You must read this book: “The Inmates are Running the Asylum” ($25, 261 pages, Sams Publishing). It’s an Information Age muck raker about sloppy programming by software interface expert Alan Cooper with such stunning revelations as how software caused the December 1995 American Airlines crash in Colombia that killed 152 people.
The pilot tried to call up a navigation program called ROZO, but the computer brought up a menu of navigation modules starting in “R” with ROMEO on top and ROZO below it.
By picking the first “R” from the menu the doomed pilot got a fix that was off by 132 miles and promptly turned into a 10,000-foot peak. Now that’s bad software design.
NANOSECOND NAGGING
DIGITAL DATEBOOK
If you really really trust technology you’ll love America Online’s latest acquisition, the when.com Web site, a browser-based personal calendar that lets you keep your appointment book and reminder lists on a remote server and call your stuff up from whatever browser is at hand.
You get a very slick-looking calendar display and there are huge numbers of options that remind you of everything from upcoming Bulls games to the next PBS broadcast of “The Router Workshop.”
YOU’VE GOT ALPO
DOGGING FOR DOLLARS
Cash-heavy executives at amazon.com bought just under 50 per cent of pets.com, one of the best indications yet that we’re all going to the dogs here during the 20th Century end times.
The site not only sells collars, cages and crackers but it also lets you arrange vacation boarding for pets, helps you find specialist vets, lists hotels and motels that let you keep animals in the room. Covered critters include cats, dogs, birds, fish, rabbits, reptiles and (ugh!) ferrets.
GET SMART
OR GIT FAST
Just in from the Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT) comes word that computer scientists have built a system called FAST (Factory Automation Support Technology) that lets operators of poultry plants dress untrained workers in wearable computing equipment that lets them start working immediately on production lines without one iota of advance training.
Special glasses convey instructions while an earphone plays pre-recorded directions and a microphone lets the worker ask questions.
The press release from GIT touting FAST shows a guy decked out in this Starship Troopers gear running an automatic chicken part separator. And you gripe about your job.
Y2KORNER
The United Nations is looking for a few good Cobol programmers to help tardy member nations make a last ditch effort to solve Millennium Bug glitches. Check out the YES Corps (the name stands for Y2K Expert Service) at www.iy2kcc.org/.
