an age of new future?

[bugjuice]

iPods in vending machines. (http://playlistmag.com/features/2006/01/ipodvending/index.php)
With that and disposable 'single-use' cell-phones on the horizon, this techno stuff is cheap as chips..

[skelstar]

Any idea how the single use cellphone concept works?

[bugjuice]

basically you buy a phone that has $XX preloaded on it, it has a temporary number assigned to it, it runs on AA batteries, and you just use it like a regular phone for calling and text, but it won't store numbers. Once it's used, there'd probably be some recycle system, or just chuck it in the bin. It's throw-away technology. No idea how good it'll be. But it's been talked about for a year or so, more so in the states and Japan. Places like Japan, you can pay for heaps of things like cabs, drinks, tickets, movies, DVD hire etc etc etc etc just from your cell phone. In Auckland, there's already a couple of parking meters that you send a text to, and it takes the money off your phone for car parking.

[Deviant Esq]

Pretty good idea really. I work in a retail store, and we sell that sort of stuff. Some customers would much rather buy off a machine than come into the store and haggle with a salesperson about whether to get an extended warranty or not. I reckon in the right location that sort of machine would do pretty well in New Zealand, where people know they want to buy one but haven't made the effort of going into a retail store yet (and if they have, find out that every other person in NZ is scouring the country for a Nano and failing).

Talk about disposable society though.

[sAsLEX]

I reckon in the right location that sort of machine would do pretty well in New Zealand, where people know they want to buy one but haven't made the effort of going into a retail store yet

Yip, its called trademe, ebay and a few others.

Hell I can get stuff from the states faster than I can from CHCH, and I know K14 got his tyre warmers from China within a few days, would of been at least a week prob from Auckland the way New Zealand stores act.

[SixPackBack]

Single use Motorcycles could suit some of the KB crew well [pt]:laugh:

[MidnightMike]

Too many words for the morning :zzzz:

[Deviant Esq]

I reckon in the right location that sort of machine would do pretty well in New Zealand, where people know they want to buy one but haven't made the effort of going into a retail store yet

Yip, its called trademe, ebay and a few others.

They're funny looking machines... :nya: (p/t)

A lot of people don't like buying online very much, and like to see the goods before they buy. A lot of people (myself included) don't trust TradeMe very much after seeing what goes on, and the amount of times someone's been scammed out of their money all too easily for bogus product or even no product at all... Or been overcharged for products that retail for $100 less with the recourse of a RTB warranty. Online buying from trading places like that are "let the buyer beware", where buying from a machine like that gives you some kind of recourse. And brand new product.

[Wolf]

And of course it doesn't matter because we've got plenty of oil and coal reserves to provide the plastic (and we could always bump off a few more cretaceous rainforests and bury 'em for a few million years if we do run out of fossil fuels) and plenty of room to dispose of all these junked gadgets along with all the rest of the waste produced by our society - you can still see most of the streets in New York so the rubbish problem isn't too bad yet.

There are times, like now when I read what crap the irresponsible manufacturers are planning, that I think it will be a great thing when we render our planet totally uninhabitable by anything more complex than a cockroach and obliterate the whole moronic human race for good.

And why am I not surprised that these "innovations" are coming from a race that is hell-bent on a) wiping out the whales and b) intent on making every other country on the planet as polluted, befouled and over-crowded as they made their own.

Face it, there are a lot of OK Japanese people around, but as a race they certainly don't have a high track-record of sound ecology.

Here, New Zealand, sign our Kyoto agreement and remove anything that might remotely produce carbon compounds from your country, and while you're at it, how'd you like to buy a whole bunch of cheap disposable cameras, ipods, cellphones, nose hair removers, portable TVs...?

[sAsLEX]

Online buying from trading places like that are "let the buyer beware", where buying from a machine like that gives you some kind of recourse. And brand new product.

What do you do when a vending machine swallows you money but doesn't give you what you asked for? Yell at it?

Places like pricespy.co.nz also allow users to find proper stores offerring it cheaper.



There are times, like now when I read what crap the irresponsible manufacturers are planning,

well if you think about it owning an ipod with say 60 gig of capacity will make cds, entirely made of your nasty plastic, obsolete. Therefore they are actually helping the environment in a way.

[Deviant Esq]

What do you do when a vending machine swallows you money but doesn't give you what you asked for? Yell at it?

In almost all cases there is a phone number posted on the side of the machine just for cases like that. But in this case, you just need to read the article more carefully. Note that it does not take cash, just takes it off your card. And even has a facility to make sure you have the goods, before your card is debited.

[sAsLEX]

In almost all cases there is a phone number posted on the side of the machine just for cases like that.

ring ring

Me: " Hi your machine just swallowed my money, can you come retrieve my purchase for me?"

Helpline: " please call back within the hours of 9am and 5pm between Monday and Friday"

Me: Turns to cameras, points to where money went, then to cell phone, then to chair, then throws chair through the stupid fuckin vending machine, calmy gathers purchased item and wanders off


Somehow I dont think anybody would come out when I use vending machines, such as the day before a big project is due in no sleep for days and its 0400.

[Karma]

Bit like those disposable Credit Cards...

Apparently you can get a credit card that is bit like a prepay topup card thingy, meaning that if you wanna buy something online or somewhere that you don't trust using your own card you can just use this temporary one...

Means that it's only good for one / two transactions and then dies..

[SPORK]

That's definately what I want. PrePaid credit cards are the way to go! Bonus for us under 18s that want to get stuff off the net.

