Comments for DailySkewIf you own or manage a restaurant, salon, or retail business, it is probably time to upgrade your old POS systems (Point of Sale systems). Here is a quick checklist for POS systems: barcode scanners, POS software like Quickbooks and Proxis, cash drawers, magnetic card readers, credit card processing, and more. It is very important to stay current with POS systems and meet customers’ every day expectations for checking out.
Posted in business | No Comments »
I don’t know if you’ve seen the advertisements or “news stories” this past month, but I just wanted to (carefully and legally) bring it up here-
Basically the advertisement is about a woman who has a $$$$$$$$ check from Google, and all you have to do is send her a $1 to for the “kit”.
All I have to say is that if you enjoy infomercials at 2:30AM, and love the feeling of hope that a lottery ticket brings you (until the drawing), you will love this kit.
I already read quite a few real testimonials…without endorsing these testimonials, the word “scam”, “overseas”, and “keep withdrawing from my bank account” kept coming up.
My first exposure with this current gimmick was on DrudgeReport. Now I see the ad all over the place, even on allegedly techno-communistic sites that give Java scripts away for free and other code. I clicked on one of the ads and saw how the browser checked my IP address and generated a fake newspaper webpage based on my state, trying to give me the impression that it was a legit news story.
Speaking of which….again, without listing names, if you get your “news” from certain e-mail providers, many of their articles are simply ads, like “Top 10 Laptops”.
Seems like everyone is selling, and many people are buying. At only $1 there doesn’t seem to be a risk…but…just be careful.
You can find out about Google AdSense for free straight from Google. Heck, Google even has free tutorials about making your websites Search Engine Optimized to make money using AdSense. Guess what folks? It takes TIME and effort. You don’t need to be paying for kits that promise overnight money.
Posted in business | No Comments »
You have seen the trendy car insurance commercials, you get the snail mail stuffed in your mail box, and you already have car insurance. However, maybe it time to compare insurance quotes online and see if you are really getting the best coverage at the lowest price. In this current economy, you have to try and cut costs as much as possible.
Posted in business | No Comments »
If you own an automotive service equipment business, you realize how necessary your company is in today’s economy. That is why you must think of ways to continue to maximize profits and get ahead of the competitive. The best way is to increase productivity by getting the most efficient and cost effective automotive lifts, alignment machines, battery chargers, and engine stands for your shop.
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Before you buy a cash drawer, you should consider a number of factors, such as till configuration, durability, media slots, manual vs. automatic, security, replaceable components, heavy duty vs. economy cash drawers, size, and manufacturer warranty. Be sure to weigh all these factors based on your business’ POS (point of sale) needs. Do the research, otherwise you may get stuck with a bad cash register drawer.
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My wife saw an American documentary filmed in China about the production of Mardi Gras beads.
Since China became a free market just about anyone can set up shop there as long as you follow some “rules”.
Are $0.10/hour workers in an overpopulated country a necessary part of this global economy? What happens if these people ever became free and demanded rights? Could Americans afford to pay $50 for beads? Would they want to produce them on their own?
The Chinese believe that Americans can’t be productive and meet the quotas, and that this is the global economy.
Like Buddhism says, every condition arises from previous conditions, and every thing and every one is related to each other.
Can we judge other cultures? Is globalization a good thing? Is this slave labor? Does survival of the fittest dictate that we let things be? Is this the product of capitalism in a communist culture?
Posted in business, politics, society | 20 Comments »
Scanning360.com has a reputation for scanning paper at high quality, in whatever format or indexing requirements you need. They have successfully scanned hundreds of paper scanning projects, and although the majority of their clients are from South Florida, they have serviced paper scanning jobs from all across the United States. They have digitized such document types as medical records, law firm documents, maps, plats, manuals and technical specifications, permits, personnel & correspondence files, loan & mortgage documents, commercial & personal banking documents, photographs, architectural & engineering Drawings, and much more.
