28.08.06
surprisingly late digital-age product features
i'm a big fan of using technology to improve traditional stuff when it doesn't take anything away from it, and reading about the above-linked tennis innovation, i really hope that fifa will adopt some similar technology in their refereeing soon.
speaking of which, this weekend i was taken by a very cool feature in the very cool car that i rented to go to a wedding in canada.
the speedometer on the dashboard (as well as the resulting measurements such as the fuel consumption, trip distance, etc) could be switched from english to metric, i.e. from mph to km/h.
but here's the cool part: when you change the unit system, a light indicates that you're now on "km/h", and instantly the 0-20-40-60 markings now represented kilometers instead of miles per hour. and in place of the double line of numbers, which is found on the speedometers of most cars, the needle would instead change position according to your current system.
this was in line with an overall minimalist design of the car's controls and indicators, using digital displays instead of permanent markings in many cases.
this reminds me of another digital-age design choice, and really my favorite feature in the (mitsubishi) elevator we had at my old company in israel: undo. yes, amazingly, this is not available in every elevator - but at my old employer, you could undo a floor selection after it was lit, but before you arrived at the floor (by pressing it again). simple but brilliant.
telling this story to a friend, he mentioned another interesting innovation in elevators: no internal floor selection. instead, you select your destination floor, and not just the direction of travel, outside of the elevator, allowing the elevator computer to schedule the cabin travel more efficiently.
cute.
16.08.06
habitat surfing
right next to safdie's classic habitat '67, the rapids in the st. lawrence river create a standing wave, which has recently become the locus of a river-surfing subculture.
the wave is so steady that at times it seems the surfers are just hanging out on their boards waiting for inspiration to make their next move.
here's a photo series of this weekend's wave riders. i've also put it up on youtube where you can find a couple other videos of the action.
Wed, 18 Oct 2006 08:21
This Habitat is one of the funniest I have seen. They have also set up a lot of weird buildings in Europe at that time, but they look more "straight"
21.07.06
is everyone safe?
topping off this bloggy day - this is from the nytime's wrapup of the world cup:
What a great tournament the Germans put on. As hosts, they were tremendous, making the Weltmeisterschaft a safe and joyous monthlong party for everyone.
of course. safety first. the first thing they call the world cup after it's over is 'safe'. great.
Sat, 22 Jul 2006 14:07
someone was really trying to humiliate you with all that comment spam. is there some rule that spam must always be about penises and weight loss?
- cynthia
Sat, 22 Jul 2006 16:51
i guess it's what men and women are most insecure about, respectively. statistically.
and money.
- guy
Sat, 22 Jul 2006 18:35
actually virtually all of my comment spam (about 40/day, though the new wordpress sequesters it all so it's never published) is for antidepressants. it's actually pretty funny--the text they provide is "HI, I'M REALLY HAPPY!" then a bunch of links for xanax etc.
- cynthia
10.07.06
what's a terrorist? no, seriously. what is it?
enough has been written about the actual world cup final, so i feel no need to add anything of my own to the recount of the insult that is italy's victory. allow me however to offer as a dessert to this summer's celebration of skills the following gem from goal-scoring and head-butt-receiving italian actor marco materazzi:
Materazzi himself has not spoken publicly about the incident except to deny a claim by Paris-based anti-racism group SOS Racism, made on Monday, that he had called Zidane "a dirty terrorist".
"It is absolutely not true, I did not call him a terrorist. I'm ignorant. I don't even know what the word means," the Italian news agency Ansa quoted Materazzi as saying after the Italian team returned to Rome.
from bbc sport.
interestingly, zidane ended up winning the golden ball award (a journalist's pick of the tournament's best player). this is much due to the fact that the votes for the award were cast mostly before half-time of the final game.
this may remind the observant reader of oliver kahn's golden ball award in 2002, which might have been taken away from him and given to ronaldo, had the voters had a chance to see him fumble all the way to brazil's victory in the second half of the final game in japan.
maybe it's time to wait with the votes until after the game. electronic technology should make that possible these days. and while we're at it, i think it's time to allow the coaches to challenge calls with instant replays, if fifa cares about the future of this game.
and finally, for materazzi's agent claudio vigorelli, who is quoted in the same bbc article to say "I've known Marco for a long time and I don't think he is capable of provoking a player. He is a good boy.", i suggest watching this little collection of clips.
Tue, 11 Jul 2006 18:52
Yeah, I read that this morning too, and thought it was really funny
that anyone would say something like that.
Another
place translated what he said as "I am not a cultured person". I
wish I understood Italian so I could appreciate the subtlety.
- Udi
17.06.06
couple more espn/abc gripes
after watching the u.s.a-italy game today (btw, the yanks fought like tigers with 9 players vs. 10 - they even kept controlling the game - by karma alone they deserved to win this game):
cutting away to (the pretty empty) times square in the middle of an attack is not cool. and cutting to the u.s locker room during the czech game is also not cool.
then, why is 10% of the screen obstructed by the top bar, when the top half of it is just blank?
and covering up a quarter of the screen every 10 minutes to promote future broadcasts should pretty much cost a channel the fifa broadcast rights.
11.06.06
sports, comments-on, nostalgia, america
world cup fever in america
world cup fever is upon us once more and although i'm not much of a sports fan, the world cup moves me like a bad romantic comedy on an airplane.
