I read about the idea of Sound Beaming technology and I couldn’t decide what my predominant initial reaction was. I had two extreme reactions: one of thinking this was the most awesome thing ever and one of the shivers. Imagine a world where you move around in your own personal sound bubble. You listen to […]
Category Archives: gadgets
The Dumbest Smart Laundry System Ever
Ten years ago, I wrote this frustrating rundown of trying to refill my laundry card. That was 10 years ago! And the sad thing is very little has changed. We have made some improvements, but the system still has some pretty big flaws in it, and the flaws are brain-snappingly stupid. Back in November, for […]
Pepper Says Don’t Sneeze On Me
Looks like they’ve found another use for our pal Pepper the bank bot. She’s now tooling around a mall in France reminding people to wear masks. I sure hope nobody’s beaten her up. Some folks can get awful touchy about that. If you want to give her a knock or two for the bank stuff […]
Project Guideline: Like Guidelines, It’s a Place to Start
I’m not sure what to think of this. I think it has potential, but I am glad it’s an early prototype. It’s called Project Guideline, and its aim is to let blind people run independently without needing a dog, a cane or a human guide. There are good things about it, like how the app […]
I Get Rough And Tough In The Puff ‘n’ Fluff! Noooo!
That soundtrack has nothing to do with the subject matter, but it’s what enters my head whenever I think about this invention…along with the imagined distressed sounds of dogs. I feel like a jerk making fun of an invention dreamed up by a third-grader, and maybe I can’t judge until I’ve actually laid hands on […]
Rapper’s Delight By Siri, Alexa And Google Assistant
My first thought listening to this was damn, how much time must it have taken to gather all these sound samples and get the timing right? Turns out the answer is about a month. Despite the amazing lyricism and irresistible disco-rhythms at play in the track, aspiring rappers shouldn’t fear that their efforts will soon […]
Oliver Dreams Come True!
Some of my dreams have a freaky way of coming true, especially if they involve technology. I had a dream that every few years, after you had customized your computer just the way you liked it, it would forget everything and you had to keep remembering to make backups so you could bring it back […]
People, People, People, People, People…
iPhone 12 Pro lets people who are blind ‘see’ others around them It’s probably going to be a very long time before I get to try this out unless I happen to hit a really good sale on Steve needs a new phone day, but it sounds like it has the potential to be quite […]
COVID Hyper-Alert?
I have a probably dumb question about the new COVID Alert app. If you get the virus and report that to the app and input your happy little key, what happens when your case is marked as resolved? Does the public health unit deactivate your key so your phone stops spewing warning-triggering codes? Or are […]
Take Me Home, Country Roads, The Electric Toothbrush Edition
Take Me Home, Country Roads played by five electric toothbrushes and two electric typewriters. The John Denver toothbrush also drives on his RC car. Googly eyes on the road! It’s been a whole year since you first requested this John Denver song. But I decided to wait until the right time of the year to […]
