Is a Movie Prop the Ultimate Laptop Bag?
Posted3 months agoActive3 months ago
blog.jgc.orgTechstoryHigh profile
skepticalmixed
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80/100
Laptop BagsTheft PreventionUnconventional Design
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Laptop Bags
Theft Prevention
Unconventional Design
The post discusses using a movie prop grocery bag as a laptop bag for its inconspicuousness, sparking debate among commenters about its practicality and the need for such stealth.
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[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headline...
For this movie bag, it would be cool to see some more modifications. Maybe sew in a laptop sleeve and accessories pouch to make everything fit better?
1. Like this: https://i.etsystatic.com/42664500/r/il/709f97/5624109170/il_...
It has three usable heights (standing, sitting, with/without external keyboard) and actually prevents neck and eye strain.
Today’s new note for the 'zen' side: 'This box is not the ultimate laptop stand. Do not blog about it.' 0% joking. Well except for the zen note.. that was the joke
Rickshaw Bagworks is the made in SF successor from the previous Timbuk2 CEO.
It's really sad that SFO is now the car burglary capital of the world.
> For me, the ultimate laptop bag is one that looks nothing like a laptop bag; it should look like nothing special at all.
If this was a security through obscurity tactic, why would they publish this blog post?
To me it seems like a pretty good strategy, with the downsides being you have to lug it around by the handle (no back or shoulder strap, which would spoil the camo effect), and it doesn't have pockets for small things like cables / dongles / etc.
Why else try to hide that this is laptop bag?
The airport?
Maybe it's more of an anecdote than based on facts, it looks like burglaries are actually down in San Francisco now
https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/sf-bipping-car-bre...
That sounds like almost any regular backpack then. They can also be pretty weather proof, don't need to be carried in one hand, aren't open topped showing what's inside easily, and padded. Any simple and cheap backpack would solve this exact problem but better surely, unless your desire is to be different rather than just to move your laptop from one place to another with little ceremony.
You're missing some context here — this is in San Fransisco.
This was in nice suburb in New Zealand, so it was a bit of a surprise. The replacement window cost many times the value of what they took, and I was finding small pieces of glass for a while afterwards despite careful vacuuming.
Since then I'm more careful that there is nothing removable visible at all through windows. Ideally, anyone looking through the window should think I am the kind of compulsive person that carries every single thing inside each night. Unfortunately, the trick to making that work almost requires it to be true.
A friend had her ancient Toyota’s back window smashed in and they stole an old dirty blanket lying on the back seat that they could have gotten for free from any number of places (clean and in better condition)
In a warm climate New Zealand suburb.
My takeaway at the time was that a subset of thieves will steal anything, with zero rational basis and no regard for consequences.
A paper bag would be just as enticing.
One thing I learned living in a dangerous area was that you should keep zero visible things inside your car when it's parked, otherwise someone will smash the window. :(
I disagree! Out in the woods, a few pages ripped out of an old street directory found in the trunk once saved my ass... quite literally. Couldn't have used a smartphone or GPS for that!
>Ideally, anyone looking through the window should think I am the kind of compulsive person that carries every single thing inside each night.
When I have to park my car in a shady-looking spot, I usually open my glove box to reveal nothing but garbage inside, and a note saying "nothing to steal here". I obviously can't prove this works, but I would like to believe it does, because thieves might consider it a courtesy that saves them unnecessary hassle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBQBKseozuY
https://www.less-is.jp/products/bagless-shirt_less-is-jp
Where I'm from, a simple and cheap backpack is just as much a target as a laptop bag. The only solution is to just keep an eye on your stuff, and be aware of your surroundings, at all times.
But that’s a luxury and I know it.
We have that and it's one of the few perks of our suburban hell. My neighbor was gone for two weeks and had 10-20 packages on his doorstep. Our only concern was that rain might get to them.
Maybe that's changed, though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zwWpqsI_3s purports to be from 02022, and in its first minute, I count 17 pedestrians of whom 4 are wearing backpacks. So maybe backpacks are mainstream in SF now.
Perhaps it's a coincidence that Joe O'Brien died this week at 48 or 49 https://old.reddit.com/r/rails/comments/1nn3jel/joe_obrien_1... after being ostracized from the Ruby community†. But there aren't many people who die that young. Social isolation is a top risk factor for depression.
