OK, maybe I'm trolling, but the quickest way to fix a bad law is enforce it. I don't just mean tickets. I mean Hertz Never Lost no longer has any maps or support for California. Same for On-Star. Be sure all the ambulance and pizza delevery guys are impacted.
Step 2, wait for the revolt.
Step 3, enjoy the revision.
Remember the guy who used to find old obsolete lawa on the books and arrested a town mayor for driving a horseless carriage in town without someone going ahead ringing a bell? The guy who arrested people for stacking firewood on a sidewalk? It was great in clearing up old wrong laws.
Buying the battery is one thing. Installing it is another.
I can buy housepaint for $15 bucks a gallon. It costs quite a bit more if I want it installed on the house. What is your time worth? How long does it take to change the battery? What are the chances of breaking the device changing it yourself?
Too bad cable/satellite TV isn't more like the current state of satellite radio
What is interesting is it used to be mostly commercial free for pay TV. Prediction, when satelite radio gets enough ears, then they will also take on the magazine subscription model, the pay TV subscription model... I'd say 10-15 years max. Hint there are lots of adverts in magazines and pay tv. It's a balance of adverts and programme for maximum revenue.
It won't matter if most people don't buy new TV's for the switch from analog to digital TV. Internet is replacing TV. The race is on to make programming (the killer television app) next to worthless. Nobody spends huge dollars for bloated receivers that produce low quality programming. (translation.. Spammed to death by advertisements and crippled enough by DRM to have little end user value)
Last time I watched X-Files (only because I know it used to be 43 minutes per episode when first shown) the entire show was cut down to 35 minutes. that's eight minutes of the show I want to watch gone, and over 80 advertisements.
And they have the gall to wonder why nobody is watching TV anymore. Most ads on the internet can be skipped as soon as you are done viewing them. Sometimes on a slow connection, even before. Funny how nobody is rushing out to buy a digital TV set. They are fighting over the broadcast flag and can't get anybody to spend the large investment in a tuner to pick up free TV. It's dying with the analog signal in the US unless someone gets a clue. The silly flag will be meaningless. Nobody's watching. Nobody has a tuner.
Ya I know, the one or two of you out there with a tuner will correct me, but I haven't met anybody in my neighborhood with a digital television receiver ready to receive over the air network television digital transmissions. A PC DTV tuner only half counts. The content on Broadcast TV is no longer the killer app to sell televisions.
If you were going 86 and you crashed more than likely the OnStar will be BROKEN BEYOND REPAIR and you WILL BE DEAD. You won't have to worry about and ambulance, they will just send the hearse.
Nice theory, however lots of freeway accidents are ones where someone rear-ends someone else who is not stopped, but slowing. The speed between vehicles could be as low as 15 mph and still deploy the airbag. Rear ending someone who suddnly slowed to 75 is an impact speed of 11 mph. After the air bag deploys, you could glance off the guard rail, spin out or perform other slowing manuvers that do not involve a fatal sudden impact.
There are some safety features built into the freeway system. No intersections with cross traffic, barriers between traffic directions, hard to hit light poles, break away signs, etc all reduce the force of impact by design. Anyway, stick a smiley in your post and I'll see the humor.;-)
Why bother. All that is really needed is to harden the system so it is oblivious to the external environment. It's kind of like using a PC when the network cable is disconnected. Hackers have a very hard time using the trojan planted on the machine.
Find the external controlling link and disable it.
It may be nothing more than removing an antenna or powering down the signal receiver.
Lizards have had break-away tails. Building cars the same could be fun. Adding a little skunk gland to the mix could be fun. A sulphur dioxide baggie just inside the trunk could be interesting if punctured at close range on a highway.
The big button marked OnStar is kind of a give-away.
Regarding disabling it, It's not recommended. It's the best lo-jack system out there. Car stolen, call them. police find a nice traffic light ahead, get there, have the system shut down at the light. No high speed chases, no crooks getting away, etc. If you want your privacy, don't steal an on-star equiped vehicle.
If you are not going right home after work however, you might want to disable the GPS just for the trip.;-) Tell them the signal is poor in the parking garage at work.
FYI, that is just the GPS receiver so the location is known. This does not disconnect the cell phone. Speed, air bag deployment, voice monitoring, remote unlock, etc are all still functional. Refer to yesterday's article about hacking the system. It talks about the light going red when the GPS signal is missing.
