It seems that from what I've seen of some of the technologies displayed at Comdex (about 2 or three visits to news.com over the past wek or so) it looks like a lot of the new technologies being debuted are geared toward making sure that you'll never escape technology ever again. To prove this point, IBM showed off a system that they are developing which would allow one to access the Internet while driving a car. I guess that the geeks down in Silicon Valley weren't content with making phones that could be used while driving, creating a traffic hazard. Now we get to deal not only with idiot drivers distracted by talking on the phone while they drive, but thanks to the miracle of modern technology, we also get to deal with idiot drivers looking at dirty pictures while they're driving! Now that's a scary thought. I can imagine some of the excuses that this will bring about for speeding tickets... "Sorry officer, but I was on the NASCAR website, and I thought I was chasing down Jeff Gordon, but he just kept going faster..." It won't be long before the NTSB has something to say about this, such as "Don't even think about it Bub."
Also introduced at Comdex was version 2.0 of Windows CE, which is basically Microsoft's attempt to put Windows on just about every household gadgety and gizmo you could possibly think of. One of the few things that Microsoft doesn't make me support at work is Windows CE, fortunately. It's bad enough having to deal with computers that go crashing left and right, now Microsoft apparently wants to make our home appliances do the same thing. As a general guideline, when we find ourselves having to reboot the toaster in the morning when the toast comes out as scorched bread-shaped lumps of carbon, we know that we're in trouble. Since recurring themes seem to be a good idea for some reason for another, this whole thing may make for some interesting tech support calls:
Tech: Thank you for calling WinCE tech support, this is Fred, how may I help you today?
Caller: My whole house crashed last night when Itried to run the dishwasher. Now I have broken dishes everywhere, and my living room gives me Windows protection errors whenever I turn on the TV. Also, I can't seem to get the sofa out of safe mode.
Tech: Ok, first we need to go ahead and reboot the house so we can see what kind of errors come up.
Caller:OK, how do I do that?
Tech: Uhhhh.... Good question. Let me look that one up. What model do you have?
Caller: I think it's a Bob's Construction model 770CDx?
Tech: OK, I think for that one you have to go into the garage, activate the garage door opener and then fire up the lawnmower.
Caller:OK, let me try that... (loud explosion) That just gave me a fatal exception and the lawnmower just exploded.
Tech:Hmmm... That works on the 750CDx... Try the weed whacker...
Caller:OK, but I think I'll stand back this time... It looks like it actually rebooted this time. Ok, it looks like the RAM is being tested... Starting WindowsCE... Oops, the dryer is saying that it can't seem to find a sock.
Tech: That happens every once in a while, just reload the socks and you should be fine with that one...
Caller: That's the third time this week I've gotten that one... I'm going broke buying socks to fix it. Do you hasve some sort of patch to fix that one?
Tech: Well, you may try applying the duct tape service pack to the installation. That one tends to fix a lot of the problems we get around here.
Caller: Where have I heard that one before?
Tech: Oh, probably all over the place, but anyway, are we up and running yet?
Caller:Hold a minute, I need to log into the stove and start cooking dinner... Hopefully it won't turn the potatoes into squash like it did last week...
Tech: Oh, there's a known issue with your stove, just don't bake any turkey while cooking potatoes and you won't have your food unexpectedly changing.
Caller: I just hope that you have this issue figured out by Thanksgiving or Aunt Edna's going to have a fit about this.
Tech: I can assure you that our engineers are working on this one.
Caller: Anyway, like I said, the couch is running in safe mode, and the recliner will not recline. Andf when I try to turn on the TV, I get a Windows protection error and have to reboot it.
Tech: OK, let's try turning it on...
Caller: Well.... it's working now, but every time I try to change the channel, it goes right back to the Home Shopping Network. And all the buttons on the remote are flashing wildly, and when I try to push one, it beeps at me.
Tech:Did you reboot the remote?
Caller: Yeah, but last time I did that I lost some of my files.
Tech: Have you run SCANDISK on it lately?
Caller: I tried to, but there wasn't enough RAM to do it.
Tech: Hmmm.... How much RAM do you have in your remote?
Caller: Only 32 megs. I haven't upgraded it, but I plan to do that soon.
Tech: Anyway, We need to go ahead and reboot the TV again, and go into DOS mode on it. Once we've done that, we need to go ahead and rebuild the registry with a SYSTEM.1ST.
Caller: Will I lose any of my channels if I do that?
Tech:You may need to reinstall some of them.
Caller: That's what I was afraid of. And what do I need to do with the couch?
Tech: We may need to take out some of the stuffing and reboot it to see if that will help it become more stable.
Caller: I haven't been inside the couch before, who should I call for help, a technician or an upholsterer?
Tech: Beats me...
And to think that all this modern technology is supposed to be making out lives easier. Now to go back and start debugging the Microwave so I can actually eat breakfast without a radiation suit...