Did you have any success voice dialing on your Blackberry, iPhone or other mobile device?
Here is the test:
1. Pick a name from your address book
2. Place your device in voice command mode
3. Say your contact’s name
How accurate is it? What device did you use? Would you trust your device to call a contact hands-free without looking the display to confirm the match (ex. while driving)?
I have tried voice dialing with a Blackberry Curve 8320 and Blackberry Bold 9000 and the results are very disappointing. I have asked non-native and native English speakers to try the test. Unfortunatelly, the results are very disappointing. Most if the time the matched contact name does match the first letter of the name. If you had more success, please share your device model and any software you used.
I started hoarding TTC tokens last week. After all, it is a simple human response to TTC’s plan to increase fare while proving no additional value to riders.
According to the Metro article, the TTC has acknowledged that riders reacted negatively to the proposed fare increase and that the TTC should have been prepared better for this. So you would think the TTC would re-think their fare increase plan. Maybe point out some added value after the increase. Nope. Instead, the TTC chose to ration token purchases…and now stop token sales altogether!
That is some brilliant monopolistic thinking. Since when is a token a scarce resource? Isn’t access to use the TTC a public service? It’s not like the token are free. Doesn’t that sound like recent Venezuelan water rationing?
Well, so the TTC can’t cope with change very well. That’s nothing new. At least the riders disapproval is being heard. However, it makes you wonder why the TTC chose to run on proprietary currency like tokens in the first place? Why can’t you buy fares using a credit card in 2009? Why is a bus driver unable to give out change for a $20 bill? Why is money in cash boxes never counted? Why are there only 2 lines in a city of over 5 million people? Why doesn’t the subway reach the Toronto International airport? Is it because visitors to Canada do not have tokens or Canadian cash when they arrive? So many questions …you can think about while standing in line to buy TTC tickets.
In the meantime, riders can do more to make their disapproval for the TTC heard. Hit the TTC where it really hurts. Yes, their cash inventory. I am not suggesting to steal, only to prove a point that there is one more thing at the TTC does not work. The TTC collector booth system is an ancient system designed to fail or at least with limited capacity. The cash box has a fixed volume (even if there is a larger container hidden underneath). Care to make an experiment? Let’s assume that every rider was to pay his or her fare in pennies. That’s 275 little copper coins per rider. How long would is take before a subway collector cash box is full during rush hour?
So, go ahead and reach for your penny jar this week! Let’s see if it makes the news.
As a commuter, I am in favour of improved road safety. However, enforcing the new law making it illegal to use your hands to operate electronic devices while driving may be difficult to enforce. It is likely that many court cases will be quashed because of exemptions like …
“Exemption for pressing buttons
14. (1) A person may drive a motor vehicle on a highway while pressing a button on a hand-held wireless communication device to make, answer or end a cell phone call or to transmit or receive voice communication on a two-way radio if the device is placed securely in or mounted to the motor vehicle so that it does not move while the vehicle is in motion and the driver can see it at a quick glance and easily reach it without adjusting his or her driving position.”
So if I understand this correctly, as long as the phone is attached, the driver can still press buttons to operate it. It seems that the intention of this exemption is to make it legal to press one button but not more or maybe some of the buttons but not all. Is pressing one button more distracting or dangerous then pressing two buttons? How exactly will it be proven in court how many buttons were pressed? Will there be a list of exempt buttons?
It is interesting to see how the sales of hands-free Bluetooth wireless devices are going throught the roof. I wonder if drivers are buying them for the right reasons. Isn’t that just adding to the number of devices and buttons in your car? I have tried the Motorola T-505 device in my car as an experiment. I found that I periodically had to scan the status of the visor-mounted T-505 to make sure it was ready to make or take a call and that it didn’t power down because of inactivity, etc. Then, I would also point my eye balls on the phone itself to see if I missed any calls. Talk about distracting! I am not picking on Motorola but, like most new gadgets, it will take some time to get used to. The unfortunate thing is that the drivers will be learning how to use their new devices strarting this week WHILE DRIVING!
As for me, I am going low tech on this one – sticking some Velcro on the back of my smart phone and the dash and turning on the speaker button. I hope that button is legal.