The Day My Car Ratted Me Out. Dear Winston Smith,
Your 1984 Corvette has informed us that over the past month, you have failed to obey the speed limit 36 times, at times reaching speeds exceeding 130 MPH. As A result, we feel that we can no longer provide you with coverage. We have also supplied this information to the proper authorities, their jackbooted thugs should be in your driveway momentarily. Thank you.
INGSOC Insurance
First it was the rental car companies, now it is GM and the Insurance companies. This is the top of a very slippery slope of privacy issues and technology, specifically GPS.
WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, and, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.
posted by hotdoughnutsnow
on Jul 27, 2001 -
45 comments
Turn your webwasher off for
this link.
I hate banner ads, which is why I use webwasher, they're annoyingly large, wasteful, and don't work. The reason they are dying and taking the rest of the dot-com industry along with them.
I don't know much about Hondas or cars all entirely, but prius seems like a good idea, better fuel efficiency saves on money and doesn't pollute as much. The reason I like the ad though, is it's not intrusive, it doesn't have a 200k gif of a windows alert box telling you 'your connected is too slow. CLICK HERE to make it faster OK', it doesn't blink or use flash. It is tailored to a specific audience, people that look up directions and drive their cars, the product that the company sells.
I hope this is the future of advertising on the web, but then again, how exactly are you suppose to fish out people to buy your 'ultra small hidden bathroom cameras'?
posted by tiaka
on Jul 27, 2001 -
21 comments
Yesterday, the Good Morning Silicon Valley webpage at the SJ Merc (which I love since it keeps me from having to see CNET's god awful ads) had an interesting blurb as an offshoot of the whole NY cell-phone safety debacle (scroll to the last item.) Columnist John Paczkowski asked if it was possible to change your pants in a moving car at 65 miles an hour. He got some pretty funny responses. What have YOU done in a moving car that you shouldn't have?
posted by machaus
on Jun 29, 2001 -
23 comments
"Make obstacles obsolete".... OK, I know that SUV-bashing has been done to death on Mefi, but has anyone seen the most recent TV commercial for the Cadillac Escalade?
In a long video-game like sequence, the Escalade hurtles through a blade runner-esque cityscape, defeating missiles and a computer-generated robot. The voiceover chimes in to announce the brand and drop the tagline
"Make obstacles obsolete."
That really sums it up, doesn't it? Driving an SUV is all about making obstacles obsolete - people, bicyclists, other cars....i'd like to see gas prices hit about US $5 a gallon this summer so that the Escalade would become obsolete...
posted by preguicoso
on Jun 21, 2001 -
49 comments
HydroGen1, a fuel-cell vehicle of tomorrow The prototype's power comes from electric motor supplied with current from a fuel cell that runs on pure hydrogen. The hydrogen supply is stored in liquid form at minus 253 degrees Celsius in a special storage tank called a "Cryo tank," which is similar to a vacuum storage bottle.
I'm just imagining the fun they will have at the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety while crash testing this thing.
posted by fluxcreative
on Jun 5, 2001 -
19 comments
Bipartisan Support for SUV Mileage Reform U.S. enthusiasm for gas-guzzling SUVs is itself fueled by idiotic federal policy.
These passenger cars have been classified as "light trucks" since 1975, when they omprised only 20% of all U.S. vehicles. Today, SUVs are nearly half of everything on the road.
Result: DOT says gas mileage is at a
20 year low.
Bush and Cheney distort the truth a lot in order to push pro-oil-drilling agenda. Read what retired president Jimmy Carter says about their
misinformation and scare tactics.
posted by steve_high
on May 18, 2001 -
4 comments
Mystery-Machine chic? The newest "fad"-mobile? Or the vehicle of choice for today's demanding soccer-mom? Bring out the ex-hippies, it's time for the VW Microbus. Flash required.
posted by robbie01
on May 17, 2001 -
18 comments
K....A....B....O....O....M....! Rolls Royce is recalling five of their 2000 and 2001 models after discovering a design flaw can cause the cars to EXPLODE. While only 539 vehicles are affected, 408 are in the US. The flaw was discovered after a technician put the first tank of gas into the
$360,000 (!) vehicle, started to drive it and hit the switch to roll up the windows. The explosion blew out all the windows and damaged the convertible top and the interior.
