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USPS expects to only buy electric delivery vehicles starting in 2026
The United States Postal Service said it plans to buy more than 66,000 electric vehicles by the end of 2028. Those include at least 45,000 electric Next Generation Delivery Vehicles.
USPS will start selling James Webb Space Telescope stamps on August 8th
The US Postal Service will start selling James Webb Space Telescope stamps next month.
UK's Royal Mail aims to open up to 50 drone routes for rural deliveries
The postal service started testing autonomous deliveries last year.
The USPS is doubling its order of next-gen electric mail trucks
After initially ordering just 5,000 all-electric models of its next-gen postal truck, the USPS has now doubled that number to just over 10,000 vehicles.
USPS won't be buying more electric mail trucks, despite EPA pleas
The USPS is moving forward with plans to spend $11.3 billion on a fleet of next-generation mail trucks that mostly run on gas, despite requests from the EPA and Biden administration to electrify its new vehicles instead.
The US Postal Service secretly tested a blockchain mobile voting system
The US Postal Service has revealed that it tested a blockchain mobile voting system before the 2020 election.
UK postal service tests autonomous drone deliveries to remote islands
The Royal Mail will deliver parcels using drones to the Scilly Isles as part of a government-backed trial.
USPS will stop removing mail-sorting machines until after the election
There are no plans to reinstate machines that have already been taken offline.
NVIDIA's AI will help USPS handle packages 10 times faster
The US Postal Service (USPS) delivers an estimated 146 billion pieces of mail annually, including 6 billion packages. In an attempt to process package data more efficiently, USPS is experimenting with AI. Today, NVIDIA announced that it will provide USPS with its AI tech. NVIDIA claims its system will process package data 10-times faster and with higher accuracy.
Engadget Daily: US Postal Service hacked, Obama on net neutrality and more!
If it wasn't already apparent, the battle for net neutrality is far from over. Today, President Obama released a YouTube video promoting a free internet and the reception was, well, mixed. That's not all we have on deck though -- read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last 24 hours, including the US Postal Service's data breach, a sandbox that make music, and a rocket-powered bike that puts a Ferrari to shame.
Daily iPad App: Owney: Tales from the Rails captures a piece of American history
Did you know that the US Postal Service has a mascot and you can visit him at the National Postal Museum in Washington, DC? To learn more about this little-known piece of American history, you should install the Owney: Tales from the Rails app on your iPad. Developed by the Smithsonian, the Tales from the Rails app is an illustrated story about Owney, the post office dog that traveled around the world with the mail. It goes into great detail (69-pages long) about Owney and his many adventures that span almost ten years. The story is narrated by country music artist and actor Trace Adkins and is accompanied by a pleasant music track that draws you into the story. It's a family-friendly tale that's definitely geared for kids, but parents, who have never heard the story of Owney, will enjoy reading the digital book along with their children. Owney: Tales from the Rails is available for free from the iOS App Store.
USPS goes postal on lithium ion batteries, refuses to ship smartphones overseas
The USPS has announced that it'll refuse to ship any gear containing lithium ion batteries overseas. The postal service believes combusting power packs have caused two fatal cargo plane crashes since 2006 -- hence the ban, which takes effect from May 16th. Anyone wishing to ship the latest tech to those living or serving overseas will have to use another shipping company -- although the ban might be relaxed in 2013, once safety testing has been carried out.
The Daily Grind: Do you mix up game mechanics?
The other day I was chatting with an EverQuest II guildmate who was looking to mail some resources to my crafting character. Save your coin, I told her, and I'll just come pick up the stacks of mats since they numbered close to 200. She raised a quizzical eyebrow and asked me in no uncertain terms what the heck I was talking about, as EQII charges a flat 50 copper per mail no matter how many items are attached. I've played so many fantasy games over the years -- a fair few of which up the postal charges depending on the quantity and rarity of your attachments -- that I had forgotten how user-friendly EQII's implementation really was. Today's Daily Grind is all about similar senior moments. Do you or have you played a lot of similar MMORPGs, and do you occasionally mix up their mechanics? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Real-life mailbox mod tells your iPhone when you've got snail mail (video)
Do you spend your days desperately awaiting credit card bills, coupons to Pizza Hut, and reminders from your dentist's office that it's time for another cleaning? We've pared down our dependence on USPS, but for those who still get physical communications of note, Make has developed an Arduino-based mailbox mod that sends push notifications when the post is in. Back in 2005, we saw a clunky device called POSTIN that did much the same thing. Thankfully, this system doesn't require an extra gadget, instead it sends messages straight to your iPhone. The postal alert system uses a snap-action switch, connected to an Arduino sensor, to signal when your mailbox is opened. A piece of code waits for the signal and then requests a URL from a PHP-enabled server, pushing an alert to your cellphone using the Prowl iPhone app. Die-hard USPS fans can check out the instructional video after the jump.