Great they know you were doing 86mph and your airbag deployed. You have your privacy. They can unlock the door for the ambulance if they can find you.
First, the major reason many people subscribe to satellite radio is the low number of advertisements. Personally I'm a Sirius subscriber and I chose the brand specifically due to the lack of commercials vs. XM. I will drop the service if commercials are introduced.
Happened to cable TV. and yes I have dropped cable TV. That doesn't mean everyone will. Enough subscribers will remain to be attractive to advertisers just like pay TV. The market will find a balance of advertiser dollars and subscriber dollars. Right now, they are short of subscribers, so right now, it's leaning toward attracting subscribers. Next is to entice the advertisers. Same path pay TV took.
It's usualy the first premium channel. Others follow. Remember the phrase Sex Sells? Go to a hotel that has just one or two premium offerings (PPV) and guess what, it's not HBO. Larger chains with lots of PPV do offer movies that are not sex sells, but include new releases and sports events.
When XM gets more than 5 premium offerings I expect them to go the cable TV model of tiered service with some sporting events offered as PPL (Pay per listen).
After the tiered model is in place, basic service offered at a discount would include one C & W, one talk, one news, one rock (slightly out of date, one soft rock etc.) all sponsored with lots of advertisements. (WEB banner advertisement model or basic cable.) You pay for access, but the programming in the basic level is advert sponsored. To get the what are now in the radio basic service would be like getting the HBO, Cinemax, Starz lineup on cable. There were advertisement free cable systems. Just like there are advertisment free subscription radio. Wait till it matures just like subscription TV.
What is needed is a Fax machine with decision based caller ID.
Get a junk fax? Block the number. Got a fax attempt from name or number blocked? Drop the line instead of receiving it. A button on a machine that was labled add number to junk fax blocklist would suffice.
A scanned printout is a much poorer copy on a receiving fax than a print to fax function on a PC. The Fonts and such don't tend to get distorted by a scan line picking up some, but not all, of the tops or bottoms of charactors.
My preference is creating a document, scanning in handwriting here and there plus the signature, merge them with the document and print to fax. The received copy gets very clean text. There are few follow up calls because some of the fine print was hard to read.
A better example would be commercial free cable TV. Those old enough remember when Cable meant commercial free. Sigh. I expect subscription radio to follow into the same pit.
I know you can still find some commercial free stuff, but not in the basic level. It used to be all premium at the basic level. The 2 minutes of commercials per hour (XM) will soon fall to the pressure of advertisers just like cable (my prediction). Commercial free stuff will move to a premium service. From what I hear, that's already started with one premium channel now extra charge.
The demand will be for more channels in a limited bandwidth to include the premium channels while not dropping advertiser driven revenue streams for basic service. Why would subscription radio have any different business model than cable tv or sat tv? They know how to get advertisers to pay for eyeballs and get consumers to pay extra for the package deal. It's just a matter of time for the advertisers to notice and offer the big bucks to reach the ears.
If you read the article, they state the On Star system does not use standard NMEA. It uses a Motorola system. However, using the Motorola diagnostic software, you can switch off the Motorola format and switch the unit to NMEA. This then can be used by a laptop and standard off the shelf maping software that uses NMEA. While the receiver is in NMEA mode, the On Star system does not recognise the GPS output until you switch it back to the Motrola mode.
I wonder if the hack is the same for the Toyota Prius. It's map unit is easly reached under the seat. The GPS string should be there somewhere. The receiver is really buried under the dash near the firewall. Would be handy if you want signal strength readings or to record you trip.
It's from Toyota. I have an older one 02. In the summer I get over 50 MPG on a regular basis. The new one is listed as a midsize instead of a compact and gets even better milage. The best part is not wasting gas and messing up your oil waiting at lights and in traffic jams.
As an added bonus, the electrical system is fantastic. I added a 1 KW inverter to mine. Makes an excelent emergency power source. Under light load, the engine starts and runs for about 5 minutes every half hour or so. It beats a portable one lung noisemaker. It kept my freezer, lights, & TV going during our last windstorm that knocked out the power.
If you are still lugging a boat anchor weight laptop (finaly got it all debugged and configured right) then check out Goodwill. Many times older laptops that have moved on to greener pastures have left behind a very sturdy robust case. They were made to protect laptops when they were heavy and had lots of external devices to pack with it. Best part is the price is right. The appearance sometimes reduces the theft incentive as a bonus. I use an old Toshiba case when traveling. Who wants an old Toshiba monocrome DOS 5.0 Win 3.1 machine anyway?
