Technology

"Your" dashboard?

When my wife bought a new Mazda, the dealer made her sign a form that said the remote start app would only be free for one year. He told her it was just boiler plate; the remote start app would be free forever. I knew when she bought the vehicle the remote start app would be a monthly charge starting in precisely one year. lol!

That's only in the US, I suppose?

I don't think they'd get away with it in another market with a functioning society.

I'm sure this will help beat the Chinese automakers

In case you are considering purchasing a BMW here are the models mentioned in the article:

BMW says the feature is available on suitably equipped cars built after July 2020 and running BMW Operating System 7, 8, 8.5, 9, or X

That's a suspiciously specific promise to make.

I've never exactly been in the market for a bmw anyhow, but this is a great way to guarantee I will never want one.

We're heading straight towards a cyberpunk future.

And not even a shiny, pretty, exciting one, ours is still half boring for some reason. I can't even pin down what's missing. It still feels like ours has wood paneling or something, but even that would be too '70s, which would still be a little cool. Maybe ours is too '90s? Our cyberpunk somehow still feels too analogue and not enough.

Anytime a corporation or a politicians says they aren't going to do something, it means they're thinking about that subject, and they are definitely going to do it.

We make far more decisions to NOT do something, and if someone doesn't want to do something, they just don't do it, they don't tell everybody. We don't talk about the things we aren't going to do, we talk about things we ARE going to do.

Years ago, I was in a national managers conference call meeting, and HQ started it by saying "If there are rumors of lay-offs in your office, shut them down. There are no plans for lay-offs at this time." I don't remember what the rest of the meeting was about, but we all walked saying "Lay-offs are coming."

Sure enough, within two months, I was out of a job, along with a bunch of others. Within a year, several branch offices were closed. We weren't worried about it at all, until they brought it up in the meeting.

If they're bringing it up, they're softening us up for it, even if they're saying No.

one of these days I'm going to spend a weekend going from dealership to dealership looking for a new car, and just wasting their time when I come across nonsense features like this

that Prius feature that beeps and distracts you from the road whenever you pull up to an intersection? that's fucked up

those features that remind you to pay attention to the road because you have sunglasses on, and pull your attention away from the road to tell you that? that's fucked up

the features that aggressively keep you in your lane when you drift to give room to an obstacle? that's fucked up

On supported vehicles, starting the car brings up a banner on the Control Display, and tapping it launches a full-screen Spider-Man animation with music and ambient lighting effects. BMW says the feature is available on suitably equipped cars built after July 2020 and running BMW Operating System 7, 8, 8.5, 9, or X.

Ah, I see. It's a feature! I'm surprised they're not trying to charge a subscription fee to get ads on your dashboard.

Was looking for a new electric car and had BMW in the rotation. That’s not happening now. Was already on shaky ground after the heated seat thing and now I’m not touching em.

This is a capital offense.

Curious, what IS the best new car brand for privacy? Especially in the EV sector?

I have a feeling a bunch of folks are going to want to rip their modems out of their cars in the next few years.