July 2009

Brilliant Service

Posted on July 21st, 2009 by kyle

When trying to change my printer settings I received a message stating that I needed a username and password for the printer application. Now I knew I was in trouble given that I had never created a username or password for the printer. After spending 40 min of totally unproductive time reading the Brother printer manual and trying everything I could think of, I emailed the online Brother support. To be honest I had extremely low expectations (a) of a prompt reply (five days ago I had phoned Serengeti Eyewear International and am still waiting a reply) and/or (b) of actually solving my problem. Less then six hours after my email I received a reply. Through a series of short email correspondences over the next 30 minutes, my problem (totally unintuitive as I had to key in computer code) was solved. Well done Brother for the prompt reply and actually adding value to my day. Are you responding promptly to your customers, and what value are you adding?

F1 at Te Papa

Posted on July 27th, 2009 by kyle

Was in Wellington Friday so popped along to the Formula One: The Great Design Race display at Te Papa. If you have a spare hour (or half hour like me if you get bored easy) then this is well worth a look. Even a lay person like me can appreciate the engineering genius, and there are some interesting facts that you will find out too.

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No Surprise At All

Posted on July 29th, 2009 by kyle

Here is some research stating that texting while driving is even more dangerous than previously thought, and that keeping your eyes on the road is a key to safe driving - revolutionary: who would have thought? I wonder if the F1 drivers of the cars in the post below considered this. 

Texts While Driving Even More Dangerous

Texting while driving increases the risk of a crash much more than previous studies have concluded with motorists taking their eyes off the road longer than they do when talking or listening on their cell phones.

The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute used cameras to continuously observe light vehicle drivers and truckers for more than 6 million miles (9.6 million kilometres). It found that when drivers of heavy trucks texted, their collision risk was 23 times greater than when not texting.

Dialing a cell phone and using or reaching for an electronic device increased risk of collision about 6 times in cars and trucks.

Recent research using driving simulators suggested that talking and listening were as dangerous as texting, but the "naturalistic driving studies clearly indicate that this is not the case," a news release from the institute said. The risks of texting generally applied to all drivers, not just truckers, the researchers said. Complete results were expected to be released Tuesday.

Right before a crash or near collision, drivers spent nearly five seconds looking at their devices, which was enough time at 55 mph (88.5kph) to cover more than the length of a football field.

"Talking/listening to a cell phone allowed drivers to maintain eyes on the road and were not associated with an increased safety risk to nearly the same degree," the institute said. "These results show conclusively that a real key to significantly improving safety is keeping your eyes on the road."

The institute recommended that texting should be banned for all drivers and all cell phone use should be prohibited for newly licensed teen drivers. Fourteen states do ban texting while driving.

The study also concluded that headset cell phone use is not substantially safer than hand-held because the primary risks associated with both are answering, dialing, and other tasks that take drivers' eyes off the road.

Voice activated systems are less risky if they are designed well enough so drivers do not have to take their eyes off the road often or for long periods.

A call to the institute was not immediately returned Monday night for more details.