidence, UPS paid for the damage, but the driver kept his job, although now he occasionally glances up at the camera with a scowl.
Re:Accelerometer by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-07 07:30 · Score: 2, Funny

Like this?

Should be standard by Hatta · 2013-05-07 03:40 · Score: 2, Interesting

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!

Re:Should be standard by ZiakII · 2013-05-07 03:43 · Score: 4, Insightful

Embedded cameras might help prevent package loss too

How after they loose the package are they going to view the video footage?
Re:Should be standard by Leif_Bloomquist · 2013-05-07 03:46 · Score: 4, Informative

It would be awfully nice to have accelerometers and GPS tracking on important packages.
They sort of exist in a low-tech form. My company uses these on every shipment.
http://www.shockwatch.com/monitoring-devices/impact-sensor/impact-indicators/
Re:Should be standard by Frosty+Piss · 2013-05-07 03:47 · Score: 1

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.
For big stuff:
http://www.sensr.com/products/shipping-and-logistics/
For small stuff:
http://www.shockwatch.com/monitoring-devices/impact-sensor/impact-indicators/

--
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
Re:Should be standard by Obfuscant · 2013-05-07 03:49 · Score: 1

You mean like the sensors that are in almost every modern cell phone these days?
Instead of the jury-rigged lash-up this guy used, he could have written an app and taped a smart phone to the inside of the box with a hole cut out for the camera. Much smaller, lighter, self-powered, and it could have MMSd a picture back once an hour with GPS coordinates so he knew where it was.
Re:Should be standard by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-07 03:52 · Score: 1

As I was watching the video, I was thinking it would be great to see an accelerometer chart right next to the camera image (so you could see which steps caused the biggest spikes).
Re:Should be standard by denzacar · 2013-05-07 03:52 · Score: 1

By having the camera sending photos/videos to the interwebz.
It could probably already be done in under 100 grams of additional weight. At least for all domestic shipments.
International though...
Not until they come up with a camera-GPS-transmitter-battery combo that can work for a month and weighs 100 grams or less.

--
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Re:Should be standard by show+me+altoids · 2013-05-07 03:58 · Score: 1

Ah, yes, these look like the same devices they use on Mythbusters fairly often.

--
I feel sorry for people that don't drink, because when they get up in the morning, that's as good as they're gonna feel
Re:Should be standard by cdrudge · 2013-05-07 04:13 · Score: 1

Instead of the jury-rigged lash-up this guy used, he could have written an app and taped a smart phone to the inside of the box with a hole cut out for the camera. Much smaller, lighter, self-powered, and it could have MMSd a picture back once an hour with GPS coordinates so he knew where it was.
And pray that:
- His more expensive smart phone doesn't get lost.
- It doesn't run out of juice because the package took more than the 12-24 hours your average smart phone lasts
- It doesn't get discovered and create a stir why it was it was necessary to send frequent pictures/video of the mail facilities (will someone think of terrorism!1!!)
- It provides you with GPS information that is more accurate then it usually is inside buildings that likely have poor cellular coverage...and really wouldn't tell you much anyways.
- It doesn't take more effort to program a cell phone to take 3 seconds of video every minute and more when it's significantly moving, ultimately still requiring you to reacquire the package to download all the video as it probably was more than what you would want to send via MMS or some other wireless communication method.
Re:Should be standard by Ultra64 · 2013-05-07 04:28 · Score: 1

Well, when my dog gets loose, he usually finds his own way home.
Re:Should be standard by Obfuscant · 2013-05-07 04:38 · Score: 1

- His more expensive smart phone doesn't get lost.
It took a lot of time and effort to build the system in that picture. A cellphone is a prepackaged complete system with battery and sensors and a way of communicating with the outside world so you can track it. If your time is worth nothing, the building hardware over and over again is the way to go.

