Hasta La Gadget!

Replace that mountain of awkward reusable shopping bags you’ve somehow amassed with Herschel’s new packable backpack, which should make hauling home a week’s worth of groceries a lot easier. Made from rip stop nylon, the packs can be squeezed into a compact internal pouch for easy storage or carrying as an emergency backup, and come complete with adjustable shoulder straps and an external pocket.

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Das Keyboard may be known for making noisy mechanical keyboards, but it also values privacy and security. The company’s new HackShield bags and wallets provide protection from both digital and physical theft.

Similar to the OFF Pocket, the HackShield backpack, messenger bag and wallet are lined with a material that blocks radio frequencies. They’re also made from waterproof polyurethane and weather-resistant ballistic nylon. Both bags can fit a 15″ laptop and have smaller pockets inside so you can stuff in more gadgets and tinfoil hats.

In addition to blocking wireless signals, the messenger bag and the backpack also protect your belongings from thieves. The bags have no external pockets, and their main compartments are protected by Fidlock fasteners, which are easy to close but lock in place.

You can order the HackShield gear from Das Keyboard’s online shop. Both bags cost $179 (USD) while the wallet costs $49.

[via Fancy]

Outside of the fear of flying, the most anxious part of traveling around the world is hoping your bags get to the same destination as you do. The paper tags in use today work, but if they get accidentally torn off your luggage, who knows where it might end up. So starting next month, British Airways will begin testing a brilliant re-usable luggage tag featuring an e-ink display that can be reprogrammed again and again using your smartphone.

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Luggage hasn’t changed much in the last few decades, but there’s hope on the horizon. How about having suitcases with built-in GPS that you will never lose again? I’d certainly consider that, since losing your luggage can certainly get painful at times.

The Airbus Bag2Go is a prototype and it’s a sort of “smart luggage,” carrying sensors that work with an app in order to bypass the usual airport BS. It has got an RFID that lets travelers check in their bags and link to it on every step of their itinerary. GPS tracking will alert travelers to potential tampering. The luggage is being developed by Rimowa and T-Mobile.

While spending a lot of money on luggage isn’t my cup of tea, renting one of these on long trips could be quite useful.

[ABT via Mac Rumors]

San Francisco-based Boreas Gear, Inc. is funding its latest product through Kickstarter, in an attempt to build a modular pack system that provides three bags in one. If you’re a bag enthusiast like myself (that might not be a real thing but I still have tons of them) then you’ll appreciate the idea of a simple system that makes it easy to covert a single frame into a daypack, waterproof bag and simple hydration/light carry bag quickly and easily.

The SF-based team founded Boreas Gear in 2010, with the intent of designing packs centered around versatility and good design. Founder and Creative Director Tae Kim has a design background and grew up in Alaska, where he spent plenty of time in the great outdoors. The bootlegger is designed to be the perfect companion for a whole host of outdoor activities.

Besides offering the three different pack configurations, it also boasts something called “Super-Tramp Suspension” which uses pull-straps to shift the weight carried in the pack either closer to or farther away from the back, making it possible to adjust it perfectly for either hiking or biking on the fly. If you’ve owned a specialized biking pack, then you know that the added breathing room can really come in handy, especially on longer rides.

The Super-Tramp Suspension system can then be used interchangeably with three pack tops, including the Torpedo, the Hopper and the Scrimshaw. The Torpedo is a lightweight hydration pack, which can be outfitted with a water bladder to keep you from getting thirsty on long rides or trail runs without adding too much weight. The Hopper is a daypack that has plenty of room for a lunch and gear for a full day on the mountain and the Scrimshaw is a completely submersible waterproof bag, perfect for rain, snow, or use in watersports like canoeing or kayaking.

The system is designed to be used either with any individual bag or with all three, and the project has already blown past its $10,000 funding goal. Boreas Gear has been designing and manufacturing packs for years now, so there’s relatively little risk in terms of the company delivering on its planned July ship date. Pledges for bags start at $65 for the frame + a single pack and range up depending on what options you’re interested in.