further developments
Balgavy.com progenitor Marc was recently agog over the possibilities that the melding of TV, DVRs and computers holds for his baseball fandom. it got me to thinking, and the other day during a cab ride home, a similar train of thought seeped in to my brain. with the advent of OnStar and satellite navigation, i should be able to get into a cab, give my address to the driver and have him punch it into an onboard computer (or enter it myself) which then gives him directions to where i live. this eliminates the constant "ok, go about 7 or 8 blocks and make a left" that is especially prevalent for those of us in the outer boroughs. meanwhile, now that the cab knows where it's going, it can give me an estimate on what the fare will be and ask me if i'd like to swipe a credit or debit card to pay for the trip - maybe it even offers me the chance to tell it how much i would like to tip the driver (either in actual $$ or as a percent of the fare). that would allow for more time to divvy up the fare between friends and saves time at the end as the need to fish for your wallet, calculate 15% and wait for your change is eliminated. all in all, a smoother process where everybody wins.
anyone out there with the cash to make these visions a reaility? VC checks for either Marc or me can be made out to "Balgavy.com Enterprises".
Comments
Any truth to the rumor that Balgavy.com Enterprises is a subsidiary of Halliburton? I swear I've seen your company logo on some of the private security agents in Iraq.
Posted by: jake | April 21, 2004 04:38 PM
I like this plan. Are you inclined to tip less if the driver needs detailed directions?
Posted by: mitch | April 21, 2004 04:43 PM
my tipping patterns are fairly set, and very few cabbies know their way around much of Brooklyn. but i have a had a couple drivers recently miss turns and stuff like that. i would only reduce my tip significantly if i thought the guy was taking me the long way to jack up the fare. but they're usually in such a hurry to get back to Manhattan that it never comes into play.
Posted by: jamie | April 21, 2004 04:51 PM
jake, if you're implying that we saw the war plans for Iraq before Colin Powell did, i'm going to have to point out how unAmerican it is of you to even ask such a question.
Posted by: jamie | April 21, 2004 04:53 PM
Yann just made a "set-top box" for us that combines DVR, MP3s, TV and your computer all in one. So now we can watch and (ahem) record DVDs, watch and/or record our regular cable TV and internet broadcast TV from anywhere in the world on our hard drive to rewatch later, have access to our complete CD catalog from anywhere our remote can reach our box and chat or check our email from our tv in our room. He's in the process of trying to figure out a cheaper, user-friendly model to market...But I'm sure he'd make you a prototype for the right price...=)
Posted by: Michelle | April 21, 2004 10:39 PM
And oh yeah, I love The Monkey Man's idea for cabs...When I first moved to NY, I had a cab take me to the Clairmont that was in the Bronx, not the Clermont in Brooklyn...and since I didn't know my way around, I didn't notice until he was trying to push me out of the cab in some strange neighborhood...=)
Posted by: Michelle | April 21, 2004 10:42 PM
michelle - we'll take one as a wedding present, thanks.
Posted by: jamie | April 22, 2004 04:02 PM
You tip 15% on cabs? And calculate it? I usually just round up to the next dollar and add a dollar on top of that, but then, this D.C. fare system is so ridiculous and money-grubbing that maybe I'm just taking my hatred of it out on the driver. Of course, a lot of the drivers here are money-grubbers themselves, and none of them ever use the lights to indicate whether they're in service, and they don't even know their way around little Northwest--the only quadrant of D.C. they drive in--so it's not worth taking the time to figure out a tip for their sake. Sigh. The zone system has made animals of us all.
Posted by: David | April 22, 2004 05:16 PM