WENDELL HUSSEY | Cadet | CONTACT
The Global Positioning System (GPS) game has received a shake-up this week, with the arrival of the new Baby Boomer themed voice navigator.
Pundits, however, are at odds as to whether the new Baby Boomer (BB) system will help or hinder motorists.
The new program utilises the core data from Google Maps, but has an added feature which includes sometimes confusing directions and whinging commentary about how different the landscape was in the 80’s.
“Essentially, it’s just your old man or mother, narrating the journey, with all that stuff about how much quicker everything is with the new roads and bypasses and so on,” said local tech guru and owner of Ted’s Tech in the French Quarter, Ted Hamley.
“I’m not sure if it’s going to help people or piss them off,” he said.
Hamley said he has been using the GPS for the last couple of weeks and has started to notice a more nuanced and subtle undertone to the commentary.
“I have been picking up little things like whining about how much easier it was for me to buy my car than it was for the narrator to buy their car, and how much easier my life is compared to how theirs was at my age.”
CEO of the new boomer-themed software company, Bill Forrest explained to us that the subtle self-righteous undertone was all part of the charm.
“We have designed it so it’s exactly like your father or mother are sitting right there with you, asking probing questions, giving last-minute directional instructions and telling you how easy you have got it.”
