Bluesmart

Bluesmart is supposedly the world's first smart, connected carry-on suitcase and yesterday it hit its Indiegogo goal within two hours of the campaign going live.

The Bluesmart aimed to reach $50,000 (£31,000) over the course of a month and instead raised $143,998 (£89,000) -- correct at the time of writing -- in just one day. Clearly there is demand for such a feature-packed item -- here's what has made people want to get hold of one.


On board is a Bluetooth-enabled lock that can be unlocked with your smartphone and tells you if anyone tries to break into your suitcase. It will automatically lock as soon as the suitcase is a distance away from you and your smartphone, and if your bag ever goes missing, the Bluesmart network will help you to track its location.

You don't need to worry if your smartphone has died either, as tucked inside is a super-powerful battery pack that allows you to charge two devices simultaneously. It can hold enough juice to let you charge a smartphone six times over.

A built-in digital scale will tell whether your suitcase meets the weight restrictions for the particular airline you're travelling on, and Bluetooth will tell you where and when your suitcase was last seen in proximity to your phone. There's a bunch of other cool stuff on board too and a bespoke app that communicates with your Android device or iPhone.

Bluesmart

Many of the features that make the Bluesmart such a desirable item ultimately serve to reveal the shortcomings of the travel industry. If only airports and airlines could be trusted equally to meet the needs of modern travellers, the requirement for such a feature-packed smart suitcase would be obsolete.

As it happens, many people have suffered the misfortune of arriving at their destination only to find their luggage has gone missing. The varying rules between airlines and the lack of scales in the majority of airports means that people are frequently being caught out due to weight restrictions. And of course let's not get started on the dearth of power sockets in airports and on planes (you can pretty much forget it if you're not in a lounge or at least premium economy -- if not business).


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The Bluesmart is indeed a smart product for the canny traveller, but at the same time, it would be better if there was no need for it at all -- if modern travellers were instead just better catered for by the airlines and airports that ferry them to and fro.

The Bluesmart won't be available until next August, but if you definitely want one, you can support the campaign further by investing $235 (£145) in the suitcase now, which will save a couple of hundred dollars on the final retail price.