jarkman ([info]jarkman) wrote,
@ 2008-07-11 20:06:00
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Today's competition...
Is











The difference (as should be obvious to the most careless observer) is that when the car went to the garage - the staid, conservative Volvo dealership - for some trivial fixing, they took the liberty of re-flashing the gearbox with the latest release. It's significantly perkier now. I'm a bit flabberghasted. I'm used to reflashing phones and routers and maybe even cameras, but I somehow had never imagined anyone doing it to a car.

I guess I thought that cars were meant to be finished when they rolled out the factory door...


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[info]hirez
2008-07-11 07:41 pm UTC (link)
0-day gearbox exploits FTW!

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[info]jarkman
2008-07-11 08:38 pm UTC (link)
Fortunately, the thing is too old for Bluetooth. The only inbound data connection I can think of is RDS, and I hope that's not wired to the gearbox!

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[info]lastaii
2008-07-11 08:41 pm UTC (link)
Hardware upgrades, they're a glorious thing. Jodi's new radio has a USB port for just that sort of thing, it's quite depressing ;)

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[info]jarkman
2008-07-11 08:57 pm UTC (link)
In a way, it is.

I mean, I'm glad to have the nicer gearbox now, but why on earth didn't they finish off this code five years ago at the same time that they finished designing the cogs ?

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[info]meltie
2008-07-11 08:50 pm UTC (link)
re-flashing the gearbox with the latest release
That's really mighty strange.

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[info]evilmattikinz
2008-07-12 09:52 am UTC (link)
Are there any additional features? Perhaps an implementation of tetris...? And more interestingly are there any Easter Eggs to be discovered?

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[info]jarkman
2008-07-12 09:35 pm UTC (link)
That's a scary thought. I hope not. A gearbox should be like Jeeves, always doing the right thing and never noticed.

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[info]c0re_dump
2008-07-29 11:55 pm UTC (link)
"meant to be finished when they rolled out the factory door"

Nah... the whole of modern industry has seen Microsoft and Intel's way of doing things and realised "hey, we could do that too! And look how much money they make by doing it!", and hence we have products that require to be re-flashed as soon as you buy 'em.

Sorry, I'll stop ranting now and shuffle back into my hermit's cave...

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