Wiring a car bomb to the ignition switch is called a Chicago Jump Start in some circles. But when a local outfit, Avital Technologies, came up with a solution, it turned out to be against the City of Chicago’s municipal code.
Avital’s remote control device designed to let you start the engine and run the heater for a few minutes requires a user to leave the key in the ignition. But Ordinance 90-080 made it illegal to leave a vehicle unattended with the ignition key in the slot.
So the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association sent in its lobbyists, and Ald. Percy Giles (37th) got an amendment passed March 11 that allows one to use the remote starter as long as one also has installed anti-theft equipment.
Guess what else Avital sells?
Yup, anti-theft equipment.
A REAL JAVA JOLT
WIRING THE WORLD WIDE WEB
British electrical utility honchos boasted last week that they are in the final stages of deals with unnamed American light companies to use hot power lines in place of telephone wires or cable TV hookups for access to the Internet.
Steve Pusey, CEO of England’s NorWeb, said thousands of Brit homes already are on-line through the power lines. The scheme uses a modem-type box connected to the electric meter in the basement. Data are carried as part of the current flowing through electric lines.
The homeowner then connects a PC to the electrical meter using ordinary Ethernet connections. It’s really quite safe, Pusey promised.
CYBER CHICKENS
E-MAIL TO THE CHIEF
American employees make heavy use of e-mail to hide from their supervisors, co-workers, relatives, friends and, worst of all, customers, says the business research survey house Techtel Corp. A poll of 6,800 U.S. businesses found that 26 percent of employees admitted to using e-mail to avoid face-to-face communication with direct supervisors. Other findings: 37 percent used e-mail to hide from certain co-workers and 35 percent used it to spare the effort of telephoning friends. And 29 percent said they used electronic mail to avoid face time with their own families.
PIG IN A POKE
THE INTERNET’S STICK FIGURE STICK-UP
A 12-year-old Bethlehem, Pa., lad named Chris Van Allen used his nickname, Pokey, for a happy little Web site devoted to training his puppy and asking visitors for help with homework. Enter Prema Toy Co., owner of the animated characters Gumby and Pokey, complaining that www.pokey.org violates its registered trademarks.
His flap with Prema has made young Chris a poster boy for Internet purists resisting efforts of corporate America to keep civilians from ridiculing their products by naming Web sites after them. The whole nasty fight is told from Chris’ viewpoint at the site, which should be up for at least a few more days.