Posted in Microfilm Scanning, Review, business | No Comments »
Big Brother IS Watching You
The next time you’re driving on the highway or languishing in traffic in a city or town, you may be watched…by a billboard.
No, this is not a conspiracy by George W. Bush, President McCain, or the other reptilian overlord, it is being done by high-tech advertising agencies such as Quividi and TruMedia Technologies.
Consumer habits are tracked on the Internet, no matter what your security is, so within advertising circles, these billboard camera systems are seen as a long-awaited answer to the problem of how to measure the effectiveness of billboards, and how to figure out who is seeing them.
Of course…if the general public knew about this, they would protest their rights to privacy.
One driver that passed it was then interviewed by a reporter and had this to say:
“I didn’t see that at all, to be honest. That’s disturbing. I would say it’s arguably an invasion of one’s privacy.”
Indeed, having one’s face stored on a computer network and used for marketing purposes does sound weird. Also, law enforcement agencies can issue a court order to review the digital images. I’m not surprised, but I just wanted to give this Public Service Announcement so everyone knows. Like I’ve been telling everyone- advertisers rule this world, and they can- and will- do whatever they want. No reptilian conspiracy necessary.
Posted in PSA, business, news, society, technology | No Comments »
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said his company was having trouble finding skilled workers to fill the 5,000 customer service jobs it promised to return to the United States from India.
“We’re having trouble finding the numbers that we need with the skills that are required to do these jobs. If I had a business that half the product we turned out was defective or you couldn’t put into the marketplace, I would shut that business down.”
“We’re able to do new product engineering in Bangalore [India] as easily as we’re able to do it in Austin, Texas. I know you don’t like hearing that, but that’s the way it is.”
Randall, first of all most guys named “Randall” usually go by “Randy” in this day and age.
Secondly, I spent an entire Sunday trying to get your AT&T/Bellsouth octopus to try and help me CHANGE MY PASSWORD (which I was forced to do on my router for no reason) to get on the Internet because your company’s outsourced customer service representatives are just reading a multiple choice menu from their screens, and SUCK.
Randall, I can guarantee you that if you invested more money in advertising your 5,000 customer service jobs, and offered a nice salary, those positions would be FILLED in one day.
Randall, why can’t you just admit that it’s cheaper, and therefore more profitable, to set up your whole company in India?
Jerk.
Hi, I’m Jared from Subway and I lost 700 pounds.Posted in business, news | 8 Comments »
DONE!
It’s official: Toshiba has called it quits with their HD DVD, and yielded to Sony’s Blue Ray DVD.
TONY VAHL SAYS:
Unlike VHS vs. Beta, it would seem the better technology haswon this time. You could also argue that the guy in the photo shouldhave used The Point (tm), instead of waving his hand towards a screen.
DAMIAN HOSPITAL SAYS: The final nail in HD DVD’s coffin was when Time Warner decided to go with Sony’s Blue Ray. The bottom line is that it is SO hard to demand an “either-or” market/loyalty from studios and consumers. Yes, the best parallel is VHS vs Beta, no doubt. Looking back through electronics history, that sort of competition is cut-throat and generally “one shall stand, and one shall fall”. Look what happened to Sega’s hardware systems. Now, Sonic and Mario are in the same game, and there are only a HANDFUL of video games that AREN’T ported over on all 3 systems.
For the record, I am not a technophile, and never bought into “higher definition” anything. As someone who is legally blind without my glasses, I’m used to not seeing every pixel. I think it’s all a gimmick anyway. EVERY time a new type of media is introduced, it claims to give you the “movie theater” or “arcade” experience. I simply ride the old media I have until they break, and then I’ll pick up a new technology when the price drops.
Posted in business, news, technology | 1 Comment »
“Microsoft’s hostile bid for Yahoo raises troubling questions,” David Drummond, Google’s chief legal officer, wrote. “This is about more than simply a financial transaction, one company taking over another. It’s about preserving the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation.”
“Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC?”
