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USPS patches API flaw that exposed data on 60 million users (update)
The United States Postal Service reportedly patched an API exploit on Wednesday that would allow anyone with a USPS.com account to view other users' account details. The security flaw impacted some 60 million USPS users.
France is the first to use drones for its national mail service
It's no longer surprising to see postal services experimenting with delivering mail using drones. However, France is kicking things up a notch: its national mail service will be the first to deliver packages by drone on a regular route. DPDgroup, the express courier subsidiary of the mail service, is running a test program where a hexacopter drone (not shown here) will carry packages up to 6.6 pounds along a 9.3-mile route in France's southern Provence region.
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.
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.
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]
Adgadget: Apple - flattered and photocopied
We're pleased to introduce a new column today, Adgadget, a periodic editorial by Ariel Waldman about the advertising behind consumer technology: Functioning to flatter, Apple's marketing department continues to imitate their inspiration. While a bit lack-luster, Apple's recent commercial for the up and coming iPhone is a far cry from the originality of the product itself. As some may have seen, it was soon found that the iPhone commercial that had originally aired during the Oscars was a cut and dry ripoff of a film that had come out more than a decade earlier. While seemingly scandalous, this incident was no coincidence. Apple had approached the filmmaker earlier for permission to use the concept; no stranger to being turned down -- and similarly to the battle with Cisco over the very name of the product -- Apple went ahead and used it anyway. This time the muse happens to be experimental artist / musician Christian Marclay, who in 1995 produced Telephones, an abstract film of absurd and fragmented conversations cut up from phone scenes in movies. The film focused to comment on the relationship between sound and image by way of video; intrigued by the phone-movie mashup, Apple approached Marclay to use his work. Marclay, of course, refused Apple's advances, but Apple took advantage anyway. Since asking the source had short-circuited, Apple instead took to using extremely similar footage, making the iPhone commercial nothing short of a complete color copy of Telephones.Reminiscent of the earlier Intel chip commercial outcry that clearly ripped out scenes from Postal Service's "Such Great Heights" music video, content confiscation is nothing new to Apple. There was also the iPod incident in 2005, where blogs everywhere threw up screen grabs and expressed shock over the extreme similarity between the then recent Eminem iPod commercial and a Lugz commercial from 4 years before. But it wasn't always this way.
Have Mario send your mail (via stamps from Japan)
Sure, old Mario has been known to paint, play professional sports, and even do some actual plumbing work on occasion, but he'll soon be able to power your mail through the postal service in the Far East.10-stamp sheets of 80 Yen stamps are now available for pre-order in Japan, where gaming otakus will soon be able to adorn their snail mail with the likes of goombas, magic mushrooms, and mustachioed men. The set will be out next month.Has the government of a country like the US ever done anything this official to honor one of the icons of gaming? Perhaps when we have avid gaming advocates in Congress -- or even, dare we say, in the White House -- things will look a little different with game legislation proposals and the postage of unwanted junk mail.[Via GameBrink]See also: French stamps to feature video game icons (Super) Mario Bros. question mark and POW block speakers
Actress talks to gamer about WoW dedication
The guys at LiquidGeneration went a step beyond stalking an actress and actually scored an interview with the WoW-playing USPS ad girl.Felicia Day is best known in TV circles as the potential slayer "Vi" during the final season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but she also found a bit of notoriety as "Angie," the USPS-usin' woman for a Postal Service ad campaign. All we're interested in, of course, is her love of Ultima VII, Link (over Mario and Undead Warlocks), and 5 man Strat runs for her Level 60 Gnome Warlock.Maybe it's not the greatest revelation since Dave Chappelle showed some knowledge of the MMO, but many male gamers still manage to find a way of expressing shock that a beautiful woman (especially one who's found a measure of success in Hollywood) enjoys an online raid or two. We're just glad that an actress is willing to be upfront about her love of games--even she sometimes uses it to avoid talking about bad auditions.[Thanks, James]
Even more Postal Service/Apple Intel Ad drama: Apple 'censors' Postal Service video
The above image is from a side by side comparison of the Postal Service's video for 'Such Great Heights,' to itself done by Elite Productions. It compares the video as it is seen on the iTMS (on the left) and in 'wild.' You'll notice that the video from the iTunes Music store has the words 'Skyworks' blurred out. Some have called this an Apple conspiracy, saying that Apple wasn't content to steal the video contents, but they had to screw with the video itself.The real answer, I am sure, rests with the fact that 'Skyworks' is a registered trademark of Skyworks Solutions, Inc which is a 'leader in radio solutions and precision analog semiconductors servicing a diversified set of mobile communications customers,' to quote their website.No conspiracy, just Apple legal avoiding another fight.Update: Thanks to ian who points out that 'Skyworks' is blurred out on Sub pop's website as well (Subpop being the Postal Services 'label,' as folks in the industry call it). Therefore, it is clear that Apple digitized the video like this, and it was Subpop's legal department that called for the blurring of the registered trademark.
Apple Intel ad a ripoff of Star Trek First Contact?
I don't want to add fire to the Postal Service/Apple Intel ad controversy, but a keen eyed observer notes that the Postal Service video is a ripoff of a scene in Star Trek: First Contact, therefore Apple isn't just ripping off a rock and roll band but a cultural icon.Now, before you firing your commenting fingers please note that this is a joke, and an attempt to point out how ridiculous this whole issue has gotten. Now you make feel free to flame me all you like.
The Postal Service speaks about Intel Ad
Who would have thought that the most controversial thing to come out of Macworld would be the commercial that Apple produced to hawk the idea of Intel inside Macs? Certainly not this pundit, though I also didn't think that iPod would sell, and I thought the Cube would be a hit.It seems that the one of the members of the Postal Service, a fellow by the name of Ben Gibbard has posted the following notice on the Postal Service's website: It has recently come to our attention that Apple Computers' new television commercial for the Intel chip features a shot-for-shot recreation of our video for 'Such Great Heights' made by the same filmmakers responsible for the original. We did not approve this commercialization and are extremely disappointed with both parties that this was executed without our consultation or consent. -Ben Gibbard, The Postal ServiceI thought all was forgiven because Apple is featuring their video in the iTunes Music Store, but apparently not so much. What's next, a lawsuit of some kind?Thanks, Rally.
Apple & The Postal Service: Friends
Oh, what were we all so worried about? Consider the whole "controversy" (if you want to call it that) surrounding Apple's latest Intel ad and The Postal Service's video for the song Such Great Heights to be water under the bridge. As a number of our eagle-eyed readers have pointed out, the band's video is now for sale in the iTunes Music Store [link], with a big graphic on the store's front page.Don't you love it when things work out?
Apple Intel ad not so original?
Leander Kahney reports that Apple new Intel ad that is getting all sort of love from Mac fan everywhere, might have been done before and not by Apple. It seems that the Postal Service (a rock and roll band that the kids are listening to) has a video for 'Such Great Heights' which bears an uncanny resemblance to the Apple ad.Leander has a link to the video for you to compare and contrast.
