Call it dunk driving. Motorists in England who follow satellite navigation a little too unquestioningly have found themselves fording gentle streams that sometimes become swollen enough to stall their vehicles and even flood them. So reports the Times of London
On the heels of a closed road in the Wiltshire village of Luckington, some drivers with GPS systems have been given directions to go through a ford at the mouth of the River Avon. Normally the water is about 2 feet deep, but it can reach 4 feet after heavy rains (and this is England). To dunk their cars, however, drivers have to slavishly obey navigation directions and ignore recently posted road-closed signs.
Some farmers are earning 25 pounds to tow stalled cars back to dry land, reports the Times. But the real cost might be the value of the car. When water reaches the floorboards (carpeting) of the car, odds are it's gotten into the electrical system and some mechanical components and the car will never be right again. In the U.S., insurers usually declare the car a write-off at that point. Assuming no dishonest people among the owners, insurers, tow-truck operators, and junkyards, the vehicle is then crushed. The reason: A water-damaged car can be made to look and work right for a month or a year, but eventually problems will crop up that can never be fixed.
Also in England, the BBC News reported that GPS routing in North Yorkshire directs cars and trucks along a twisty road from Swaledale to Wensleydale that has a 100-foot drop off and is more suited for adventurous souls in four-wheel drive Land Rovers. A third village along the route is aptly named: Crackpot.
Finally, several years ago, GPS navigation instructions in Germany omitted one crucial piece of information regarding the shortest route between two villages, which proved hazardous on foggy nights. The missing instruction? "Stop. Wait for ferryboat."
Back in the '80s when Blogging Molly was a wee lass, yo-yos were really big. The kids in my elementary school knew all the tricks: Around the World, Rock the Baby, Walk the Dog. . . etc. I, on the other hand, could only do the basic up and down motion, and even that caught me up sometimes.
Enter the Power Brain XP from Yomega Corp., a company that claims to have led the yo-yo craze of the '90s. (Guess I was too old for that one!) Designed for beginners, this yo-yo has a centrifugal clutch mechanism to make yo-yo-ing easier. After you perform a trick, the yo-yo will automatically return to your hand, even if you make a mistake. It works by opening up to allow a long spin, and then closes to force the yo-yo to return. Simple as that. I could have used this back in the day.
The yo-yo also has a "smart switch" inside that enables yo-yoers to switch between automatic return and manual return modes. So when you get advanced enough, you can lose the training wheels and yo-yo unfettered.
It sells for $12.95 (USD) with several color choices. So, what do you guys think. Would you buy this?
My Toyota RAV4 is a brand new vehicle, so I'm not about to decorate it with bumper stickers or stick my EZPass on the windshield. But when I do go through tolls, I have to hold up the EZPass to the windshield which is not only a pain, but it makes me look like I'm doing some weird stretching exercise while driving.
I suppose that eventually I'll get some velcro and succumb to sticking it on my windshield, but it just looks so ugly. So one company decided to dress up the EZPass with the Highway Image. The Highway Image is a cover for your EZPass or other electronic toll device. It's a clear laminate that sticks to the inside of the windshield and to the back of your EZPass to hide that boring white device.
The tag covers come in a variety of 11 design categories such as Baseball, Recreation, Flags & Patriotic, and Fun & Symbols. (I have to say my favorite is the classic Smiley Face.) You can also custom-make your own tag for yourself, a school, or company (if you order 16 or more quantities). Prices range from $9.99 to $19.99. Each tag cover is said to be fade resistant and stands up to ultra-violet rays.
Now you may be thinking, won't this interfere with my electronic device? Well, it shouldn't because it has been tested by pass manufacturers and reviewed by the Federal Highway Safety Administration. It works with the following National toll systems: EPASS, E-Z Pass, Express Toll, Fast Lane, Fas Trak, Georgia Cruise Card, I PASS, K Tag, LEEWAY, MTAG, Palmetto Pass, Smart Tag, SUN PASS, Toll Tag, Trans Pass, weigh station and tolling with PrePass and PrePassPlus.
Thanks to PCMag.com News Reporter Mark Hachman for the tip!!
I've only been horseback riding once in my life, and two weeks after I rode my best friend's horse, it died. What bad luck I had! Still, I wouldn't mind riding again.
But if you're allergic to horses or are just plain scared of them, try the Panasonic JOBA Horse Riding Fitness Equipment on for size (no horse required). Now available in the U.S., the JOBA is a 3D virtual reality technology that imitates horseback riding and even helps to build strength and endurance. It is said to "strengthen the spine and helps to maintain a good posture, develop muscles strength and flexibility, and trains the nerve system to improve motor function."