Short answer: No.
Although Microsoft WILL try to create a stranglehold on search engines, advertisements, components needed to view webpages, etc., Google, Apple, Mozilla and other open source organizations, and others will always provide alternate applications, search tools, etc.
If Google was as truly altruistic as they claim to be, they’d lay off trying to control forms of competitive Internet advertising (blogger pay per posts). In many ways, Google’s almost communistic approach to a free, shared, pure Internet makes them look like the Internet Police.
I support Google over Microsoft when it comes to best business practices, but Google is coming off being very threatened about battling an amalgamation of MSN+Yahoo! But I believe in free competition. Survival of the fittest. Quit crying. After all, Google made acquisitions of its own- Youtube, DoubleClick, Zingku, Postini, blogspot (blogger), Grandcentral, and much more. They are actively working with the TV network bigwigs, and Hollywood. Sounds to me they want to become the monopoly.
Don’t get me wrong- I love Google; it is revolutionary…BUT…they are doing everything Microsoft is.
Posted in business, news, technology | No Comments »
Congratulations to Exxon Mobil Corp who had a yearly profit of $40.6 billion. This broke their previous record for a publicly traded U.S. company in 2005 when it has a $39.5 billion profit. By the way did you know Exxon Mobile advised President George Bush on global warming matters? I think it’s pretty funny that the world’s largest oil company writes United States policy, don’t you?
Posted in business, news | 2 Comments »
With the United States trying to prevent a full-blown recession and dealing with the global stock slump, the Federal Reserve slashed the interest rate to 3.5% in an effort to stop further panic.
They have now cut its funds rate by 1.75% since August in an effort to keep the economy from being damaged by the sub-prime mess and credit crunch.
However, a CNBC expert said that mortgages will be unaffected because the 30-year fixed is not tied to short-term treasuries since this rate cut was already priced into the market. This rate cut affects short-term adjustable rate mortgages, but not by much.
However a Quicken Loans expert said the biggest impact will be the availability of credit to consumers and businesses. This could help borrowing, since banks will have more money, and since it is cheaper, they will likely ease their credit standards and loan money.
Posted in borrower, business, news | No Comments »
A lot of people don’t know how to setup credit card processing for their online business, and don’t know the dangers and risks involved. APlusMerchant is a very informative website that has a wealth of information about how to process Visa cards online.
Many first time business owners may find setting up an online store or a physical storefront can be very stressful and time consuming. That’s why it’s very important to go over all of the details of setting up a merchant account. Click Here for Merchant Accounts
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IKEA HYPE
Man, are they giving away free stuff at IKEA or what? My wife and I passed the new store today near the Sawgrass Mall in Sunrise, Florida, and cars were lined up a la the cars during Hurricane Wilma at the gas stations.
Are the items in there that much cheaper and better than Home Depot, Walmart, Target, City Furniture, or the hundreds of mom and pop stores in South Florida? I guess so. My co-worker told me “they have everything there- at great prices”.
I mean, yeah, okay they have a winter sale, and the store opened up a little over a month ago, but damn. Damn. Damn. Damn.
Like I said, you would think it was a life or death situation in front of that IKEA today.
I bet every married couple in South Florida has made, or intends to make, that the trip there.
Anyway, here’s something I bet you didn’t know about IKEA:
IKEA is owned and operated by a complicated array of not-for-profit and for-profit corporations of which Stichting INGKA Foundation located in the Netherlands is the ultimate owner. By funneling profits through a non-profit organization and through a string of shell corporations tax havens, IKEA reduces its tax burden.
Posted in business | 2 Comments »
Tata Nano: World’s Cheapest Car
The big news this morning is that Indian automobile motor giant Tata unveiled the world’s cheapest car, a four seater which will sell for around $2500 or so, but not in the West. The Tata Nano’s nickname is the People’s Car.