- It doesn't run out of juice because the package took more than the 12-24 hours your average smart phone lasts
Ok, so you hook a simple battery to the phone that will run it for longer. This is a $20 at most device. Problem solved for less money than it takes to think about it.

- It doesn't get discovered and create a stir why it was it was necessary to send frequent pictures/video of the mail facilities (will someone think of terrorism!1!!)
Why yes, this probem doesn't exist for the lashup in the original story, does it?

- It provides you with GPS information that is more accurate then it usually is inside buildings that likely have poor cellular coverage...and really wouldn't tell you much anyways.
Hmm, let's see. The last good gps fix is outside this large building. Where could the phone possibly have gone? Did I say the system was perfect?

- It doesn't take more effort to program a cell phone to take 3 seconds of video every minute and more when it's significantly moving,
You write the program once and load it into 100 phones, vs. building 100 Arduino systems with cameras etc...

ultimately still requiring you to reacquire the package to download all the video

Well, duh, that might be why I said MMS a picture once an hour and not "send all the video back via live stream".
Re:Should be standard by sacrilicious · 2013-05-07 04:49 · Score: 1

How after they loose the package are they going to view the video footage?
Maybe the notion that some packages have cameras in them will result in better package handling, resulting in fewer lost packages.

--
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
Re:Should be standard by AmiMoJo · 2013-05-07 05:26 · Score: 1

The cops can see which postal employee is a criminal.

--
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Re:Should be standard by forgottenusername · 2013-05-07 05:30 · Score: 1

They actually already have force burst sensors for packages, for damage liability on expensive item transport. I think some insurance companies require it so they can sue the transport company if need be.
Re:Should be standard by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-07 05:58 · Score: 3, Funny

If you keep adding stuff like this to your box I will definitely steal it. Can I suggest that you add an HD capable screen?
Re:Should be standard by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-07 06:00 · Score: 2, Funny

Give it up. This is slashdot. They 3D print Stallman's dick here after spending a year fucking about with lashups like this story. Only to shove it up their ass.
What the fuck is a lashup?
Re:Should be standard by Joe_Dragon · 2013-05-07 06:17 · Score: 1

or it gets miss routed out side of the usa and you pay $15-$20+ a meg.
Re:Should be standard by ceoyoyo · 2013-05-07 09:09 · Score: 1

He could have put a $600 cell phone in the box. But instead he used a $20 breadboard setup he made. This is Slashdot. We used to admire that sort of thing around here.

Looks like a bomb... by ZiakII · 2013-05-07 03:41 · Score: 2, Interesting

I'm actually surprised this didn't get flagged as it looks like a bomb.

Re:Looks like a bomb... by Forge · 2013-05-07 03:49 · Score: 3, Insightful

I'm actually surprised this didn't get flagged as it looks like a bomb.
Bet it doesn't SMELL like a Bomb. (I.e. No fumes from the usual explosive or poisonus chemicals).

--
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
Re:Looks like a bomb... by dkleinsc · 2013-05-07 04:00 · Score: 1

Bedevere: How do you known it is a bomb?
Peasant: Well, it blew me to smithereens!
Bedevere: To smithereens?!
Peasant: I got better.

--
I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
Re:Looks like a bomb... by steelfood · 2013-05-07 04:13 · Score: 4, Funny

That's because it didn't have a countdown timer. Everybody knows it's only a bomb if there's a LCD readout of the time left to detonation.

--
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
Re:Looks like a bomb... by geoskd · 2013-05-07 04:20 · Score: 4, Insightful

I'm actually surprised this didn't get flagged as it looks like a bomb.
It does? What part? It just looks like a pile of electronics to me. Bombs have certain very specific characteristics: This has none of those characteristics. You don't happen to work for the TSA or anything do you?

