ECAC's moving to Atlantic City in 2011

[billhoward]

[quote Jeff Hopkins '82]One time, I detoured off the freeway to avoid a back-up at an ramp from DE-1 onto I-95.  The GPS took us through a parking lot for a shopping mall and onto a back exit from the mall that lead directly onto I-95.So sometimes these things do work.[/quote]
You're describing a system malfunction if the GPS worked exactly as you hoped it would. You probably should have stuck a paper clip into the little reset hole in back until it started messing up the alternate routing. Kind of like Windows only in a smaller box. (Yesterday I went to a couple of the Windows 7 rollouts and all I could think was, Windows Vista Make-Good Launch Party. Someday MS will catch up to Apple on ease of use and user delight, and Apple will catch down on price.)

[Robb]

[quote billhoward] Someday MS will catch up to Apple on ease of use and user delight, and Apple will catch down on price.)[/quote]
That's been the status quo for 25+ years now - how on earth can you be optimistic that either of those wishes will come true?

And my personal experience with ALL mapping software (Google Maps, Tom Tom GPS, Toyota Prius In-Dash navigation in a rental one time) has been quite good.  Freakishly good, in fact.

[Dpperk29]

[quote Robb][quote billhoward]
And my personal experience with ALL mapping software (Google Maps, Tom Tom GPS, Toyota Prius In-Dash navigation in a rental one time) has been quite good.  Freakishly good, in fact.[/quote]

Same.

When I first got mine I would use it when I was going places I already knew how to get to, just to see if it would come up with a faster route, and several times it did. Granted, a few times it took me longer ways and I had to decide that I knew more than the little box on my dash board.

[billhoward]

[quote Robb][quote billhoward] Someday MS will catch up to Apple on ease of use and user delight, and Apple will catch down on price.)[/quote]
That's been the status quo for 25+ years now - how on earth can you be optimistic that either of those wishes will come true? And my personal experience with ALL mapping software (Google Maps, Tom Tom GPS, Toyota Prius In-Dash navigation in a rental one time) has been quite good.  Freakishly good, in fact.[/quote]

[Drift upon drift] Any GPS system gets you there eventually. When a traveler doesn't know the route and the routing engine adds 10 mins to a 60-minute trip, the magic is that he got there, period. All are unrealistic at estimating travel times in and around big cities; most think I can make the 120 miles from NJ to New Haven at rush hour in 2:05. No navigation system has the detail you want - when we went to the NCAA semis three years ago in Baltimore for that heartbreaker loss to Duke, it got us to the stadium but not to our parking lot D, and for two grand and the data stored on a 40GB hard disk, it ouught to know that so we avoid 15 extra minutes driving around the stadium access roads, just as it ought to know (and someday will) when you can and can't drive across the Cornell main campus roads. $2K in-car GPS typically does not display highway speed limits; cheap portable GPS's do. Real time traffic misses many traffic tie-ups; its value is when it shows a long delay, say 20 minutes or more, that you hunt around for a traffic radio station with actual info.

Garmin is the best in portable devices and you pay a bit more. BMW (currently using Becker components, previously Siemens VDO) is about the best with in-dash GPS once you get past the iDrive interface (which is much better now). BMW and Mercedes let you send routes to the car from Google; GM OnStar with its premium service lets you have OnStar download the route with a phone call but only one stop at a time and you can't be routed via X (eg Tappan Zee Bridge when you know it's dumb to cross the George Washington in northern Manhattan). Pioneer in-dash (factory OEM) are good too but few automakers use it. Lexus / Toyota / Prius (Denso) used to be state of the art but stalled a couple years ago but now their most current rev is better. And the Lexus Remote Touch (big joystick) controller is easy for idiots to master, more so than iDrive, and people think of that as part of the navigation experience. Infiniti (usng Xanavi, now being adopted by Ford) does the best job integrating onto one display the GPS data plus your cell signal strength, name of incoming caller, plus the cockpit HVAC settings and your entertainment info while BMW does it best by creating a split screen (it's 10 inches wide). Verizon's VZ Navigator is really good on cellphones. All cellphones need a compass to orient themselves, else when in pedestrian mode you have to walk a block or two to know if you're heading north or south.

