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'Never Miss Another Delivery' - if You Have a TrackPIN (Video)
The company is called TrackPIN, as is the product. Its creator, Mark Hall, showed it off at CES. Timothy pointed his camcorder at Mark as he explained how his product would let you get package deliveries safely when you aren't home by giving the UPS or FedEx (or other) delivery person access to your garage, as well as letting in selected people like your maid, your plumber, and possibly an aquarium cleaner. Each one can have a private, one-time PIN number that will actuate your garage door opener through the (~$250) TrackPIN keypad and tell your smartphone or other net-connected device that your garage was just opened, and by whom. You might even call this, "One small step for package delivery; a giant leap forward for the Internet of Things." Except those of us who don't have garages (not to mention electric garage door openers) may want to skip today's video; the TrackPIN isn't meant for the likes of us. (Alternate Video Link)
I have been home when delivery services have claimed to have attempted delivery
There's no fix for incompetence
Really? This needs to be said?
For people that live in an urban environment - you have this thing called NEIGHBORS. I bet you $100 there is a stay at home person within 2 blocks of anyone living in a city. Befriend them. Be nice to them. Chances are they are bored. It's the ethical thing to do. They will gladly accept your package.
For people that live in a rural environment. Leave it on the back porch. If you don't have a neighbor to receive it, then that means likely there is no one to steal it.
n/t
You'll still need to sign for your packages. UPS / FedEx leave packages on my doorstep already when I'm not home. This is alot like the MyQ system (Chamberlain & Liftmaster). You can open your garage door from your phone.
Joseph Elwell.
A brand new attack vector for getting into people's houses. But of course, that won't happen b/c vendors will make sure there aren't any security bugs.
Two thoughts:
1) How do you get the one-time TrackPIN to the UPS guy before the fact?
2) Way back when the milkman delivered his eponymous product, there was a small "airlock" built into many houses, with doors open both to the outside and the in. Some sort of mechanism could be developed so as to deliver the package from the airlock to the house.
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
So instead of the package getting stolen they steal the package and everything in your garage.
I have this new invention called a deck box on my front porch. Works really well and doesn't give anyone access to my entire garage. At worst, a thief might get the package, but nothing else. And just having the package out of sight from the street will deter the vast majority of thieves unless they actually witness the delivery.
No need for the internet of things to do this. The standard garage door pad for the last 10 years allows both PINs that work N number of times or for N hours.
And you can put one of these keypads on nearly any garage door opener built since 1993!
The problem with this idea is that the UPS guy that comes by and throws your package at the stoop from 7 feet away is not going to take the time to enter a PIN, wait for the garage door to open, put the package in and then enter it again to close the garage door.
If you want packages put in your house securely while you're away you're going to need a drop box like a night depository. They might use that with enough hounding.
they have about a second to drop off a package unless it needs a signature. they aren't going to open and close your garage and their employer won't allow them to take on the liability of having the door left open
"Timothy pointed his camcorder at Mark as he explained how his product would..."
Why is this included in a summary? If he pointed a Tricorder ok, I can see how that could be News for Nerds worthy, but this is just pointless.
A paid advertisement disguised as a news story, this stuff matters.
Or a pet door or a cut-out door in the garage door. Works same way, can be locked without a key, but needs a key to open.
Far less complex, as reliable, and added bonus: The body you have hidden in the freezer in the garage would not be accidentally discovered by the deliveryman. (Note to self. Should cut down on watching Investigation Discovery shows.)
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
If I trust someone enough to be in my house unattended, I don't need this product.
And I guess it's a personal PIN number too?
Welcome, new press release copy/pasting "editor".
Parcel Lockers as implemented by Australia Post seem like a more practical option. They're sort of like post office boxes but your parcel is placed in any one of the lockers and you're sent a one-time PIN number to unlock the particular locker your parcel is in.
I just have my packages delivered to the office. Doesn't matter if I have a garage or not and it's super safe.
2) Way back when the milkman delivered his eponymous product, there was a small "airlock" built into many houses, with doors open both to the outside and the in. Some sort of mechanism could be developed so as to deliver the package from the airlock to the house.
I was thinking along these lines. If you are really concerned, why not get some kind of box that you can drop packages into. Like mailboxes on the street which is large enough for whatever package you wish to receive. Or, why not just a larger slot on your door/wall.
Sometimes, eStartup Inc. comes up with way too complicated approaches to simple problems but think it is genius because it has $technology attached to it.
