Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Orwellian Time Zones

This, I do not understand. When I travel to the East Coast from Los Angeles, I set my laptop computer and my pocket PC handheld three hours ahead. I leave the setting for both computers as Pacific Time, otherwise, appointments in the handheld get changed.

So, for a few days everything is fine. Then, somehow, either the computer or the handheld figures out that the Pacific Time is actually three hours earlier than what I have set. And the laptop adjusts itself to the real Pacific Time.

How in the world does it know? From emails that arrive? From the cell phone being attached to the laptop as a modem? From government spies sending signals into my computers, into my brain?

Whatever happened to being able to control the time on the devices that you own? Are those days over?

Also, isn’t it amazing that when you walk through security at the airport, the pocket PC is automatically switched to Flight Mode so that its wireless capability is disabled?

Who sets these things up? Where’s my papyrus? Where’s my stone tablet and chisel?

5 comments:

Rebecca Waring said...

I have no idea how 'they' do that and I'm a computer programmer. Now I feel old.

the last noel said...

It's a conspiracy. Soon, our brains will be wired where we will be fed thoughts to think.

Dan said...

Your handy Microsoft operating system automatically updates your computer's clock to an Internet time server which knows what time zone you are in when you log on to the Internet. This feature can be disabled.

Read more about it here:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-au/assistance/HA011507641033.aspx

Don Cummings said...

Dan wins! Genius!

Todd HellsKitchen said...

I still blame Bush!