Traveler 2.0

Asking Siri Dumb Questions, Southern Style

In my personal blog, "A Southerner in San Francisco," I've had some fun asking the iPhone 4S Siri questions about the South. After all, Siri technology is reportedly handled, at least in part, by Apple's new data center in North Carolina. So Siri should know a little something about her home state, right?

Check out the video below to see how Siri fares under Southern cross-examination.

 

An iPad typewriter and a Google Voice phone booth

Remember that timeless tune, "Everything Old is New Again"? Well, here are two recent examples that shows the songwriters knew what they were writing about.

* USB Typewriter -- described as "a new and groundbreaking innovation in the field of obsolescence." As the name implies, this project takes a manual typewriter and transforms it into a physical keyboard for PCs, Macs, and even iPads. Practical? No. Cool? Definitely.

* Google Voice telephone booths -- Google will begin installing by year's end red Google Voice phone booths in public venues, such as airports and college campuses. The booths will actually make phone calls over the Internet, rather than traditional landlines. Again, I don't know how practical this is, but in terms of marketing, it's rather brilliant. 

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• Google Voice Phone Booths To Start Popping Up In Airports, Universities (techcrunch.com)
• Video: The Google Voice Phone Booth (thenextweb.com)
• USB Typewriters (flatchat.wordpress.com)
• iPad USB Typewriter [Video] (macstories.net)
• USB Typewriter Turns iPad Into Paper (wired.com)

Another Type of Electric-Powered Chair

Recently I blogged about the Wyndham Smart Chair, an electric-powered hotel chair that has its own broadband Internet access port. Today, an entirely different electric-powered chair came to my attention: the Hawaii chair.

This outrageously counter-productive chair was highlighted on a recent episode of Ellen DeGeneres' talk show. Rather than fumble for a description, I'll let the clip below show you what the world's most un-ergonomically correct chair is all about. And by the way, there is a laptop angle to this story, believe it or not.