And then /. has to have an engadget-style story about it. At least Reddit would downvote this so I'd never see it.
*come back tacoooooo*
I had a garage door opener with this feature 15 years ago. You could set a keypad PIN that worked for openings, or hours. No smartphone required. What exactly is the point of this new gadget?
Just use the UPS Store like everyone else....
Alternatively you have the catch-22 where you ordered your $250 dumb idea ... but you are never home to receive delivery of said dumb idea.
1) You could use the last 4 digits of the package tracking number as the delivery driver's PIN, and tell him or her what to do in a note stuck to your front door.
I think they need to have a Capcha as well so the delivery person can prove he's a human not an autonomous drone. Make him do a mathc problem to compute the number.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
A few Christmases ago we, and our neighbors, had a lot of parcels stolen from our doorsteps - it's a pretty common thing, people follow delivery trucks and take what was left, if caught they can always say they're delivering it.
Anyway, we got a mail box at the local UPS, which I think is a seperate franchise to the delivery side, and part of the service is that they accept & sign for parcels. So we don't have to wait in for deliveries or risk having something stolen or broken as it's thrown down the driveway.
i won't need to hire movers if i get the right delivery guy
Remember kids, if you're not paying for the service, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT THAT IS BEING SOLD.
Where the government is phasing out home mail delivery in favour of "Community Mailboxes"... so now I have to go to the big box in order to collect my frequent junk-mail and occasional important stuff.
Probably a lot of responses will say that the delivery guy never comes up to the door, and probably a lot of them are right, but whatever helps. Some local friends had problems with delivery people knocking too quietly, maybe intentionally, who knows. They put up a sign on their door saying "Knock like this door is everyone who ever wronged you", and suddenly delivery people actually make noise! The novelty factor probably helps more than anything else.
Seriously, with stuff like this, the whole "Internet of Things," and whatnot, I feel like it's every day that I see some new product or service blaring about how awesome and convenient it is. Except we're at the point, in our relatively advanced and spoiled society, where there is very little that is so damned inconvenient that it requires a tech-based solution. "Convenience saturation" or something like that.
Oh, and if Slashdot is going to be advertising shit, at least advertise breakthrough products. This is a "meh" at best on the "gobsmacking tech inventions" scale.
I've been assured that the future is here, the game has changed. We'll either have drones delivering stuff to us wherever we are, or just download stuff directly to our 3D printers at home.
One time is all that's needed for someone's friend to stay behind and clean out your house.
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
Sorry, Schalage already ate all the the cheese dip.
http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UT...
In addition to the Z-Wave solutions (coupled with iVera for mobile access / refined control including locking and unlocking your door from anywhere) there are tons of existing WiFi, programmable and god why do I still comment on slashdot seriously I'm typing and I can't muster any more smug I'll probably run out of steam midsente..
- Holy crap, I've got MOD points! Who thought that was a good idea.
It's sad that you don't know your neighbors enough to simply get them to accept a package for you.
Why not buy a small gift and go introduce yourself.
Front Desk attendant gets and signs for all my packages. I can't understand why single family house is still the American Dream.
--AC
If I wanted to interact with people, I would shop locally. What's the point of buying online if you have to wait for delivery *and* also interact with someone?
I don't even know who my next door neighbors are, much less everyone in a two block radius.
Basically the big innovation here is just parsing the email to set the code automatically. But as a result you have worse security, because the PIN is only 3 digits (always ends #), and it's the tracking number so the sender knows it as well. If I want to break into your house, I just send you some UPS package and then use the last three digits of the tracking number to get in.
Hey startup dweebs, UPS offers free hold and pickup at UPS stores now (used to cost $5). There goes your bubbly dreams of billions LOL
Carmaker Volvo and shippers Bring has an interesting pilot underway in Gothenburg, Sweden. The Bring guy gets the GPS coordinates of your car and a one-time pass to open its trunk. You toil away at work, break for lunch and chat with your co-workers in your usual way. Meanwhile Bring delivers your package to your car. http://www.fastcocreate.com/30...
Literally the most excessive use of the word literally I've ever seen. Will literally not support this concept on those literal grounds alone.
So now I have to give random people people I interact with additional incentives to do their jobs? Let's see how far we can go with this kind of philosophy. How about I just move to some corrupt shithole where handing out grease money when you want anything done is a day-to-day necessity.