I doubt the majority of citizens in the United States or England would be interested in a car with hardly any bells and whistles (the Tata Nano has no power steering, and the dashboard just has an oil light, fuel gauge, and speedometer. Getting extras may bump the price up more , if they are available.) Air conditioning is said to be available.
I’m sure U.S. automakers are thinking about the “$3,000 car”. Truthfully, I think our environment has enough cars anyway…
For those not keeping up to date with the car industry, Tata is in line to buy the Jaguar and Land Rover marques from Ford in the next few weeks.
Posted in business, buzz, technology | 2 Comments »
“Top Ten Smartest Superheroes”: A Business Weakly Scam?
Business Weekly published the Top Ten Smartest Superheroes.
My first question is…why? Business Weekly??
My second question is still…why?
By the way, this is no disrespect to the actual writer (I’m attacking your editor or publisher), but, I mean, can Tony Vahl and I work for Business Weekly and do Top 10 lists?
Anyway here was the official list (not ranked, at least I hope not):
Reed Richards, Batman, Iron Man, Ant-Man, The Beast, Bruce Banner, Oracle, Spider-Man, Professor X, The Atom.
Anyway, since I have The Simpson’s Comic Book Guy in my genetic code, I offer some possible notable omissions (not in any order):
Superman, Mr. Terrific II, Captain Marvel (Shazam!), Steel (John Henry Irons), Brainiac-5, Dr. Manhattan, Ozymandias, Blue Beetle (Ted Cord), The Monitor, Phantom Stranger, Chief (Doom Patrol), Dr. Will Magnus (Metal Men), Wonder Woman, Mary Marvel, Stargirl, Dr. Light II, Adam Warlock.
Obviously, at the end of the day, none of this matters.
My point is, I think BusinessWeekly did the article on purpose just to drive comic book geeks such as myself to their website. And according to google, it’s working.
Posted in business, comics | 6 Comments »
My grandmother played the role of the Dream Seeker tonight by saying a key phrase that made me remember a great dream that I had forgotten this morning! Thank you, Grandma!
Here it is- one of those REALISTIC dreams that are scary:
The setting- NOW (literally- the Friday before New Years).
The employees: Current Tashman roster
The C.E.O. of Tashman Technologies made an announcement in the morning: today was the last issue! End of an era! Done! Final episode! Not even one day’s notice! He’s closing up shop by 3 pm, so we are to finish whatever work we are doing, and clean our desks up!
My main worry was that we had a few in-house jobs! How are we supposed to finish them? How cocky is it to call them up and say, “C.E.O.’s retiring, so we can’t finish your project”????
So I asked Christina, if it was official, or will a skeleton crew hang around and finish these projects. I never got a good answer. All I know is that I felt that my whole life was turned upside down, and as soon as the countdown to 3:00PM occurred, I had to move on with my life. I told my wife about the situation, and acted brave, and felt ready.
Posted in LME, betrayed, business, dream, tashman, technology, trust | 5 Comments »
Who’s Better?
The child in me is happy that Transformers has officially surpassed He-Man in popularity. I loved both, but my preference was Transformers. And, not only did it surpass it, but it did so in a manner that was respectful of the show’s history. What more can I ask for?- VanZee, DailySkew poster
I’m not going to agree or disagree with you, VanZee. But your comment did inspire me to run a comparison between the two properties (Masters of the Universe vs Transformers):
Toy Line:
Transformers were originally designed and produced by Takara and Hasbro, initially reusing previously-released toys from the Japanese toylines Diaclone and Microman. Jim Shooter and Denny O’Neil helped with storylines in the U.S. The original toyline was one of the highest quality action figures of all-time. Perhaps notable is that the U.S. let this Japanese “weird” toyline invade without a fight. (It should be noted that the first Japanese U.S. robot invasion was Shogun Warriors in the 1970’s.)
Masters of the Universe was originally supposed to be a Conan the Barbarian line, but according to currently outcast creator Roger Sweet, things changed. The Masters of the Universe toyline itself made Mattel billions of dollars, and is still regarded as the highest peak for any boy’s toyline to this day.