[SPORK]

And of course it doesn't matter because we've got plenty of oil and coal reserves

Well in the case of coal, we do. Some freaking MASSIVE deposit was discovered off Norway's coastline. It's THREE TIMES larger than the current reserves of the world combined. 3,000,000,000,000 metric tons. Word to your mama.

http://www.energybulletin.net/11901.html

:doobey:

[Swoop]

Damn. Future technology is gonna be impressive.
I'm happy that I now know how dishwashing machines really work!

[skelstar]

I cant wait for OLED technology to become more mainstream. Things will get very small and useful then.

[sAsLEX]

I cant wait for OLED technology to become more mainstream. Things will get very small and useful then.


pfft old school, technology is already leaving that behind and heading in a newer better direction (for tvs anyways)

http://www.behardware.com/articles/593-1/close-encounters-of-the-third-kind-sed.html

[Wolf]

well if you think about it owning an ipod with say 60 gig of capacity will make cds, entirely made of your nasty plastic, obsolete. Therefore they are actually helping the environment in a way.
Dunno about you, but I don't throw my CDs away.

I'm not opposed to using plastic to manufacture things, I'm opposed to making the stuff into things that wind up in the landfill. OK, there is always going to be a lot of stuff that is, by the nature of its function, disposable and will waste resources - packaging springs instantly to mind - but making things that are traditionally made to last into "one-shot-wonders" is an unnecessary waste to my mind.

And it's false economy - you spend a fortune on a succession of "cheap" disposable cameras that take crap photos when it would have been more cost effective to buy a decent camera that takes good photos and you'd still have a good camera every time you want to buy a roll of film.

Me, I want the law in NZ brought in line with that of the States so I can buy my CDs, buy an iPod (of the non-disposable variety), encode my CDs into MP3s and put them away safely where they won't get scratched in case the RIAA comes pounding on my door and wants proof that I purchased the music I have on my iPod or in case I accidentally erase an MP3 and need to re-encode it from the CD.

That can't happen so long as NZ has laws forbidding the format-shifting of the music we buy.

[SixPackBack]

Research and implementation of organic plastics designed with a limited life are/will be come very popular. Perhaps more of an issue worldwide is the use of energy resources.
NZ could do itself a huge favour and accept Nuclear energy as being a clean green alternative, unfortunately public opinion is swayed by ignorance and misinformation, Kiwi's believe [erroneously] that hydro is the answer when in fact it destroys huge tracts of land and necessitates massive delivery lines that visually pollute the landscape
Wake up NZ!

[sAsLEX]

NZ could do itself a huge favour and accept Nuclear energy as being a clean green alternative,

I have nothing against Nulear energy, but at present and in the near future NZ's power demands dont warrent a Nuclear station.

[SixPackBack]

I have nothing against Nulear energy, but at present and in the near future NZ's power demands dont warrent a Nuclear station.

A recent course I completed at AIT had a component [stipulated by the NZ government]. This component outlined briefly nuclear power being used with NZ.......It is common knowledge that cold fusion or some other ground breaking technology not with standing NZ will need Nuclear energy to service its needs within the next twenty years, NZ government is well aware of this and as mentioned any one in NZ going through an Engineering course at a tertiary level is taught to expect this eventuality.

[sAsLEX]

NZ going through an Engineering course at a tertiary level is taught to expect this eventuality.

haven't heard much of it at AU in fourth year engineering there at the mo.

[Wolf]

A recent course I completed at AIT had a component [stipulated by the NZ government]. This component outlined briefly nuclear power being used with NZ.......It is common knowledge that cold fusion or some other ground breaking technology not with standing NZ will need Nuclear energy to service its needs within the next twenty years, NZ government is well aware of this and as mentioned any one in NZ going through an Engineering course at a tertiary level is taught to expect this eventuality.
Just don't build the fucker in Wellington or anywhere near the fault line.

That's my only argument against nuclear power - the eventuality of "the Big One" (Wellingtonians should need no explanation of the term) causing a containment breach. Other than that, given the choice between flooding yet another valley (and destroying another tract of native bush) and having a nuclear power station, I'm all for it. I think the technology has been around long enough now that the bugs have been ironed out - hasn't been a Chernobyl or Three-Mile Island type of incident in ages.

Oops, I spoke out in favour of Nuclear Power, there goes my "hippy-cred", better cancel my membership of Greenpeace.

We do have "nuclear" power in use in NZ - according to the techies I used to associate with at a previous job, nuclear thermocouples are readily available (albeit for a high price).

If we could pull down all the dams and replace the hydro-power with state of the art, safe-as-possible nuclear power, I'd be thrilled. Of course, the water skiing crowd wouldn't share my enthusiasm...

[SixPackBack]

haven't heard much of it at AU in fourth year engineering there at the mo.

'Introduction to Engineering' [ a pre requiste course teaching mainly Physics. Designed mainly for those missing 6/7 form physics]

[sAsLEX]

'Introduction to Engineering' [ a pre requiste course teaching mainly Physics. Designed mainly for those missing 6/7 form physics]

Nope not in my degree

Part I Pnts Semester
1st 2nd
ENGGEN 121 Engineering Mechanics 15
ENGGEN 140 Biology and Chemistry for Engineers 15
ENGSCI 111 Mathematical Modelling 1 15
CHEMMAT 121 Materials Science 15
ELECTENG 101 Electrical & Digital Systems 15
ENGGEN 131 Intro. to Eng. Comp. & Software Dvlp 15
ENGSCI 115 Introduction to Engineering Design 15
General Education 1 15

Used to breifly cover junk like that in Sustainability and Professional development but I see they have dropped them from the cirricullum (along with spelling lol).