It was my brother’s birthday a few days ago. The family got together and we took him out to dinner at a restaurant nearby. I’d just gotten a new car a few weeks back, and he hadn’t seen it yet, so I told him to hop in and I’d drive him over.
The car’s a new model and it has a bunch of cool electronics, and they’re all controllable by a touchscreen on the dash, or by voice control. There’s a little toggle on the steering wheel, and when you hit it, it makes a tone and a voice says “please say a command,” and then it listens for something it recognizes. It works about as well as you’d expect from modern voice control systems, and there’s a lot of room for improvement, but it’s still pretty cool.
Anyway, when I turned it on, the radio was running. My taste in music and his differ pretty significantly, and I decided to prank him a little. It was dark already, and I surreptitiously hit the toggle button, while at the same time saying “Computer!” in a very clear, slightly raised voice.
*ding* “Please say a command!”
“Radio off.”
*ding* The radio turned off.
My brother looked at me and he’s all, “Woah. It’s like on Star Trek!”
“Yeah, I know. Isn’t it cool?”
I never did tell him about the toggle switch. He’ll find out eventually…