Edge: TRANSFORMERS. Transformer figures were more original, more sturdy, and awe-inspiring. As a child, I used my imagination more with Masters of the Universe figures, and enjoyed them much more and were more fun for me, but objectively speaking, the Transformers were a better toy for most other kids. That’s why I give the edge to the robots, but in my book, human figures lead to more storylines and emotions as I created storylines for them as a kid.
Later Toy-Lines:
Transformers had so many later toy-lines it is a JOKE, although the current stuff you see in Target or Toys R Us looks alright.
After He-Man’s peak, they were failed attempts to reboot the franchise. Only the last revival was any good, but it was aimed to the collector’s market only. The current toys are pretty much high quality statues, and you won’t see them at major distributors.
EDGE: Because Transformers can still be found ANYWHERE, it goes to TRANSFORMERS.
Original Cartoon Run:
Transformers was strong from 1984 to 1986, peaking at the Death of Optimus movie (although it was a box-office bomb). There can be no doubt that Transformers was just as talked about in school as the other major cartoons of that era. Some say the Transformers “jumped the shark” after the movie, as storylines got very hard to follow for the average kid, separating the die hard obsessed fans from the casual fans.
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was the first cartoon to be massed-produced straight to syndication, therefore had hundreds of episodes made during its 2-year run, which did not falter from its peak. Mattel made the mistake of canceling He-Man and going with She-Ra for Filmation’s third season.
In comparing cartoons, one must consider that He-Man was a magnet for censorship. I find this extremely humorous. When viewing the episodes, the messages from the writers are 100% clear- that violence and evil is WRONG. He-Man never hit a living thing with his sword. Unfortunately, the censorship kept He-Man as a kiddie cartoon, like the Carebears or Smurfs. The Transformers- being machines- did not have to worry about that as much. G.I. Joe had to worry about it, too, as no one ever got shot.
Ultimately, watching the episodes today, the Filmation team hired some of the top sci-fi writers, and as long as one keeps in mind that the show was geared towards kids, and wanted to give positive moral messages, (these are handcuffs) the edge is HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE.
Cartoon Spin-Offs:
The sheer amount of crap that was produced after Transformers Generation 1 is not worth the space to write about.
Attempts to relaunch He-Man were commercial failures, but at least were watchable. The caveat remains the same- whereas Transformers had the luxury of tackling grim storylines, Mattel refused He-Man to engage in any seriously threatening or dark storylines.
Edge: HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE
Comics:
Transformers by Marvel was- at one time- the most anticipated title on the comic book stands (for me, and my classmates). They had a great gimmick- they promoted it as “4-Issue Limited Series”, with Issue 4 resulting in the death of all of the Autobots. Issue 5, with Shockwave featured on the cover, was THE MOST TALKED ABOUT COMIC AT THAT TIME in my age group. The writing was much more mature and top-notch compared to the cartoon, which is probably why I never formed an attachment to the cartoon. Most current fans just collected the toys and watched the cartoon, so I am different, as I was obsessed with the comics more than the actual toys and cartoon. I won’t discuss the U.K. or spin-offs comics, simply because it’s too detailed. Suffice to say, the Marvel series did take some liberties pretty early which frustrated me as a reader- Megatron was ousted by Shockwave right away, and never made the triumphant return that I wanted. Megatron was phased out. And so was Optimus. Optimus was in his prime in the limited series, and that was it most of the time in Marvel. (I had stopped collecting when the toyline got ridiculous, and the focus was on Cybertron and the future). So, although the series was enjoyable, and I looked forward to every new issue, I was anticipating for Megatron and Optimus to be their respective leaders, and it just never happened…something that should have been there all the time. Finally, to me, the original Marvel series is the cannon for Transformers, not the cartoons.
