November 14, 2007

In your wildest dreams...
Technology gets out of hand

Bill O'Connor l managing editor

I was sitting on my living room couch watching the Giants play host to the Cowboys on Sunday when I decided that these tech companies have finally crossed the line.

A commercial came on advertising the 2008 Ford Focus, which has been given the tagline “MPGs (as in Miles Per Gallon) meet MP3s.” From what I gathered from the advertisement, the car’s stereo comes preloaded with voice recognition software that allows drivers to speak the name of an artist in their MP3 library in order to play a song by that artist.

This prompted me to do a little research. According to its Web site, Ford is now offering SYNC, a Microsoft-engineered system that allows drivers to operate most MP3 players and Bluetooth-equipped cell phones with simple voice commands, as an option on six of its 2008 models.

What does all that mean? Well, when you enter your SYNC equipped vehicle, all of your calls are automatically routed through your car stereo.

In fact, you can start a call by simply saying the word “Call” and then speaking the name of anyone in your contact list.

After you plug your MP3 player into a USB port in your SYNCed up automobile (one which also will charge your MP3 player), you’ll be able to access all of your music by simply speaking the name of the artist you want to hear.

If all that isn’t enough, Ford’s Web site claims this technology is evergreen, stating that “SYNC’s capabilities expand to accommodate new technology,” so SYNC will “never be obsolete.”

In related news, Pontiac will be coming out with a real version of KITT (the car from Knight Rider). C’mon people.

This technology has gotten out of control.

I have a computer that knows my name and address. My MacBook has these things stored in a memory bank somewhere from information I input the first time I started it up. When I’m filling out any form on my Mac, all I have to do is type the first letter of my name or address and it automatically fills in the rest.

This seemed cool at first, but the more I think about it, the scarier it becomes. If that information is stored somewhere in my Mac’s memory, who’s to stop a hacker from accessing my computer over the St. Mike’s network and getting that info?

It seems like with all of this technology that supposedly makes our lives easier we sacrifice more and more of our privacy. The prospect of a computer chip somewhere in my car having access to my cell phone contact list doesn’t give me the warm fuzzies.

If someone can hotwire my car, what’s to stop them from somehow “hotwiring” my car’s computer system and taking all sorts of information from my cell phone, including my phone number and those of my family and friends?

I’ll be the first to admit that all of these new technological advancements are cool and occasionally somewhat practical, but in many instances they put more and more of our personal information at risk.

And come to think of it, it seems as though with each new revolutionary technological advancement, we become more enslaved by this technology.

Losing your cell phone these days is the end of the world; you feel entirely cut off from society just from going a few days without this palm-sized electronic device.

It’s time we as society started asking ourselves some serious questions about these new technologies. Just because they’re available, does that mean we need, or even want them?