Results tagged “gps”

Baby Jesus is coming strapped this Christmas—with GPS! Many churches and synagogues in the area are equipping their nativity scenes and menorah displays with the locating system to impede hooligans who often use the holiday season to get their jollies via vandalism, costing the places of worship up to thousands of dollars for the sometimes pricey decorations. New York-based firm BrickHouse Secruity offered free, short term loans of GPS to religious institutions that now will be notified immediately by email if their display is moved. Reverend Bob Gorman of St. Ambrose Church in Old Bridge, New Jersey told The Star-Leger, "We call it God's Positioning System." Their church is currently planning to to drill a hole in Baby Jesus' backside to slip in the GPS device before the figure is placed in the manger on Christmas Eve. Somewhere King Herod wonders in defeat, "Why didn't I think of that?"

On Monday, a man driving in Bedford Hills made a right turn, just like his GPS told him. Or did it--because he drove onto Metro-North train tracks and into the path of a train. Luckily Jose Silva and his passengers got out before he was hit, but this is the second time a driver has blamed GPS for making them drive onto the tracks.

A violist with the NJ Symphony Orchestra was very lucky when the Taxi and Limousine Commission was able to find the $40,000 viola she left in a cab. Ann Roggen didn't take a receipt, but the TLC used GPS to figure out which cab had driven her from Fairway back to her Upper West Side apartment on Thursday. The TLC contacted driver Deniz Getting, but the night-shift driver was sleeping when the TLC sent messages on Friday. Fortunately, when he did get the messages, the viola was still the backseat! The Post reports that TLC Commissioner Matthew Daus himself returned the viola to Roggen, and Getting drove her to her concert in Newark. As for Roggen, who cherishes her instrument's the "unique sound," she promises to "always make sure to take a receipt."

The New York Times recently dispatched no fewer than five reporters to the streets of the city in order to uncover the latest piece of breaking news: cab drivers can be rude and will attempt to take financial advantage of you if given the opportunity. The investigation uncovered a citywide fleet of yellow taxis in which just over half are compliant in installing credit card readers, and many that did have them falsely told passengers that using a credit card would result in additional charges.

Many cabbies, it seems, will use the card swipers only sullenly, and only after a resistance that can be as ingenious as it is misleading. Excuses range from, “There is a minimum cab fare for credit card use” to “The device doesn’t have to be activated until the new year” to “It’s too short a ride.” (Not true, not true, and not true, say city officials.)

Many cab drivers went on strike in September, in objection to the installation of credit card swipers, GPS tracking systems, and noisy video displays that can cost thousands of dollars. When the first strike proved unpersuasive, drivers went on strike for a second time in October. Neither effort proved successful and all cabs must be outfitted with the mandated equipment by the end of January. Still, the Taxi & Limousine Commission says that it has received hundreds of complaints from riders about drivers who refuse to let fares use credit cards or insist on a bounty for doing so.