Seen on the street in Kyiv.

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck, A/K/A Dolt-45,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset., A/K/A P01135809

Friday, June 10, 2016

The Internet of Shit; Automotive Edition

Which is the name of a Twitter account. And where I found this: Symantec security software is projected to be installed in ten million cars each year.

Betcha that if you buy a vehicle with their software installed, that you're then going to be on the hook for pricey updates. It's sort of like installed GPS systems and ink-jet printers: They get you for the stuff you need to keep it running, like the $20 or $30 per month that OnStar will cost you (if you have it).

At this point in the game, if you have any concerns about the hackability of vehicles, then you may be a fool if you buy any vehicle for which anyone can wirelessly reach out and fuck with it.

I'd also suggest that having a system in your car that the Federales can easily use to track you is sort of dumb, except that almost everyone these days willingly carries a tracking device on them, anyway.

5 comments:

Borepatch said...

I won't get a car with this.

3383 said...

If I can't buy a car without it, I'll disable it.

CenterPuke88 said...

Easy enough, with the connected car about to become a reality, the manufacturer will simply integrate the communications into the control systems of the car. Ergo, no communications, the car won't start/move. It'll result in some interesting lawsuits, but it'll be classic cars or bust for 3383.

Related experience, the 1997 Corvette had an interesting fail safe method for an ignition lock failure. You could start the car, and you could move at up to 2 mph, but the steering wheel would remain locked. Never made any sense, and after the second time it stranded me (the Camero/Firebird and Corvette platforms used the same crappy ignition lock system that was defective, they struggled for fixes for over two years) I dumped that annoyance for something more reliable, an import.

Stewart Dean said...

Augustine's Law Number I Forget states:
Anything that isn't in a design won't break.

More gadgets, more cleverness, more fragility and early death of your vehicle. My father bought a couple of Bugattis when I was a teenagers (for the cost of a new Buick for the two of them!) and I grew up driving them. Just about everything that could break ( but hardly ever did, because, unlike the fancy-ass marques of today, the Bugs were as reliable as a hammer) could be rebuilt by a machine or automotive electrical shop of the today (which are getting rarer these days.

The point is, after about 1980 or so, it's going to be passing impossible to keep old cars driveable with many of their gadgets and smart devices/circuitry working in the future.

Stewart Dean said...

The Bugattis are here (oh how I wish they still were):
http://www.sdean.net/bugattis.htm