That's not what I cary in the case however.
I don't want to cary a case that advertises NEW DELL with WIRELESS and DVD!
Great, replace a 7$ per month additional receiver charge for a $40/month increase for a broadband connecton.
It doesn't make economic sense at this time.
DSL is not provided here. Cable charges extra $ for not subscribing to the TV service. Broadband is still not worth it here. Big downloads I do at work. Reading Slashdot works fine on dial-up and saves about $40/month for other toys.
I have three receivers. One in my car, one at home and one at work
It's one of the things I have had against curent subscription radio and Dish TV. One user and 3 subscriptions to use it. They have no provision for one subscription, 3 receivers. I know they discount the other 2, but it's still 3 subscriptions. Tieing the subscription to the single receiver that you have to transport risking damage, theft, or loss is not a good model. Neither is having to buy 3 subscriptions. I would rather be able to buy 3-4 receivers, get one subscription, secure them at home, work, car, wife's car, to turn them on with only one subscription/activation. I would hope one subscription could include all the cars registered to me + a home and work receiver.
They are too paranoid the receivers will be passed out to extended family to adopt that model. Too bad.
I prefer to get home instead of sitting in a freeway parking lot. I like to be able to ditch the jam, hit home on the GPS, hit detour next 5 miles and get home.
If time = money, the GPS paid for itself last year. Gas does = money. The GPS has paid for itself.
The Portland Oregon Best Buy near the I205 bridge has both XM and Sierus live in the store. Check your area. One of the stores may have a working system. I guess the pig in a poke syndrone has kept lots of buyers away. Best Buy at least in the Portland area is adressing the issue.
I saw an earlier article where the biggest demographic for these are long haul truckers. No longer needing to switch stations every 30-45 minutes is a big plus. In town commuters don't have to deal with stations fading out mid program. Commuters often need local road reports. I fall into that catagory. This alone makes it hard to justify the cost of something I wouldn't use much.
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OK, maybe I'm trolling, but the quickest way to fix a bad law is enforce it. I don't just mean tickets. I mean Hertz Never Lost no longer has any maps or support for California. Same for On-Star. Be sure all the ambulance and pizza delevery guys are impacted.
Step 2, wait for the revolt.
Step 3, enjoy the revision.
Remember the guy who used to find old obsolete lawa on the books and arrested a town mayor for driving a horseless carriage in town without someone going ahead ringing a bell? The guy who arrested people for stacking firewood on a sidewalk? It was great in clearing up old wrong laws.
Please don't forget that your government is one of the few that lets you freely state that without hunting you down like a criminal.
It's a good thing the Toyota Hybred car does not use these batteries. A 100+ Lb battery pack would not be fun to have melt down in the trunk.
FYI they use Ni-Metal Hydride batteries.
Buying the battery is one thing. Installing it is another.
I can buy housepaint for $15 bucks a gallon. It costs quite a bit more if I want it installed on the house. What is your time worth? How long does it take to change the battery? What are the chances of breaking the device changing it yourself?
So if you buy something where you can't change the battery, expect a finite life out of it!
Is that a veiled attack on the Apple I-Pod?
Too bad cable/satellite TV isn't more like the current state of satellite radio
What is interesting is it used to be mostly commercial free for pay TV. Prediction, when satelite radio gets enough ears, then they will also take on the magazine subscription model, the pay TV subscription model...
I'd say 10-15 years max. Hint there are lots of adverts in magazines and pay tv. It's a balance of adverts and programme for maximum revenue.
It won't matter if most people don't buy new TV's for the switch from analog to digital TV. Internet is replacing TV. The race is on to make programming (the killer television app) next to worthless. Nobody spends huge dollars for bloated receivers that produce low quality programming. (translation.. Spammed to death by advertisements and crippled enough by DRM to have little end user value)
Last time I watched X-Files (only because I know it used to be 43 minutes per episode when first shown) the entire show was cut down to 35 minutes. that's eight minutes of the show I want to watch gone, and over 80 advertisements.
And they have the gall to wonder why nobody is watching TV anymore. Most ads on the internet can be skipped as soon as you are done viewing them. Sometimes on a slow connection, even before. Funny how nobody is rushing out to buy a digital TV set. They are fighting over the broadcast flag and can't get anybody to spend the large investment in a tuner to pick up free TV. It's dying with the analog signal in the US unless someone gets a clue. The silly flag will be meaningless. Nobody's watching. Nobody has a tuner.