posted by crunchland
on May 13, 2001 -
13 comments
George Jetson, your car is here! We have miniature phones, pocket computers, and wristwatch MP3 players/cameras. Now DaimlerChrysler's working on the bubble car! In lieu of faster toasting devices, can a bubble car make driving safer?
posted by hijinx
on Apr 6, 2001 -
11 comments
For the CEO who has everything... how about a 1985 Toyota MR2 powered by 3 turbojet engines? You start it with a leaf blower. Seller says it is "probably street legal except for this little 'excessive noise' issue". Up for grabs at eBay, currently $7,700 will take this baby home!
posted by JParker
on Mar 7, 2001 -
4 comments
Oldsmobile succumbs. Another auto nameplate goes the way of the dodo... and Plymouth... ending up nowhere but in memories. While corporations seem to want brand above everything else, doesn't reducing the number of brands equal a contradiction?
posted by hijinx
on Dec 12, 2000 -
20 comments
The AAA is best known for free maps, 24-hr towing, jumpstarting cars, and now,
ruining the environment. Opposing auto pollution controls? Funding highway construction lobbying groups? Against airbags? Did
you know what the AAA was really up to?
posted by mathowie
on Nov 17, 2000 -
10 comments
Pennsylvania's new license plates featuring the state's web address are just plain Sick and Wrong, somehow. Please tell me that other states aren't going to follow suit. I saw my first one yesterday, in Austin, TX, of all places.
posted by beth
on Oct 20, 2000 -
14 comments
The next Java frontier: your car. Sun Microsystems announced Monday it would partner with General Motors' dashboard technology division, OnStar, in an effort to make Java the computing standard for the automotive industry.
posted by Zool
on Oct 16, 2000 -
5 comments
Free TiVo? Heck, I want a Free Car. I don't care if Amazon is selling Cars online now, I want my next car to be free. This company gives you a free car, wrapped in advertising, for up to two years. Not a bad deal considering the cost of cars these days. You can get a Ford explorer (no word on the tires) or a VW beetle. I'll be watching my TiVo TV from the back seat!
posted by DragonBoy
on Sep 27, 2000 -
15 comments
Invasion of privacy may be offset by cheaper insurance If this doesn't scare the hell out of you you don't drive a car.
Sure it is an excellent idea for fleet management and for personal security.
But do we really want insurance companies to know everything about our driving habits and whereabouts? Think about it. They can dictate your rate based on your speed, and ultimately can base your claim on data collected while you were driving.
Big insurance is one of the most financial powerful forces out there, next to big tobacco. They are already invasive, requiring blood samples and medicals for life policies. Imagine if they could collect the intimate details of our daily lives.
posted by daddyray
on Sep 24, 2000 -
12 comments
Fire Marshall
killed
at Italian Grand Prix.
I hope the banked track at the new Indianapolis track doesn't kill anyone. Formula
One has never raced on a banked surface before.
posted by tomcosgrave
on Sep 10, 2000 -
5 comments
Britain's Traffic Problems Sounds like the UK is trying its hardest to catch up with the US in auto-dependency. The Highways Agency is planning to spend US$1.75 billion on "intelligent transportation" improvements, but local motoring organizations are pushing for more lanes as traffic continues to worsen. [more inside]
posted by daveadams
on Sep 6, 2000 -
14 comments
A
situation similar to the
story below. What is it with Car Dealers? Why can't they just do the right thing?
posted by da5id
on Aug 2, 2000 -
0 comments
Interest in traffic Web site no accident after a dramatic increase in fatal accidents, the osaka prefectural police started posting the exact locations of upcoming traffic inspections [for speeding & drunk driving] on
their website, and now they are logging record numbers of hits -- the idea being that the more people who know about their plans for traffic inspections, the better. the police feel that disclosing such information will help cut down on the number of deadly road accidents.
whether it has had a noticeable effect on traffic safety, however, is uncertain -- the number of drivers caught for violations is about 10 percent less than by this time last year, but the death toll on the prefecture's roads are about the same
posted by palegirl
on Jun 8, 2000 -
4 comments
On the topic of cars , I've known about this city for awhile, and it looks like heaven. It's actually a law to have a picket fence, and there's no cars, because well, there's no roads! But, at around 500k at least for a house, I think it's a bit out of my league
posted by starduck
on May 30, 2000 -
9 comments