Mon, 12 Jun 2006 06:20
with all my love to nedved, I believe the czech republic won't pass the first round. squadra azura will be there instead. The one problem with the world cup this time (at least in israel) is that it was hectically discussed for so many months before it actually started, that by the time it started, i'm already sick of it. Add to that the 300 nis that they charge just to watch all of israel's worst coaches pretending to be comentators, in a studio built as a Dr-Gav living room, and the will to watch it this time is the lowest i've ever had. Lastly, I hope brazil doesn't win. It will be too boring if they do. Being france's only fan in israel, I'd say viva la france, but they look pretty bad. So forza usa, if that's what it takes.
- yotam
Mon, 12 Jun 2006 09:03
well - we'll see in a few hours whether the czechs have it in them or not :)
i can't say that the cup was over-discussed here. even on june 8th people who supposedly cared about football asked me when the first match is starting. so at least my excitement could build properly.
but i agree with you - just not brazil.
- guy
Tue, 13 Jun 2006 01:02
3-0. you win :)
- yotam
Wed, 14 Jun 2006 16:22
You be speakin' my mind sometimes.
about the many data on players/countries e.g. Cote D'Ivoire/Ivory Coast is in the middle of a civil war, there were requests to not let Iran play!!! (because of the nuclear talks), I must admit I learn some useful stuff, like i learned that the Trini goalkeeper in Saturday's game went to my undergrad university. H.U. U know!
German compound words crack me up. fussballweltmeisterschaft. ha.
-
Thu, 6 Jul 2006 13:55
Such a great world cup! I just got back from germany. I watched France-Brazil! I was disapointed by Brazil.
- John
10.06.06
quick entry re: world cup
in a wonderful play on the national/international spirit of the fifa world cup, someone covered footballs with national fabrics and icons.
a more elaborate post on the american revolution in football and my personal bet on this tournament's semifinalists - tomorrow.
03.11.04
another letdown
the onion says it best, of course, in its recent street poll about the red sox breaking the curse:
"I've been rooting for the Sox for the past 20 years, but I finally gave up hope on them this season. I was expecting them to lose, so they managed to let me down again."
28.10.04
cute squared
cute mit moment for the red sox. you gotta love the multitude of puns in the headline of the linked-to article.
one night in boston
due to time and navigation constraints i ended up watching game four at 'spirit' and boy was i out of my demographics. the harvard m.b.a crew cut was mandatory and everyone was dressed business-casual.
20.10.04
go sox
26.08.04
the 51st state
this pretty much knocked me away - on the cover of the boston globe today, over the fold, was a 6x4'' color photo of gal fridman, the surfer who was the first israeli to win olympic gold. entitled: 'an olympic first for israel'
my god was i flattered. i had no idea that boston was so closely related to israel.
and that in a country that doesn't even show events on tv that don't have their own athletes in it.
and since we're on it, the picture of him biting down on the gold medal, as a friend of mine here put it 'does really nothing to perpetuate stereotypes, now does it?'
and since you all think i'm a pinko appeaser by now anyway, i may just as well throw into the mix that, incidentally, the uae won their first medal ever in athens, too.
kimiko texting
my favorite olympic moment so far had nothing to do with protein drinks. it was kimiko soldati sitting on her towel beside the pool and text messaging between jumps.
suffice to make a grown man go 'aww'.
"Before the third round, I (messaged) him, 'I'm a fighter, I'm not gonna give up,' " she said. "And he messaged, 'Way to go. Believe.' "
and of course, i'm always rooting for the thirty-something with a dream.
Wed, 1 Dec 2004 07:24
You may find it interesting to check out the sites about... Thanks!!!
-
04.07.04
anti-climax
there's no doubt now, greece is the new germany.
02.07.04
good news, bad news
heard this today from a brit:
the good news is that saddam is getting the death penalty. the bad news is that beckham is taking it.
Sat, 3 Jul 2004 20:49
i had to have a greek explain that to me, and he said "that's great."
- cynthia
Fri, 29 Oct 2004 04:54
-
27.06.04
why i love football ('soccer')
with the european championship in full bloom, a conversation with andrea reminded me why i love football over any other sport:
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 12:37
Yeah well it's boring, but I do think about you when I watch the occaisional game - falling asleep on the sofa at the 60th minute or so - even the czech game was sad and awful. I think you are the strongest soccer enthusiast of all me friends.
- Jack
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 16:30
well, that's totally understandable for people with basketball attention spans.
- guy
Wed, 30 Jun 2004 13:51
there is a really funny Simpsons episode that begins with a soccer promo and then they go see the game. i think it sums up what most americans feel about the sport.
- ori
Wed, 30 Jun 2004 14:11
And what would that be? What happens in the simpsons episode?
- guy
Thu, 1 Jul 2004 05:08
Well, you really have to see it, it's not the same if I describe it here.
You can go here for the reference. The episode is called "The Cartridge Family" (An excellent name don't you think?)
- ori
19.04.04
the rise and fall of maradona
bbc sport's photo gallery of diego armando maradona's rise (1982) and fall (2004 and counting) made me really sad this morning. maybe it's because this reflects a sliver of my own youth vanishing.
use filters on the right to see additional content by month or category
content here by guy hoffman .. as seen times since march 2004
Wed, 6 Sep 2006 04:32
Your elevator story; allready in loads of new elevatores here in EU :) but wondering if here also comes the change you saw in metrics in the cars reversed way!
- Eric
Mon, 6 Aug 2007 05:25
yes, Eric makes a good point about the elevatores being in the UK.
- Craig
Mon, 1 Oct 2007 20:09
That speedometer change should be implemented on all cars. I think it's a pain to see the markings offset.
- William Masek