Ya I know, the one or two of you out there with a tuner will correct me, but I haven't met anybody in my neighborhood with a digital television receiver ready to receive over the air network television digital transmissions. A PC DTV tuner only half counts. The content on Broadcast TV is no longer the killer app to sell televisions.
If you were going 86 and you crashed more than likely the OnStar will be BROKEN BEYOND REPAIR and you WILL BE DEAD. You won't have to worry about and ambulance, they will just send the hearse.
;-)
Nice theory, however lots of freeway accidents are ones where someone rear-ends someone else who is not stopped, but slowing. The speed between vehicles could be as low as 15 mph and still deploy the airbag. Rear ending someone who suddnly slowed to 75 is an impact speed of 11 mph. After the air bag deploys, you could glance off the guard rail, spin out or perform other slowing manuvers that do not involve a fatal sudden impact.
There are some safety features built into the freeway system. No intersections with cross traffic, barriers between traffic directions, hard to hit light poles, break away signs, etc all reduce the force of impact by design. Anyway, stick a smiley in your post and I'll see the humor.
Why bother. All that is really needed is to harden the system so it is oblivious to the external environment. It's kind of like using a PC when the network cable is disconnected. Hackers have a very hard time using the trojan planted on the machine.
Find the external controlling link and disable it.
It may be nothing more than removing an antenna or powering down the signal receiver.
car buster buster
You mean as in a tear away trunk?
Lizards have had break-away tails. Building cars the same could be fun. Adding a little skunk gland to the mix could be fun. A sulphur dioxide baggie just inside the trunk could be interesting if punctured at close range on a highway.
You might not even know you have it.
;-) Tell them the signal is poor in the parking garage at work.
The big button marked OnStar is kind of a give-away.
Regarding disabling it, It's not recommended. It's the best lo-jack system out there. Car stolen, call them. police find a nice traffic light ahead, get there, have the system shut down at the light. No high speed chases, no crooks getting away, etc. If you want your privacy, don't steal an on-star equiped vehicle.
If you are not going right home after work however, you might want to disable the GPS just for the trip.
FYI, that is just the GPS receiver so the location is known. This does not disconnect the cell phone. Speed, air bag deployment, voice monitoring, remote unlock, etc are all still functional. Refer to yesterday's article about hacking the system. It talks about the light going red when the GPS signal is missing.
Great they know you were doing 86mph and your airbag deployed. You have your privacy. They can unlock the door for the ambulance if they can find you.
First, the major reason many people subscribe to satellite radio is the low number of advertisements. Personally I'm a Sirius subscriber and I chose the brand specifically due to the lack of commercials vs. XM. I will drop the service if commercials are introduced.
Happened to cable TV. and yes I have dropped cable TV. That doesn't mean everyone will. Enough subscribers will remain to be attractive to advertisers just like pay TV. The market will find a balance of advertiser dollars and subscriber dollars. Right now, they are short of subscribers, so right now, it's leaning toward attracting subscribers. Next is to entice the advertisers. Same path pay TV took.
It's usualy the first premium channel. Others follow. Remember the phrase Sex Sells?
Go to a hotel that has just one or two premium offerings (PPV) and guess what, it's not HBO.
Larger chains with lots of PPV do offer movies that are not sex sells, but include new releases and sports events.
When XM gets more than 5 premium offerings I expect them to go the cable TV model of tiered service with some sporting events offered as PPL (Pay per listen).
After the tiered model is in place, basic service offered at a discount would include one C & W, one talk, one news, one rock (slightly out of date, one soft rock etc.) all sponsored with lots of advertisements. (WEB banner advertisement model or basic cable.) You pay for access, but the programming in the basic level is advert sponsored. To get the what are now in the radio basic service would be like getting the HBO, Cinemax, Starz lineup on cable. There were advertisement free cable systems. Just like there are advertisment free subscription radio. Wait till it matures just like subscription TV.
What is needed is a Fax machine with decision based caller ID.
Get a junk fax? Block the number. Got a fax attempt from name or number blocked? Drop the line instead of receiving it. A button on a machine that was labled add number to junk fax blocklist would suffice.
A scanned printout is a much poorer copy on a receiving fax than a print to fax function on a PC. The Fonts and such don't tend to get distorted by a scan line picking up some, but not all, of the tops or bottoms of charactors.
