Friday, February 24, 2006
Torino Top 5: The Unedited version
Alas, we couldn't fit all of Nicholas' fabulous Torino Top 5 into this week's Sandbox Issue, so here is the full version in all its Olympic glory. Enjoy!
Top Torino 2006 Technology Challenges (in no particular order)
GPS maps
-- The European GPS units we rented for our two Edelman cars are programable in many languages. Though we selected English, we've often turned on the machine (which is generally temperamental) to find it has changed itself to Italian, French or German, impossible to read instructions to revert to English!
-- The team nicknamed one of the GPS units "Marcello" but we all have other four or five letter names for our little friend on the dashboard. We have gone through two mount units for the windshield (for the record, I only broke the first one).
-- While the main GPS voice is a charming British woman (the unit speaks to you to alert you of upcoming turns or change of direction), "Marcello" has a dark side with a voice like an ugly stepsister who speaks Italian. So you may be driving and hear, "Please turn left at the light" followed by a deep throated road name in a commanding voice "Cuorso Vitorio Emmanuele blah blah blah" (the streets are "corso" and "via" names).
Cell phones
-- We all have beautiful Samsung monolyth phones, but some only have Italian instructions. We had several hundred Euros of units for each during the first week, but there was Edelman calamity when most of our phones simultaneously ran out of funds. The only place to purchase recharge cards is the "Tabbacchi" (tobacco) stores with limited hours of operation, and most of us have commandeered bilingual Torino volunteers to charge our calling capabilities.
-- None of our U.S. alarm clocks keep time here due to the different electric flow (we used converters, but the timing mechanisms failed across the board). So each morning in the villa there is a round of "Arabesque" music echoing from room to room.
Smart car
-- One of the Edelman rental cars is a "Smart" car and from what I can tell the model is the "Passion" four-door. I guess the Games theme "Passion Lives Here" extends to the driving. At any rate, combined with the aforementioned GPS units, this car is hell on wheels! There is a hand shifter, but no clutch pedal, and for the first week we could not find reverse so there was a lot of pushing to back out of parking spaces.
-- Although the Smart car comfortably seats four, it is shorter than a Volkswaggen Beetle and looks like a tiny van. We got the midnight blue and silver edition, but in the fields around Casa Barilla coated the car with mud after Sunday's snowfall dampened the scene.
Digital camera
-- On my last night in Atlanta I found a Samsung digital camera that is so easy. I've taken 262 photos but have no clue how to download a single one of them. The best camera story involves our car radio. We kept hearing this beautiful Italian love song on the drive to town, so one morning we recorded it on the camera's video feature. Later, in a music store, we found a bilingual shopper to translate for the local sales clerk who successfully located the CD from our 10-second playback. Now we don't have to listen to the radio!
Top Torino 2006 Technology Challenges (in no particular order)
GPS maps
-- The European GPS units we rented for our two Edelman cars are programable in many languages. Though we selected English, we've often turned on the machine (which is generally temperamental) to find it has changed itself to Italian, French or German, impossible to read instructions to revert to English!
-- The team nicknamed one of the GPS units "Marcello" but we all have other four or five letter names for our little friend on the dashboard. We have gone through two mount units for the windshield (for the record, I only broke the first one).
-- While the main GPS voice is a charming British woman (the unit speaks to you to alert you of upcoming turns or change of direction), "Marcello" has a dark side with a voice like an ugly stepsister who speaks Italian. So you may be driving and hear, "Please turn left at the light" followed by a deep throated road name in a commanding voice "Cuorso Vitorio Emmanuele blah blah blah" (the streets are "corso" and "via" names).
Cell phones
-- We all have beautiful Samsung monolyth phones, but some only have Italian instructions. We had several hundred Euros of units for each during the first week, but there was Edelman calamity when most of our phones simultaneously ran out of funds. The only place to purchase recharge cards is the "Tabbacchi" (tobacco) stores with limited hours of operation, and most of us have commandeered bilingual Torino volunteers to charge our calling capabilities.
-- None of our U.S. alarm clocks keep time here due to the different electric flow (we used converters, but the timing mechanisms failed across the board). So each morning in the villa there is a round of "Arabesque" music echoing from room to room.
Smart car
-- One of the Edelman rental cars is a "Smart" car and from what I can tell the model is the "Passion" four-door. I guess the Games theme "Passion Lives Here" extends to the driving. At any rate, combined with the aforementioned GPS units, this car is hell on wheels! There is a hand shifter, but no clutch pedal, and for the first week we could not find reverse so there was a lot of pushing to back out of parking spaces.
-- Although the Smart car comfortably seats four, it is shorter than a Volkswaggen Beetle and looks like a tiny van. We got the midnight blue and silver edition, but in the fields around Casa Barilla coated the car with mud after Sunday's snowfall dampened the scene.
Digital camera
-- On my last night in Atlanta I found a Samsung digital camera that is so easy. I've taken 262 photos but have no clue how to download a single one of them. The best camera story involves our car radio. We kept hearing this beautiful Italian love song on the drive to town, so one morning we recorded it on the camera's video feature. Later, in a music store, we found a bilingual shopper to translate for the local sales clerk who successfully located the CD from our 10-second playback. Now we don't have to listen to the radio!
# posted by Jenn @ 4:16 PM 
