“Programmer Michael Nygard is used to travel. He’s got the process down, from airport to hotel. Unfortunately, the TSA isn’t as prepared,” Dave Caolo reports for TUAW.
“While passing through airport security recently, he was pulled aside and made to sit in the holding area. He watched as a gaggle of TSA workers examined his things, especially his laptop,” Caolo reports.
Caolo reports, “‘There’s no drive,’ one says. ‘And no ports on the back. It has a couple of lines where the drive should be,’ she continues… As you’ve probably guessed, Michael’s MacBook Air had them all baffled.”
Full article here.
Nygard’s original blog post, “Steve Jobs Made Me Miss My Flight,” here.
[Thanks to every MacDailyNews Reader (and their mothers) for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: Yeah, okay. Color us cynical, but are TSA workers really that out of it? Granted, the TSA is not a hotbed for Mensa candidates, but didn’t the large Apple logo on the Air’s lid help them along even a little bit? How about the Air’s major TV, print, and radio campaign that’s been running for nearly two solid months before Nygard’s blog post? Even that didn’t help the poor TSA schlubs any, huh? We’d like to see the video evidence, please. Yup, you guess it, this story sounds just a bit too made up to us, almost like a PR plant — “The MacBook Air is so thin and advanced that it baffles government workers!” — but, hey, there’s an outside chance that we might be wrong once or twice, so what do you think?
I don’t doubt the story, I few about 6 months ago for a job interview and had my 867 mhz powerbook (with the titanium case) and I had to prove to the TSA that it was not a bomb. I had to power it on and perform a few tasks. Apparently their scanning equipment couldn’t penetrate the case.
Imagine if he had Safari opened to Al Jazeera, with a countdown clock app running.
Methinks the TSA folks might not see any humor in it… :O
Be a little gentle with the TSA folk — TV and advertising are not part of my life; the get avoided carefully. so “How about the Air’s major TV, print, and radio campaign that’s been running for nearly two solid months before Nygard’s blog post?” may not apply.
We should be happy that the TSA agents were actually paying attention to the X-ray screen. With popularity of MacBook Air, we should have expected more people complaining about being stopped by TSA by now. The fact this is the first article about it should scare us more. What were other TSA agents doing? Either this was first time MacBook Air went through the X-ray machine or they did not notice a hard disk was missing in the laptop.
Another thought is, no Windows PC laptop users will have to experience this problem. Again, Windows laptops are years behind the Mac laptops.
I believe the headline is wrong. It should actually read:
“Intelligence Baffles Airport Security”
As I have seen many times over the years the government can not do anything right and private business can always do it better for less money.
Support the FairTax
get government out of our lives
spark said: “blah, blah, blah, blah, gurgle, blurp, blah…….blah.
================================
I’ll bet the color of your keyboard matches your winky – cheetos orange!
Apple doesn’t advertise on “Young and the Reckless” so TSA personnel aren’t going to see the ads
here you go, busted
looks good on an iPhone, too
http://boortz.com/mp3/archive/countdown.swf
Mike Nygard is a goodfriend of mine and a former co-worker, actually! He is as ethical and honest as they come. He would not make this up. Below is a link to a book he recently had published. Enjoy!
http://www.pragprog.com/titles/mnee/index.html
They just wanted it.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s MacBook Air.
This reminds me of a story from a few years ago about a guy with a brand new early 15 inch PowerBook. Airport security would not believe it was a laptop because no way was a consumer computer made out of “weapons grade titanium”. Apparently the poor guys PB was torn apart. Anyone remember that one?
TSA is only a sliver above “Ya’ll want frys with that?”
TSA is Security Theatre, the classic case of governments pretending to be doing something by being seen to do something.
Saw this comment on TUAW:
“I got stopped in December because I forgot to take my Nike+ sensor out of my shoe. I tried to explain to the guy what it was, but he called his supervisor. Fortunately he knew what it was. I would think that they have seen thousands of them before.”
MacBook Air’s, Titanium PowerBook’s, Nike+ iPod sensors!!
Is this a big Apple Plot?
It’s all dubya’s fault.
“Keepin’ us safe”.
50% of the people in any airport is below average.
Maclouie
I think you be half right.
The Apple Store is down………
American border guards:
‘For one sweet moment in my miserable life, I had power!
The guy looked harmless, but he had a laptop so I asked him to dismantle it.’ ‘He missed his flight by several hours.’
‘Later that day, I forced an 80 year-old guy to strip to his underwear – why?’ Because I can. He should have stopped talking when I told him to.’
‘I am a social inadequate, IQ of about 23, but when I am at the airport, and the line stretches out before me, I am KING!’
‘I know 911 was a Bush/Cheney false flag black op, but it sure did me some good!’
The TSA are fascist thugs who delight in trying to intimidate passengers simply because they can. You will find that most complaints about them have little to do with luggage itself, and everything to do with how they treat people during the screening process.The majority that I have encountered are only screening bags because they flunked out of Abu Ghraib.
I travel a lot for work… I believe this. I have never seen such a bunch of incompetent Federal employees in my life. I am literally surprised that planes aren’t blowing up daily. They are idiots.
I can literally see them discussing, whether this shiny thing is really a computer. All of them huddled while the line backs-up and I’m missing my f-ing flight.
“They are all mirrors of the TSA”
I’d say these issues are more of a reflection on the dumbing down of America than they are government initiatives. The people they hire obviously are just plain stupid and can’t wrap their puny brains around even the simplest concepts. If the general public were a little more educated, this probably wouldn’t be an issue.
Get ready, it’s only going to get worse.
The random checks are rather hilarious.. A few years after 911 my mom and dad came back from aruba and were very tan. My dad, one liking to joke and be funny, started talking to my mom in an arabic accent, ya know like the cab drivers or “kwik-e mart” owners.. They pulled them aside knowing they are definately american looking and checked their luggage. Another time I flew out to florida myself and someone got yelled at because he had toothpaste in his bag. They asked if he had any liquids and he said no. They pretty much had an aneurism over it, im surprised they didn’t give the 60 year old a heart attack.
@TowerTone
funny joke about the solid state drive…. I dont think many caught onto that