It"s a victory against...
It"s a victory against the machines! Real people are retaking control of traffic lights in Seattle, USA, because city chiefs reckon they can do a better job than computers. The signals are programmed to work in certain ways at different times of the day, but bosses think the personal touch will make peak-hour traffic flow more smoothly. Staff watching 37 video screens will over-ride the PCs and switch lights to green whenever queues start to build.
Hand gestures may soon...
Hand gestures may soon replace buttons and switches in cars. Scientists at Friedrich-Alexander University in Germany have invented software so motorists won"t have to touch any controls at all. A dashboard unit tracks the driver"s hands, so a gesture is all that"s needed to change the air-con or switch on the radio.