--
I wish I had a good sig, but all the good ones are copyrighted
Re:Looks like a bomb... by djdanlib · 2013-05-07 04:26 · Score: 1

What do we do with packages?
DROP THEM!
Yes. But what else do we drop?
MORE PACKAGES!
Re:Looks like a bomb... by Princeofcups · 2013-05-07 04:43 · Score: 2

I'm actually surprised this didn't get flagged as it looks like a bomb.
That's US and UK you are thinking about. A lot of the rest of the world is still sane.

--
The only thing worse than a Democrat is a Republican.
Re:Looks like a bomb... by sethradio · 2013-05-07 04:48 · Score: 1

Shame.

--
"Nationalism is an infantile sickness. It is the measles of the human race." -Albert Einstein
Re:Looks like a bomb... by Bigby · 2013-05-07 05:18 · Score: 1

They could always classify it as a "bomb" so they can remove the camera and prosecute the sender as a terrorists. After all, they don't want cameras going through their workplace.

Tape? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-07 03:44 · Score: 1

Can someone tell that idiot that masking tape is not designed to hold things?

Re:Tape? by jones_supa · 2013-05-07 07:21 · Score: 1

This. Even for just temporary use, the whole thing is just horribly constructed.

God is their routing agent? by Thud457 · 2013-05-07 03:52 · Score: 4, Funny

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

Re:God is their routing agent? by davester666 · 2013-05-07 17:40 · Score: 1

Furbies believe in a god of some kind? Is that why they didn't write 'Atheist' on the shipping container?
"The God of all Furbies" would make an excellent article to read.

--
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
Re:God is their routing agent? by qute · 2013-05-08 03:37 · Score: 1

It's in Denmark. 90% of the people here are Atheists :-)
The 10% don't make too much noise about what 90% think is fairy tales :-)
Except the Muslims that from time to time try to kill people for blasphemy :-(

--
-- Make software not war
Re:God is their routing agent? by Maritz · 2013-05-10 08:39 · Score: 1

Except the Muslims that from time to time try to kill people for blasphemy :-(
Yeah don't worry they do that with everyone.

--
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.

I thought this was interesting by k6mfw · 2013-05-07 03:53 · Score: 2

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

Re:I thought this was interesting by Firethorn · 2013-05-07 04:09 · Score: 1

One of the things I would have done is had at least 2 cameras. Preferably 4 or even 6. Still, it doesn't look like he mailed it far, so it's possible that he simply mailed it a few times until he got sufficient footage.

--
I don't read AC A human right
Re:I thought this was interesting by ninjacheeseburger · 2013-05-07 04:47 · Score: 1

It's one of those videos where it sounds like a really cool idea then you watch it and it's like what did I expect? Parcel goes to depot. Parcel is sorted. Parcel is delivered.
Re:I thought this was interesting by camperdave · 2013-05-07 06:29 · Score: 2

But weren't you just waiting for it to go down one of those spiral slides off of the conveyor belt... and then it did! Oh! The excitement!.

--
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!

Hmmm by Big+Hairy+Ian · 2013-05-07 03:56 · Score: 5, Insightful

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.

Re:Hmmm by Tablizer · 2013-05-07 04:34 · Score: 1

The camera only caught the feet of the worker who tossed it in the trash. The only clue was that he was wearing Jesus Shoes.

--
Table-ized A.I.
Re:Hmmm by Odin's+Raven · 2013-05-07 14:06 · Score: 1

Can we get the guys at Atheist Shoes to do the same :)

