Yeah yeah, we know, you've probably seen this one before: guess which ones are serial killers, and which are programming language inventors. But have you seen it done as such a slick flash animation? Nope, didn't think so.

So... slasher or Slashdotter?

We did rather well sorting our Java beans from our fava beans, apparantly, and got 8 out of 10 right. Whether that's because so many PC World staffers look like serial killers that we have mastered the subtleties of psycho / geek differentiation, or because our perfectly normal childhood obsession with serial killers, we're not saying.

Posted by Annabel Crerar at 5:52 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

Thanks to Press F1 reader SurferJoe46, we've watched this clip about 50 times. Here's the lowdown:

"The film took 606 takes. On the first 605 takes, something, usually very minor, didn't work. They would then have to set the whole thing up again. The crew spent weeks shooting night and day. By the time it was over, they were ready to change professions.

The film cost $6 million and took three months to complete, including full engineering of the sequence. In addition, it's two minutes long so every time Honda airs the film on British television, they're shelling out enough dough to keep any one of us in clover for a lifetime.

However, it is fast becoming the most downloaded advertisement in internet history. Honda executives figure the ad will soon pay for itself simply in "free viewings".

When the ad was pitched to senior executives, they signed off on it immediately without any hesitation -- including the costs.

There are six and only six hand-made Honda Accords in the world. To the horror of Honda engineers, the filmmakers disassembled two of them to make the film.

Everything you see in the film (aside from the walls, floor, ramp, and complete Honda Accord) is parts from those two cars.

The voiceover is Garrison Keillor. When the ad was shown to Honda executives, they liked it and commented on how amazing computer graphics have gotten.

They fell off their chairs when they found out it was for real. Oh, and about those funky windshield wipers. On the new Accords, the windshield wipers have water sensors and are designed to start doing their thing automatically as soon as they become wet."

Watch it here.

Email us! dumbterminal@pcworld.co.nz!

Posted by Annabel Crerar at 6:35 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 1 )

Rodney Hide might be able to foxtrot all over the team here at PC World but man, no one can do the robot like we can.

Except maybe this guy. Check out his interpretation of the evolution of dance — we especially like his Backing the Holden·
Shopping Trolley·Chainsaw transition...

(Can't dance? Learn!)

(Actually, probably best not to.)

(Love YouTube as much as we do? Tell us about it.)

Posted by Annabel Crerar at 5:32 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

We like to be first. Even if it means being first, and wrong.

That's right.

Turns out the wrong guy was, in fact, a Guy, but not the Guy. He wasn't a taxi driver after all; rather, he had turned up for an interview — but not that interview. Confused? Read the full, correct story here.

Posted by Annabel Crerar at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

Got an opinion about downloading music, and its potential effect on the music industry? Doesn't everyone?

Everyone except, perhaps, the ‘expert’ interviewed live by the BBC a couple of days ago: one Mr Guy Kewney, editor of the Newswireless technology website.

In an almighty stuff-up, the taxi driver waiting patiently in reception to pick up Mr Kewney was somehow mistaken for Mr Kewney... and duly interviewed. On the television news. Live.

The cabbie

Guy Kewney

To his credit, he did a wonderful job of pretending to be who the interviewer thought he was, save the brief, hilarious look of abject horror as he realises what's happening.

Watch the video here.

Read the transcript here.

Email Dumb Terminal here.

Posted by Annabel Crerar at 5:38 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

Okay, so I doctored the timestamp on this entry. But if you happened to check the time on a super-geeky digital watch at exactly two minutes and three seconds past one this morning, you would have seen it read 01:02:03 04/05/06.

Cool huh? Mischa and Bill think so too.

Next year, it's back to the usual "May the fourth be with you" cracks. Still, always makes us snigger.

Posted by Annabel Crerar at 1:02 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

Bemused reader James sent us this cute pic of a baby strapped to a suitcase.

He says: I know that seats on airplanes are getting more and more expensive, but surely there is another way?

James has come to the right place. There is another way, and his name is Fido.

Fido Luggage uses wireless signals, voice recognition, laser sensors and an internal battery to follow you around the airport, just like your real dog would, if only you were allowed to take your dog on the plane (unless you are blind, in which case you actually can take your dog on the plane with you, you lucky bastard).

Actually, robotic 'smart luggage' doesn’t deal with the problem of expensive seats on planes at all, but if you can afford a robot suitcase then you can probably afford your own plane anyway. Or a babysitter.

We like it when you send us stuff: dumbterminal@pcworld.co.nz

Posted by Annabel Crerar at 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )