turistic features. One of these is "adaptive cruise control" which monitors the car in front of the driver and brakes accordingly. This feature is in more expensive BMWs and the Mercedes-Benz S class (Car Go to the Store... 8). This should make it a little easier for those people who have to commute a great distance to and from work everyday. Ford's new Windstar has sensors in the front and rear bumper that beep at different frequencies when the driver parks their car so that the driver does not hit anything and damage it (Car Go to the Store... 8). Now that is a car that can protect itself. "New Volkswagen Passats come with moisture-sensitive windshield wipers that turn on by themselves when it rains, or when a driver gets squeegeed at an intersection" (Car Go to the Store... 8). What does the check engine light really mean? Well it could mean nothing or it could mean that the car will never start again. There is a company called Embedded Planet that wants to help drivers find out. They have worked with the communication giant Motorola and even a bit with IBM to make a computer called the MobileGT. Embedded Planet, only a two-year-old company, has developed hardware that will communicate with the many chips in a car and give the user a clear definition of the problem. It uses a touch screen attached to the computer as an interface to control things like heating and cooling levels and even figure out why their car will not start. This could make it a lot easier for problems to be diagnosed and the demand for such a product will grow as computers advance further into society (Stacklin). Something that lots of people do from their car is visit the ATM or Automatic Teller Machines. ATMs are a marvelous example of computer technology making society's life easier. It is much easier for someone to swipe a credit or ATM card through a machine to get money than having to go into a bank and deal with a person. An ATM is nothing but a data termin...