He-Man’s best comic run actually occurred as mini-comics which were packed with each action figure. Some of the best comic book writers wrote them, and they were not censored, or originally influenced by the cartoons (at first). These old comics are the true original history as conceived by the action figure creators. The storylines are dark and mature. There is no Prince Adam, Orko, or Cringer- all Filmation cartoon creations. Most of these are online to read now. The Marvel Series has the Star label, once again assuring that the writing and fanbase were for ALF, and Strawberry Shortcake readers. DC’s original Masters of the Universe 3-issue limited series predated the cartoon, and mixes Conan with magic- and Skeletor acknowledges the pre-Crisis multi-verse!! Also, this is the first appearance of He-Man having a dual identity, but as Adam he was a womanizer, not a…anti-love guy who wore a pink vest and purple tights.
Edge: TRANSFORMERS. With G.I.Joe, Marvel’s original Transformers comic book was HOT, exceeded expectations, and was able to be much more mature. After all, it was 1980’s comic books, were storylines were supposed to have angst and gritty.
Modern-Day Comic Books:
Transformers was rebooted so many times, it’s hard to follow. All I do know is that the artwork and computer generated ink is HIGH QUALITY stuff.
Master of the Universe’s reboot was based on the new cartoon, and the writers and artists were huge fans. The storylines were able to be more dark and mature, even sensationalizing the villains.
EDGE: DRAW. Both comics were published by small-time independent presses, not Marvel or DC, which shows you that DC and Marvel didn’t think it would be worth buying the licenses again in this current market. Both comic runs are for the die-hard fans, now in their 30’s.
Cartoon Movie:
The Transformers’ cartoon movie left kid’s with their mouths open. I know I cried when Optimus Prime died. Anyone who says they didn’t is a liar. They changed so much in this movie (Megatron becomes Galvatron, Unicron, new Autobot leadership, Starscream getting what was coming to him, etc.) that the series truly peaked for me, and should have ended there. The marketing campaign or distribution method must have SUCKED for this movie to have bombed.
He-Man’s cartoon movie was interesting and enjoyable, but was no where near the quality or darkness of the Transformers’ movie.
EDGE: TRANSFORMERS
Live-Action Movie:
Transformers
Rotten Tomatoes: 57% critics; 80% Users
$319,014,499 gross
DVD rentals so far: $45,560,000
Masters of the Universe
Rotten Tomatoes: 22% Critics; 35% Users
$17,336,370 gross, plus a combined $1.5 million in Germany and Australia
This movie came out AFTER the cartoon was cancelled, and He-Man was no longer the top selling toy. I rewatched it again recently, and liked Frank Langella’s Skeletor performance, and it was not as bad as when I saw it as a kid.
EDGE: TRANSFORMERS
Some final conclusions: Count up the Edges.
He-Man has always been handcuffed by Mattel and Filmation, and even when other companies bought rights, it was always been targeted towards kids, no different than Rainbow Brite, Barbie, or Cabbage Patch Kids. Until the day comes where He-Man can be put back to its Conan-like roots, like a 300 movie-treatment, it can never have the “relevance” or respect of people like VanZee, who likes robots.
Transformers has always benefited from being robots, which are timeless and universal. He-Man just seems dated in 2008.
Posted in MEDIA, Review, books, business, cartoons, comics, entertainment, tribute | 5 Comments »
Did AT&T’s Bold 1993 Predictions Come True in 2008?
Remember the advertisements where AT&T was showing casually futuristic technology, with the promise that “You will” see it? Although the technology did exist in research labs at the time, the question is- did AT&T predict how that technology would be used in the mainstream society?
Let’s review them to see if the scenes (the commentary, technology, and the background settings) ever came true-
In the first scene, we see a woman “borrowing” a digital book in front of a giant (non-flat) screen. She is touching the screen. She has a non-digital pen, and I can’t make out it there is a keyboard or mouse around. Anyway, reading a “virtual book” is amusing…people read PDF text files, preferably in a palm pilot, handheld reader, or laptop- not at a library, and certainly not an actual digital replica. So…to be strict: THUMBS DOWN on this prediction. Remember- I asked at the beginning of this post: “Did AT&T predict how that technology would be used in the mainstream society?” The answer for the first shot is NO.
