Posted 1 year, 2 months ago at 2:03 pm. 0 comments
Buried in among a number of bizarre articles in today’s Times Online content (including accusations by cheesemakers that the government is waging an anti-cheese agenda and the news that the average walking speed has risen by 10-percent since 1994), CNET editor Michael Parsons reveals himself to be a surprising GPS luddite. His argument is that “it’s cheating“:
“Eventually affluent people in the developed world will start to forget what it was like to be lost - just as we are all beginning to forget what research was like before Google”
Lest I tread on the toes of any sat-nav companies or inadvertently bugger an NDA agreement other, more in-touch bloggers have been observing, I firmly believe that we’ll see a range of GPS devices with in-built randomiser chips. This high-tech “get lost” function will, according to a user-set ratio of likelihood, randomly choose a journey to scupper with poor directions and general topographical ignorance.
Obviously, with the number of people who blindly obey their sat-nav and find themselves half submerged in the nearest flooded road, manufacturers will have to work hard to out-stupid the general public. I can only assume that they’ll take ‘Celebrity Voice Directions’ to their logical conclusion and instill the intelligence of celebrity dullards into their dashboard map-manglers. Let’s hope the day that we can all invest in a little George W. Bush to drive us round the bend comes soon enough to satisfy Michael.
Posted 1 year, 4 months ago at 12:14 pm. 0 comments
I realise most spam is done by mindless machines, but if any of those mindless machines are reading this then please, realise that I’m never going to approve your comments and give up. The only good spam has dubious entertainment value.
Otherly, why have car manufacturers not caught on and put 12v cigarette lighter/charging sockets on the top part of the dashboard? When I want to plug in my Garmin Nuvi I’m forced to have the cable trail down, round the instrument binnacle and to the socket near the gear-lever. A second socket up on top of the dash would avoid all that. Sort it out, guys!
Posted 1 year, 6 months ago at 12:08 pm. 2 comments
This poor blog has been neglected recently, what with Bulldog Broadband being tardy with my connection, but I’m back online now and raring to go. It looks like while I’ve been missing in action other people have been getting new toys, as my good friend Judie over at Gear Diary has just posted some photos of her Fujitsu LifeBook T4215 Tablet PC, ordered in the final, gasping throws of 2006 and now in her hopefully-not-too-sweaty little hands.
It’s all hitting a tad too close-to-home, I’m afraid, as my trusty tc1100 is showing signs of vaguely imminent hardware failure (of the graphics card, fact-felchers) and I’m a little anxious that all of a sudden it’ll be time to go computer shopping with nary a pound, dollar or yen to my name.
And why am I currently broke? Well, it has a lot to do with the new contents of my garage: a Smart ForFour Brabus.
177bhp of turbocharged loveliness, oh yes! Expect a review sometime soon, once I’ve managed to get this crazed grin off my face