I know, I know - somewhere out there some wannabe genious is chortling to themselves saying "Silly /.er, won't the only cameras they get back be the ones in boxes that were actually delivered? If the box goes missing, the camera inside the box will also go missing!"
Fie upon such notions, I say - fie! This is what your so-called "classical" physics leads young and impressionable minds to believe. Alas, the sorry state of education these days. Woe unto you, sad people with your childish "linear time" and "cause and effect" view of the world. Truly, I weep for the youth of today.
As anyone with even a cursory understanding of quantum mechanics knows (and I speak from experience, for I myself am possessed of a quite cursory understanding of QM), once a package has entered the US Postal system, it can only be described in quantum mechanical terms. True, once it has been delivered you can ascertain its position, thereby collapsing its waveform. But prior to delivery, packages are in a superposition - simultaneously both potentially deliverable and potentially lost. Until the package is observed by the recipient, it's impossible to say with certainty what its current state is. It may be on the delivery truck on its way to your house. It might still be at the post office, possibly propping open the door to the break room for a week or two. It may have fallen out of an airplane in a freak decompression incident and landed in a corn field in Kansas. Oh poor limited "classical" minds - your package either "lost" or "delivered". Marvel at the vast vistas of non-delivery available to the quantumly trained! Our undelivered packages exist in an infinite array of intrigue and adventure, potentially scaling Everest, going 10 rounds in bare-knuckled fisticuffs with a half-man half-shark mutant, sitting under a pine tree at the Time's Square Macey's Christmas display window - all these and more, before potentially appearing on our doorsteps.
Still, there remains the so-called "Atheist Shoe Paradox" - how do you track the journey of a camera in a box when the box has yet to be delivered? Again, with a cursory understanding of quantum mechanics, the answer is obvious. One camera is insufficient. You need two cameras. And two cats. Cats, as we all know, have special quantum mechanical properties. So, attach a camera to the collar of each cat. Next, vigorously rub the cats together, so that they become quantumly entangled. (If they are long-haired cats, they may also become physically entangled, which is undesirable - based on my own experience, I recommend sticking with short-haired felines for quantum experimentation.) Place one cat in the shoebox, seal it (but remember airholes!), and bring it to the Post Office. The second cat remains at your home. (Or, given the possessive nature of cats, you now remain at the cat's new home.) Since the cats were quantumly entangled while wearing cameras, you can now use the camera on your resident cat to view the pictures taken by the camera on the shoebox cat. Voila! Paradox avoided and problem solved.
Solutions like this come from thinking outside the box, even if what you're thinking about is inside a box.

--
A marriage is always made up of two people who are prepared to swear that only the other one snores.

Re:Old news... by ganjadude · 2013-05-07 04:01 · Score: 4, Insightful

you do know not everyone reads every site on the web right?

--
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same

It's been done before by nani+popoki · 2013-05-07 04:20 · Score: 1

The camera arrived broken.

Re:Old news... by Guru80 · 2013-05-07 04:29 · Score: 1

I remember when these comments use to be insightful....7 years ago. Now it's just the same old comment rehashed over and over again by AC. The only difference among posts are the sites referenced as being the source of all /. news.

Re:Old news... by FilmedInNoir · 2013-05-07 04:32 · Score: 3, Funny

Well SlashDot's motto use to be "News for Nerds"... now it's blank? Maybe it should be "Vaguely geeky stuff that happened at some point."

--
Sig. Sig. Sputnik

Re:MOD ME DOWN!!! by hierophanta · 2013-05-07 04:34 · Score: 1, Troll

If ya dont like this site, or if it isnt meeting your needs what the hell is keep you here?

the fact that /. posts news that might be 2 days old is EXPECTED. that is what a new aggregation site DOES. its not like OP is complaining about months old stories (although that happens here too). what OP wrote is a step down from, 'i just read this in a journal, you guys are so out dated. look at me, i was cool before cool was cool. '

Neat video, bad idea by GodfatherofSoul · 2013-05-07 04:36 · Score: 2

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!

Re:Neat video, bad idea by twistofsin · 2013-05-07 15:40 · Score: 1

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 imagine you'd know where the most strategic place to bomb the mail sorters is, because i'ts not going any further then that.
Re:Neat video, bad idea by adolf · 2013-05-07 17:26 · Score: 1

Also: Because nobody has thought of this before.

--
Kid-proof tablet..

Re:Old news... by bill_mcgonigle · 2013-05-07 04:51 · Score: 2

And yet somehow we all know that Slashdot is becoming more irrelevant. Weird.

