Comments on: The Road Ahead – May 2009 http://autowriters.com/blog/the-road-ahead-may-2009/ The right info to the right writers who write about cars. Sun, 02 Oct 2011 17:01:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Michael Karesh http://autowriters.com/blog/the-road-ahead-may-2009/comment-page-1/#comment-115 Michael Karesh Mon, 04 May 2009 21:44:38 +0000 http://autowriters.com/blog/?p=383#comment-115 The newsletter seems to get better with each passing month, Glenn. Incredible resource for anyone in automotive media. On the topic--as we've discussed, "short and often too simple" has always been common, but is virtually an imperative on the Internet. The lasts bastion for extended reading seems to be the john. And how long before people start surfing the Internet there as well? The newsletter seems to get better with each passing month, Glenn. Incredible resource for anyone in automotive media.

On the topic–as we’ve discussed, “short and often too simple” has always been common, but is virtually an imperative on the Internet. The lasts bastion for extended reading seems to be the john. And how long before people start surfing the Internet there as well?

]]> By: Stephan Wilkinson http://autowriters.com/blog/the-road-ahead-may-2009/comment-page-1/#comment-110 Stephan Wilkinson Mon, 04 May 2009 02:25:27 +0000 http://autowriters.com/blog/?p=383#comment-110 Lemme point out before I launch into this that I don't even use a cellphone, much less a Strawberry, or whatever they're called. Oh, I _own_ a cellphone, but I don't know the number, since I never give it out; it's written in big Pentel numbers on a strip of masking tape on the back of the phone, in case I need it to find my wife at the airport, or to call someone when my quarter-century-old 911 dies of carburetoritis. Anyway, we now own a Blu-Ray DVD player, and I noticed in the manual that it could be connected to the Internet. Having an Apple Airport wireless setup that I no longer was using for serious stuff--our new house came with built-in WiFi--I said what the hell, connect the thing up with the Web and I'll be able to download movies on demand, get instant Netflix films, stuff like that. Well sir, I'm connected. And what does that do for me? Has nothing to do with movies on demand or anything of the sort. It enables me to chat in real time with people who are watching the same Blu-Ray disc that I am, and to play a variety of games, as far as I can tell, that might have some vague connection with that movie. Who would want to do that? Especially who would want to do that if they're the kind of person--as I suspect many of you are--who never goes into the Extra Added Attractions selections on a DVD to play "scenes the editor cut because they were too bad to leave in" and "the director narrates the film frame by frame because he's being paid to"? It's the cinematic-overkill version of cars with 12-position individual seat-heat selectors accessible only through the iDrive... Stephan Wilkinson Lemme point out before I launch into this that I don’t even use a cellphone, much less a Strawberry, or whatever they’re called. Oh, I _own_ a cellphone, but I don’t know the number, since I never give it out; it’s written in big Pentel numbers on a strip of masking tape on the back of the phone, in case I need it to find my wife at the airport, or to call someone when my quarter-century-old 911 dies of carburetoritis.

Anyway, we now own a Blu-Ray DVD player, and I noticed in the manual that it could be connected to the Internet. Having an Apple Airport wireless setup that I no longer was using for serious stuff–our new house came with built-in WiFi–I said what the hell, connect the thing up with the Web and I’ll be able to download movies on demand, get instant Netflix films, stuff like that.

Well sir, I’m connected. And what does that do for me? Has nothing to do with movies on demand or anything of the sort. It enables me to chat in real time with people who are watching the same Blu-Ray disc that I am, and to play a variety of games, as far as I can tell, that might have some vague connection with that movie.

Who would want to do that? Especially who would want to do that if they’re the kind of person–as I suspect many of you are–who never goes into the Extra Added Attractions selections on a DVD to play “scenes the editor cut because they were too bad to leave in” and “the director narrates the film frame by frame because he’s being paid to”?

It’s the cinematic-overkill version of cars with 12-position individual seat-heat selectors accessible only through the iDrive…

Stephan Wilkinson

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