First, “they” made the phone more than something on which to talk with someone else.
Or did “they” start messing with the automobile first?
So, in the Why Can’t a Vehicle Just Take Us from Here to There and Back? department:
| An onboard computer that allows passengers to surf the Internet and download music while you drive? A built-in barbecue that folds out of the trunk for tailgate parties?
SEMA 07, the world’s biggest auto accessories exhibition taking place in Las Vegas this week, has shown that the only limit on vehicle-owners wanting to customise their four-wheeled friends appears to be their imagination. |
To which I exclaim, “Please, spare us!”
But no . . . .
| If Bryan Davis, president of Led Wheels has his way, pedestrians and fellow motorists will soon be able to watch televisions mounted inside the wheel rims of other cars driving by. |
Hey, get a life!
And help somebody else get a life. And maybe keep someone else from losing a life. Do motorists need more Fatal Attractions?
Besides, people won’t get away from red lights as quickly because they’re no longer looking at the semaphore, they’re looking at the other person’s WheeRimTV. Or else those contraptions will cause an epidemic of street racing as the viewer engages RocketStart in an effort to catch up to that TV.
But how about this next “jewel” — is it more practical?
| A pick-up truck on show featured a giant flat-screen television folding out from the trunk as well as a built-in barbecue grill, emblazoned with the logo of the National Football League. |
Sure. But this next one is something I’ve rooted for since I was a teenager (thirty-plus years ago already!).
| Other gadgets on show offered a new twist on conventional in-car equipment, most notably an electronic rear-view mirror linked to a camera which offers drivers a panoramic view of the road behind them. |
Now there’s something useful. I could really dominate a game of RubberNeck with a mirror like that!
And this “baby” could be so useful (possibly) when squealing away from the traffic light in an effort to see the last of the commercial on that guy’s WheeRimTV:
| Among accessories being shown by The Hoffman Group was a device that enables cars to shoot a two-meter flame from the rear exhaust. |
Think metric!