For something timeless like this story I don't really care that it's been posted elsewhere (what is that anyway, aspie or OCD?). I find Slashdot to be a reasonable filter of interesting items, so I keep looking at it and I skip stories I've seen elsewhere.

But at the same time, adding and deleting friends has been mostly broken for at least 5 months. Multiple bug reports and no response or fix - it's not clear to me that there's anybody at Slashdot other than those approving stories.

Did they all get told to go try out Dice.com? If nobody is there, its continued existence isn't in question, it's simply a matter of when. Systems need maintenance to continue to function. I hope that's not the case.

--
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)

Re:Old news... by bughunter · 2013-05-07 04:55 · Score: 1

The news that /. is not always timely is old news.

So that would be meta-old-news?

--
I can see the fnords!

No Pi? by sethradio · 2013-05-07 04:56 · Score: 2

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

Re:No Pi? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-07 05:24 · Score: 2, Insightful

Sure, makes perfect sense to use something more expensive, unnecessarily powerful and with worse power consumption...
Oh wait. It runs linux...
Re:No Pi? by ArcadeMan · 2013-05-07 06:18 · Score: 1

I wonder if he could have used a bare ATmega328P instead of a costly Arduino.

--
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins

Royksopp would be more appropriate soundtrack by mapkinase · 2013-05-07 04:57 · Score: 1

Royksopp would be more appropriate soundtrack

--
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.

Re:Royksopp would be more appropriate soundtrack by Algae_94 · 2013-05-07 06:28 · Score: 1

How do you figure. Royksopp is Norwegian. Unless you had a specific song in mind.

Dutch? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-07 05:07 · Score: 1

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

Re:GPS? by femtobyte · 2013-05-07 05:11 · Score: 2, Insightful

They just seem to cost more because the USPS being funded by taxes!

That would be a great point, besides the fact that it's blatantly false. The USPS is funded by the revenues they make from their sales --- despite being a constitutionally authorized government function, required to provide service even to unprofitable distant rural residents.

US Religious Caveat by ThatsNotPudding · 2013-05-07 05:13 · Score: 1

Make sure the package does not have 'Atheist' writtten on it: http://boingboing.net/2013/03/26/boxes-sealed-with-atheist-tape.html

Danish postal service by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-07 05:50 · Score: 2, Informative

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.

Camera angle? by The+Great+Pretender · 2013-05-07 06:00 · Score: 1

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.

Re:Old news... by camperdave · 2013-05-07 06:10 · Score: 1

you do know not everyone reads every site on the web right?

Then what do they do with their time?

--
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!

Misread by wonkey_monkey · 2013-05-07 06:18 · Score: 1

I read:

Boy With Hidden Camera Travels Through the Mail

Now that's a story.

--
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.

Re:Old news... by Algae_94 · 2013-05-07 06:19 · Score: 1

My critical reading skills must suck. This is the first I noticed that the "News for Nerds" byline is gone. Damn, now countless comments about why an article is on Slashdot will no longer be needed. Which means we'll probably see an increase in the number of "this is old news" comments to make up for it.

Direct link to the video. by antdude · 2013-05-07 06:37 · Score: 3, Informative

https://vimeo.com/59693471

--
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).

Re:This side up? by jones_supa · 2013-05-07 07:31 · Score: 1

I guess some of that could be explained with editing.

Just another everyday miracle by mendax · 2013-05-07 10:55 · Score: 1

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.

Duct tape. by HornWumpus · 2013-05-07 11:25 · Score: 1

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'

Re:GPS? by HornWumpus · 2013-05-07 11:31 · Score: 1

Having a dying business pre-fund it's pensions is only sane and the 75 year number is just BS. Nobody (a tiny statistical tail) is earning a pension that far out.

--
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'

Slashdot Mirror

Box With Hidden Camera Travels Through the Mail

91 of 136 comments (clear)