My preference is creating a document, scanning in handwriting here and there plus the signature, merge them with the document and print to fax. The received copy gets very clean text. There are few follow up calls because some of the fine print was hard to read.
A better example would be commercial free cable TV. Those old enough remember when Cable meant commercial free. Sigh. I expect subscription radio to follow into the same pit.
I know you can still find some commercial free stuff, but not in the basic level. It used to be all premium at the basic level. The 2 minutes of commercials per hour (XM) will soon fall to the pressure of advertisers just like cable (my prediction). Commercial free stuff will move to a premium service. From what I hear, that's already started with one premium channel now extra charge.
The demand will be for more channels in a limited bandwidth to include the premium channels while not dropping advertiser driven revenue streams for basic service. Why would subscription radio have any different business model than cable tv or sat tv? They know how to get advertisers to pay for eyeballs and get consumers to pay extra for the package deal.
It's just a matter of time for the advertisers to notice and offer the big bucks to reach the ears.
If you read the article, they state the On Star system does not use standard NMEA. It uses a Motorola system. However, using the Motorola diagnostic software, you can switch off the Motorola format and switch the unit to NMEA. This then can be used by a laptop and standard off the shelf maping software that uses NMEA. While the receiver is in NMEA mode, the On Star system does not recognise the GPS output until you switch it back to the Motrola mode.
I wonder if the hack is the same for the Toyota Prius. It's map unit is easly reached under the seat. The GPS string should be there somewhere. The receiver is really buried under the dash near the firewall. Would be handy if you want signal strength readings or to record you trip.
It's from Toyota. I have an older one 02. In the summer I get over 50 MPG on a regular basis. The new one is listed as a midsize instead of a compact and gets even better milage. The best part is not wasting gas and messing up your oil waiting at lights and in traffic jams.
As an added bonus, the electrical system is fantastic. I added a 1 KW inverter to mine. Makes an excelent emergency power source. Under light load, the engine starts and runs for about 5 minutes every half hour or so. It beats a portable one lung noisemaker. It kept my freezer, lights, & TV going during our last windstorm that knocked out the power.
If you are still lugging a boat anchor weight laptop (finaly got it all debugged and configured right) then check out Goodwill. Many times older laptops that have moved on to greener pastures have left behind a very sturdy robust case. They were made to protect laptops when they were heavy and had lots of external devices to pack with it. Best part is the price is right. The appearance sometimes reduces the theft incentive as a bonus. I use an old Toshiba case when traveling. Who wants an old Toshiba monocrome DOS 5.0 Win 3.1 machine anyway?
That's not what I cary in the case however.
I don't want to cary a case that advertises NEW DELL with WIRELESS and DVD!
tream it over the net.
Great, replace a 7$ per month additional receiver charge for a $40/month increase for a broadband connecton.
It doesn't make economic sense at this time.
DSL is not provided here. Cable charges extra $ for not subscribing to the TV service. Broadband is still not worth it here. Big downloads I do at work. Reading Slashdot works fine on dial-up and saves about $40/month for other toys.
I have three receivers. One in my car, one at home and one at work
It's one of the things I have had against curent subscription radio and Dish TV. One user and 3 subscriptions to use it. They have no provision for one subscription, 3 receivers. I know they discount the other 2, but it's still 3 subscriptions. Tieing the subscription to the single receiver that you have to transport risking damage, theft, or loss is not a good model. Neither is having to buy 3 subscriptions. I would rather be able to buy 3-4 receivers, get one subscription, secure them at home, work, car, wife's car, to turn them on with only one subscription/activation. I would hope one subscription could include all the cars registered to me + a home and work receiver.
They are too paranoid the receivers will be passed out to extended family to adopt that model. Too bad.
I prefer to get home instead of sitting in a freeway parking lot. I like to be able to ditch the jam, hit home on the GPS, hit detour next 5 miles and get home.
If time = money, the GPS paid for itself last year. Gas does = money. The GPS has paid for itself.
The Portland Oregon Best Buy near the I205 bridge has both XM and Sierus live in the store. Check your area. One of the stores may have a working system. I guess the pig in a poke syndrone has kept lots of buyers away. Best Buy at least in the Portland area is adressing the issue.
I saw an earlier article where the biggest demographic for these are long haul truckers. No longer needing to switch stations every 30-45 minutes is a big plus. In town commuters don't have to deal with stations fading out mid program. Commuters often need local road reports. I fall into that catagory. This alone makes it hard to justify the cost of something I wouldn't use much.