Blog | Mac Bag Review

Crumpler makes you…

On November 16, 2009, in articles, by brian

The safe part of a Crumpler ad pic?

What can I say about Crumpler? They make great laptop bags. They are truly innovative in the way they market their products.

I’ve never been a big fan of the Crumpler US site. They don’t own the Crumpler dot com domain (11/09 – that domain is currently parked by some Internet villian!) so they set up over at Crumplerbags dot com. It’s set up using flash to be a kind of web based vending machine for their products. If you use the lite site it’s much more spartan. The lite site presents all the products and makes them easy to view and if the product is in stock buy. They are real clear about what is in and out of stock. They provide good product info about the bag construction and dimensions.

For a good time with Crumpler check out their European web site at Crumpler dot EU. This site is fun. The products are well categorized and the sites use of small flash graphics is great. There are many more products presented on the European site. Much more of the Crumpler story is presented here.

Crumpler doesn’t have any “will my laptop fit” function on their site but they do post notes from satisfied customers. We hope to get some of their products in for review here.

The Crumpler bags that we like the most are the “Considerable Embarrassment”, a messenger style bag that accommodates up through 15″ laptops. See the “Dreadful” for larger laptops and the “Moderate” for smaller sizes. We also like the “Chester Squander”, a briefcase style bag.

Lessons from PHX Luggage Thefts

On November 6, 2009, in news, by brian

AP Photo

There are lessons to be learned from the recent arrest of a prolific Phoenix, AZ, Sky Harbor Airport luggage thief (AP, Reuters) .

One important fact noted in many reports is that none of the luggage found at the suspect’s home had a luggage tag attached. The tip here is to make it harder for a would be thief to get the luggage tag off your bag. The folks over at YourBagTag.com sell luggage tags that feature a metal grommet on the tag and attach via a metal cable. If you can make it harder for the thief to cut the tags off and depersonalize your bag; maybe they’ll choose a different target.

I always try to make sure that I have another completed luggage tag attached inside of my bag. I do this this because I’ve had tags break off while on the road and been nervous wondering if the airline supplied tag would hold up. Attaching a second tag inside your luggage provides a way for someone to get your bag back to you if recovered.

Finally, the reporting on this luggage theft seems to indicate that while airlines are getting lean one area they have cut is securing luggage claim areas. As more people figure this out it will only make it harder to travel as less people check bags and bring more bags along. While overhead space is shared you should always try and make sure you laptop bag fits under the seat in front of you. If only as a last resort.

Our BlogRoll

On October 29, 2009, in articles, by brian

While developing and writing for Mac Bag Review I think it’s important to sometimes point out to readers our influences, or those people or groups who we read or listen to that impact what you may or may not read here. This post is all about our Blog Roll; where I hope to capture all those sites that are or were either my or our writers influences.

Alltop – Gadgets – I look at this just about everyday.
Alltop – Bags - really should be renamed woman’s handbags.
From Concept to Consumer by Phil Baker – A great travel writer from San Diego.
Kiva – Loans that change lives and give a glimpse into how people in other parts of this world live their lives.
PageLines – Andrew and the folks who created the template that makes this all look so good.
Peter Greenburg – The travel writer.
Technology Live from USA Today
The TSA Blog – A blog maintained by the folks at the US Transportation Security Administration.

I’ll update this list from time. Thanks for looking.

-Brian

Going Social

On October 29, 2009, in news, by brian

We’ll be tweeting away on breaking bag news and new reviews via Twitter.

You can check out what sites we’re looking at and following by looking at our bookmarks over at delicio.us.

We post our bag pics and we invite you to join our group over at flickr.

The New Look!

On October 28, 2009, in news, by brian

You might notice the new look for Mac Bag Review.

I’ve been working on the site for the past year. it’s taken a lot longer than I originally planned to think about the Bag Review concept and redesign the site. Thanks to all the people who helped out and provided encouragement along the way.

Thanks to the folks at WordPress for creating a fantastic development environment. Special thanks to the folks at PageLines.com and Andrew Powers for developing this great WordPress these.

Thanks to all the people who look at our content and our reviews and help make Bag Review better by letting me know what you want to see here.