Airport Security OKs the iPad, Thinks it Has No CPU
TSA says iPad doesn't have a CPU or hard drive. Well, they'd be half-right.
When the MacBook Air launched, one early adopter was detained at an airport because the TSA officials didn't believe it was a laptop. So what's going to happen when the estimated 800,000 new iPad owners try to go on holiday?
It looks like things are all good if you own a new iPad. Not only will TSA let you continue on to your flight, you don't even need to take it out of your bag like you would a laptop. Forbes reports that Altimeter Group technology analyst Charlene Li took her iPad through TSA and not only did she not have an problems, but they didn't make her take it out an place it in a separate bin (like they do with laptops) because, "it doesn't have a CPU or hard drive."
Forbes reports:
"Li tells us that she removed her iPad when she approached the TSA guards to ask where it fell on their laptop to non-laptop spectrum. Given the iPad's brand spanking novelty, the guards didn't know. So they ran the device through their scanner looking for "a visible CPU and hard drive," which would qualify it as a laptop. Somehow they didn't spot that hardware, despite the iPad having both a CPU and a Flash hard drive. (Or at least not one "thick enough to hide explosives" according to Li)."
Though flying with your iPad seems a fairly trivial concern, an early adopter trying to travel with the then just-released MacBook Air had big problems going through security. Boggled by the lack of ports at the back and the absence of an optical drive, airport security huddled around, suspicious of the thin laptop. While the traveler's flight was boarding, he was with security trying to explain to staff that there wasn’t anything untoward about the Air. Eventually a tech-savvy member of the TSA (or you know, someone who doesn’t live under a rock and is actually allowed to leave the airport every once and a while) explained that the MacBook Air is actually real and not some kind of terrorist trickery but not before the laptop's owner had missed his flight.
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And these are the people that we trust our lives with
It doesn't have a CPU, it has a hamster on a wheel.
I'm pretty sure that was the only person in the entire world that got hassled at the airport for having a Macbook Air. Airport security should train their staff. I'm pretty sure they could have googled "Macbook Air" and let the guy through.
It doesn't have a CPU, it has a hamster on a wheel.
Except the hamster is a suicide bomber!!!
If she wasn't a cute little Asian lady but rather a large, hairy, bearded middle-eastern looking-like man, she would have been rigorously examined.
Wow, I feel safe now. Now I know who bought 300,000 iPads.
And these are the people that we trust our lives with
I was going to say the exact same thing. I understand that these people are trained to be suspicious of anything even slightly out of the ordinary; but they should at least be given a manual or some sort of reference guide for all existing consumer technology so they don't have to stand around staring at something they don't recognize like the proto-humanoids confronted with the Monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
ROLF
Google should take over TSA's job. They have more personal information, and better search algorithms. Oh, and people worthy of knowing the difference between a potential threat and the latest geek toy.
Google should take over TSA's job. They have more personal information, and better search algorithms. Oh, and people worthy of knowing the difference between a potential threat and the latest geek toy.
If she wasn't a cute little Asian lady but rather a large, hairy, bearded middle-eastern looking-like man, she would have been rigorously examined.
Rightly so, the words "racial profiling" shouldn't be taboo...
btw I live in the middle east, so I have more than my share of waits at airport security...
Of couse the iPad has a CPU. It is the owners who don't.
iLol
"estimated 800,000 new iPad owners try to go on holiday?" Where did you get that number from? Seeing as an article below states Apple sold 300k on Saturday, and Sunday was a holiday, I have a lot of trouble believing the iPad sold almost twice as much since it's opening day, especially since that opening day included pre-orders.
As for the article, the iPad definitely has a processor, but I think the people that bought them may be missing a few cores.
Please when writing a review/blog whatever, check your facts with your own site first. It is known that Apple sold 300,000. Sorry but it hurts my brain when it's day 2 of Apple releasing their figures and you reporting your reporting is so off. 300,000 to 800,000 is nowhere close.
"estimated 800,000 new iPad owners try to go on holiday?" Where did you get that number from? Seeing as an article below states Apple sold 300k on Saturday, and Sunday was a holiday, I have a lot of trouble believing the iPad sold almost twice as much since it's opening day, especially since that opening day included pre-orders.As for the article, the iPad definitely has a processor, but I think the people that bought them may be missing a few cores.
The article didn't say there were 800,000 sold. You are to infer that by the next holiday where many commute by means of air travel, there will be an estimated 800,000 iPads that will make the flight with their owners.
i'm so glad you ran this story. now the terrorists are going to be styling with a Mac ipad POS when they blow something up. Next you guys should give them other ways to avoid detection in the airport.
LAW ABIDING CITIZEN- if you seen it, then you know what is wrong with this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX6kVRsdXW4
OFC it`s safe, it can`t even run that Flash Fake bomb timer website to scare ppl in the plane ...
It doesn't have a CPU, it has a hamster on a wheel.
This a misnomer, its actually powered by the collective idiocy of the Apple fanboys.
This a misnomer, its actually powered by the collective idiocy of the Apple fanboys.
Err, wait, that's actually what's powering their sales.
If she wasn't a cute little Asian lady but rather a large, hairy, bearded middle-eastern looking-like man, she would have been rigorously examined.
And rightfully so.
I don't get it.. if it has no cpu or HDD what did they think it was? In their place if it had no cpu or HDD I would think it must be a bomb.... where's the logic?
device with CPU+HDD=Laptop,ok
device with no cpu or hdd/ssd=smelly.
Or in the US you're not allowed with a laptop in a plane?
What the hell did they think the batteries were? They are the biggest "device" in the damn thing. Could have been C4!!! Dee dee dee
It doesn't have a CPU, it has a hamster on a wheel.
And the hamster is kept hydrated with a teeny bowl of 'magical' unicorn tears.
A bunch of jealous broke idiots on this site.
She should have just said it was the new iPod...
Aren't lithium batteries extremely dangerous is just overvolted?
Now I have to be careful in the Airport around people with iPad.
Well it was a well kept secret, now TSA will know about this and everyone with an iPad will get hassled. Sheesh, let everyone know about it... Good going!
It does not matter weather a device has a CPU or hard drive. People carrying CPAP machines (for sleep apnea) have to remove them from their bag and those devices have neither. It is a matter of interpreting everything a person has in a bag: clothes, shoes, toiletries, electronics, books and magazines, pens, etc. Removing all large electronics helps clarify the process and actually saves time by not having to separate the electronics after a first pass through the x-ray and then rerunning the bag and electronic.