When you deviate from the route your car satnav has chosen for you, rather than just showing a message saying 'Recalculating route', it should also make a brief, almost inaudible "T'ch" noise, expressing in this short sound the Satnav's unbearable frustration at having to devote its vast intelligence to the menial chore of working out routes, and its irritation at being beholden to the whims and foolishness of primitive carbon-based life forms.
-- hippo, Dec 28 2014

View-activated kitchen appliances Kitchen_20appliance...at_20them_20sternly
[Toto Anders, Dec 30 2014]

Mum in TomTom Mum_20in_20TomTom
[Toto Anders, Dec 30 2014]

Dynastic Dashboard Display Dynastic_20Dashboard_20Display
Similar. [DrBob, Dec 30 2014]

Isn't this what spouses are for ?
-- 8th of 7, Dec 28 2014


To be fully functional, it should say (after you've arrived at your destination) "We'd have been here sooner if you'd gone the way I said."
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Dec 28 2014


This is how an engineer thinks about the relationship of technology to the user? (8) Maybe hearing a toothbrush say tsh a little bit might be more relevant to you.
-- rcarty, Dec 28 2014


When you select a frequent destination for the n-th time: "Eh? Shouldn't you know how to get there by now?"
-- the porpoise, Dec 29 2014


My buddy's satnav has been in a snit for quite awhile. She stopped speaking to him 2 years ago.
-- AusCan531, Dec 29 2014


Sounds Sirious.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Dec 29 2014


"Do you want me to turn this car around ?"
-- FlyingToaster, Dec 29 2014


There seems to be a general longing for a seemingly more humane machine-human interface (see link). I'd rather employ a petulant butler who operates the satnav from the backseat and spills the tea when I give him a sharp look.
-- Toto Anders, Dec 30 2014


What you're describing is a navigator to assist your chauffeur, shirley ?
-- 8th of 7, Dec 30 2014


//I'd rather employ a petulant butler who operates the satnav// No, really, you wouldn't. For one thing, it goes beyond the normal duties of a butler. For another, if someone can buttle well it's unlikely that they'll also be able to petule effectively.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Dec 30 2014


I like [rcarty]'s suggestion for a toothbrush that chides you, but the amount of tech you can fit in that footprint would be limited. Perhaps store it in a docking station that just reminds you how long it's been since you picked it up.

"We'd have been here sooner if you'd gone the way I said." - followed by how much time would have been saved.

I confess I say thank you to machines on the off chance that someday when the revolution arrives they'll remember me as having been courteous. It doesn't seem to hurt their reliability any.
-- normzone, Dec 30 2014



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