touch screen to resume.

Starting October 1st, taxicab passengers in my local parish will be forced to interact with yet another screen, a video system for news and fare information that commences each time the meter is hit. The relentless march of progress makes the voice of Adam West or Mr. Moviefone reminding you to buckle up seem so - I don't know, analog? Windows 95? Last century?

Taxi TV is chip convergence at work, a "fully integrated, one-of-a-kind customer service enhancement," according to the TLC enforcer, for payment and content delivery systems. Hacks can worry about about tracing data and GPS monitoring, but you get to flick around your credit card for an even further abstraction of exchange value, with a mandated transaction guarantee of two seconds for a tap with your plastic. An old-fashioned magnetic slide will take between five and eight seconds of data speed.

Luckily, there is variety, because four different types of Passenger Information Monitors (PIM) are offered, so you'll never know from whom you're going to get your news needs on the go until you sit down. What you're going to get has already been determined: VeriFone (with WABC 7online), Creative Mobile Technologies (with Clear Channel "NY10" from NBC Universal and Bank of America), TaxiTech (with Verizon and HSBC), promising "contextual interactive information" with "meaningful and targeted content" or the Digital Dispatch iView 8000™ that merely offers a "choice in information and entertainment from the content provider."

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