iPhone Line-Waiting Madness Commences

By Nick Mokey Published July 19, 2017

The release of the Apple iPhone may have been over 100 hours away on Monday morning, but that didn’t stop Greg Packer from plopping himself down on the cement outside Apple’s main store in New York City and waiting it out for one. Inviting visitors and donations through his blog, Packer kicked off the frenzy of line-waiting that will precede the iPhone’s official release on Friday at 6 p.m.

Rumors still swirl amongst Apple diehards over whether waiting in line will be necessary. Early reports predicted 3 million iPhones for the release, which would ensure that iPhones made it to every sweaty palm with $600 to drop on one. But the rumors are just that – rumors – and dedicated fans won’t take chances on whether or not they will secure an iPhone.

Recommended Videos

Since, unlike Packer, not everyone can give up a week of their lives to wait for one, Craigslist has turned line-waiting into a cottage industry overnight. The patient peddle their stand-in services for hundreds, or even thousands, while anxious buyers try to figure out which ones are reliable, and how to go about completing such a bizarre transaction.

With over two full days remaining before the release, the crowds are sure only to swell further.

Former Editor in Chief

As Digital Trends’ Editor in Chief, Nick Mokey oversees an editorial team covering every gadget under the sun, along with…

Topics

Emerging Tech

AI security cameras may soon recognize your walk before they recognize your face

A new AI gait system tracks body motion through skeletal keypoints, aiming at long-range identity checks where face scans and fingerprints fall short.

Security cam

Security cameras are built to look for faces. New research suggests they may soon have another target, the small habits buried in the way someone walks.

A paper published in the International Journal of Reasoning-based Intelligent Systems describes SKDMap-Net as a gait recognition system designed to identify people from walking video, even when the camera doesn’t get a clean look at their face. Instead of relying on a close-up scan, it studies how a body moves from frame to frame.

Emerging Tech

A 20-second 3D printer breakthrough comes with exactly the kind of catch science loves

The process can create complex microstructures far faster than some laser-based methods, but full 3D control is still a work in progress.

Aluminium, Smoke Pipe

A 3D printer that can make a structure in about 20 seconds sounds like a lab claim wearing a cape. The clever bit is real. The catch arrives before anyone starts dreaming about instant replacement parts.

University of Utah researchers have demonstrated a holographic 3D printing technique that hardens tiny structures in one exposure instead of building them layer by layer. That one-shot approach could avoid the weak, leaky seams that stacked printing can leave behind. For now, though, this is a tool for microstructures, not a shortcut to printing whatever object pops into your head.

Emerging Tech

Amazon is full of copycats and shady brands. This Chrome extension lets you avoid them.

Advertisement, Poster, Text

Shopping on Amazon used to be simple. You searched for a product, compared a few familiar brands, and checked out. These days, it often feels like you're scrolling through an endless parade of names that look like someone leaned on a keyboard before hitting publish. That's exactly the problem Knockoff is trying to solve.

Created by developer Josh Pigford, the Chrome extension doesn't promise to expose counterfeit products or magically tell you what's good. Instead, it tackles something arguably more annoying: the flood of unfamiliar, mass-produced brands that dominate Amazon search results.