2010年11月20日「モバイル英語学習」第65号(エッセイ): Sorry I’m Late – My iPhone Forgot to Wake Me Up!

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They say that technology can help improve people’s lives. Well, that is not always the case. In Europe many people got to work late after their iPhone alarm function failed to wake them up on time. Although the iPhone 4 clock automatically updated itself when the clocks went back on October 31st, the alarm function did not. This resulted in people being woken an hour later than they had intended. Lots of over-sleepers from across Europe wrote on Twitter that “iPhone alarm bug made me wake up late!” Apple has said that it will fix the bug, but there are fears that the problem will occur in the US too when the clocks change.(by Prof. Simon Smith)
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2010年7月5日「モバイル英語学習」第46号(エッセイ): Automation

Notes:
automation: オートメ[自動]化;
automatic transmission: オートマチックトランスミッション,自動変速機;
cruise control: 《自動車》クルーズコントロール, 車速設定装置;
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Have you ever thought about how much cars have changed in the past 50 years? We now have automatic transmission, electric windows, a central locking system, air bags, cruise control, a GPS (global positioning satellite) system, air conditioning, DVD players, and TVs. In 1959, a car that was very advanced for the time had a radio with an electrically powered antenna. Things have really changed! On the other hand, now when something breaks, it is usually not cheap to repair. For example, if, while a window is down, the motor suddenly breaks and then it starts to rain, you have to get it fixed unless you want a small river in your car! In the past, you might have been able to get the window up by yourself, but not anymore. The joys of technology! (by Prof. Carmella Lieske)
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