tehee
Oh brilliant Friday Article, Many thanks !!!
It's Friday, so we invite those of you who are counting down the seconds until pub o'clock to spot the fatal concept error in the Alfah Mobile - "a small suction free attachment that attaches the back of your mobile device to your steering wheel or dashboard for convenience and hands free driving". This less-than-ingenious …
Not so fast. The shield on top of the steering wheel airbag does not fly in your face. Stiff leather with reinforced backing is no different from a phone so if it went towards you you would have been cranialy modified too.
So in theory, it is possible to embed a display (if done correctly) into the steering wheel. Note - this is in theory. Big "in theory" here.
In practice (if done properly) it is one of the most stupid locations to do so. Your eye movement from road to mid-steering wheel and back is more than from road to pretty much anywhere on the dashboard. On top of it, the distance to there from your eyes is so different compared to the road (or the normal dash) that your eyes will have to refocus. This is one of the reasons (in addition to anti-glare) to put all readouts in a recessed dash and not in yer face. Constant refocus is actually even worse than distractions. It is a recipe for disaster.
This is one of the reasons nobody ever put any indicators there.
Now as far as attaching something to it with "spit" - well, that is beyond stupid. Even if the airbag deploys correctly, even if it does not fly in your face, it is just... stupid.
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Since most phones have accelerometers, they should be set to take a picture when the phone picks up speed, for "warranty" reasons. You'd get a lovely picture of the second-to-last thing going through the drivers' mind.
While attaching it to an airbag isn't too bright, the actual thingy itself isn't such a bad idea. There are plenty of "stick your phone to part of your car" gadgets around, but this one does it in a way I haven't seen before which looks like it could well be better than the usual suckers or magnets. Just a shame they appear to want $75 for it when the alternatives generally cost around £10.
"And two strips of Velcro cost just a few cents."
That would not fly in Australia (or at least in New South Wales), as it's a documented requirement the holder be a "a fixed mounting. This mounting must be commercially designed and manufactured for this purpose".
Ironically, the above steering wheel mount would be legal, because as long as the phone does not obstruct your view of the road, they don't document where you can mount it...
She clearly says "you can DRIVE hands free" not operate your phone hands free.
And she has the nerve to run a magazine called Smart-Fem?
I know a lot of women smarter than her and they don't need to read her magazine that endorses products that could give their kids a serious case of moby mug.
It's not only texting that is a problem with drivers, just using a phone and driving is challenging enough for most of the drivers I encounter on their phones each day.
I dislike elfin safety rules in general but I am beginning to think that all cars should have a hands free phone kit installed to pass the MOT test or it's equivalent anywhere else and a fine if you are in your car with a phone and it is not fitted in place.
Hmm, thinks: Must buy a hands free kit.
Who's going to want to attach one half of the brick holder on to the back of their nice stylishly designed phone permanently anyway? And having the rotation of the steering wheel while driving is going to make navigation a real... joy...
I wonder how long before smartfem ask to have their name withdrawn...
Perhaps they will have a future upgrade which features the option of a gyroscopically stabilised mount that swivels with the steering wheel to keep the phone always oriented in the same direction.
Or a launcher app that detects the phones orientation to the nearest degree and rotates the home screen/current app/keyboard appropriately. Endless possibilities to ensure the drivers attention is captivated by their little device, thus ensuring more phone-faceplants when the airbags go off.
I wonder if there's a Bulgarian equivalent?
Looking at the thing on the kickstarter page, I can't see it even staying in the holder for long. After a few months use it will become loose and just fall out when you turn a corner. That perfect situation where your phone then ends up in the footwell whilst driving.
Especially as steering wheels aren't flat, there is that big bulge to hide the explosives behind.
Though 'ridiculous and dangerous', it could be their line of thought was "the plastic cover doesn't hit you in the face when the air bag deploys so why would anything attached to it".
Though, having seen people attach things to the passenger air bag cover in a similar way, it could simply be they hadn't even thought about the scenario, nor considered that attaching something may disrupt deployment.
Besides; everyone knows accidents only happen to other people.
In a crash, surely point of the air bag is that the drivers face doesn't hit the steering wheel, so the front surface of the steering wheel flicks open to allow the air bag to hit the driver. While this does mean that the phone will not be rammed into the driver's face, the power of it being flicked may even be more dangerous... unless that attachment is seriously strong!
@Frankee
I read the kickstarter text, and I think for the next couple of hours I'm barring myself from doing anything slightly complicated, just to avoid hurting anyone, or myself. My brain needs to untangle itself first.
" Our distribution and fulfillment plan includes: On time delivery, Packing accurately, Damage free shipping, Inventory accurately, and Documentation accurately. As we grow our labor force grows to meet the demand of both business and customer destinations. "
What?
The video you see was created as a cooperative school project to help a friend with what was believed to be only a school project. SmartFem was not aware this was an actual product or part of an effort to raise money. SmartFem regrets that this video was used improperly.