Progress bars aren’t always accurate, but at least they’re there, giving us hope, curing our angst, and mostly, diverting our attention from the fact that whatever it is, it isn’t done. And soon, they will invade the meatspace.
We already crane our necks to see the perpendicular streets’ lights cycles through, so the Eko stoplight concept, intended to let drivers know if it’s ok to shut off your car to save gas at a light, won’t really change a whole lot. But it would set a precedent, a standard, and a model for everything else: I want progress bars on my toaster, my pizza deliveries, my teapots, my dryer. No, scratch that: I need them.
And if you think about it, our innate desire to see the bar creep forward (or around, as it were) runs deeper than our slow entanglement with computers. I mean, what is a line if not a progress bar made of people? What about a sliced loaf of bread? A growing child? And oh god, clocks. This is too much for a Monday. [Yanko via Ubergizmo]
Sam
December 1, 2009 at 8:08 AM
I hope all of these will have red light cameras on them for the people that push the timer.
Report PermalinkSteve
December 1, 2009 at 8:36 AM
Breville makes the ikon™ Toaster which has a LCD screen and it has progress bar and numbers to say how many minutes left are until it’s done. I really like it, had one for over 2 years now.
Report Permalinkhttp://www.breville.com.au/products_detail.asp?prod=326
StevoTheDevo
December 1, 2009 at 9:55 AM
My Sunbeam Neo toaster has LED countdown “progress bar” lights
Report PermalinkSimon Potts
December 1, 2009 at 10:42 AM
The Dominos Pizza iPhone app and Website both have “trackers” to see how long till your order arrives and what stage it is upto Preparing, Cooking etc etc…probably very inaccurate, but amusing none the less
Report PermalinkConor
December 1, 2009 at 11:54 AM
these type of red-lights are already up and running in japan :)
Report Permalinkboc
December 1, 2009 at 12:37 PM
In my travels I’ve seen plenty of traffic light progress bars in actual use.
The most common is one for the pedestrian light that has a series of lights that flash and disappear showing how much time is left before it switches from walk to don’t walk.
Report PermalinkJimbo
December 2, 2009 at 5:13 PM
Good Idea…but don’t blame me when there is a massive increase in drag races in the streets. Imagine the stimulation a countdown would provide to a budding teenage driver wanting to test out his car against his mates!
Report Permalink