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Catch cack-handed baggage handlers in the act with Ericsson's SPY SUITCASE

Nice idea - now where do I pack my Y-fronts?

Do you ever get the feeling that your luggage is having a better time than you on long-haul flights? An indulgence from Ericsson's engineers could let you know for sure.

The Ericsson security suitcase has what is effectively a mobile phone built into it which monitors where it is and what is going on around it. If baggage handlers throw the bag around, it will record excessive g-forces using its built-in accelerometers. If it gets wet, too hot, too cold or lost, there are additional sensors in the case to grass up the airline.

Like the Trakdot, it will let you know when it’s abroad and you are not. There is a leash function so that if the suitcase goes out of range of your phone an alarm sounds, both on the phone and on the case. This is ideal if, for example, you nip into a restaurant while travelling with your luggage.

I'd better buy one of these

A camera in the case can serve as a webcam to keep an eye on your hotel room while you are out – or to create the dullest videos of aircraft baggage holds ever.

Not exactly the most practical idea

The security suitcase is currently an engineering exercise from the fertile minds of the Ericsson labs in Aachen, and not planned for production. Perhaps not least because the equipment inside the prototype is so large it leaves very little space for actual luggage.

Still, such ideas don’t take that long to go from “interesting idea” to “something in the Skymall catalogue” tucked into the back of seat 38F – and Ericsson has the patents on this one. ®

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