Digital Kiosks Offer Information And Security Risks (Updated)

Exploring the city just got easier, thanks to interactive digital kiosks. 

IKE Smart City kiosk, Chinatown
Photo: Tom Eats Houston

UPDATE, July 16:  The kiosk at Bellaire and Corporate has disappeared. The reason is unknown, but it sure looks like a vehicle took it out. 

Strewn around the kiosk's base was what looked like the remnant of shattered car parts, typical when a vehicle strikes something. 

Gone, 7/16/2023

On April 10 in Chinatown, I came across this digital kiosk at the southeast corner on the intersection of Bellaire Boulevard and Corporate Drive. I was intrigued. I visit Chinatown frequently, and don't recall seeing it just a couple of weeks ago. My initial reaction was, "Cool!" but I also wondered if the changing images on each side would be a distraction to drivers at this very busy intersection.

Like electronic ambassadors, these kiosks will help you find your way around a neighborhood that you're not familiar with — and maybe show you new things in your own part of town.

The kiosks do concierge duty, showing you nearby things to do, parks, clubs, aquariums, reviews, museums, dining, local activities and more. You can have the kiosk send details to your email or phone. It will help you with public transit, and because it's a hot spot it can connect you to Wi-Fi. 

But there's also a dark side to all of this, as I'll get into below.

A press release from the mayor's office in February 2022 announced that "wayfinding kiosks called IKE (Interactive Kiosk Experience)" would gradually be appearing around Houston – not all once.

Digital kiosk, a guide
for any neighborhood
Photo: Tom Eats Houston

"The City of Houston released an RFP (Request For Proposal) for Interactive Digital Kiosks in March of 2020 and selected IKE Smart City as the vendor in March of 2021, which was later approved by City Council in May….Installation will occur in phases of 25 kiosks throughout several neighborhoods including Downtown, Uptown, Midtown, Montrose, Museum District, Texas Medical Center, Greater Third Ward, EaDo, Upper Kirby, and more. Further, at least 10% of all IKE kiosks will be located in underserved neighborhoods, as defined by the City, including Gulfton, Sunnyside and others," the press release noted (emphasis mine). Full Press Release

Houston METRO's Absurd Anti-Advertising Policy

Photo: ridemetro.org

In case you haven't heard yet, the Houston Astros won the World Series. There was a big parade downtown on Monday, November 7 to celebrate that win by tying up the city's limited police resources and completely effing up traffic patterns for hours.

It's natural that people want to celebrate the victory of highly paid athletes, whose triumph in no way affects them in any real or meaningful way. I get that. 

I even get why all rides on METRO (Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County) public transit services "will be free throughout World Series Parade day." It does make sense to discourage automobile traffic downtown with such a big event happening. As a result, all riders on METRO today got free rides (myself included), even if their bus trips took them nowhere near the parade.

As I said, I get it. I also get why METRO is "offering free rides on all Metro buses, trains, Bike Share and Metro Micro  on Election Day, Tuesday, November 8. The free rides will run from midnight to 11:59 p.m. on November 8." They want to make voting as easy as possible. Fox26 reported this:

METRO announced they will give free rides to the voting booths for the 2022 midterm election. The League of Women Voters is partnering with METRO to offer rides to polling locations across the Houston area for registered voters on certain dates. METRO says voters can ride at no charge on METRORail, local buses, METRORapid, curb2curb, and METROLift paratransit services.

These free rides will be available the first week of early voting from Oct. 24 – Oct. 30, 2022, and on Election Day on Nov. 8, 2022.

My favorite part of that report is this:  

METRO says voters only need to tell the bus drivers and/or fare inspectors they are going to or returning from the polls.

In other words, you could get free rides all day on November 8, 2022 if you simply told the driver that you're on your way to vote. They had to take riders at their word, apparently, since they didn't require anyone to show their Texas Voter Registration Certificate — and even if someone did, it doesn't mean they hadn't already voted, intended to vote, or that the certificate was even theirs. 

So for two days in November, Houston METRO gave away ALL of its fare revenue. And here's a dirty little secret: They don't care. In fact, METRO seems to dislike money. 

How NOT To Advertise Your Sushi (or anything else)

Imagine you own a restaurant. You want to advertise (brag about) one of your most popular items. Let's say it's a Japanese restaurant and you're especially proud of your sushi. 

What kind of photo would you feature in that ad? The obvious answer, of course, is a beautiful photo of your sushi. 

But I recently ran across an ad on Facebook for a Houston-area Japanese restaurant that made me scratch my head. It left me wondering what their marketing person was thinking – and if they even know what sushi is over there. The reply to it, and the reply to that reply, are comical.