Results tagged “screens”

New York's Taxi and Limousine Commission is looking ahead to next year, when the three contracts for the current cab information screens expire, and has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to gauge various enhancements to the relatively new taxi technology. The riding public, the taxicab industry and the technology community is being asked for input on how the computerized system can be improved for what the TLC is calling Taxi 2.0.

As promised last October, NYC Transit has installed video screens on the platform in the Myrtle-Wyckoff station in Brooklyn showing the locations of every L train on the line, updated every 15 seconds. The system was unveiled to reporters yesterday, and L Line General Manager Greg Lombardi was on hand to explain this 21st century marvel to awe-struck commuters. The screens cull data from the L line’s cutting-edge computerized operating system, which tracks exact train locations; if they prove successful, Lombardi promises to expand them to other stations on the L line, so stranded straphangers will at least have something to watch while they seethe. But at least one commuter yesterday was unimpressed, telling NY1, "If they're broke right now, and they're cutting service, I'm not sure they should put money into something like this." An NYC Transit rep tells us the screens were bought at Circuit City (LG 42”) and the system cost "way less than $100,000" to implement.

Drab and dreary old Times Square is finally going to get some razzle dazzle starting tonight when a massive 17,000-square-foot, three-sided diagonal LED sign is turned on at 1 Times Square, right where the New Year's ball drops. Designed by D3 LED to promote the Walgreen's flagship location—not to mention other publicity-deprived corporations like Kraft, Johnson & Johnson, and Colgate—the "spectacular" display runs off almost 30 computers and uses 12 million energy efficient light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Within the sign are 13 big plasma screens displaying "coordinated, dynamic content." You are powerless to resist!

It seems that more and more taxi TV screens are losing the "off" or "mute" button, turning NYC cabs into hell on wheels. Incensed reader (and big band leader) Gregory Moore writes:

I made the very unpleasant discovery this weekend during a $20 cab ride downtown that those hideous backseat televisions are being re-designed so that they can no longer be turned off, muted or have the volume turned down. As I tried to conduct business on my mobile phone, I continued to be barraged with the same horrendous commercials over and over. Please notify your readers to file a complaint with the Taxi and Limousine Commission over this revolting new "innovation".

Moore goes on to rail against other modern abominations like "dungarees" and "intendos," (kidding) and adds that the driver "said people have actually been stiffing him because they're so pissed at this 'innovation.'"

Two flat-screen monitors are being installed on the L train platform at the Myrtle-Wyckoff station in Brooklyn that will show the locations of trains in real time. Icons on the screens will indicate which direction the train is headed and how close is it to the station, with a long view of the entire L line, as well as a close-up view of nearby stations. According to NY1, riders will also see trains that are being held and trains that aren't picking up passengers.

Notice anything unusual about this photo? If you were riding in the back of this cab you might immediately realize – as you reflexively move to liberate yourself from the tyranny of ubiquitous commercial television – that there is actually no way to turn the bloody thing off! The reader who sent us this photo wonders if this is the beginning of a new trend, or at least a stepping stone to the day when all citizens receive frontal lobe TV monitor implants at birth. Or something.

Toronto street artist, Posterchild, sent us the above photo of a piece he recently installed with the help of Jason Eppink (he of the Pixelator). He'll be installing three more ("tonight or soon!"), which will say "Fast," "Sell" and "Out". (The pictured one may look like it says "Bold" but it actually says "Hold.") No word on whether or not they'll be in the vicinity of the 14th and 8th station.