In the second scene, we see a GPS. Although the graphics seem 3-D, and GPS’s are still not affordable for everyone in the world (and forget about 2nd or 3rd world countries), I will give AT&T a YES for that scene.
The third scene always seemed so ridiculous and arrogant to me when I first saw it. A portable fax machine as a digital tablet? Why couldn’t he just call the guy on his AT&T/Singular/Bellsouth cell phone? Or use his wireless laptop? E-mail anyone? In reality, has anyone ever had positive experiences with fax machines and phone lines? Fax machines are still bulky. I wonder if his receiver ever got his message. Sure, digital pens exist, but the scene itself is a dream that does not exist in 99.99% people’s realities on this earth. My answer: NO.
Let’s take a look at another:
Okay, the first scene makes you say “Wow”- that’s true. However, closer inspection raises some doubts- first of all, we don’t need an on-board computer system like that. Secondly, here in Florida, SunPass looks like a small transponder on your windshield or dashboard. It transmits a radio signal. It sure as heck doesn’t tell you your remaining balance, either. But you can always go online to find out and buy more time with your credit card. Oh, and how futuristic are those toll booths! No people, no traffic, clean! Wow…sure looks like everyone has one of these devices. But, since I have to give a “Yes” or “No”, as much as I want give a YES for the spirit of the scene, I vote NO.
In the next scene, we see girls buying concert tickets from an ATM machine. Huh. Now, if the confident voice-over guy said “buy concert tickets from your home on your PC”, he’d be correct. But he didn’t. He said “cash-machine”. I saw a touchscreen 3-D virtual seating arena. Survey says? BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. NO.
The third scene is funny, as it looks so believable and tugs on your emotions. Too bad phone booths went the way of dinosaurs. Too bad AT&T couldn’t predict that cell phones could do this (in a very limited form-STILL). So..what is the baby looking into anyway? NO.
Let’s move on to their later 1994 spots:
The first scene shows a self-checkout at a supermarket. That looked encouraging, especially since they exist today (although they seem broken most of the time, the real cashiers outnumber them 5:1, and you’re dead if you have fruit, and people still ask for help…sigh). But once you see the woman just placing her cart in some…thing…I’m still scratching my head over that one. I’m with the little boy, Jeremy, who AT&T is trying to insult for looking confused over something so “nonchalant” to his mother.
The second scene is a video conference where a doctor actually diagnoses an injury instantly. Now, webcams exist today, as does video conferencing. I’m okay with that (although in 1994, it wasn’t THAT much of a stretch to predict.) But a live doctor making an official diagnosis? Is that an X-ray? Where is that locker room, anyway? It looks like high school, but is so empty. Who’s paying for this? Nope. Sorry. NO.
Finally, in the third scene, a guy gets a phone call on his wristwatch, kind of like Dick Tracy. Why can’t he just take a picture of the beautiful mountains for his woman? Sure, we have small cell phones now, and I’m sure they make wristwatch phones, but it’s impractical. I vote NO.
In other clips I wasn’t able to post here:
A man has a business meeting on vacation in the South Pacific. He’s using a laptop, and the other members of his office each have a square on his laptop and can see him and each other. The announcer says “have a business meeting barefoot”. Kind of a stretch, but I’ll vote YES (barely).
A college student is watching his professor at a podium, and he and the other students all interact with each other virtually. NO.
A woman opens her front door with her voice because she has groceries. NO.
A guy carried his entire medical history and x-rays on a credit card. Hell NO.
Kids can watch “any movie you ever wanted to see instantly” on their television with a touch of the screen. My vote…in spirit, you can, but not “instantly”, and not “all movies”, not on your TV… and not yet. NO. Maybe one day.
Posted in Review, betrayed, business, society, technology | 7 Comments »
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