______
† for, in my view, good reason: he fired his employee after she turned him down when he sexually assaulted her in a bar. I don't think he deserved to die for this, but I also wouldn't have wanted to hang out with him.
Looking poor is also an expression of wealth where wealth is defined money one has not yet spent which provides options in the future. (Source "The Psychology of Money" by Morgan Housel.)
Bro - the highest trim line civic hybrid has an MSRP under $35k…
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clock_of_the_Long_Now
But as soon as you put a leading 0, (besides confusing people) you seem to be telling people to definitely use arbitrary fixed lengths for years and analogous purposes. Even though they weren't necessarily doing that before.
Sincerely,
Anyway I'm creating the Long Long Now Foundation to solve the shortsighted 5-digit year issue. Look for more news in Q000001 of 002026
Even people who lived in the farther-out suburbs usually drove to BART.
Also it's hardly a hot take, I am sure 90% of the ones who do that commute would agree!
Huh? By extension you seem to be implying anyone who doesn't drive to work is not a "professional", which is bananas.
Smart people took Caltrain, BART, or a company sponsored gentrification shuttle into work and reclaimed the time they'd spend driving to "work". (AKA shitpost -- I noticed a remarkable uptick in trolling during commute hours back in the days I lived in the bay during rush hour.)
Anyways, no, carrying a backpack is not a sign someone is "poor" in SF, or anywhere else -- it's usually a sign they value their back.
Some folks wear messenger bags instead, but those were usually bicyclists.
The majority of all commuters in SF do not commute by car: https://www.sf.gov/data--vision-zero-benchmarking-commute-me...
This has been true for at least a decade. The trend, even ignoring COVID, is that a decreasing proportion do so.
I've used a messenger bag for decades and never felt marginalized in the least. Plenty of other folks seem to rock employer swag backpacks. vOv
(aside: transit is up to 25% again recently, apparently; https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/remote-work-home.... And that graph has an even more interesting number which is that in 2019 transit was the plurality.)
There were a lot of people who didn't use a car in that context at all, but people who could mostly did.
I prefer to use a laptop sleeve, and then it doesn't matter if it is padded or not.
That goes inside another thin bag for safe carry. If I'm visiting somewhere new and carrying other things, bag-in-bag works well; leave the day bag in the conference room, the thin bag with the laptop comes with me.
Otherwise they are hard to open/close if they are just a bit too small, or they are floppy if they are too big.
I currently have three laptops, they all have their own dimensions. So I would need three sleeves to carry anyone of them at any given time. For work, I switched between three sizes in the last two years.
Meanwhile, my 5yo hiking backpack with a water pouch dedicated space is able to carry any of those laptops safely.
The ruse would fail instantly you took the camera out of the bag. Or when you have no child, and look like you are wealthy enough to have a camera hobby.
https://www.marymaxim.com/products/flower-bed-diaper-bag-pat...
We used to tote around one of these: https://www.ebay.ca/itm/388909924480
Not very fashionable, has wet wipes hanging out the side, the pockets have stitched icons for what they're meant to hold like a soother and diapers, etc.
Having a child as a prop would definitely help, but a frazzled look and some wet wipes hanging out the side would probably help it along quite a bit.
Well, I found one but it brought us full circle. It looks like a grocery bag and says Big Stinky Diaper Bag. https://www.lifesoleil.com/cdn/shop/products/fai1-ecb007-cre...
I use a weather proof backback (Ortlieb). I got it two years ago and it's great. I walk a lot around town with it and the hip belt is great for offloading most of the weight from my shoulders. I can easily walk for a few hours with this thing. I have the 16" macbook pro, which is not exactly light.
In Sweden I wouldn't think twice either...
However what is even cooler is that someone actually circuit bent a sgi O2 into laptop form factor. Unfortunately the link to the project page is dead, my disappointment is immeasurable.
https://www.siliconbunny.com/silicon-graphics-laptops/
https://web.archive.org/web/20050212100138/http://www.jumbop...
And the bit on product placement
https://web.archive.org/web/20000414090221/http://www.bftr.c...
Best bag? No
Fun? Yeah
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