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Back to cars again. You won’t find someone who enjoys the art of driving and having a performance car more than me.

But yesterday I had to drive 2 1/2 hours to and from Orlando for business in moderately heavy traffic. My AMG has self driving feature. it’s awesome. Just set the cruise and sit back and relax      it’s very polite too. It does not tailgate or cut off drivers or speed or anything.  it asks you to touch the steering wheel every three or four minutes to make sure you’re awake but other than that, and turning the turn signal, if you want to change lanes, it’s fun as hell

Bone-conduction headsets.

I only heard about them a while back, but I kinda did think, "Why?"  I have a few pairs of wireless ear buds, what's the point?

Now that I have a pair, it's amazing.  I didn't know how useful it would be, not to mention just plain cool, to be able to listen to something that nobody else can hear and so doesn't bother them, all while retaining all the sound of the room around me, so that I don't feel disconnected or cut off from the environment like I do with traditional ear buds. 
 
I keep a pair of both at work.  Ear buds for video-calls when I want the ambient noise of co-workers blocked out, and the bone conduction set for if I just want music in the background, or I'm doing training videos or youtube or something but still want to hear if somebody is trying to get my attention or just starts talking to me.  I take them to the break room during lunch and entertain myself with podcasts, but I don't have to remove anything from my ears when people walk in and talk to me. 

I wonder now how I did without them. 

In keeping with cars, it's simple enough technology, but upgrading to a new Mazda in 2018 included a built-in back up warning system that beeps before I have the chance to back into a pedestrian or vehicle passing behind. The best is the wide-view camera at license plate level. Without having to contort around, I get a much better visual of what's going on before backing up, which is ironic given the warning at the bottom of the screen - Please check surroundings for safety. Not only is my awareness improved, but I have a lot easier time parking both in terms of aligning my car between the parking lines but also in seeing how close I can reasonably back up against a wall or adjacent car along the curb.

Interesting. My car has the camera and the alarms as well, and in the nine years I've had it I have never really used it.

The lane assist is interesting. When I move lanes, the steering wheel vibrates like I'm on a rumble strip. This doesn't happen if you use a turn signal. An alarm goes off if there is a car near you too.

The first time I drove down here from Chicago, I was apparently tired. An alarm went off and the dash message told me to take a break. Must be looking at my eyes, I guess. So, we stopped and had a Big Mac and coffee.

I want to try those!

The first time I drove down here from Chicago, I was apparently tired. An alarm went off and the dash message told me to take a break. Must be looking at my eyes, I guess. So, we stopped and had a Big Mac and coffee.