It consists of a 20-minute exercise routine while seated on the saddle, which supports up to 265 lbs. It tilts forward and backward, left and right in preprogrammed sequences.
The JOBA comes with three basic programs and nine speeds and a set of stirrups and a handle to maintain proper balance. It's powered by an AC adapter and also features a "thigh air bags function". (Don't ask, I have no clue!)
This sure could have helped those Brokeback Mountain boys pass the time while herding sheep and performing other unmentionable acts in the tent! Of course, you'd have to be making as much as Jake and Heath to afford it. It sells for $2,000 on Hammacher.com.
Yup, you heard me right. I switched from a PC to a Mac, from Microsoft XP to Apple OS X. And it feels good ... well, sort of.
I grew up with a boxy IIe, so you could say I've been drinking Apple's Kool-Aid for a long time. But, like most people, I was forced to give up on Apple at my first job. Only now, with the advent of the Core Duo T2500 (2.0 GHz) processor in the MacBook, which makes it possible to run Windows if absolutely necessary (via Apple's Boot Camp), have my reservations subsided. So, when I was in the market to buy a new laptop (note: with my own measly paycheck), I drove to the Apple Store and bought an Apple MacBook 13-inch, with a 2-GHz processor, 80GB hard drive, and 1GB of memory, for $1,334. Because my wife is a student, they gave us a free 2GB iPod nano, a free HP Photosmart C3180 all-in-one printer, and $50 off Microsoft Office 2004 (necessary to stay compatible with work). Killer deal, and still available.
But, on my first weekend with the Mac, OS X frustrated my Windows-centric mind. I had trouble connecting to my wireless network. Then, the installation process for Firefox confused me. Plus, I filled up the 80GB hard drive in one day, and had a hard drive automounting my network-attached storage. Argh, argh, and argh.
Confession: It's important to note that I never read instruction manuals unless I'm totally clueless. As of today, I still haven't read an OS X manual (Apple's "Argh" back at me?). But hey, should I need to read a manual? Isn't the point of OS X and all Apple products, in general, that they're dead easy to use? I thought so.
Thanks to intern Errol Pierre-Louis for this report!
Jen DeLeo already told us about the CATTrax phone, which lets you keep tabs on your kids. Here is a more malevolent way to use a phone: Gift someone you want to spy on with a GSM SpyPhone. It looks like a normal cell phone but doubles as a sophisticated audio bug you can use to eavesdrop, without detection. A number of phone models with the feature can be found on a Dutch site, SpyPhones.com.
The SpyPhone operates just like any other cell phone. But when you call it with a special preprogrammed number, it becomes a sneaky listening device for picking up nearby conversations. When the number is called, the phone doesn't ring, beep, or do anything else; it appears to be in standby mode while it silently activates and lets the caller listen to anything in the vicinity. If any key is pressed, though, the connection automatically breaks and the phone reverts to a normal mode, making it that much harder for the phone's recipient to find out what a sketchball they've befriended.
Keyloggers and adware programs at least pretend they're used for legit purposes, like protecting your kid or providing "strategic direct response advertising." No such hypocrisy at this site. The list of usages for the phone include: to keep track of your partner, to see if you can trust your business partner, and to reveal secrets. This evil gadget doesn't come cheap: They run from about $1,005 to $1,832 for the high-end Nokia 7260 (shown is the 7250).
Overall: I tested both gifs and jpegs. The Royal PF141 has better photo quality than the PF140, but the battery for the clock doesn't stay securely in place. Consequently, offering an alarm and snooze feature isn't anything special if the battery doesn't work right.
Package includes: Flip-over protective cover, USB cable, charger and software.
How It Works: Install the PhotoFrame 1.4 software. Press both arrow buttons simultaneously to power on the device. Depress either button to activate slideshow mode. To set the clock, use the H and R buttons on the left side of the device, and set the button on the back to Time Set. The Royal PF141 holds up to 59 photos, but I was only able to store 53 on it.
Likes: Alarm & snooze. Displays time. Better photo quality than the PF140. When you hit the snooze button, the display lights up blue. Portable.
Gripes: The micro cell battery for the clock doesn't stay securely in place, so the clock kept turning on and off. Buzzer could be louder. The design is rather flimsy; seems like some of the controls would be easy to break or fall off, especially the snooze button. Could have used a bigger LCD screen for this model.
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