Everyday lost and abandoned dogs are left in shelters, never being adopted and many of which end up put to sleep.   The Auckland, New Zealand SPCA decided to do something about it.  They wanted to raise public awareness for the 50 – 100 dogs it has in its shelter every week.  Anyone with an obedient dog knows how intelligent they are and how able they are to be trained.

So the NZ SPCA teamed up with the automaker MINI to make a commercial that will change the way people view the abilities of canines.  MINI’s NZ brand manager, Simonne Mearns, asked his ad agency DraftFCB to work with the SPCA on the campaign.  DraftFCB had big ideas and came up with something that no one would have expected to be possible.

Three dogs — Porter, Ginny and Monty — worked with four different trainers for over two months to become the world’s first driving dogs.  The MINI Countryman vehicle was specially modified with accelerator and brake pedals moved so the dogs could reach them, and an easy activate ignition switch.  They also made “paw friendly” controls and handles for the steering wheel.

Porter excelled and was featured in the Youtube video “Meet Porter.  The World’s First Driving Dog”.  The video shows Porter sitting in the seat, starting the vehicle, pulling off and even negotiating a corner.  It has received over 6 million views on Youtube.

While I don’t think we will see personal canine chauffeurs anytime soon, it did its job to raise awareness of how smart these dogs actually are.  I’d like to note though, Porter did not use the proper 10 and 2 hand position on the steering wheel.  Maybe a bit of remedial training is needed.

[ source ]

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Lt. Chris Monahan of the San Jose police department draws attention that it’s only legal to talk to Siri as long as it’s not in your hand. But if you need to touch Siri, you better abstain, the police officer says. And don’t even think to oblige, if Siri’s inviting you to read some directions off her you could easily be distracted!

It appears that the real problem with using Siri on your iPhone whilst driving is that you still need to use your fingers to hit the home button to activate the voice assistant, and then of course, there’s some touch required when using Siri and this is where it falls under the California law’s steel shoe.

But there might be a way out of this, as some spokeswoman for Apple said that Siri’s voice assistant can also be activated via a Bluetooth device or headset.

[via Mercury News]

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These reports show that it’s not the handheld-ness that causes accidents, it’s the distraction that drivers have when engaged in cell phone activities. I can drive just fine with one hand on the wheel (and the other on my phone), but conversing is what takes my attention away from the road. Do I endorse such a ban? Intellectually, I think I should since it could help save lives.  But I still want to be able to chat, text, and Twitter while driving, that may be selfish, but new technologies are allowing for this to take place by simple voice commands. And this new ban would ruin those technologies and make about as much sense as not allowing drivers to speak with passengers in the vehicle, because really, you’re just having another conversation.

The post Should there be a total ban on ANY cell phone use while driving? appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

You know when you play most racing and driving video games you have that option of switching through various different viewing perspectives? In general, it seems easier to use the “out of the car” viewpoint where the camera is placed just behind the car. Apparently this does not translate in to real life.

What you see here is a specialized rig meant to simulate the video game experience, but it uses a real vehicle. Seeing things from a third-person perspective actually makes driving quite a bit more difficult for the average person, despite the opposite being true in a video game environment.

Who would have known? I guess I can’t really rely on computer assistance to “rubber band” me to the front of rush hour either? And my car won’t miraculously repair itself at the end of a long drive on the highway? Naturally, you shouldn’t try to recreate this stunt on your own as they used professionals on a closed course, but it is still an interesting experiment nonetheless.

The post Real truck driven like third-person video game, not so easy after all appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

This follows in the footsteps of laws already passed in places like California where it is illegal to use a handheld cell phone while behind the wheel. That usually pointed toward voice communications, but the ban on handheld cell phone use would effectively block text messages and emails too.

The difference is that this possible upcoming legislation would come from US senators and the rest of the crew in DC, meaning that we could be looking at a nationwide ban on texting while driving. Of those surveyed, 80% said that they would support this ban.

Interestingly, it’s not just the technophobic older demographic who want to get these damn kids to put away their cell phones; support for the ban came from just about every walk of life and every age group. In fact, the mobile savvy Americans from Gen X and Gen Y (aged 21-44, collectively) “showed resounding support for texting restrictions.”

Studies have shown that cell phone distraction, as is the case with sending and receiving text messages, can be just as harmful as drunk driving. We don’t let people drive under the influence, so I guess this nationwide ban could be the next logical step. What about Canada? Are we getting a ban too?

Source: Intomobile

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