PackageTracking
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Amazon Key in-garage deliveries are available for Prime customers
Those wary of package thieves can now add an extra measure of security to their home. Amazon is officially launching its Key in-garage delivery service, which it began testing in 37 US cities earlier this year. Now, Amazon's Key service, including Key for Garage, is available for Prime customers in 50 US cities. The service is intended for customers with a myQ smart garage door opener, which allows you to open and close your garage door with your smartphone. You can now give Amazon couriers access to your garage, which allows them to place your packages securely inside.
Police are using fake Amazon boxes with GPS to catch thieves
'Tis the season for tons of Amazon packages arriving at your doorstep, but nothing puts a damper on the holidays like having one stolen. Police in Jersey City have been setting up fake Amazon boxes on doorsteps in order to catch thieves, according to the Associated Press. Law enforcement has installed doorbell cameras at homes where the sting operations are set up and rigged the packages with GPS tracking devices to catch the criminals.
Shopify’s Arrive app tracks your online orders on a live map
Now that Amazon's smart-home-synced delivery service is unlocking doors for parcel drop-offs, we never have to worry about missing packages again. For anyone freaked out by the idea of a stranger entering their pad, there's Shopify Arrive for iOS: A free app that taps in to your email e-receipts to provide online-order tracking from over 400 carriers. All the big guns are present, including UPS, USPS, FedEX, DHL, Canada Post, and Amazon -- which should come in handy for those awaiting multiple items (it is the frantic holiday season, after all).
USPS made an ornament that displays package tracking updates (updated)
Shipping presents to loved ones during the busy holiday months can be a stressful endeavor, but the US Postal Service is testing something new this year that puts a seasonal spin on the task. Officially called "The Most Wonderful Ornament," the Christmas decoration changes color as the the status of your package is updated. When your package is out for delivery, the ornament lights up blue. Red means the box has been dropped off and green will glow when the recipient has opened it.
5 apps for tracking a package
A few of you recently ordered an iPad. Now, the obsessive calendar-watching begins. How can April 3rd seem so far away? Satisfy your need for up-to-the-second notification of your iPad's whereabouts with one of these package tracking apps for the iPhone and iPod touch. Delivery Status Touch (US$2.99) is my personal choice. It supports more than 25 delivery services, like FedEx, UPS, DHL, and the good old USPS. Additionally, there's built-in tracking for packages coming from Amazon, Adobe and, of course, Apple. You can track several packages at once, and the main screen lists each at launch, sorted by color-coded listings. Shipments are accompanied by a big countdown to the delivery date. Once your goodie gets close, you can bring up a map and watch it approach. Finally, push notifications will satisfy even the least patient among us.
FedEx Senseaware tracks everything about your package, probably causes OCD
What do you get when you throw cellular and GPS radios in with an accelerometer, a thermometer and a light sensor? If you answered a decently featured phone, you'd be almost right. FedEx has concocted the above tracker to be able to tell you everything about the package it's in -- if it has been opened, dropped, outside of temperature range, or insufficiently loved by its deliverator. The GPS and cellular signals are used to provide a real time position, and all that data is fed through a web platform for the increasingly obsessive sender to monitor. It is now being deployed with 50 medical clients -- who actually have a use for all the intel -- and once production ramps up and economies of scale kick in, the opening price of $120 a month is expected to drop rapidly. You can expect the Senseaware tracker to show up worldwide some time next year.
"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]
