Rome cab drivers forced to be honest

by Annie Scott on

All over the world, taxi drivers seem to love to scam tourists. Hapless visitors with no idea what a taxi from A to B should cost are so easy to drive around for an extra ten euros or so.

In New York City, they’ve made an effort to combat the problem by adding video maps in cabs (so you can see when you aren’t between your pickup point and your destination) and charging flat fees to bring people into Manhattan from the local airports. Now, in Rome, there’s a new method of keeping drivers honest afoot.

According to Reuters, Radiotaxi 3570 in Rome is “trying to improve the bad name of the city’s cabbies” by allowing visitors to pay for their ride from the airport into the city in advance, even from their home countries. You will soon be able to book online and request a driver who speaks English, German, French or Spanish, and a text message payment/reservation service is in the works, as well.

Though we’d never scoff at a trip to Rome simply because the taxi drivers have a bad reputation, this development is heartening; it shows that Rome wants and appreciates its foreign guests.

[via Reuters]

Gadlinks for Friday 11.20.09

by Brenda Yun on

We’re less than a week away from Thanksgiving (gasp!). One thing I’m thankful for: Thanksgiving doesn’t involve giving gifts. I still have another month to thinking about gifts (thank God!). Here are some other things to be thankful for.

‘Til Monday, have a great weekend!

More Gadlinks HERE.

Man’s new best friend could be a robot

by Annie Scott on

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is teaming up with Volkswagen to develop the Affective Intelligent Driving Agent, or “AIDA,” an expressive in-car robot which just might bring your driving experience into the new millennium.

We’ve seen major developments in car computer systems over the past few decades (and had quite enough of our GPS systems shouting at us, no?), but never anything on this level. Sweet-faced AIDA will sit on your dashboard and sympathize with you if you’ve had a bad day. Seriously. She can learn your facial expressions.

“Over time, the project envisions a kind of symbiotic relationship developing between the driver and Aida, where both parties learn from each other and establish an affective bond,” reports The Daily Mail. Just watch the guy in the video below scratching AIDA’s head. Could a robot be man’s new best friend?

AIDA may be able to help you conserve time and energy by suggesting the best routes and anticipating your needs, like noticing before you do that your gas is low, and knowing where you typically go shopping and what traffic conditions are like in that area. It’s like something out of a movie — but now, it’s real. There’s no official word yet on how AIDA could help with road trips, but with its (her?) ability to read external cues and internet connection, it (she?) will probably be able to tell you where the best rest stops are, which restaurants are nearby, where there’s going to be traffic and more.

Does your dog do that?


[via DailyMail]

EU rules on liquid carry-ons may become “fluid”

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Grab a drink, if you feel inclined … in Europe, at least. The European Union is getting ready to lift the ban on liquids in carry-ons. The target date is still pretty far in the future, because the technology the EU plans to use isn’t widely available yet. Originally, the prohibition was supposed to expire in April, but now it’s looking like no later than 2014.

Okay, so don’t rush to celebrate the change.

That being said, the EU’s transportation officials are pressuring the technology companies involved to move quickly.

The rules against liquids in containers larger than 100 ml and not in clear bags have been in effect for three years, after a terrorist plot was uncovered in Britain. The perps were planning to use liquid explosives in soda cans.

Now that everyone’s safe, we’re also free to gripe about what we can’t take on board – not to mention longer waits at security checkpoints. Progress may be slow, but at least it’s happening. Let’s give a nod to innovative thinking, with a technological solution being devised to give us back some of our time without compromising our security.

If you need action sooner, there’s a chance that the rules may be eased a bit for duty-free liquids bought outside the EU.

Anti-wi-fi paint will make it harder to scam free Internet

by Sean McLachlan on

The days of scamming free wireless Internet may soon be over.

Researchers at the University of Tokyo have developed a paint that blocks wifi signals. So if a room is painted with this stuff, only computers inside the room would be able to pick up a wireless signal originating there. At a projected cost of £10 ($16) a kilo, the paint would be a cheap way of keeping hackers and moochers from using your wireless to download dodgy files.

The paint is infused with an aluminum-iron oxide that blocks all radio signals at 100Ghz, the frequency at which wifi transmits.

As ingenious as this sounds, there are a couple of downsides. First, it won’t protect the user from online threats, and of more importance to travelers, it will stop people from scamming free Internet while on the go. In Madrid I can go to my local park, pop open my laptop, and surf the Internet on somebody else’s euro. I can do this in many other European capitals too. With all the new costs being added to airline tickets, it would be a shame if this travel freebie were to disappear.

Perhaps we should tell the nice folks at the University of Tokyo “thanks but no thanks”? Anybody know how to say that in Japanese?