Distractions are an issue when you're driving. When head-up displays cost $250 not $1200 every car will have one and the next turn arrow is floating just above the hood. Technology makes it hard to screw up. Not impossible. I just drove a BMW 7 Series with $20K of tech options and it was cool to see in the dark via the LCD display IR camera, but the car costs two-plus years of Cornell tuition room and board. Hyundai has gotten built in navigation down to $1250; no reason (I think) it can't be $500 if you used industry standard components and reskinned the interface so Subaru's looked different from Honda's.

If you're buying a portable device, I think the most important thing is screen size, followed by spoken street names (Left of Campus Road not Next Left in 400 feet). That is, after accuracy of the routing engine, where Garman and TomTom are really good.

[Josh '99]

[quote andyw2100]My conclusion was that the software believed the Finger Lakes were essentially one large body of water, so would not route between them, but rather around them.[/quote]I'm curious how a GPS with that mistaken impression would route you from Ithaca to Ovid or Trumansburg.

[CowbellGuy]

[quote billhoward]...and Apple will catch down on price.[/quote]

You, of all people, should know better to fall back on hackneyed fallacies like that. On the other hand, me of all people should know better than to expect you to know better.

[ebilmes]

Sam Paolini supports the move.

http://blog.collegehockeynews.com/?p=356&usg=AFQjCNFVYuKkOBltLquu1MK45qozpkaUzg

[Jim Hyla]

[quote ebilmes]Sam Paolini supports the move.

http://blog.collegehockeynews.com/?p=356&usg=AFQjCNFVYuKkOBltLquu1MK45qozpkaUzg[/quote]Yeah, but from the article...

"They will sell out the place and when it is full, it gets really really loud. The acoustics in there are phenomenal."

"Ice was always good except for the few occasions when we had over 8k in the building which was rare. Interesting to see how it will hold up with games back-to-back two nights in a row. My thought is it will be pretty choppy with that much play and fans in the building.

There was some question about locker room facilities in AC.

"I've been in both the home and visitor dressing rooms for games and they are nice," Paolini said. "Both are better than the visiting Albany rooms. Not sure what they will use for the other two though. Nice training room in the home room too

So, we'll sell out the place, it'll be loud, but the ice will be bad (choppy). They've got two good locker rooms, maybe the teams have to just go bunk (did I just make that up?)

But if the teams can't really get ready for the games, and the ice may lead to terrible bounces and bad goals; well at least we've got this.

Bottom line:

"Having it in AC will be great for fans too as they will be able to visit the casinos, go to shows, and have more options than Albany," Paolini said.

Bad hockey, but we can gamble.

[cbuckser]

[quote Jim Hyla]]Bad hockey, but we can gamble.[/quote]

If you don't want to gamble, there are other ways for you to entertain yourself in Atlantic City.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

We can go to shows?  I think most of the shows (at least the ones as the casinos ::banana:: ) will at the same time as the hockey games.

[Dpperk29]

[quote cbuckser][quote Jim Hyla]]Bad hockey, but we can gamble.[/quote]

If you don't want to gamble, there are other ways for you to entertain yourself in Atlantic City.[/quote]

You don't consider sleeping with a prostitute gambling? Sure you are going to lose your money, but you might make it out without any STDs, which would be a win.

[ursusminor]

Last week, Hagwell was interviewed by Ken Schott on his weekly college hockey radio segment (Slap Schotts). It can still be listened to (see 10/8/09) http://www.foxsports980.com/cc-common/podcast.html. It's the first interview on the show.

[DeltaOne81]

"Glass was always loud when there were hits which excited fans. It is horseshoe shaped and not having stands behind one of the nets takes away something from the fans in my opinion..."

Interesting comment coming from a former Cornellian

[CKinsland]

[quote Dpperk29]

You don't consider sleeping with a prostitute gambling? Sure you are going to lose your money, but you might make it out without any STDs, which would be a win.[/quote]

You don't lose your money.  You exchange it for services rendered.   Just like a haircut, a massage, a pedicure, or other remunerated handling of your body.

CK

[Al DeFlorio]

Today's New York Times looks at Atlantic City: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/business/economy/25casino.html?pagewanted=1&th&emc=th