Washing machine would be too ridiculous, as an answer. Beer bottle opener too trite. Scanner is probably coming - the technology exists.
Any ideas? Would be good if it was entertaining....
This is not a phone idea, but gives a hint as to what I'm looking for....
You can't be me, I'm taken
The big problems are the size of the backend stock control databases or getting access to shops individual stock control systems, and of course security. what happens if someone steals my phone and uses it to go on a spending spree. Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
Could it have an echo sounder? 1 km range radar? Johnny Depp's Shanty album? You can't be me, I'm taken
we were both on the same tack there. Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
/tautological puns You can't be me, I'm taken
/wakeful period You can't be me, I'm taken
The map would always be oriented in the direction the phone is pointing. Standard courses would be marked, including your deviation. Depth alarms (based on chart position). Time to destination. Compass. Hmmmm!
Shall we take this one to Nokia? ;-) You can't be me, I'm taken
The real thing often comes with real time depth mapping, because silt tends to move, so at the edges of a channel you can't be sure of the safe depth. It also varies with tidal phase and season.
See e.g. here.
Also, Nokia might not go for it because there are a lot more drivers than boat owners. ;)
Or a perfume analyser, so that you could sidle up to someone fanciable at the bar, do the metrics and read off the screen surreptitiously and say "I love a woman who wears 'Tom of Finland'
There is no portable technology to do this yet, but it is not beyond the realm of possibility. You can't be me, I'm taken
"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
This one is 'real', my business partner (and Strat collector) has a different version of it on his iPhone. You can't be me, I'm taken
So my suggested enhancement: Artificial Intelligence module that detects when the owner/user is being an asshole and destroys the goddamn thing.
Collecting people You can't be me, I'm taken
"Let Your Fingers Do the Flying!"
"An Iphone for the Rest of Us."
I'd buy an iPhone if it came with a trans-dimensional portal to any parallel universe I wanted to explore. That would redeem it's otherwise Apple-flavoured crapiness.
An iJack would be useful too - a hardware add-on that converted audio from an input jack to an output jack. It wouldn't be any real use, but I suppose someone somewhere would realise you could put guitar effects inside an iPhone and turn it into a very fragile guitar stomp box.
Just having a bloody 3G modem you could use with a bloody Macbook Pro would be a major achievement though.
Artificial Intelligence module that detects when the owner/user is being an asshole and destroys the goddamn thing.
I think everyone should have a chip implanted that would blow them up when they became assholes to a certain degree. For example, if you're standing in front of me at Starbucks, and your order is longer than five words, you're an irredeemable asshole, and you'll be destroyed. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
Let's see.
"I'd like Calm herbal tea." "No, really, it's called Calm, that's your idea, not mine, it's the one on the top row of the rack at the right hand end."
I think I need more than five words on average.
heh Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
To be fair, there are places where it is terribly hard to find alternatives, but if you have a Starbucks and a TGIF, you have other options. No one is forced to patronize these places. It may be nobody's fault if they fallen into the capitalist consumer trap. But it is their fault if they don't try to get out of it. There is one overwhelming reason people don't: convenience. It's easy. Hey, I go to Starbucks now and then. But when I do - I feel like an asshole. Because I'm buying a $5 cup of coffee while some kids down the street will be lucky of they have $5 worth of food the entire day. So, I'm not shocked when everyone else at Starbucks is acting like an ass. And people who eat glorified fast food, mountains of bland processed food for super cheap are shocked when they learn employees are not treated well? How do you think you are getting a steak for 10 bucks? How does Walmart offer such low low prices? Because they are splurging on their employees? Of course not. Our actions have consequences. If you don't like the culture these businesses promote, stop throwing money at them. "Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
For the record I avoid Starbucks/McDonalds etc etc as far as I possibly can. I also avoid shopping in places that I know have a poor record on treatment of staff/level of unionisation, or who use child labour to produce their goods.
So in short I agree with you but I do think you took Drew's comment a little more seriously than it was intended. Ad astra per aspera
We have a Costa and that's about as exciting as it gets.
One of the good things about the provincial UK is that there are plenty of small non-corporate places where you can get a caffeine fix. Some of them have genuinely friendly people who recognise you and will even talk to you, even when there's a short queue.
The big chains avoid us. We're not big enough, and we're certainly not cool and urban enough.
It's called the 'office' because we've had many production meetings there.
Never choose the tea, EVER. Finns do not understand tea. I tell them that Lipton's is the sweepings from the floor of the tea packing factory - to no avail. I have to go to the Indian shops on Hämeentie to get my PG Tips, 300 bags at a time. Thats about 2 month's supply ;-) You can't be me, I'm taken
It's really rather good. I refuse to start the day with anything else. ;)
I am not averse to moving away from the workman's cuppa. I've had local tea in at least 20 countries, made by people who love tea - and they've always been a new taste experience. I especially liked chai in Istanbul, served in small glasses and poured on the street by a lad with an urn on his back and a long spout coming over his shoulder - unerring aim.
But put one of those paper sachets with 'Arctic Berry' in front of me and I'll have a fit. Abominations!!
In meetings I have to drink coffee. Ad agencies are now all replete with capsule coffee makers. I am not too offended by that. The capsule means the ground coffee tastes fresh. The fast infusion helps. And the machines stay clean. There's usually a selection of at least 8 blends depending on mood and shakiness of hand.
At home my coffee is celebrated. Made with the Ikea Kaffe 'plongeur', I usually do a Sth American/Arabica mix. Guatemalan and Parisienne is pretty good 50/50. My coffee shopping mecca is Robert Paulig. But you can find good ground coffees right off the supermarket shelf. After dinner though, I think a perfect coffee is worth investing in. You can't be me, I'm taken
The Paulig family has been in the coffee business for yonks in Finland. Maybe they ARE still the coffee business in Finland. Robert, the black sheep, went off on his own gourmet coffee expedition with upmarket shop cafes. If slim intellectual difficult women are your thing - Robert's is the place to hang out.
<note to self: Robert's tomorrow after TV meeting> You can't be me, I'm taken
At least the expresso in Starbucks is consumable, as opposed to "coffee" elsewhere. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
i-vibe! ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
now that's a new way to experience great music together! ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
bulk order for the opera house...binoculars for the eyes, these for the huxley 'feelies' factor ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
(But not in a literal here-and-now kind of a way.)