The Road to Mordor: The Professor
This past week on January 3rd, J.R.R. Tolkien celebrated his 118th birthday -- or rather, we celebrated it for him. Tolkien was born in South Africa in 1892 and lived a rich and full life, from fighting in the first World War to working on the Oxford English Dictionary to taking a position at several universities that would earn him the nickname "The Professor." He is, of course, most well-remembered for his seminal works of fantasy -- The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion -- although his writings didn't end there. Due to Tolkien's love of nature, linguistics, and mythology, his creations were born out of comprehensive backgrounds and rich histories, which he seemed to love making up just as much as the stories themselves. For years now, Tolkien fans around the world have remembered his birthday by raising a glass on his birthday and giving a simple toast, "The Professor," at 9:00 p.m. wherever they lived. Likewise, in Lord of the Rings Online, many players gathered at their tavern of choice to do the same. Today I thought I'd remember the Professor in a slightly different way by exploring the quest chain "Missing the Meeting." While it's not completely overt if you happened to come across it, "Missing the Meeting" is a tribute to J.R.R. Tolkien and his life, and it's worth going through at least once if you want to pay homage and get a nifty token by which to remember him.
GameFly files further complaints against US Postal Service
Back in April, video game rental service GameFly filed a formal complaint against the United States Postal Service for supposedly offering preferential treatment and care to Netflix and Blockbuster parcels, and none to its equally fragile mailers. Now, GameFly is petitioning for information relating to "Netflix-only" drop boxes present in certain post offices. Though the USPS filed a directive to employees two years ago mandating that these boxes be taken down to avoid legal ramifications, GameFly presented photo evidence of Netflix slots remaining in two California post offices. GameFly has also continued its original complaint, claiming parcels from larger DVD rental services were being manually sorted to prevent damage and breakage. The USPS responded with a curt "all DVD mailers are not equal," and suggested that GameFly update its disc packaging to better protect its product. When asked for comment on the complaint, a GameFly representative said, "Unfortunately, we cannot comment as it is a legal matter." [Update: For visual aid, we've received the above image from a reader whose post office most certainly does sort Netflix and Blockbuster DVDs separately. He said they don't include GameFly DVDs because the rate at which encounter them "is much lower." Well, look at that.] [Via GamePolitics]
Postcards from the EDGE network
Two new apps both provide the same service to iPhone users -- sending postcards to U.S. addresses from your iPhone. I'm not talking about virtual electronic postcards; instead, these are real postcards that are printed at a location near your recipient's address, then delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. All you need to provide is a photo taken by your iPhone, the address(es) of the recipient(s), a personalized message, and a credit card number.The two programs are both free, although there is a cost to send those postcards. Continue reading this post to learn more about Go Postal and TapTap Cards.
Chrysler aims to produce all-electric USPS pimpmobiles... er, minivans
Have a look at that sweet piece up above and just imagine your mail being carted around inside. Go ahead, we'll wait. If Chrysler has its druthers (and stays afloat long enough to make good on its good intentions), it'll soon be producing a fleet of all-electric Town and Country minivans for the United States Postal Service. The automaker has voiced its plans to apply for a federal grant in order to get things moving, though it will be looking to utility companies Duke Energy and ConEd to make it all come together. If all goes well, the vans produced will have a range of around 40 miles, though it's expected that they will have a gasoline-powered motor on board in case that last overnight package requires just a few more miles. 'Course, there's no guarantee that the application will result in a grant, but for all those who appreciate comedy, we can only hope it flies though in record time.
GPS Letter Logger promises to keep tabs on mail
It looks like the United States Postal Service is considering all its options for how it handles mail in the future, with it even go so far as to commission a GPS tracking system from TrackingTheWorld Inc. Among other things, the USPS apparently required the system to be able to report the position of a piece of mail at customizable time intervals, record down time, and interface with Google Earth, not to mention fit in a standard size envelope. From the looks of it, it appears that TrackingTheWorld managed to meet all those considerations, producing a system that's just a quarter of an inch thick and the size of a tri-folded piece of paper. What's more, the system also boasts a microSD card slot that allows for "future extended tracking missions," and it includes a slim 1100mAh battery that promises to last for 20 hours in a timed configuration, or up to two weeks in "tilt mode," which only kicks the system into gear when a tilting movement is detected. According to the company, the so-called "Letter Logger" should be ready by February of next year, although it obviously won't be available to the general public. You can always build your own mail tracking system though.
"Spy Box" records journey through the postal system
We've always wondered what happens to a package when we drop it off at the post office -- and having received our share of oddly damaged parcels has only heightened the mystery. British artist Tim Knowles was similarly curious, and his latest piece, "Spy Box," is a clever attempt to document the journey the box took from his studio to a nearby gallery. Knowles rigged a camera inside the box to take a photo out of a small hole every ten seconds, and stitched the resulting 6,994 photos together to make a short movie of the box's 19-hour journey. The end result isn't too thrilling -- the box is in a room! The box is in the dark! The box is in another room! -- but it's still pretty interesting. Peep a short clip at the read link.[Via Switched]
